Sue Stockdale talks to Dr Paul. J Zak about how neuroscience can help podcasters, entertainment companies and employers measure what the brain loves and why it matters.

Dr. Paul J. Zak is a professor of economics, psychology and management at Claremont Graduate University and is ranked in the top 0.3% of most cited scientists with over 170 published papers and more than 18,000 citations. Paul’s two decades of research have taken him from the Pentagon to Fortune 50 boardrooms to the rainforest of Papua New Guinea.

Along the way, he helped start several interdisciplinary fields such as neuroeconomics, neuromanagement, and neuromarketing. He is a regular TED speaker and is author of a number of books including forthcoming title Immersion: the science of the extraordinary and the source of happiness, due for release in summer 2022.

A four-time tech entrepreneur, his most recent company Immersion Neuroscience is a software platform that allows anyone to measure what the brain loves in real-time to improve outcomes in entertainment, education and training, advertising and live events.

Paul frequently appears in the media in such places as Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, Fox & Friends, ABC Evening News, and his work has been reported in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time, The Economist, Scientific American, Fast Company, Forbes, and various podcasts.

Key Quotes:

‘Your brain is a super lazy organ because it takes so much energy to run, it really just wants to idle most of the time.’

‘Immersion is this neurologic state in which people have extraordinary experiences.’

‘The brain is modulating energy flow all the time. And so, it's never just on 100%.’

‘People actually learn better in groups than they do singly, whether that's in-person one-to-one or in asynchronous remote settings.’

‘Psychological safety basically means ”Am I relaxed enough in this setting that I have enough space in my brain to be immersed. If I'm not, I'm not ready to learn."

‘I think of immersion as a kind of neural prosthetic. It gives me this sort of superpower where I can be more effective as a social creature.’

‘In the animal literature there was a very rich vein of growing neuroscience, identifying oxytocin as a signal that a member of your species is safe or familiar.’

‘Employees that work with stronger social connections are more productive. They enjoy their jobs more and we've shown, they shed the stress of work more rapidly when the workday's over.’

‘We've shown in experiments when leaders articulate the social purpose of work, people put in so much more discretionary effort, because we're helping the world. And that's what social creatures generally want to do.’

“The arc of all my professional work has been creating knowledge and technologies to increase happiness in the world at the individual level, at the organizational level, the societal level.’

To find out more about Paul Zak:
Immersion Neuroscience website https://www.getimmersion.com
Website https://pauljzak.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/pauljzak
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-zak-91123510/

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Sound Editor: Matias de Ezcurra (he/him)
Producer: Sue Stockdale (she/her)