Overview — Course No. 1670

Discover how your brain influences your habits, decisions, and overall well-being. Professor Peter M. Vishton shares insights from neuroscience to help you outsmart your subconscious and improve your life. From overcoming procrastination to enhancing your diet, from boosting creativity to unlearning fear, each lecture offers practical strategies rooted in scientific research.

Video Lessons

01: Take Control of Your Automatic Brain

Examine the disconnect between our actions and our consciousness. Are we truly in control, or is our brain driving us?

Duration: 34 min

02: Beat Procrastination by Doing Nothing

Learn counterintuitive strategies to reduce procrastination, including the benefits of doing nothing for 20 minutes.

Duration: 30 min

03: Train Yourself like a Dog

Apply behavioral psychology to change habits. Discover simple actions like keeping a notebook to help modify behaviors effectively.

Duration: 32 min

04: Clean Your Kitchen, Improve Your Diet

Understand the impact of kitchen organization and food packaging on eating habits. Explore the neurochemistry behind unhealthy snacking.

Duration: 29 min

05: Eat Slow, Eat Small, Eat Smart

Delve into the role of hormones in hunger and the effects of different foods on your body. Learn why high fructose corn syrup is detrimental and the limits of exercise for weight loss.

Duration: 31 min

06: The Myth of Multitasking

Challenge the notion of multitasking. Learn why focusing on one task at a time (monotasking) makes you more efficient and creative.

Duration: 31 min

07: Future You and Better Decisions

Negotiate between your present and future selves. Learn strategies to make decisions that your future self will appreciate.

Duration: 32 min

08: How to Become an Expert on Anything

Understand the role of deliberate practice in becoming an expert. Learn how consistent, focused practice can lead to mastery in any field.

Duration: 31 min

09: Tune Up Your Brain with Meditation

Explore the benefits of meditation for your brain. Learn how meditation can enhance focus, creativity, and productivity.

Duration: 31 min

10: Take the Sleep Challenge

Investigate the importance of sleep for brain function. Discover why eight hours of quality sleep is crucial and the role of dreams.

Duration: 30 min

11: Boost Insights and Creativity

Learn strategies to enhance creativity and problem-solving, including using imagery and getting into a creative mindset.

Duration: 32 min

12: Enhance Performance with Imagery

Discover how mental imagery can improve physical performance, from athletic tasks to everyday activities.

Duration: 31 min

13: Overcome Your Aging Brain

Understand the aging brain, the natural decline in cognitive functions, and strategies to maintain mental sharpness.

Duration: 31 min

14: Grow Your Brain Out of Depression

Learn about mild depression, its origins, and practical techniques to overcome it using your imagination and physical activity.

Duration: 33 min

15: Hack Your Brain to Unlearn Fear

Explore the mechanisms of fear and learn techniques to mitigate common phobias through understanding and reconditioning.

Duration: 33 min

16: Use Your Body to Alter Your Mind

Discover how physical activities and body language can influence your mental state and problem-solving abilities.

Duration: 33 min

17: Suppress – Don’t Repress – Anger

Understand the roots of anger and learn effective ways to manage it without repressing it.

Duration: 31 min

18: How Little Things Cause Big Persuasion

Learn about subtle persuasion techniques like the reciprocity effect and how they influence our decisions.

Duration: 31 min

19: How Framing Changes Decisions

Examine how framing affects our choices and learn about persuasion tactics like “foot in the door” and “door in the face.”

Duration: 31 min

20: How Language Changes Your Brain

Investigate how language influences behavior and the brain’s response to elements like facial symmetry and repeated exposure.

Duration: 32 min

21: How Your Brain Falls in Love

Explore the brain’s role in love, the effects of love systems, and the transition from initial attraction to long-term commitment.

Duration: 31 min

22: The Neuroscience of Lasting Love

Learn about the challenges and neuroscience behind maintaining long-term love and emotional commitment.

Duration: 33 min

23: How Your Brain Creates Happiness

Discover why money doesn’t buy happiness and explore the impact of time and green spaces on our well-being.

Duration: 33 min

24: Happy Brains Are Smart Brains

Conclude with tips for sustained happiness, emphasizing the value of time over money and the benefits of nature exposure.

Duration: 35 min