Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement · Sam Webster Harris | Growth Mindset Psychology

The Illusion of Control: 7 Ways we lie to ourselves that even defeated Napoleon - [Cognitive Biases #5]

December 9, 2025·37 min·2 clips

Harry Beecher used fake morphine in World War II and patients still felt less pain.

The show opens on a 1951 football game between Princeton and Dartmouth. It got rough enough that people walked away arguing about fouls and what actually happened. The notable part is not the score. It is that each side seemed to have seen a different game. Psychologists later tested that idea by showing the same video to Princeton and Dartmouth students who had not been at the game. Princeton students leaned toward blaming Dartmouth. Dartmouth students leaned toward blaming Princeton. The show uses that setup to argue that perception is not neutral. It is shaped by loyalty, expectation, affiliation, and self-interest. That turns the whole thing from a clever observation into something more serious. It means people do not just take in reality. They edit it, sort it, and rewrite it as they go. The show then widens the point to ordinary social life. People can ignore a conversation completely until their own name appears. Then every word suddenly matters. That is the same mechanism at work. Attention tightens when something touches identity or relevance. The episode also moves into placebo effects. It points out that belief alone can sometimes change pain or performance. Sugar pills can ease pain for some people. Fake sports drinks can improve performance when the mind expects them to help. The host makes it clear that this is not a defense of manifesting nonsense. He is bluntly against the idea that wishing hard enough can replace evidence. Medical reality still matters. A diet that is not medically proven is not a cancer treatment. Still, the show does not go fully cynical. It argues that a little irrational belief is often part of real achievement. Big results usually require some willingness to believe before there is proof. If you tell yourself you cannot do something, you can box yourself in before you start. The useful form of optimism is not denial. It is the choice to try anyway. The episode keeps that tension alive between caution and possibility. It keeps pressing on the difference between comfort, accuracy, and action. The closing stretch returns to the idea that belief can shape experience even when it does not reshape the world the way you hoped. The tone stays conversational and slightly cheeky throughout. It ends by nudging listeners to be kind to themselves, step outside, and let one idea settle before moving on.

As heard by us

A clear tour of how loyalty, belief, and optimism can bend what people think they see.

The episode uses the 1951 Princeton-Dartmouth game to make a larger point about loyalty, expectation, and how people can walk away from the same moment with different ideas of what happened.

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Why you'd press play

If you keep blaming your eyes, this one shows how your brain does the cheating.

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