Opinion
Brooks: Polyamory is nonsense because humans are built for pair-bonding
“All of the nonsense about, I don't know, polyamory that are coming around. That's all Nonsense. And again, I mean, look, no judgment, different strokes, but look, I'm a behavioral scientist, and the truth of the matter is that we are built for pair-bond mating”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Dark Triad personalities are disproportionately social activists
“There's a really interesting papers that we've seen recently, the dark triads, they're disproportionately social activists.”
Assertion Contradicted
Brooks: Anonymous internet posters are overwhelmingly likely Dark Triad personalities
“Do you like to post anonymously on the internet? Because the answer is yes, you're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a dark triad. You're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a pathological personality, somebody who really likes to stir up trouble and h…”
Opinion
Brooks: The therapy industrial complex mistakenly wants you to relive trauma
“And again, that's been largely overlooked by the therapy industrial complex that wants you to relive your trauma. No, no, no, no, no, no. You need to reframe and understand your trauma, understanding that you probably weren't the person who was suffering the m…”
Insight
Brooks: Using AI as a therapist, lover, or friend causes depression and emptiness
“If you use AI as your therapist or your lover or your friend, It will leave you feeling empty, depressed, and anxious. That's the bottom line.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Happiness and unhappiness are processed in different brain hemispheres
“Happiness and unhappiness are not opposites. They're largely governed in different hemispheres of the brain, as a matter of fact. So to say, if I got rid of the screens and had fewer aggravations and mood disorders, I would be happier. That's wrong. You'd be l…”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Non-religious people tend to be less happy than religious people
“We find that non-religious people tend to be less happy than religious people because they don't think that there's something big and good and beautiful that, that, that lies in store for all of us if we live right”
Assertion Contradicted
Brooks: Median number of questions men ask on first dates is zero
“You know, the average, by the way, the average number of questions asked by a man on a first date, according to my colleague, Alison Woodbrooks at HBS? Zero. That's the average. That's the median number of questions asked by a man on a first date with a woman.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Ages 25 to 32 is optimal range for relationship success
“You find that people from about, you know, 25 to 32, that's the kind of the range where people are most likely to have successful relationships because they're a startup. They're not merging to fully formed lives and careers.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Men over 30 never cohabiting face 1-in-3 substance abuse rate
“For example, if men over 30 who've never either cohabitated or been married, they have a one in three likelihood of a substance abuse disorder.”
Assertion Contradicted
Brooks: Dating apps funnel 80% of overtures to dark triad men
“80% of the overtures toward men go to 10% of the male population, and those are not the right guys. Those are a lot of dark triads. The dark triads are the ones who show the best in every format, including in, in, in dating profiles.”
Insight
Brooks: Four uses of money bring happiness; buying material goods fails
“So there's five things you can do with money. Okay. This is a very much a Cody Sanchez part of the conversation, isn't it? Number one, you can buy stuff, right? We've already talked about that. Number two, you can buy experiences. Number three, you can buy tim…”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Women's happiness has plummeted over twenty years to match men's
“Over the past 20 years or so, women have converged downward to the unhappiness levels of men. So they've converged, and at first I thought, great, men are getting happier. Women are getting unhappier is what we find, and they're getting unhappier very quickly.”
Assertion Contradicted
Brooks: Over 20 years, women's happiness has declined to men's levels
“But what you've found is that over the past 20 years or so, women have converged downward to the unhappiness levels of men. So they've converged, and at first I thought, great, men are getting happier. Women are getting unhappier is what we find, and they're g…”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Depression has tripled and anxiety doubled for people under 30
“Depression has increased by about a factor of three for people under 30. Anxiety by about a factor of two.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Partners in the happiest marriages grow more religious together
“That's one of the reasons that the happiest marriage is one of the characteristics is that they, that the partners get more religious across the decades together. They get more religious together, right?”
Insight
Brooks: Religious life requires practice before belief and feeling
“People get religion all wrong, by the way. They think you have to, especially in the current generation, you have to feel something, and then you'll believe something, and then you'll practice something. That's exactly backwards when it comes to religion. Firs…”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: US kids average 4-7 minutes outside vs. 4-7 hours on screens
“The average kid in America under 12 spends between four and seven minutes a day in, in, in nature, and between four and seven hours a day on screens.”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Two-thirds of men prefer electric shocks over sitting in silence
“Two-thirds of the guys Would prefer to shock themselves painfully. One guy shocked himself a 190 times in 15 minutes, had to be thrown out of the experiment for being a sick and twisted freak.”
Insight
Brooks: Most people who achieve fame become less happy
“And fame, by the way, is the worst because fame is the only one of the goals that you can only ever be happy in spite of. And you have to, so most people who get famous, they become less happy because of the fame.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Negative emotions trigger involuntary twitches on the left side of the face
“Watch the left side of people's faces when you're talking to them, and they will not be able to involuntarily control the activity. Slight twitches, a little bit more left face activity when they're experiencing negative emotions when you're talking to them.”
Insight
Brooks: Therapy based on quick hacks does not deliver lasting results
“The more that you're learning about yourself from therapy, the more likely it is to have a beneficial impact for the long term. When somebody just wants to solve your problems, Or give you hacks. Run the other way. That's just not very helpful. And it's certai…”
Assertion Supported
Brooks: Staying in graduate school long enough increases unhappiness
“And then when people hang around graduate school for long enough, their unhappiness starts to rise again.”
Assertion Partly supported
Brooks: Almost all consciousness-altering euphorics are harmful neurotoxins
“Almost any euphoric that you use to change your consciousness is a neurotoxin and bad for you. You know, it makes you feel high. It's a neurotoxin. That's what it comes down to.”
Arthur Brooks