Psychopathy versus altruism: the neuroscience of caring about others (w/ Abigail Marsh)

12 May 2025 • 43 min • EN
43 min
00:00
43:15
No file found

Why is American culture so fascinated with psychopathic people and true crime stories? Why don’t billionaires give more? What makes some people so generous that they’d undergo surgery to donate an organ to a complete stranger? These are the kinds of questions that Abigail Marsh, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University, studies. Chris and Abigail discuss the brain differences between extreme altruists and psychopathic individuals, why psychopathic traits do not necessarily correlate with aggression, how parents can support children with behavioral issues, and what we can all do to train ourselves to be more altruistic. Follow Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | chrisduffycomedy.com) Guest: Abigail Marsh PhD (LinkedIn: @abigail-marsh)  Links abigailmarsh.com/ disordersofaggression.org Bookshop.org: The Fear Factor TED Talk: Why some people are more altruistic than others Subscribe to TED  Instagram: @ted YouTube: @TED TikTok: @tedtoks LinkedIn: @ted-conferences Website: ted.com Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey here! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From "How to Be a Better Human"

Listen on your iPhone

Download our iOS app and listen to interviews anywhere. Enjoy all of the listener functions in one slick package. Why not give it a try?

App Store Logo
application screenshot

Popular categories