#1227 Steven Sloman - The Cost of Conviction: How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray
RECORDED ON DECEMBER 2nd 2025.
Dr. Steven Sloman is Professor of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. He studies how people think: how we reason, make decisions, and form attitudes and beliefs. Most of the work in his lab involves experiments asking adults to think about events and report their conclusions and preferences. His perspective has been shaped by observing how people respond to political events, by philosophy, and by computational models of how people process information. He is the author of The Cost of Conviction: How Our Deepest Values Lead Us Astray.
In this episode, we focus on The Cost of Conviction. We discuss what sacred values are, consequentialism, and the differences between decision-making based on sacred values and on consequences. We talk about causal reasoning, and how important it is for consequentialism. We discuss situations where consequentialism might fail us, as well as how to deal with the subconscious aspects of decision-making. Finally, we talk about whether it is possible to “cure” a sacred value.
Time Links:
Intro
The premise of the book
What are sacred values?
Consequentialism
Making decisions based on sacred values
Causal reasoning
Can consequentialism fail us?
Subconscious decision-making
Is it possible to “cure” a sacred value?
Follow Dr. Sloman’s work!
Follow Dr. Sloman’s work:
Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/56t22j45
ResearchGate profile: https://tinyurl.com/3s28v3ae
The Cost of Conviction: https://tinyurl.com/yzpk3j27