Why goodness still matters in a self-optimized world
September 9, 2025
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6:25Now PlayingWhy goodness still matters in a self-optimized world
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as posted by the channelThis interview is an episode from @The-Well, our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @TempletonFoundation.
Subscribe to The Well on YouTube ►
Watch Schnitker’s next interview ► When does selfdiscipline become virtue?
What really makes someone a good person?
Psychologist and neuroscientist Sarah Schnitker studies how traits like patience, courage, and compassion are built through repeated practice in real-life situations. She’s found that virtues grow not from comfort, but from challenge.
She shares how in one study, for example, people who fasted during Ramadan for spiritual reasons showed lasting increases in self-control weeks later. These moral habits take time and intention to build, but they not only improve our own well-being, they also help strengthen the communities we’re part of.
Read the video transcript ►
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About Sarah Schnitker:
Dr. Sarah Schnitker, PhD, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Baylor University and Director of the BRIGHTS Center, researches virtue development in youth. Specializing in patience, self-control, and gratitude, she has 100+ publications, $10M in grants, editorial leadership, and mentors doctoral students in science and virtue.
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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.
Together, let's learn from them.
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