BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Personality' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocab!

6 Minute English. From BBC Learning English. Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.

I'm Alice. And I'm Neil. OK, Alice, I've got something for you here, a question.

— Yeah. — You ready? Mm-hm.

What is the Mexican version of One Direction? Oh, um, no idea. — Juan Direction.

Get it? — Ohh! Very good.

Juan Direction. You know? Yes, yes, I get it.

Never mind. Can you guess what the subject of today's show is instead? Is it bad jokes?

Oh, come on, that was a good little gag! Yes. The subject of today's show is what makes us laugh.

And in this context, 'to get something', for example, a gag or joke, means 'to understand it'. We all like to laugh — well, not you, Alice, apparently — but most of us do! It's good for our health, it reduces stress and releases feel-good hormones in the body.

Mm, OK, thank you, Neil. But how about answering today's quiz question? Which Greek word means the study of laughter and its effects on the body?

Is it a) risology? B) gelotology? Or c) comology?

Mm, that's difficult and I'm going to say c) comology because it's got the word 'comedy' in it, you see? Oh, very good. OK.

Well, we'll find out later if you're right. Now, did you know, we rarely laugh when we're on our own? Laughter is a social thing that we generally like to share with other people.

Really? I laugh when I'm watching cartoons on my own, don't you, Alice? No, Neil, I don't.

Anyway, some researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to the way we bond with each other. And the more we laugh, the more we bond as a group. Mm, interesting idea.

It could explain why 'stand-up comedy' — 'where a comedian performs in front of and talks directly to their audience' — is very popular entertainment. But what does it take to keep your audience laughing? Let's listen to Steve Byrne, a successful US comedian talking about this.

The one single thing an aspiring comedian should do is to write, write, write and talk about the things that make them laugh. Selfishly, it's time to be selfish, time to be a little narcissistic. What is it that makes you laugh?

Because that will get you closer to finding your voice, because ultimately, that's why people come see you. So comedians need to be selfish and narcissistic — that sounds pretty negative! Yes, it does.

'Narcissistic' means 'being too interested in yourself' — for example, your appearance or other personal qualities. And 'aspiring' means 'wanting to be successful in your chosen career'. And what does Steve mean when he says comedians need to 'find their voice'?

Well, he means they need to 'talk about what they think' in a way that's 'unique' — meaning 'unusual or special' — to them. OK. Let's listen to Steve again talking about turning 40 and what he finds funny about that.

When you turn 40, you will hear this in your life and, hopefully, you'll hear it the rest of your life. You look good for 40. You look good for 52.

You look great for 63. You never hear that when you're young. You never hear you look good for 19.

You think there's going to be some secret potion or some magic shortcut to it all. It's writing and getting up on stage. It takes a lot of perseverance and it's such a competitive occupation.

You know, you've just got to outwork everybody. Well, we heard Steve making his audience laugh there. And by the way, Alice, you look fantastic for 40.

That's not funny, Neil. I'm only 39 and you know it. Anyway, moving on, Steve says there's no magic potion or shortcut to success.

You have to work hard, it doesn't happen by itself. And 'perseverance' means 'to keep on trying to achieve something, even when it's difficult'. He says you have to 'outwork' everybody — which means 'to work harder than everybody else'.

Steve certainly doesn't make comedy sound much fun, does he? No. In fact, some people say there's a connection between depression and comedy, that comedians can be introverted and depressive.

Is that right? 'Introverts' are 'generally quiet people who are more interested 'in their own thoughts and feelings than in spending time with other people'. Yes, you'd think that most comedians would be 'extroverts' — 'people who are lively and enjoy the company of others'.

OK, I think it's time for the answer to our quiz question, Neil. I asked which Greek word means the study of laughter and its effects on the body? Is it a) risology?

B) gelotology? Or c) comology? Yes.

I said c) comology, which I think I'm beginning to regret now. Yes, well, indeed. Sorry, I'm afraid that's the wrong answer.

It's actually b) gelotology — which comes from the Greek word 'gelos', meaning 'laughter'. OK. You can stop sniggering now, Alice, and just tell us today's words once again.

All right then, here they are. Get something, for example, a joke. Gag.

Stand-up comedy. Narcissistic. Aspiring.

Unique. Perseverance. Outwork.

Introverts. Extroverts. Well, that just about brings us to the end of today's 6 Minute English.

— See you next time, bye-bye. — Goodbye. 6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English. Hello, and welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil and joining me today is Rob. Hello!

So, Rob, what's the most dangerous thing you've ever chosen to do? Mm, tricky question. I've done many risky things, but probably the most risky thing is bungee jumping in New Zealand.

Oh wow, bungee jumping. You'd never catch me doing that. Did you enjoy it?

Not really, no. I won't do it again! OK, well today our topic is risk and how different people react to different levels of risk in different ways.

For example, would you be happy to be in a driverless car? Absolutely not! No, I don't trust anybody's driving, even a computer.

So no, I wouldn't go in a driverless car. OK, I won't offer you a lift! Drverless cars are the topic of today's quiz.

The question is when was the first driverless car demonstrated on a public road? Was it a) the 1970s? b) the 1950s?

Or c) the 1920s? I think they're quite modern, so I'm going to say 1970s. OK, well, we'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme.

Joe Kable is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In a recent BBC science programme, All In The Mind, he talked about the psychology of risk and whether there was anything physically in our brains that could predict how much risk we are prepared to accept. Here he is, first talking about a number of different ways people see risk.

How many different types does he describe? Some people are quite risk-averse and really don't want to take any decisions where there's risk involved at all, whereas others are fairly risk-tolerant, and in some cases even risk-seeking, so they seek out decisions that have an aspect of risk to them. How many different types of people did he mention, when it comes to attitudes to risk?

Well, there were three. The first group was those who are risk-averse. If you are 'averse' to something, you are 'against it, you don't like it'.

So risk-averse people don't like to take risks. The second group are those who are risk-tolerant. If you are 'tolerant' of something, you 'accept it, you don't mind it, it's not a problem for you'.

So someone who is risk-tolerant is not worried by an element of risk in what they choose to do. The third group he mentioned are those who are risk-seeking. If you seek something, you actively look for it, you try to find it.

So risk seekers are those who enjoy risk and want to take risks in their life. Associate Professor Kable carried out research on risk-taking and discovered that there were differences in brain structure and the way parts of the brain work together between those who are risk-averse and those who are risk-tolerant or risk seekers. So it seems as if this is something that could be measured.

You could put someone in a brain scanner and tell if they like risk or not. I wonder how useful that would be though — is there any practical application for this knowledge? Good question and one that was put to Kable.

What area does he say this could be applied to? Definitely something that I can see coming out of this is using these associations to help develop better assessments of who's likely to take risks versus not. This is exactly the thing that financial advisors want to assess when you come to them and say 'I want to put my money away for retirement'.

Exactly the aspect of your personality that they want to know is what's your tolerance for taking risk? In which area does he say knowledge of someone's attitude to risk might be useful? Financial planning.

He says that financial advisors, who are people that give advice on what to do with our money, would find this information very useful. It would help them to 'assess' what to do with your money, which means it would 'help them to decide', to make an intelligent decision about your money in certain situations. For example, if you're planning for your retirement.

'Retirement' is 'the time when are able to or you have to stop working'. He also used an interesting expression there — to 'put your money away', which means 'save your money', 'put it somewhere where you can't spend it and where it can grow'. You know, I think my financial planner could just ask me about how I feel about risk rather than giving me a brain scan.

I heard brain scans can be risky! Mm, not sure that's true, but anyway, what is true is the answer to this week's quiz question. I asked you when the first driverless car was demonstrated on a public road.

The options were a) the 1970s? b) the1950s? and c) the 1920s?

What did you say Rob? I said the 1970s. And you were wrong, I'm afraid.

Apparently it was the 1920s, so a long time ago. Well done if you got that right. Now before we drive off into the sunset, let's recap today's vocabulary.

Yes, right, first we had three words describing different attitudes to risk. There was 'risk-averse. , for 'people who don't like risk'.

'People who don't mind risk' are 'risk-tolerant'. And 'people who like risk and want risk' are 'risk seekers'. Next we had the verb 'to assess'.

This means 'to make a judgement or a decision based on information'. A phrase meaning 'to save money' is to 'put money away'. And finally we had 'retirement', 'that time of life when you are too old to work any more 'or you have enough money that you don't need to work any more'.

Are you looking forward to your retirement, Rob? Cheeky. I'm neither old enough nor rich enough to even think about that, Neil!

Same here. Well, that's all from us today, and you don't have to be a risk seeker to find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and, of course, on our website BBC Learning English dot com. — Thank you for joining us and goodbye.

— Bye-bye. 6 Minute English. From BBC Learning English.

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil. And I'm Alice.

So, Alice, how did you spend Saturday night? Curled up on the sofa with a good book. You?

I went out on the town. Met some friends, had a few drinks, then went on to a party. Well, that illustrates the difference between us — you're an extrovert.

And I'm not. And where we are on the spectrum between introvert and extrovert is the subject of today's show. So would you call yourself an introvert, Alice?

No, I'm an 'ambivert', which means 'a mixture of introvert and extrovert'. Well, whichever you are, Alice, staying in on your own on a Saturday night is pretty boring! Not to me.

And you shouldn't be so judgemental, Neil. You're reflecting the general view that people seem to have these days, that being an introvert is somehow less valuable than being an extrovert. Introverts have many valuable qualities.

They're 'reflective' — that means 'thoughtful' — and have 'inner resources'. In other words, they 'don't rely on other people to enjoy themselves'. OK, well, if you're feeling reflective at the moment, how about answering today's quiz question?

OK. Can you tell me who first used the term 'extrovert'? Was it a) Sigmund Freud?

b) Friedrich Nietzsche? Or c) Carl Jung? I think the answer is c) Carl Jung.

Well, we'll find out if you got the answer right or not later in the show. But before we get there, let's listen to Lisa Kaenzig, researcher and Associate Dean for William Smith College, New York State, telling us a bit more about what being an introvert typically means. Introverts are people of any age who really get their energy from within themselves and who often have sort of a running dialogue in their head going on, thinking before they're talking, like to have a little more time to think through things before they're commenting on them or answering a question, need some time to recharge their batteries by being by themselves and enjoy having alone time.

Lisa Kaenzig there, who says that introverts think about what they're going to say before they say it. Hm, do you do that, Neil? Nope!

Um, you should try it sometime. Now, Lisa also talks about the different ways people 'recharge their batteries' — introverts tend to need time alone to 'regain their strength and energy' when they're feeling 'drained' — or 'very tired' — whereas extroverts often prefer to recharge by being with other people. So introverts create their energy internally — from within themselves — and extroverts recharge from being with other people.

Exactly. But in some situations, for example, at school or in the workplace, things can be made suitable for extroverts. Extroverts typically love being with others — in a big class or an open plan office — where there's a lot going on.

They enjoy the external stimulation. But introverts can find these big, noisy environments uncomfortable. I can see that.

And these days, people are wild about group work and brainstorming — job ads frequently ask if you are a people person, a team player and so on. That's right. Introverts like to work alone or in small groups and need a quieter space to perform well.

Let's listen now to DrPeter Aloka, a researcher and psychologist in Kenya. He's been working with introvert teenage mothers in Bondo who are returning to school after having their babies and schools are being asked to develop new strategies to support their learning. Introverts might find it easier working in groups, but with smaller groups, and they work in pairs with extroverts.

The teachers should design a classroom for all the students too, to contribute. Whenever a teacher is teaching a question in class, let them, allow for wait time for students to process the information before answering the question, just for people to think through that question. Thinking, pairing, and sharing — those three strategies will help the introverts to speak out.

DrPeter Aloka is talking about some very clever pairing there. If you put two introverts together, they might not say anything. An extrovert is likely to talk, but won't 'intimidate' — or 'overpower' — their introvert partner as much as a large group would.

So the idea is that with fewer people — in a small group or a pair — the introvert will have enough time and space to express their ideas. And because their ideas have been thought through — or carefully considered — their contribution is likely to be worth waiting for. So, think, pair, share.

Hmm, I like that. OK, so I think it's time to share the answer to today's quiz question. I asked who first used the term 'extrovert'?

Was it a) Sigmund Freud? b) Friedrich Nietzsche? Or c) Carl Jung?

I said Carl Jung. And you were right, Alice. So thinking things through really works!

'Introvert' and 'extrovert' are the two basic personality types according to the theories of the 20th-century Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. According to these theories, an introvert is a person whose interest lies with their own feelings and thoughts, in contrast to an extrovert, whose interest lies with other people and the outside world. OK.

Now, let's hear the words we learned today. Ambivert. Reflective.

Inner resources. Recharge their batteries. Drined.

Intimidate. Thought through. Well, that's the end of this edition of 6 Minute English.

Join us again soon. Meanwhile, visit our website, BBC Learning English dot com, where you'll find guides to grammar, exercises, videos and articles to read and improve your English. And we are on social media too.

Make sure to visit our profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. — Goodbye. — Goodbye.

6 Minute English. From BBC Learning English. Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.

I'm Sophie. — And I'm Neil. — How was your weekend, Neil?

Well, not great. I hadn't got anything planned, so I didn't see anyone for two days and to be honest, I felt very lonely! There was a real physical feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Oh, poor Neil! You do sound really 'down in the dumps' and that means 'unhappy'. Well, the subject of today's show is loneliness.

And 'loneliness' is sometimes described as 'a social pain' — a pain that tells us that we're 'isolated' — or 'lacking contact with others' — which motivates us to seek out companionship. I'd no idea that feeling lonely had a biological explanation! How does being sociable help us, as a species, then, Sophie?

It's all about 'cooperation' — or 'working together to get something done' — for example, finding food. Well, I suppose I cooperated with the pizza delivery guy for a shared outcome. You paid him and he gave you the pizza?

Exactly, but it wasn't a socially enriching experience. That's the bad thing about London — you can feel lonely, even surrounded with people. It isn't easy to meet people you really like, so often you might as well just be on your own.

Good point. And I have a question about cities and living alone, Neil, because it's on the rise. Which country has the highest proportion of people living on their own?

Is it a) the US? B) Japan? Or c) Sweden?

Well, I'm going to guess b) Japan. OK, we'll see if you got that right later on in the show. So, getting back to loneliness — the idea is that because it makes us feel bad, it motivates us to go out and meet people.

Some people are more likely to feel lonely than others because our genes play a role in this tendency. I wonder if I inherited loneliness genes. I don't know, Neil, but while in some situations being lonely may be a good thing, because it encourages you to be sociable, in other situations, it may be useful to 'tolerate' — or 'put up with' — loneliness.

Let's listen to Professor Dorret Boomsma at the Vrije University in Amsterdam talking about this. So the intriguing question is why do genes that influence loneliness still exist? And one explanation is that probably they do not only have negative effects.

In some situations, it is an advantage to be able to tolerate high levels of loneliness and that is why the genes are maintained in the population. So, inheriting genes for loneliness might not be a bad thing. Why's that, Neil?

Because it means you can tolerate being alone for a long time without feeling bad. Well, that's an 'intriguing' — or 'very interesting' — idea. But it shows that you probably don't have those genes, Neil, because you did feel bad at the weekend.

Mm, that's true. And actually, that was despite spending a lot of time on Facebook, and that's a form of social contact. But does all the tweeting, messaging, and chatting online that we do make us lonelier, because we're getting out less and meeting fewer people?

Or do virtual connections stop us from feeling lonely? Those are intriguing questions. Let's listen to Professor Eric Klinenberg, sociologist at New York University and author of a book about living alone.

He talks about this. We just don't have great research showing that we are significantly more lonely or isolated today than we were ten or twenty or thirty years ago, which means critics who say that Facebook or the internet or whatever device you carry with you is making you lonelier and more miserable — they just don't have that much evidence to back it up. So there isn't enough evidence to 'back up' — or 'support' — the claim that social media is making us feel lonelier.

No, there isn't. OK, now before I give you the answer to today's quiz question, Neil, did you know that loneliness is 'contagious'? You mean you can 'catch it from someone' like a cold?

Yes. There are environmental factors involved in loneliness too. For example, if somebody you talk to every day is always unfriendly towards you, this makes you statistically more likely to be negative in your interactions with somebody else.

Well, let's try and stay friendly towards each other, then, Sophie. You can start by telling me whether I got today's quiz question right! OK.

I asked which country has the highest proportion of people living on their own? Is it a) the US? b) Japan?

Or c) Sweden? And I said Japan. — This is the wrong answer, I'm afraid.

— Ah! It's actually c) Sweden. Nearly half of all Swedish households are 'single-occupancy' — or 'for one person'.

Living alone in Sweden is arguably the norm because it's so easy — there are many affordable single-occupancy apartments and young Swedes can expect to move into their own apartment once they graduate high school. OK, now let's hear the words we learned today again, Sophie. Yes, OK.

They are. . .

Down in the dumps. Loneliness. Isolated.

Cooperation. Tolerate. Intriguing.

Back up. Contagious. Single occupancy.

Well, that's the end of this edition of 6 Minute English. Join us again soon! Meanwhile, visit our website — BBC Learning English dot com, where you'll find guides to grammar, exercises, videos and articles to read and improve your English.

— Bye. — Bye-bye. 6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English. Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgie. Whether it's Cinderella, David and Goliath, or the Rocky movies, we all love an underdog story. The 'underdog' in a situation is 'the person who seems least likely to win'.

Nevertheless, with some luck and plenty of hard work, the underdog sometimes ends up the winner. Sport is full of underdog stories, minor teams and sportspeople who play with courage and end up beating the superstars and multi-million pound clubs. But if you were given a choice between your team being the favourite to win or being the underdog, it's pretty obvious you'd want to be the favourite, right?

Well, yes, being the favourite gives a team confidence. But maybe the fact that no-one expects the underdog to win is actually an advantage which could help them to a surprise victory. In this programme, we'll be hearing about an underdog football club doing just that, and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary too.

Great. But first I have a question for you, Georgie. One of the biggest underdog stories in sports history happened in the 2015-16 English football season when a little-known club beat top clubs like Manchester City and Liverpool, overcoming odds of 5000-1 to win the Premier League.

But which club was it? A) Charlton Athletic? B) Leicester City?

Or c) Crystal Palace? I'll guess it was Crystal Palace. OK, Georgie, I'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.

The English football Premier League is a good place to find underdogs. Each season, the three best clubs in the second league are promoted up, while the three weakest Premier clubs are relegated down. One club that knows all about relegation is Luton Town FC.

In 2009, Luton Town were relegated entirely from the English League. Slowly their fortunes improved however, and they've now become the first English team to progress from non-league to the Premier League. Here's Luton fan, Alex, talking about his team's chances to BBC Radio programme Mental Muscle.

But some of these elite Premier League clubs will look down their nose at us and just think we shouldn't be there, and we are there on merit and we've just gotta prove it this season. So we are the underdog, certainly financially, but on the pitch I don't think we will be. Alex thinks some of the rich Premier League clubs look down their noses at Luton.

If you 'look down your nose at' someone, you 'think you're better than them'. But underdogs Luton have done better than expected, even beating some of the big clubs like Newcastle United. The question is how?

Is there something about being the underdog that improves a team's chances of winning? To answer that, sports psychologist Gillian Cook spoke to BBC Radio programme Mental Muscle. So, you can find that when the newly-promoted team comes up, they've got high confidence cos they've just come from a season of winning — so they've got the belief that they can do it.

But on the flip side it's just as important to look at the top dog's performance who, everyone expects them to win, they're playing the newly promoted teams. So we might think of Man City who might be about to come up against Luton Town. So what we can see from that is what, in psychology literature, is known as choking, and that's when pressure gets to an individual or a team and they underperform.

Clubs newly promoted to the Premier League are used to winning and start the season confidently. On the flip side, they have to play much stronger teams than before. The phrase 'on the flip side' is used to 'show the opposite, less positive side of something'.

Of course, it's not just the underdog playing, there are also 'top dogs', 'the most successful or powerful person or team'. No-one expects underdogs to win and this gives them freedom to relax and play naturally. Top dogs, on the other hand, experience a lot of expectation, and this sometimes leads to 'choking', a sports term which describes the failure of a player to perform their best because of psychological pressure or social expectation.

Choking causes teams and players to 'underperform' — to 'perform worse than expected'. It's also true that 'neutral fans' — 'people watching a match when their team isn't playing' — tend to support the underdog as well. In football, it's tough at the top!

I think it's time you reveal the answer to your question, Neil. You asked me about the famous Premier League winning underdogs of the 2015-16 football season, and I guessed it was Crystal Palace. Which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid, Georgie.

In fact, it was Leicester City, nicknamed the Foxes, who became the unexpected champions of the Premier League. OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme about 'the underdog', 'the person in a competition or situation who seems least likely to win'. If you 'look down your nose at someone', you 'think you are superior to them'.

The phrase 'on the flip side' is used to show 'the opposite, less positive, or less popular side of something'. 'The top dog' is an informal way of saying 'the most successful or powerful person in a group'. In sports, 'choking' happens when a player or team 'fail to perform their best 'because of psychological pressure or social expectation'.

And finally, the verb 'to underperform' means 'to perform worse than expected'. Once again, our six minutes are up! Remember to join us again next time for more topical discussion and useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English.

Goodbye for now! Bye! 6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.