Two Psychologists Four Beers

Psychologist and author Maria Konnikova joins the show to talk poker, life, and what one teaches you about the other. She talks with us about working with Walter Mischel as a graduate student, her decision to leave the academic track to become an author, and her latest book, The Biggest Bluff, in which she describes how she became a tournament-winning professional poker player. Bonus: who will win our round of Lodden Thinks? Special Guest: Maria Konnikova.

Yoel and Mickey interview one of the most influential social scientists of our generation, Harvard University's Joe Henrich. Why are people from the West so peculiar, so different from other people the world over? What led the West to be particularly prosperous? If not intelligence, what marks humans as so special? What are the various approaches to the evolutionary study of human behaviour? Does psychology suffer from a theory crisis? Has religion been a net plus to the survival of human...

Robb Willer and Simine Vazire join the podcast to debate whether social science, in its current form, can usefully contribute to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Is psychology ready to give trustworthy advice to policy-makers? Plus: Yoel shirks his beer-drinking, yet again. Special Guests: Robb Willer and Simine Vazire.

Yoel and Mickey welcome Neil Lewis, Jr. of Cornell University to the podcast. Is psychology ready to be applied to help the response to the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the opportunity costs of applying a psychological intervention? How does Neil navigate Twitter so effectively? What will Neil be doing over at FiveThirtyEight? What can meta-analyses and registered reports tell us about stereotype threat? Bonus: How is Mickey like Jesus? Special Guest: Neil Lewis, Jr..

After over a year of (mostly) avoiding controversial topics, Yoel and Mickey dive in to talk about orthodoxy, dissent, and "cancel culture." Does the narrowing of acceptable views make us dumber or does it represent a drawing of new moral boundaries that make us more kind? How does the silencing of dissent lead to self-censoring? Why does it appear like some people are given more permission to dissent than others? Is cancel culture leading to a right-wing backlash? Bonus: Why was the podcast...

For their 50th episode, Yoel and Mickey welcome Northwestern University psychologist Claudia Haase to the podcast to discuss relationships and mistakes. What was life like in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall? How can Yoel and Mickey iron out their relationship problems? How is life as a working academic and mother during a global pandemic? Why are people so scared to admit to their mistakes? How can we learn from failure? Bonus: Should you delete Twitter? Special Guest:...

Yoel and Mickey have a far ranging conversation with University of British Columbia professor of philosophy, Evan Thompson. Despite growing up with a daily meditation practice and contributing to the cognitive science of mindfulness, why does Evan not consider himself a Buddhist? Is Buddhism a religion that is truly different from other religions? Is the self an illusion, as is popularily portrayed by Buddhist modernists such as Sam Harris? What do failures to replicate social psychology...

Yoel and Mickey host Rachel Ruttan, who is an assisant professor of organizational behavior and human resources at the Rotman School of Management. What is organizational behavior and how is it different from psychology? What makes for a good research idea? How is figure skating like academia? When big corporations espouse social values, does it cheapen people's commitment to these values? Bonus: What is the best way to suss out if a new friend smokes weed? Special Guest: Rachel Ruttan.

Yoel and Mickey welcome back returning guest Keith Maddox from Tufts University to talk about his research on racism. What is shadeism? Can anything be done to make it easier to talk about race and racism? What happens to poeple who confront racism? Has social psychology overplayed the impact of implicit prejudice? Has psychology overplayed the role of the individual racist, and not focused enough on structural racism? Special Guest: Keith Maddox.

Yoel and Mickey try to settle their feud with the boys from Very Bad Wizards, Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro. They discuss what psychology, philosophy, and art can and can't do. Does psychology get more respect than it deserves? How has philosophy contributed to supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response? In principle, is it possible to measure authoritarianism or love or neuroticism? How has VBW not become an icon of the IDW? Bonus: Who loves Tamler's step-mother the most? Special Guest:...

Yoel and Mickey welcome humanistic psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman to the show. Scott talks about his academic path from intelligence researcher to positive psychologist. What is humanistic psychology? Can one study humananistic concepts like self-actualization, flourishing, and meaning scientifically? What does evolutionary psychology get wrong about basic human needs? Bonus: SBK sings! Special Guest: Scott Barry Kaufman.

Yoel and Mickey spend the first half of the episode discussing how thier lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. How has the pademic affected those with and without children? How has the pandemic impacted our various relationships? For the second half of the episode, they discuss what to make of the rush of psychology research on COVID-19. Given psychology's noted problems with replication, generalizability, and standards of evidence, should psychologists be trying to shape public...

Yoel and Mickey welcome Nina Strohminger, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics at the Wharton School of Business, to the show. Nina delivers entertaining takes on digust and morality, the true self, adventures in academia, and writing heroic book reviews. Do incidental emotions reliably impact decision making? What aspect of mind is at the core of one's identity? Which neurodegenerative diseases are the most difficult for caregivers to cope with? What does Nina really think...

Yoel and Mickey welcome evolutionary psychologist Joshua Tybur to the podcast to discuss COVID-19 and the function of disgust as part of the behavioral immune system. What is the relationship between disgust sensitivity and political orientation? Can the theory of evolutionary act as a meta-theory for the study of human psychology? Why is evolutionary psychology so controversial and polarizing? Bonus: Would Mickey inflate a new unlubricated condom with his mouth? Special Guest: Joshua Tybur.

Yoel and Mickey welcome return guest Elizabeth Page-Gould to the podcast to discuss adults with and without children. Why did Liz choose to have children? What do we make of fathers who leave their familiies? How does society view people without children? What is the logic behind anti-natalism? Bonus: What is concept creep and is it necessarily a bad thing? Special Guest: Elizabeth Page-Gould.

As Little Urban Achievers, Yoel and Mickey delight in discussing previews for The Jesus Rolls, a Big Lebowski spinoff starring John Torturo as Jesus Quintana. They next talk about the University of California's policy of selecting faculty job candidates based primarily on their diversity and inclusion statements. They finally talk science: What happens when open science advocates veer from their pre-registration plans and fail to reject the null hypothesis? Should we care about effect sizes...

Yoel and Mickey welcome Stanford sociologist and psychologist Robb Willer to the show, who serves up hot takes about the replication crisis. Did the low replicabilty era in social psychology have consequences for political science or sociology? Has the open science movement benefited from motivated morality, only effecting change when change was easy? Despite intentions, will the open science movement make science even more elitist? Bonus: Taking psychedelic drugs at music concerts is fun!...

Yoel and Mickey discuss a new paper by Tal Yarkoni suggesting that quantitative research in psychology is suffering from a generaliozability crisis. Do the numbers and statistics that psychological scientists present in their papers correspond to their verbal claims? What would psychological science look like if psychologists made fewer general statements? Should psychologists conduct more qualitative and descriptive research? Did Tal Yarkoni himself use a quantitative argument to prop up...

Yoel and Mickey declare war on Christmas, discuss US-Canada differences, and almost entirely avoid serious topics. Bonus semi-serious topic: are all theories in psychology bound to be true?

Mickey and Yoel chat with Nick Hobson, a psychologist who has moved from academia to applying behavioral science in the real world. What are some of the challenges that face academics-turned-practitioners? How can you apply psychological research in a rigorous way while, at the same time, keeping the bosses happy? We talk to Nick to find out. Plus: Yoel's eventful evening, and microdosing. Special Guest: Nick Hobson.