Tatter - Episodes Tagged with “Psychology”

Episode 64: Rogue (Conspiracy Theories, w/ Kelley-Romano & Miller)

Michael Sargent — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 06:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Even though some conspiracy theories are only endorsed by a small fraction of the population, it is likely a mistake to write off all who believe in conspiracy theories, especially since some theories are endorsed more widely, and with substantial effect. I discuss these issues with two conspiracy theory researchers: Stephanie Kelley-Romano of the Bates College Department of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies, and Joanne Miller of the University of Delaware Department of Political Science & International Relations.

LINKS
--Stephanie Kelley-Romano's Bates College web profile
--Joanne Miller's University of Delaware web profile
--"Trust no one: The conspiracy genre on American television," (Stephanie Kelley-Romano, in The Southern Communication Journal)
--"Make American hate again: Donald Trump and th birther conspiracy," (Stephanie Kelley-Romano & Kathryn Carew, in The Journal of Hate Studies)
--"Conspiracy endorsement as motivated reasoning: The moderating roles of political knowledge and trust," (Joanne Miller, Kyle Saunders, & Christina Farhart, in American Journal of Political Science)
--"Gender differences in COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs," (Erin Cassese, Christina Farhart, & Joanne Miller, in Politics & Gender)
--Little A'Le'Inn (Rachel, NV)

Special Guests: Joanne Miller and Stephanie Kelley-Romano.

Episode 53: The Pursuit (w/ Laurie Santos)

Michael Sargent — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Psychologist Laurie Santos offered a course on well-being in 2018, and it became the most popular course ever offered at Yale University. Her online course also developed a strong following. Now she had a podcast called The Happiness Lab. I had a chance to talk with her about human happiness, and the ways in which our intuitions about what promotes happiness are often wrong. Our discussion includes a discussion of happiness in a time of a pandemic and of physical distancing, but also about happiness and race.

LINKS
Laurie Santos, Yale University
The Happiness Lab podcast
Jeff Simmermon's Why You Should Be Happy (on Apple Music)
Ashley Whillans, Harvard Business School
Sonja Lyubomirsky, UC-Riverside
Anand Giridharadas, Winners Take All
Dan Ariely, "Americans Want to Live in a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don't Realize It)" in The Atlantic
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, by Barry Schwartz
Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, by Danielle Allen
The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest, by Dan Buettner
The Enchiridion, by Epictetus

Special Guest: Laurie Santos.

Episode 29: Mission Creep (On Carrying Implicit Bias Too Far)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 07:00:00 -0500

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Talk of implicit bias has moved far beyond its origin in psychology. It's spread to law journals, it informs training in many workplaces (including one famous coffeeshop chain), and it's entered popular discourse. Does that ubiquity carry risks? What balls are we potentially taking our eyes off of when we focus on implicit bias? These are the kinds of issues addressed in my conversation with Jonathan Kahn, the James E. Kelley Chair in Tort Law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and author of the book Race on the Brain.

LINKS
--Jonathan Kahn's Mitchell Hamline webpage
--Race on the Brain: What Implicit Bias Gets Wrong About the Struggle for Racial Justice, by Jonathan Kahn
--Project Implicit
--"How the GI Bill left out African Americans," by David Callahan (Demos)
--Racism Without Racists, by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
--"The American civil rights tradition: Anticlassification or antisubordination?" by Jack Balkin and Reva Siegel
--"Chief Justice out to end affirmative action," by Jeffrey Toobin (CNN)
--"Sotomayor accuses colleagues of trying to 'wish away' racial inequality," by Robert Barnes (Washington Post)

Special Guest: Jonathan Kahn.

Episode 23: Policy of Truth (or, How to Tell a Good Story)

Michael Sargent — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 05:00:00 -0400

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Peter Aguero is a Moth storyteller and host, as well as creator and performer of the one-man show Daddy Issues. Tara Clancy is also a Moth storyteller and host, as well as author of the memoir The Clancys of Queens, and a panelist on the quiz show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! on NPR. Both Aguero and Clancy are Moth GrandSLAM champions. In this conversation, they're joined by social psychologist and communications researcher Melanie Green, who studies stories. As a former producer of a live storytelling program, and one who always tried to be helpful, host Michael Sargent wants to help novice storytellers hone their craft, and as a selfish, judgmental ass who wants to have an enjoyable experience in the audience, Sargent also wants to help novices hone their craft so that he'll enjoy listening to their stories. Accordingly, he talked with Aguero, Clancy, and Green about how to tell a good story. There's some useful advice in here.

LINKS
Peter Aguero's "Main Event," as told at The Corner
Tara Clancy's "Hail Mary Softball," as published in The New York Times
Melanie Green's profile at the University at Buffalo
Peter Aguero's Daddy Issues show
Peter Aguero's "Me, Her, & It," as told at The Moth
Tara Clancy's "Boom-Boom Waits for Nobody," as told at The Moth
Tara's memoir, The Clancys of Queens
"Why 'getting lost in a book' is so good for you, according to science" (includes quotes by Melanie Green)
Cody LaMontagne's "Havana," as told at The Corner
Michael Sargent's "School Days," as told at The Corner
Shannon Cason's Homemade Stories podcast

Cover art credit: Ben Grey, Speak Your Mind (Wikimedia Commons)

Special Guests: Melanie Green, Peter Aguero, and Tara Clancy.

Episode 12: Strait and Narrow

Michael Sargent — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 05:00:00 -0400

Writing is important in many areas, and the sciences are no exception. Publications such as Nature offer guidance on such issues as when to use past tense and when to use present tense. In these contexts, grammar is more than something for the Grammar Police to enforce. It matters substantively, as it shapes how assertions are understood by readers and listeners. These effects matter for understanding policy, because research in the sciences can potentially inform sound policy judgment, at least in my happy fantasyland where leaders actually pay attention to relevant science.

In this episode, my guest (linguist Conor Quinn) and I explore grammar and some of its impact on how people make claims, in English, and beyond.

Highlights

--Conor sounds smart (because he is)
--I pay a compliment to some psychologist friends of mine, but then I take it all back
--I tell two Mitch Hedberg jokes (poorly)
--I paint another comedian in an unfavorable light, but only gently so
--I paint yet another pair of comedians in a favorable light
--I probably make too many references to standup comedy (but I do love it when it's good)

Special Guest: Conor Quinn.