Adam Mastroianni is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School. In this conversation, we talk about his work on conversations, his Substack/blog, his article Things Could Be Better and why he chose to publish it this way, improv comedy, and much more.

BJKS Podcast is a podcast about neuroscience, psychology, and anything vaguely related, hosted by Benjamin James Kuper-Smith. In 2022, episodes will appear irregularly, roughly twice per month. You can find the podcast on all podcasting platforms (e.g., Spotify, Apple/Google Podcasts, etc.).

Timestamps
0:01:20: Did Adam fake having a girlfriend when he appeared on Come Dine With Me?
0:08:51: Adam's Substack called 'Experimental History'
0:10:51: Good conversations have lots of doorknobs
0:15:33: What can people learn from improv comedy?
0:23:10: Why did Adam start his Substack? / A discussion of academia, alternative ways of doing science, and the problems with academic publishing
1:12:26: Start discussing Adam's paper 'Do conversations end when people want them to?'
1:27:28: What makes for a good conversation?
1:29:59: Some words of advice from Adam

Podcast links

Adam's links

Website: https://geni.us/mastroianni-web
Substack: https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/mastroianni-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/mastroianni-twt

Ben's links

Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

Links
Rowan Atkinson saying words in a funny way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UhHrtKx8-s
Substack article on conversational doorknobs: https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/good-conversations-have-lots-of-doorknobs
https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/02/10/the-scientific-virtues/
Episode with Joe Hilgard about scientific fraud: https://geni.us/bjks-hilgard
Get me off your mailing list: https://www.vox.com/2014/11/21/7259207/scientific-paper-scam
Dan Quintana's YouTube with Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@dsquintana
Adam's Rhodes speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H68w3543lk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/style/no-37-big-wedding-or-small.html

References
Gilbert (2009). Stumbling on happiness.
Mastroianni, Gilbert, Cooney, & Wilson (2021). Do conversations end when people want them to? PNAS.
Mastroianni, AM & Ludwin-Peery, EJ. (2022). Things could be better. https://psyarxiv.com/2uxwk
Schwartz (2008). The importance of stupidity in scientific research. Journal of Cell Science.

65. Adam Mastroianni: Conversational doorknobs, improv comedy, and a very dumb academic revolution