Circle of Willis

Welcome to Episode 5, where Neuroscientist LISA FELDMAN BARRETT and I talk about the nature of human emotion, and how misunderstanding emotion may be more consequential than you think. Lisa is one of the world's leading theorists of emotion—of what emotions are—and the conclusions she’s drawn from decades of research may surprise you—a lot. Her work so compelling and fresh that it's been prominently featured—along with Lisa herself—pretty much all through Season 3 of the popular NPR podcast INVISIBILIA, which is all about the invisible forces that control human behavior. Lisa and I spoke in Boston shortly after her recent book came out. It's called, HOW EMOTIONS ARE MADE: THE SECRET LIFE OF THE BRAIN and I highly recommend it. This book has got everything. It’s feature interest—human emotion—is compelling all by itself. But her exploration of the topic draws from a deep dive into neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, behavioral ecology, linguistics, philosophy, and on and on—following whichever leads help her find answers. And along the way, she accessibly addresses tough theoretical questions like, "what is a brain even for?” “How do brains work?” and “Why does this matter?” But Lisa also gets into why researchers might have gotten these questions wrong for so long—and that not only touches on a lot of contemporary controversies regarding the way science is done, but also grounds the doing of science in a historical and cultural perspective. This really highlights, among other things, the fact that science is a human activity, conducted by people who, just like you, sometimes have a hard time reconciling strongly held beliefs with conflicting evidence. Science is hard, friends. It requires cleverness, sure, but also courage and persistence. Lisa Feldman Barrett has all of that in abundance. * * * As always, remember that this podcast is brought to you by VQR and the Center for Media and Citizenship. Plus, we're a member of the TEEJ.FM podcast network. AND... The music of CIRCLE OF WILLIS was composed and performed by Tom Stauffer, Gene Ruley and their band THE NEW DRAKES. You can purchase this music at their Amazon page.

Welcome to Episode 4, where Professor WIL CUNNINGHAM and I discuss the beauty of complexity, psychology’s language trap, and the unconscious processes that shape our conscious motivations. We also talk about the aesthetics of data analysis, what it might feel like to discover that ESP was real, and the various factors that lead Wil to a life in the sciences. Wil is a Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Psychology and at the Rotman School of Management. And Wil has received about a bazillion awards for his work, including a Janet Taylor Spence Award For Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science. He’s the current Editor at Psychological Inquiry, and he’s served on a bunch of editorial boards, from the journal Emotion to Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. I don’t have a Wil Cunningham book to link to here, though I do have things for you to check out if you’re interested in reading more. But before I get to that, I feel compelled to share with you a picture (left) that Wil sent me only the week before this episode was posted, that shows the real inner workings of the modern scientific laboratory: a couple of hacked together old computers that people in Wil’s lab thought were obsolete. (Extra points for the desk positioned to face the blank cinderblock wall.) Wil and I like to use a term we invented for situations like these, which is Scrappy Science. Scrappy Science is science that boldly pushes forward when resources are not available, either in abundance or at all. And for those of you who are not scientists, here’s a little secret: Although not all science is Scrappy Science, I’d estimate that about 85% of it is. Scrappy Science is the science that scientists manage to do against the odds, when salaries are relatively low, old materials are all that’s available, and, often enough, you’ve got to just invent the tool you need because it literally doesn’t exist otherwise. Wil Cunningham is the consummate Scrappy Scientist! And here are those readings I promised! Check them out: Hierarchical Brain Systems Support Multiple Representations of Valence and Mixed Affect Affective Flexibility: Evaluative Processing Goals Shape Amygdala ActivityAttitudes and Evaluations: A Social Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective * * * As always, remember that this podcast is brought to you by VQR and the Center for Media and Citizenship. Plus, we're a member of the TEEJ.FM podcast network. AND... The music of CIRCLE OF WILLIS was composed and performed by Tom Stauffer, Gene Ruley and their band THE NEW DRAKES. You can purchase this music at their Amazon page.

Welcome to Episode 3, where I discuss the science and politics ofsexual identity with LISA DIAMOND of the University of Utah. We’ll also hear about Lisa’s personal story—how she came to identify as a feminist, as a lesbian, and as a scientist, and how all of those identities have converged on a profound body of work. If you’re interested in a deeper dive into this research, you should check out her award-winning 2009 book entitled, SEXUAL FLUIDITY: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN'S LOVE AND DESIRE, about which Hanne Blank of Ms. had this to say: "Captivating, nuanced, and rigorous… Diamond’s work is vital precisely because sexual fluidity is not a new concept—Freud called his version ‘polymorphous perversity’—but merely one that is typically dismissed. Nor is it news to women, particularly not to a generation for whom a nonspecific ‘queer’ affiliation, or no affiliation at all, is increasingly common. What is so important is not that this fluidity exists, but that someone has finally paid it systematic attention and found that it is in fact not the exception, but may well be the rule." And while you're at it, check out this truly seminal paper Lisa wrote for Psychological Review on the differences between romantic love and sexual attraction in the determination of sexual orientation. It’s an amazing piece of work, and pretty accessible even for non-specialists. Here it is: WHAT DOES SEXUAL ORIENTATION ORIENT? A BIOBEHAVIORAL MODEL DISTINGUISHING ROMANTIC LOVE AND SEXUAL DESIRE * * * As always, remember that this podcast is brought to you by VQR and the Center for Media and Citizenship. Plus, we're a member of the TEEJ.FM podcast network. AND... The music of CIRCLE OF WILLIS was composed and performed by Tom Stauffer, Gene Ruley and their band THE NEW DRAKES. You can purchase this music at their Amazon page. Find out more at http://circleofwillispodcast.com This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Welcome to Episode 2, where I talk with Professor ELI FINKEL of Northwestern University about everything from the history and science of marriage, to the trade-offs underlying science's contemporary methodological growing pains. Although you may recognize Eli from his many New York Times op-eds, you may not know that his book, THE ALL OR NOTHING MARRIAGE, is set to hit bookstores September 19th. You can get it for your Kindle, in hardcover, or even as an audiobook. Many others have already heaped praise upon his book--among them folks like Aziz Ansari, Adam Grant, and my old friend and mentor John Gottman, so I won't say much except that one of its best attributes is how clearly you can hear Eli's voice in the text--a rarity in this hyper-edited genre (so a tip of the hat to Eli's editor, too). It really is essential reading if you want to understand modern marriage on any level--either abstractly as a scientific question or, concretely, as a guide to your own. When I spoke with Eli for CIRCLE OF WILLIS, he was in the midst of writing it, and I'm delighted to see it hit the bookshelves. Buy it, enjoy it. * * * A NOTE ON THE CONTENT OF OUR CONVERSATION In many ways, my conversation with Eli hits the bullseye of what I was hoping to accomplish with this podcast, which is to capture the essence of the great conversations I've had over the years with colleagues as I visited other universities or attended conferences. We talk about his book and his research area, meander through some theoretical backcountry, confess some of our methodological sins, and ruminate together about the future of science. It's marvelous. And... I thought it might also be nice to have a few links to extended readings for those inclined to do so. So here are a few topics that might have left a few listeners scratching their heads. Maslow's hierarchy of needsNash equilibriumAttachment StyleMeta Analysis As always, remember that this podcast is brought to you by VQR and the Center for Media and Citizenship. Plus, we're a member of the TEEJ.FM podcast network. AND... The music of CIRCLE OF WILLIS was composed and performed by Tom Stauffer, Gene Ruley and their band THE NEW DRAKES. You can purchase this music at their Amazon page. Find out more at http://circleofwillispodcast.com This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Here it is: The very first episode of CIRCLE OF WILLIS, where, to the best of my ability, I respond to the question many of my colleagues have been asking, which is, "why are you doing this?" This episode references all kinds of things, one of which is the only real blog post I ever wrote. I foolishly promised I'd leave a link to it on the website, so here's that link! Coming soon: My conversation with Eli Finkel! Watch this space, or subscribe to Circle of Willis wherever you like to get your podcasts! JimFind out more at http://circleofwillispodcast.com This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

Hey Everyone! It's Trailer 2 of CIRCLE OF WILLIS, featuring lightening fast excerpts from my conversations with Lisa Diamond, John Cacioppo, Nilanjana Dasgupta, David Sloan Wilson, Jay Van Bavel, Lisa Feldman Barrett, Brian Nosek, Susan Johnson, and Eli Finkel. And there's SO MUCH MORE! Episodes 1 and 2 are almost ready! Watch this space!Jim

Coming this Fall to wherever you get your podcasts, it’s CIRCLE OF WILLIS, a podcast for and about the scientists, authors, journalists (and even a few mystics) who make and communicate science for all of us.Circle of Willis is brought to you by VQR and the Center for Media and Citizenship, and is a member of the Teej.fm network. Find out more at TEEJ.FM