Politics on the Couch

Rafael Behr talks to Cognitive Scientist of Political Violence, Nafees Hamid, about what makes extremists tick and how to change their minds. Nafees discusses the conditions that push people towards extremist ideologies and whether a martyr's mind is wired differently to the rest of us. Along the way, Rafael and Nafees explore identity, sacred values, devoted actors, and how extremists can be walked back from acts of violence. Nafees Hamid is a Fellow at ARTIS International (https://artisinternational.org) and an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (https://icct.nl) in The Hague. His research focuses on the psychology of radicalisation and social fragmentation in Western countries. His methods include ethnographic interviews, survey studies, social network analysis, and psychology and neuroscience experiments with mostly Western members of extremist organisations, their friends and family, supporters of such networks, and the general communities from where they originate. This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafael Behr talks to Matt d'Ancona about his new book: 'Identity, Ignorance, Innovation: Why the Old Politics is Useless - and what to do about it.'https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Identity-Ignorance-Innovation-by-Matthew-DAncona-author/9781529303995They discuss why the 'liberal left' needs to adapt to a new politics that is being shaped much more by digital networks and identity politics than the older institutional forces. Matt joined The Sunday Telegraph in 1996 as deputy comment editor and columnist, before becoming deputy editor. He wrote a weekly political column in The Sunday Telegraph for a decade.He succeeded Boris Johnson as editor of The Spectator. In January 2015, d'Ancona joined The Guardian as a weekly columnist.He left the paper in 2019 to become an editor and partner at https://www.tortoisemedia.comHe also writes columns for the Evening Standard, GQ and The New York Times.He is chairman of the liberal Conservative think tank, Bright Blue, a trustee of the Science Museum and a Visiting Research Fellow at Queen Mary University of London. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafael Behr talks to neuroscientist and author Tali Sharot about the optimism hard-wired into our thought processes, how it affects the way we look at the world – and what it means for politics. The conversation also covers the relationship between emotion and reason, how we should respect some of the more primitive parts of our brains, what messages work best to encourage people to act on climate change, and what connects sourdough and the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine.Tali Sharot is a professor at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, where she is Director of the Affective Brain Lab, and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow.https://www.ucl.ac.uk/pals/research/experimental-psychology/person/dr-tali-sharot/Sheis the author of The Optimism Bias:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Optimism-Bias-were-wired-bright/dp/1780332637and The Influential Mind:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Influential-Mind-Reveals-Change-Others/dp/0349140634/This podcast is hosted by wwww.zencast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafael Behr talks to author and comedian David Baddiel about his book “Jews Don't Count” – a closely argued polemic about the failure of progressive-left politics to treat antisemitism with the same moral rigour as is applied to other kinds of racism.The frank and at times raw conversation deals with the social and cultural dimensions of one of history's oldest prejudices, as well as the individual emotional and psychological components of a secular Jewish identity. They also talk a little bit about football.David Baddiel's book is published by TLS Bookshttps://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/jews-dont-count-david-baddiel-tls-books-extract/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafael Behr explores the causes of resistance to vaccine science and its links with far-right propaganda with Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The chat ranges from the emotional vulnerabilities that lead people to take comfort from conspiracy theories to the political obligations on social media companies to help defend democracy from malevolent, weaponised lies.Along the way, Rafael and Imran touch on politics, psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, the scientific method, Hugo Boss's Nazi tailoring and some practical advice for dealing with toxic falsehood online.The two reports mentioned in the episode are Don't Feed the Trolls:https://www.counterhate.com/dont-feed-the-trollsAnd the Anti-Vaxx Playbook:https://www.counterhate.com/playbookImran also mentions Ashli Babbit who was killed in the Washington DC Capitol riot:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/09/ashli-babbitt-capitol-mob-trump-qanon-conspiracy-theoryAnd a Guardian report about the Tuskegee Study Imran discusses:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/08/guatemala-victims-us-syphilis-studyOur podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world. https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcastsThis podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Rafael Behr answers some listeners' questions and looks ahead to the challenges facing the main political parties in 2021 as they try to navigate their way through a pandemic, levelling up, calls for Scottish independence and the reality of Brexit. Plus, reflections on the future for remainers and the prospects for a campaign to re-join the EU. Also features one book recommendation and a very extended metaphor about coral.Cultural Amnesia by Clive Jameshttps://uk.bookshop.org/books/cultural-amnesia-notes-in-the-margin-of-my-time/9780330481755This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Rafael Behr talks to Dr Carol Tavris about the mental obstacles that stop us from admitting that we may have made a mistake. Dr Tavris is a pre-eminent social psychologist specialising in the field of cognitive dissonance and co-author of “Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)”, a seminal book on the subject that was recently updated to include a chapter on Donald Trump's support base.Carol has written articles, op-eds, and book reviews on a wide array of topics in psychological science for the TLS, Wall Street Journal, Skeptic magazine, Los Angeles Times, and many other venues.This episode was recorded just before Christmas 2020 and touches on some of the reasons why (so far) not many people have changed their minds about their support for (or opposition to) the idea of Brexit, and why the reality in 2021 is unlikely to trigger mass conversions.Links to interesting stuff mentioned in this podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/oct/23/sarah-silverman-apologises-after-louis-ck-masturbation-commentshttps://lincolnproject.ushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Festingerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_culthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_AronsonAmazon UK link to Carol's bookMistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts (2020 edition - updated and revised)https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Not/dp/1780666950/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JHS0EFOUNOK3&dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me&qid=1609202077&sprefix=mistakes+were+%2Caps%2C285&sr=8-1Amazon US linkhttps://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-but-Third/dp/0358329612/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=mistakes+were+made+but+not+by+me+third+edition&qid=1591458464&s=books&sr=1-1Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world.https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Politics on the Couch host Rafael Behr talks to Professors Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut of the University of Southampton, about the way people narrate the stories of their past, what they get from the process and the way political campaigns can exploit those feelings. Prof. Constantine Sedikideshttps://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/cs2.pageProf Tim Wildschuthttps://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/timw.pageNostalgia websitehttps://www.southampton.ac.uk/nostalgia/Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the world. https://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the aftermath of the US presidential election, Rafael Behr talks to Professor Drew Westen about different forms of charisma, the struggle to communicate liberal arguments to Republican voters and the symptoms of severe personality disorder exhibited by Donald Trump.Drew Westen is a professor in the Psychology and Psychiatry Department at Emory University, Atlanta Georgia. He is also a political consultant and author of the highly influential book "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation."Our podcast was recently chosen by Feedspot as one of the best 15 English-speaking political science podcasts in the worldhttps://blog.feedspot.com/political_science_podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode, podcast host Rafael Behr turns to his old friend and New York Times columnist Ben Smith for analysis of the state of US politics a week before the biggest election in living memory, and for reassurance that, maybe, everything is gonna be alright. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.