Very Bad Wizards

Psychologist and author Paul Bloom joins Very Bad Wizards to discuss the Coen Brothers' film 'A Serious Man'. They explore themes of uncertainty and inaction, the portrayal of Jews in the movie, and the desire for order and certainty. They also touch on subjects like observational research in psychology, responsible journalism, and the value of investigative journalism. Plus, they discuss a scene from the movie, a new sponsor, and the charity organization Givewell.

Podcasting legend Yoel Inbar (from Two Psychologists Four Beers) joins us to break down Tal Yarkoni's "The Generalizability Crisis," the paper that launched a thousand Twitter wars. Psychologists make verbal claims about the world, then conduct studies to test these claims - but are the studies actually providing evidence for those claims? Do psychological experiments generalize beyond the the strict confinments of the lab? Are psychologists even using the right statistical models to be able to claim that they do? Does this debate boil down to fundamental differences in the philosophy of science - induction, Popper, and hypothetico-deductive models and so forth? Will David and Tamler ever be able to talk about a psych study again without getting into a fight? Plus ahead of tonight's New Hampshire primary, expert political analysis about what went down in Iowa. Special Guest: Yoel Inbar. Sponsored By: BetterHelp: You deserve to be happy. BetterHelp online counseling is there for you. Connect with your professional counselor in a safe and private online environment. Our listeners get 10% off the first month by visiting Betterhelp.com/vbw. Promo Code: VBW Prolific: Prolific is giving away $50 to VBW listeners who want to give online sampling a go! Whether you're a social scientist doing research, part of a marketing group, or even a high school student interested in doing a social science project, prolific can offer you fast, reliable, quality data to answer your research questions. Promo Code: verybadwizards GiveWell: Givewell searches for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. Consider a donation this holiday season--your dollar goes a lot further than you might think! Promo Code: verybadwizards Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Yoel Inbar Two Psychologists Four Beers (Podcast) The app that broke the Iowa Caucuses was sent out through beta testing platforms - The Verge Yarkoni, T. (2019). The generalizability crisis. The 20% Statistician: Review of "The Generalizability Crisis" by Tal Yarkoni [Daniël Lakens' Blog] Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D. A., Gilovich, T., & Ariely, D. (2013). Moral masochism: On the connection between guilt and self-punishment. Emotion, 13(1), 14. Mook, D. G. (1983). In defense of external invalidity. American psychologist, 38(4), 379.

Our whole lives we've been frauds. We're not exaggerating. Pretty much all we've ever done is try to create a certain impression of us in other people. Mostly to be liked or admired. This episode is a perfect example, Tamler pretending to be a cinephile (check out his four favorite pieces of 2019 "pop culture" in the first segment), David trying to connect with the people (Baby Yoda, Keanu Reeves etc.) – and of course what could be more fraudulent than a deep dive into a David Foster Wallace story, rhapsodizing over the endless sentences, the logical paradoxes, the seven-layer bean-dip of metacommentary (Jesus Christ I'm surprised there aren't like eight footnotes in this episode description), and meanwhile the Partially Examined Life dudes refresh their overcast feeds and wonder through the tiny keyhole of themselves how David and Tamler have sunk so low that they'd ramble on about "Good Old Neon" like a couple of first year Comp-Lit grad students trying to impress that girl who works at the Cajun bakery. Sponsored By: Hello Fresh: A healthy, delicious, time-saving meal delivered to your doorstep. Try Hello Fresh, America's #1 Meal Kit. Promo Code: verybadwizards10 GiveWell: Givewell searches for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. Consider a donation this holiday season--your dollar goes a lot further than you might think! Promo Code: verybadwizards BetterHelp: You deserve to be happy. BetterHelp online counseling is there for you. Connect with your professional counselor in a safe and private online environment. Our listeners get 10% off the first month by visiting Betterhelp.com/vbw. Promo Code: VBW Support Very Bad Wizards Links: What is Baby Yoda? | TechRadar High Life (2018 film) - Wikipedia Watchmen (TV series) - Wikipedia Keanu Reeves Is Too Good for This World | The New Yorker Midsommar (film) - Wikipedia Homecoming (TV series) - Wikipedia 'Joker' is first R-rated movie to make $1 billion at global box office - Business Insider Under the Silver Lake - Wikipedia Kanye West's 'Jesus Is King' Divides the Christian Community | Time How Often Do Women Talk in Quentin Tarantino Films? | Time David Foster Wallace - Wikipedia Good Old Neon (PDF) - Stephen Miller The Real Question | Fiction Writers Review

Debunking the myth of the reptilian brain, exploring the concept of truth in the movie Rashomon, analyzing Watchmen and Rashomon, the wife's testimony and conflicting perspectives, the significance of the dagger as a plot device and its portrayal in different narratives, perceived reality and the concept of truth, the Rashomon effect and the accessibility of truth, reflections on the movie and the portrayal of humanity

David and Tamler wrap up the decade with an episode on trash-talking that morphs into a debate over the value of experimental inquiry. Participants in a lab put more effort into a slider task after they're insulted by a confederate. Do experiments like these tell us anything about trash-talking in general? Can it explain the effect of Mike Tyson telling Lenox Lewis he'd eat his children, or of Larry Bird looking around the locker room before the 3-point contest saying he was trying to figure out who'd finish second? Can it tell us how football players should talk to their opponents? Does it give us a more modest but still valuable insight that we can apply to the real world? This is our first real fight (or disagreement) in a while. Plus, some mixed feelings about Mr. Robot Season 4 Episode 11 and some tentative predictions (recorded before the finale which aired by the time this episode is released). Happy holidays! Sponsored By: GiveWell: This holiday season, open your heart to those in need, and consider donating through Givewell.org. Givewell.org is an organization that cares about finding the most effective charities in the world, so that you can make each charitable dollar work as hard as possible. And for our listeners who are first time donors, Givewell.org will match your donation (up to $1,000). Promo Code: Verybadwizards Blinkist: Fit reading into your life. Key takeaways from the world's best nonfiction books in text and audio. Visit blinkist.com/verybadwizards for a special offer for our listeners. Promo Code: verybadwizards Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Yip, J. A., Schweitzer, M. E., & Nurmohamed, S. (2018). Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 144, 125-144. Kniffin, K. M., & Palacio, D. (2018). Trash-talking and trolling. Human Nature, 29(3), 353-369.

Discussing Borges' 'The Zahir,' the hosts explore its themes of obsession, love, and idealism. They analyze the microcosm concept, Christian theology critique, and Borges's fascination with obsession. The episode also features a lively Thanksgiving debate with Christina Hoff Sommers and various topics like Bernie for President, Melinda Gates, and movie reviews.

Tamler learns something new about menstruation. David weighs in on the democratic debates and the impeachment hearings. Then we map the various social and political factions onto the factions in our respective fields. Who are establishment neoliberals of philosophy, and who are the white feminists? What about the IDWs of psychology – and the Chads and Stacys? Finally we get serious and break down the article by Alan Fiske in Psychological Review called "The Lexical Fallacy in Emotion Research." Does language affect how we understand the emotional landscape? Do the words we happen to use deceive us into thinking we have "carved nature at its joints"? What is a natural kind anyway when it comes to emotions? Plus, after the outro, a quick unedited Mr. Robot discussion of the revelation in season 4, episode 7. Sponsored By: GiveWell: This holiday season, open your heart to those in need, and consider donating through Givewell.org. Givewell.org is an organization that cares about finding the most effective charities in the world, so that you can make each charitable dollar work as hard as possible. And for our listeners who are first time donors, Givewell.org will match your donation (up to $1,000). Promo Code: Verybadwizards Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Fiske, A. P. (2019). The lexical fallacy in emotion research: Mistaking vernacular words for psychological entities. Psychological review. UCLA Anthropology Natural Kinds (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) "Mr. Robot" 407 Proxy Authentication Required (TV Episode 2019) - IMDb

David and Tamler discuss famous 'split brain' experiments pioneered by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga. What happens when you cut off the main line of communication between the left and right hemispheres of our brain? Why under certain conditions do the the left and right brains seem like they have different abilities and desires? What does this tell us about the 'self'? Do we have two consciousnesses, but only that can speak? Does the left brain bully the right brain? Are we all just a bundle of different consciousnesses with their own agendas? Thanks to our Patreon supporters for suggesting and voting for this fascinating topic! Plus, physicists may be able to determine whether we're living in a computer simulation – but is it too dangerous to try to find out? Sponsored By: GiveWell: This holiday season, open your heart to those in need, and consider donating through Givewell.org. Givewell.org is an organization that cares about finding the most effective charities in the world, so that you can make each charitable dollar work as hard as possible. And for our listeners who are first time donors, Givewell.org will match your donation (up to $1,000). Promo Code: Verybadwizards Outlier.Org: Enrich your mind and earn college credits with one of the new courses from Outlier.Org. From the co-founders of MasterClass, Outlier.Org brings you beautifully crafted and filmed courses taught by some of the top professors in the world. Spaces are limited, so sign up today for classes beginning in January 2020. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Opinion | Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? Let's Not Find Out - The New York Times Physicists find we're not living in a computer simulation | Cosmos Nagel, T. (1971). Brain bisection and the unity of consciousness. /Synthese/, /22/(3), 396-413. CGP Grey video - You Are Two Split brains - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Gazzaniga, M. S. (1995). Principles of human brain organization derived from split-brain studies. /Neuron/, /14/(2), 217-228. Split brain: divided perception but undivided consciousness | Brain | Oxford Academic Interaction in isolation: 50 years of insights from split-brain research | Brain | Oxford Academic Dennett, D. C. (2014). The self as the center of narrative gravity. In /Self and consciousness/ (pp. 111-123). Psychology Press.

We try (with varying success) to wrap our heads around Thomas Nagel's classic article "What is it Like to be a Bat?" Does science have the tools to give us a theory of consciousness or is that project doomed from the outset? Why do reductionist or functionalist explanations seem so unsatisfying? Is the problem that consciousness is subjective, or is it something about the nature of conscious experience itself? Is this ultimately an epistemological or metaphysical question? What are we talking about? Do we even know anymore? Plus, the return of Mr. Robot! We talk about the big new mystery at the heart of the new season. Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Mr. Robot - Season 4 - IMDb Nagel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat? The Philosophical Review, 83, 435-450. [pdf] What Is it Like to Be a Bat? - Wikipedia Mortal Questions by Thomas Nagel

Is character destiny, or can fluky decisions or tiny shifts in weather patterns fundamentally change who we are? Does the existence or non-existence of alternate universes have any bearing on freedom and responsibility? David and Tamler conclude their discussion of Ted Chiang's "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" along with another very short piece by Chiang called "What's Expected of Us" that was first published in Nature. Plus, do you have low likability in the workplace? It could be because you're too moral and therefore not that funny. But don't worry, we have a solution that'll help you increase your humor production and likability with no reduction in morality. All you have to do is listen! Sponsored By: GiveWell: Givewell searches for the charities that save or improve lives the most per dollar. Consider a donation this holiday season--your dollar goes a lot further than you might think! Promo Code: verybadwizards Support Very Bad Wizards Links: Richard Brody Reviews "Joker" | New Yorker Batman: The Killing Joke - Wikipedia Falling Down (1993) - IMDb People with high moral standards 'less likely' to be funny | The Independent Yam, K. C., Barnes, C. M., Leavitt, K., Uhlmann, E. L., & Wei, W. (2016). Why So Serious? Experimental and Field Evidence that Morality and a Sense of Humor are Psychologically Incompatible. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Aquino, K., & Reed, I. I. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(6), 1423. Exhalation by Ted Chiang [amazon.com affiliate link] What's Expected of Us by Ted Chiang | Nature