Very Bad Wizards

Inspired by a recent ProPublica report on racial bias in an algorithm used to predict future criminal behavior, David and Tamler talk about the use of analytic methods in criminal sentencing, sports, and love. Should we use algorithms to influence decisions about criminal sentencing or parole decisions? Should couples about to get married take a test that predicts their likelihood of getting divorced? Is there something inherently racist about analytic methods in sports? Plus, David asks Tamler some questions about the newly released second edition of his book A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain. Links Machine Bias by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner [propublica.org] Mission Impossible: African-Americans & Analytics by Michael Wilbon [theundefeated.com] A Very Bad Wizard: Morality Behind the Curtain [amazon.com affiliate link to the Kindle version of 2nd edition. Eight new interviews. And an all-new foreword by Peez.] Paperback version of the 2nd edition (currently only available on the publisher's website) [routledge.com] Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler have their first real fight in a while over an article defending "social mixing"--distributing babies randomly across families such that no infant is genetically related to the parents who raise them.. Then they discuss a study published in Science in 2013 in which participants could earn money if they agreed to let mice be killed in a gas chamber.  Do free markets threaten our moral characters and cause us to abandon our principles? What are mechanisms behind this phenomenon when it happens? And why does David hate mice so much? Episode Links Maus by Art Spiegelman [wikipedia.org] If babies were randomly allocated to families, would racism end? by Howard Rachlin and Melvin Frankel [aeon.co] Falk, A., & Szech, N. (2013). Morals and markets. Science, 340, 707-711. [sciencemag.org] .pdf available here [gtcenter.org] Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler welcome author and environmental science professor Jennifer Jacquet to the podcast to discuss the pros and cons of shame. What's the difference between shame and guilt? Is shaming effective for generating social progress or getting tax cheats to pay up? Is twitter shaming on the rise or on its way out? And what does David do when he's alone in the dark? But before all of that, David and Tamler introduce a new way to support the podcast--through our Patreon account (patreon.com/verybadwizards). Plus, we discuss the retraction of a press release announcing that a professor agreed to referee a journal article (!) And can one passage get Tamler, the eternal optimist, to hate philosophy? Links Very Bad Wizards are on Patreon [patreon.com] Sociology faculty member publishes book chapter [psu.edu] Penn State retracts press release about sociologist reviewing an article. [retractionwatch.org] A very confusing paragraph [verybadwizards.com] Bradley, B. (2009). Well-being and death. OUP Oxford. Jennifer Jacquet [jenniferjacquet.com] Is Shame Necessary? by Jennifer Jacquet [amazon.com affiliate link] Congratulations, you have an all male panel! [allmalepanels.tumblr.com] Racists getting fired [racistsgettingfired.tumblr.com] Shame (movie) [imdb.com] Babies (movie) [imdb.com] Special Guest: Jennifer Jacquet. Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler celebrate Passover with a high-spirited episode on guns, revenge, liberals, being offended, the fear of death, and whether kids have a right to be loved. Thanks to all you listeners for emailing your questions, comments, and complaints--this was a fun, energetic discussion. Plus, a blast from the past from an unusually alert Pizarro: Michael Shannon reading a sorority letter.  But won't somebody please think of the children???!!  Links Mr. Robot Season 2 premiere date [usanetwork.com] Michael Shannon reads sorority letter [youtube.com] George Rainbolt's review of "The Right to be Loved" by Matthew Liao [npdr.nd.edu] The Right to be Loved by S. Matthew Liao [amazon] The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker [wikipedia.org] A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell [wikipedia.org] The Story of Philosophy by Wil Durant Rick and Morty [imdb.com] Marijuana is Kosher [npr.org] Louis CK on the Bill Simmons podcast [youtube.com] Is Shame Necessary? by Jennifer Jacquet [amazon.com affiliate link] Jennifer Jacquet [jenniferjacquet.com]   Support Very Bad Wizards

We hit the jackpot with this one! Economist Robert Frank (you may remember him from such episodes as The Greatest Books Ever Written) joins David and Tamler to talk about his new book Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. What role does pure chance play in making or breaking our careers and lives? Are effort and talent enough to succeed, or does the ball need to bounce our way? Where do we get our will-power and talent--is that ultimately a matter of luck as well? And what happens when we reflect on the lucky breaks we've received in our lives? Does it make us happier and more generous? Or do we feel like our accomplishments have been taken away? Plus a brief discussion of the Frank's revelatory 1988 book Passions Within Reason, and of some recent studies about how we convey our commitment to cooperate.      Links Robert Frank [johnson.cornell.edu] Robert Frank interviewed on Fox News by Stuart Varney [video.foxbusiness.com] Ronald Coase [wikipedia.org] Everett, J.A.C., Pizarro, D. A. & Crockett, M.J., (in press). Inference of Trustworthiness from Intuitive Moral Judgments.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. [papers.ssrn.com] Passions within Reason by Robert Frank [amazon.com affiliate link] Frank, R. H., Gilovich, T., & Regan, D. T. (1993). The evolution of one-shot cooperation: An experiment. Ethology and sociobiology, 14, 247-256. Desteno, D., Breazeal, C., Frank, R. H., Pizarro, D., Baumann, J., Dickens, L., & Lee, J. J. (2012). Detecting the trustworthiness of novel partners in economic exchange. Psychological science, 23, 1549-1556. [pdf from davedesteno.com] Frank, R.H. (2016) Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. [amazon.com affiliate link] Special Guest: Robert Frank. Support Very Bad Wizards

We know that criminal punishment has consequences, both good and bad, and that many people think that offenders deserve it. But what does punishment mean? What is society trying to express in the way it punishes criminals? And since people from all sides of the political spectrum agree that the prison population is way too big, is there a way to convey that meaning with alternative forms of sanctions? David and Tamler discuss Yale Law Professor Dan Kahan's classic paper "What do alternative sanctions mean?" that addresses these questions. But first, Tamler gets sanctimonious about other people being sanctimonious about guns on campus. At the risk of angering "that student," we "go there."   Links University of Houston Faculty Devises Pointers on How to Avoid Getting Shot by Armed Students by Elliott Hannon [slate.com] A PowerPoint Slide Advises Professors to Alter Teaching to Pacify Armed Students by Rio Fernandes [chronicle.com] Kahan, D. M. (1996). What do alternative sanctions mean? The University of Chicago Law Review, 63(2), 591-653. [law.yale.edu] Moskos, P. (2013). In defense of flogging. Basic Books. [amazon.com affiliate link] Support Very Bad Wizards

Philosophers can be funny and funny movies can be philosophical. David and Tamler welcome frequent VBW guest and arch-enemy of empathy Paul Bloom to discuss their five favorite comic films with philosophical/psychological themes. Groundhog Day was off-limits for our top five (we would've all chosen it) so we start by explaining why it's the quintessential movie for this topic. Links [all movie links are to imdb.com] Paul's Top 5 The Big Lebowski Shaun of the Dead The Man with Two Brains/All of Me Stranger than Fiction Being There Tamler's Top 5 Defending Your Life/Lost in America Modern Times Seven Psychopaths/In Bruges Barton Fink/Sullivan's Travels Purple Rose of Cairo David's Top 5 Office Space Dr. Strangelove Pinker, S. (1999). "The Doomsday Machine" in How the mind works. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 882(1), 119-127. Brazil Trading Places The Princess Bride Special Guest: Paul Bloom. Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler talk about the perils of trying to step outside of your own perspective in ethics, science, and politics. What do Rawls' "original position" thought experiment, Pascal's Wager, and Moral Foundations Theory have in common? (Hint: it involves baking.) Plus, what movies (and other things) would serve as a litmus test when deciding on a potential life partner? What might liking or not liking a certain film, book, or TV series tell you about a person, and whether or not the relationship would work? And what sexual position is it rational to choose under the veil of ignorance? (It's a night episode...) Links Part 1: Litmus Tests The Bad News Bears (1976) [imdb.com] A Confederacy of Dunces [wikipedia.org] Drive [imdb.com] Every Frame A Painting--Drive: The Quadrant System [youtube.com] Ferris Bueller's Day Off [imdb.com] The Far Side [wikipedia.org] Frank [imdb.com] Hustle and Flow [imdb.com] Jackie Brown [imdb.com] Key and Peele [imdb.com] Miracle of Morgan's Creek [imdb.com] The Office (UK) [imdb.com] Pulp Fiction [imdb.com] Spaghetti Western [wikipedia.org] ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement/Dubbing) [wikipedia.org] Sullivan's Travels [imdb.com] Spellbound [imdb.com] Slapshot [imdb.com] What We Do in the Shadows [imdb.com] Part 2:  Williams, B. (1981). Rawls and Pascal’s Wager. Moral Luck, 94-100. [verybadwizards.com] Moral Luck [amazon.com affiliate link] Moral Foundations Questionnaire (30-item) [moralfoundations.org] Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler continue their series of breaking down a classic essay/article in their fields. For this installment, David assigns Tamler Anthony Greenwald's fascinating 1980 review article "The Totalitarian Ego." What do totalitarian regimes, scientific theories, and your own cognitive biases have in common? As it turns out, quite a bit. Why do egos rewrite our memories, preserve our beliefs in the face of contradictory evidence, and make us think we're way more important than we are? And how does Thomas Kuhn fit into all this? Plus, we read a few of our favorite iTunes reviews. Links Audience video of Society for Personality and Social Psychology 2016 Session on Moral Purity with Kurt Gray, Jon Haidt, David Pizarro (courtesy of Kate Johnson) [youtube.com] Greenwald, A. G. (1980). The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. American psychologist, 35, 603. [verybadwizards.com]   Support Very Bad Wizards

David and Tamler take a break from their main jobs as TV critics to talk about a masterpiece in political philosophy: "Two Concepts of Liberty" by Isaiah Berlin. While they both celebrate the style and substance of this classic essay, in a startling twist Tamler praises conceptual analysis and David expresses a few misgivings about his Kantianism. What is the elusive idea of positive liberty, and  how can its pursuit lead to totalitarian rule?  When is it more important to buy boots than read Russian poetry? And why is David still so depressed by pluralism? Plus, coddling in Wisconsin? And another famous set of social psych studies is accused of biting the dust.   Links In Wisconsin, Efforts to End Taunting at Games Lead to Claims of Coddling By Mike McPhate [nytimes.com] Take my Breath Away by Berlin [youtube.com] Cortex Podcast Episode #20 [relay.fm] Amy Cuddy "Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are" TED Talk [ted.com] "The Power of the Power Pose: Amy Cuddy's Famous Finding is the Latest Example of Scientific Overreach" By Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung [slate.com] Berlin, I. (1958) “Two Concepts of Liberty.” In Isaiah Berlin (1969) Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [verybadwizards.com] Positive and Negative Liberty [plato.stanford.edu] Freedom: Block Distractions Support Very Bad Wizards