Stanford Psychology Podcast

Bella chats with professor Laura Schulz.Laura is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT. She is also the director and principal investigator of the Early Childhood Cognition Lab. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the infrastructure of human cognition and how it’s constructed during early childhood. For example, Laura and her lab study children’s causal reasoning, social cognition, emotion understanding, and the connection between play and learning. Laura has also received numerous scientific awards, such as the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology and the National Academy of Sciences Troland Award.In this episode, Laura shares personal stories about her journey in science and fascinating research projects that she and her students conducted with infants and children over the years. We also discussed the open science online platform for developmental research called Lookit, first developed by Kim Scott, who was one of Laura’s PhD students. Laura also shared her vision for gearing the field towards a more open, accessible, and collaborative environment where data sharing is made possible among institutions across continents.If you find this episode interesting, please leave us a good review on your podcast platform! It only takes a few minutes, but it will allow our podcast to reach more people and hopefully get them excited about psychology and brain sciences.Links:Laura’s lab: https://eccl.mit.edu/Lookit: https://lookit.mit.edu/Bella's website: https://bellafascendini.github.io/Bella's Twitter: @BellaFascendiniPodcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

This week, Misha chats with Robert Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. Robert directs the Social Interaction Lab where he studies the cognitive mechanisms that enable human communication and collaboration. His interdisciplinary work combines interactive experiments with computational models to uncover how people flexibly coordinate with one another.In this episode, we discuss his recent paper on communication in reference games, exploring how lexical search and social reasoning work together when we try to help others understand what we're talking about. They also dive into Robert's academic journey, his vision for the Social Interaction Lab, and how he successfully navigates the interdisciplinary landscape of cognitive science.If you found this episode interesting, subscribe to our Substack and consider leaving us a good rating! It just takes a second, but it will allow us to reach more people and excite them about psychology.Links: Robert's paper on lexical search and social reasoning: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-03739-001.html Robert's website: https://rdhawkins.com/ Robert's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rdhawkins.bsky.social Misha's website: https://www.mishaokeeffe.com/ Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Bluesky: @stanfordpsypod.bsky.socialPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode, Elizabeth chats with Dr. Kendrick Kay, an Associate Professor in Radiology at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He directs the Computational Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, and aims to understand brain function by combining cognitive neuroscience, functional MRI methods, and computational neuroscience. In this episode, Kendrick shares his work on the groundbreaking Natural Scene Dataset and discusses the behind-the-scenes considerations that went into its creation. He also outlines important points for brain scientists to think about when creating and using large-scale fMRI datasets, and shares parts of his journey as a scientist.Discussed Papers in Podcast: A massive 7T fMRI dataset to bridge cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligencePrinciples of intensive human neuroimagingKendrick’s website: http://cvnlab.netElizabeth’s: website: imelizabeth.github.ioElizabeth’s BlueSky: @imelizabeth.bsky.socialPodcast BlueSky @StanfordPsyPod.bsky.socialPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

This week, Enna chats with Dr. Jenna Wells, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. Jenna’s research examines how emotion in close relationships contributes to mental and physical health over the life course, with a focus on late life. She is particularly interested in positive interpersonal processes and their associations with long-term health and well-being in individuals and dyads.In our conversation, Jenna shares her journey from aspiring therapist to emotion researcher, the story behind how she began to study positivity resonance, and what we can all do to navigate conflict with warmth and cultivate more emotional connection in our lives.Jenna’s Website: https://psychology.cornell.edu/jenna-wellsJenna’s Twitter: @JennaLWellsJenna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennalwells Jenna’s Paper: https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000385 Enna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ennayuxuanchen/ Enna’s Twitter: @EnnaYuxuanChenPodcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com 

In this engaging conversation, Dr. Dorsa Amir, an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, explores how culture shapes cognition. She introduces a groundbreaking framework with four pathways of cultural influence on cognitive processes. Dorsa discusses the surprising ways cultural contexts affect perception and memory, emphasizing the importance of language and technology. Her unique blend of anthropology and cognitive science sheds light on cognitive adaptability, challenging notions of universal experiences in visual illusions.

Eric chats with 2024 Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton and Stanford Professor Jay McClelland, two pioneers who have spent nearly half a century laying the groundwork for modern-day AI, advancing research on neural networks long before it captured the world's imagination.In fact, their early work faced significant skepticism from the scientific community - an experience they candidly discuss in this episode. This wide-ranging conversation covers everything from the capabilities of recent breakthrough LLMS like DeepSeek to AI agents, the nature of memory and confabulation, the challenges to aligning AI with human values when we humans don’t even agree on our values, and Geoff's fascinating new theory of language, featuring an analogy of words as thousand-dimensional, shape-shifting Lego blocks with hands.Geoff, who retired in 2023, divided his time between the University of Toronto and Google DeepMind. With numerous accolades including the 2018 Turing Award and 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, he is perhaps best known for co-developing the backpropagation algorithm - now a cornerstone of AI research. Jay, currently at Stanford and Google DeepMind, has revolutionized our understanding of human learning through his work on Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP), applying neural network principles to understand phenomena like language acquisition. His insights into human learning have profoundly influenced how we understand machine learning.Their friendship dates back to the late 1970s and grew stronger as both collaborated with fellow pioneer David Rumelhart. They share some touching memories about Dave in this episode. Remarkably, despite decades of friendship and building upon each other's work, this appears to be their first recorded conversation together. Eric challenged them to discuss their latest insights and disagreements.This episode was recorded on January 29, 2025.JOIN OUR SUBSTACK! Stay up to date with the pod and become part of the ever-growing community! https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/If you found this episode interesting at all, consider leaving us a good rating! It just takes a second but will allow us to reach more people and make them excited about psychology.Links:Geoff's websiteGeoff's Google ScholarJay's websiteJay's Google ScholarEric's websiteEric's X @EricNeumannPsyPodcast X @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

In a captivating discussion, Dr. Alex Shaw, an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, delves into the complexities of morality and neutrality in social behavior. His research reveals that staying neutral in political disputes can often lead to perceptions of distrust, as observers may view it as strategic deception. The conversation also touches on child development's role in shaping moral concepts, the dynamics of friendship among children, and offers insightful advice for PhD applicants on aligning research interests with mentors.

Marginalia Episode is a collaboration between the Stanford Psychology Podcast and Marginalia Science. Marginalia Science is a community committed to promoting work of scholars who are traditionally underrepresented in academia. Their mission really resonated with our values at the Stanford Psychology Podcast.In each Marginalia Episode, we feature a guest who has been featured in the Marginalia Science Monthly Newsletter. In this episode, Enna chats with Professor Erica Bailey at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Erica broadly studies the construct of authenticity, asking questions like, how do we know who we are? When do we feel the most like ourselves? Why do we often fail, despite our best efforts, to share our inner world with others? In this episode, we discuss her recent paper on how self-perceptions influence subjective authenticity. To learn more about Erica, you can read the Marginalia Science Newsletter below.Episode on Marginalia Science: https://www.stanfordpsychologypodcast.com/episodes/episode/7927b876/104-special-episode-marginalia-scienceMarginalia Newsletter featuring Erica: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153969383 Erica’s Paper: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/9tc27 Erica’s Website: https://sites.google.com/view/ericarbailey Erica’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-bailey-ph-d-22038172/ Erica’s Twitter: @ericarbaileyEnna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ennayuxuanchen/ Enna’s Twitter: @EnnaYuxuanChenPodcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

In this engaging discussion, Sandra Matz, an Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and author of "Mindmasters," explores how AI and big data are reshaping our understanding of human behavior. She delves into the implications of AI on personal identity and privacy, addressing concerns about algorithmic targeting and echo chambers. Sandra also introduces innovative concepts like federated learning and data co-ops, emphasizing the need for collaborative data management to enhance privacy while harnessing AI's potential in areas like mental health and social connections.

In this engaging conversation, Dr. Casey Kenyon Brown, a Georgetown University Psychology Professor, dives into how our relationships shape our emotions and mental health. She discusses her journey in psychology and shares insights on empathic accuracy in close relationships. The conversation highlights the dual impact of emotional sharing, especially in caregiving scenarios, and the challenges faced in understanding relational dynamics. Casey also emphasizes the importance of emotional support, particularly for aging populations, revealing how interpersonal processes can influence well-being.