Stanford Psychology Podcast

Eric chats with Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto. He is the author of seven books, including his latest “Psych: The Story of the Human Mind.” Countless people around the world have been introduced to psychology through his online courses “Introduction to Psychology” and “Moralities of Everyday Life.”In this chat, Eric and Paul discuss to what extent knowing about psychology actually helps us navigate everyday life with other people. Should psychology students still learn about Freud? Why would Paul never write a psychology textbook? Why is he writing a next book on perversity and something called “reactance?” How did he manage to become a successful professor while researching such a diverse range of topics? How to use Twitter without becoming a troll? Finally, Paul faces some surprisingly tough questions generated by ChatGPT.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:Paul's latest book PsychPaul's online classesPaul's websiteEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode,  Anjie chats with Deon Benton,   an assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University.  Deon directs the Computational Cognitive Development  Lab, and he investigates causal learning in infants and children with a particular focus on those mechanisms and processes that support such learning. He uses both behavioral research and computational (connectionist) modeling to examine this topic. In this episode, he will share his recent research using a connectionist model to investigate infants’ understanding of morality.You can read more about Deon's research on his lab's website: https://theccdlab.com/.His podcast on developmental psychology: It's InnateYou can also follow him on Twitter @DeonTBenton

Eric chats with Shinobu Kitayama, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan. He is one of the world’s leading researchers on cultural differences and similarities in a variety of mental processes such as self, emotion and cognition.In this chat, Eric and Shinobu chat about how previous work in cultural psychology was limited mostly to differences between Westerners and East Asians. Shinobu summarizes work showing potential differences among understudied groups such as people from the Arab zone, Latin America, and South Asia. Finally, Shinobu clarifies that Western independence is not the same as selfishness and shares his own adventurous journey into the field. What was it like arriving in the US and feeling like most psychology findings did not make sense with his Japanese background?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:Shinobu's paperShinobu's websiteEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

This week, we revisit one of our favorite episodes! Eric chats with Ovul Sezer, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at UNC Kenan-Flagler. Ovul’s research focuses on impression mismanagement, or the mistakes we make as we try to impress others. Her research has been featured in outlets such as Time Magazine and Forbes Magazine.In this episode, Ovul discusses her recent paper on Hiding Success: People are often reluctant to share good news with others, but Ovul’s research suggests that this can harm their relationships and create competitive cultures. Ovul and Eric then make a special “pact,” and encourage listeners to do the same.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:Ovul's paperOvul's Twitter @ovulsezerEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodLet us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com 

Eric chats with Jon Freeman, Associate Professor of Psychology at Columbia. Jon’s lab studies how we perceive other people, such as how we categorize others into social groups and infer their emotion or personality via facial cues.In this chat, Eric and Jon chat about how we rapidly make up our mind about another’s character in less than a second, and how such first impressions can be false and succumb to various biases. How do we perceive another’s personality and do people make the same inferences around the world? Do attractive faces seem more trustworthy? Finally, Jon talks about his recent efforts on behalf of the LGBTQ+ science community.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:Jon's paperJon's websiteJon's Twitter @freemanjbEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Bella chats with one of the co-founders of the podcast, Anjie Cao.Anjie is a 3rd-year graduate student in the psychology department at Stanford University, where she works with Dr. Mike Frank in the Stanford Language and Cognition Lab. In this episode, Anjie and Bella have a casual chat and talk about how Anjie and Eric started the podcast about two years ago and how this journey has been for her. Anjie also shares some behind-the-scene stories, such as where the name of the podcast comes from. And what is it like to be a graduate student researcher?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.Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Website: https://www.stanfordpsychologypodcast.com/Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Anjie’s website: https://anjiecao.github.io/Anjie’s twitter: @anjie_caoBella's website: https://bellafascendini.github.io/Bella's Twitter: @BellaFascendiniLet us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Eric chats with Josh Greene, Professor of Psychology at Harvard. Josh is a leading researcher of moral judgment and is the author of Moral Tribes. Several graduating classes have named him their favorite professor at Harvard! In this chat, Eric asks Josh how he has raised over 2 million $ for charity through Giving Multiplier. Listeners are invited to give to both their favorite and some of the most effective charities - and have their donation matched at a higher rate than usual at this link! Josh also shares how he is trying to fight polarization with games, how to do the most good as a researcher, why cooperation is the story of life, what his next book is about, the future of moral psychology, and how his thinking has changed since he first started thinking about moral philosophy in high school.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:Do good by donating through Giving Multiplier (with higher matching rate!)Paper showing why Giving Multiplier worksJosh’s book Moral TribesEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Rachel chats with Moshe Hoffman, a Lecturer and Independent Scholar at Harvard’s Department of Economics. Moshe uses game theory to explore the evolutionary bases of human behavior, from altruistic donations to our taste in music. His recent book, co-authored with Dr. Erez Yoeli, is “Hidden Games: The Surprising power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior.” In this episode, Rachel and Moshe discuss how incentives shape empathy, how saying "I love you" enables social coordination, and why we appreciate the music of rapper MF Doom.If you found this episode interesting at all, subscribe on our Substack and 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:"Hidden Games: The Surprising power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior" "An Evolutionary Explanation for Ineffective Altruism" Bethany Burum, Martin Nowak, Moshe Hoffman (Appendix), Nature Human Behavior (2020)Twitter: @Moshe_HoffmanWebsite: https://sites.google.com/site/hoffmanmoshe/ Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Eric chats with Paul van Lange, Professor of Psychology at the Free University of Amsterdam and Distinguished Research Fellow at Oxford. He is well known for his vast work on trust, cooperation, and morality, applying these themes to everything from Covid to climate change. He has published multiple handbooks and edited volumes on these topics.In this chat, Eric and Paul talk about the psychological barriers that stop people from fighting climate change. What do trust and cynicism have to do with it? What are barriers to cooperation more generally? Why do selfish people often believe others are selfish too, but kind people don’t think everyone is kind? Might most strangers actually be nice, despite all the stranger danger we always hear about? Finally, Paul shares if all his work on trust and cooperation has changed how he looks at the world and compares research in psychology in Europe to the US. 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:Paul's paper on climate changePaul's websitePaul's Twitter @PaulvanLangeEric's websiteEric's Twitter @EricNeumannPsyPodcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Anjie chats with Dr.Casey Lew-Williams.  Casey is a Professor at Princeton University, where he also directs the Princeton Baby Lab. He studies how babies learn, with a particular focus on language and communication. In this episode, we chat about a recent preprint he co-authored with Dr. Jessica Kosie titled "Infant-Directed Communication: Examining the multimodal dynamics of infants’ everyday interactions with caregivers". Casey shares his thoughts on why it is important to study and how to study infant-directed communication.  If you found this episode interesting at all, subscribe on our Substack and 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:Casey's paper: https://osf.io/hyqp2/Casey’s lab website: http://babylab.princeton.edu/ Anjie’s: website: anjiecao.github.ioAnjie’s Twitter @anjie_cao Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com