Shows
Negotiate AnythingAndy Luttrell: How to Change Minds Through NegotiationRequest A Customized Workshop For Your CompanyIn this insightful episode of "Negotiate Anything," host Kwame Christian welcomes Andy Luttrell, a psychological scientist from Ball State University, to delve into the science of persuasion. Together, they explore the dynamics of changing strong opinions, focusing on deeply held beliefs and how understanding the underlying basis of these attitudes can lead to successful persuasion. Andy shares compelling research findings on emotional and moral attitudes, illustrating how aligning persuasive messages with the audience's core values and moral dialect can potentially sway even the most rigid beliefs. Listeners...
2025-02-0837 minNegotiate AnythingAndy Luttrell on Attitude and PersuasionRequest A Customized Workshop For Your Company: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/services/workshops/In this fascinating episode of "Negotiate Anything," hosts Kwame Christian and Andy Luttrell dive deep into the psychological underpinnings of opinion formation and the complexities of persuasion, especially concerning strongly held beliefs. They explore how moral convictions shape our stances and the methods to effectively engage in persuasive communication. The conversation also reveals the nuanced role of policies in altering societal attitudes, backed by insightful research and examples. Join us as we unravel the art of negotiation and the science behind...
2024-04-2236 min
Opinion Science#92: Can We Fix Social Media? with Andy GuessAndy Guess studies how social media platforms shape people’s political views. He’s an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. Last summer, he was part of a big team that released four papers on their analyses and experiments in social media all at the same time. The research was in collaboration with Meta, the company responsible for Facebook and Instagram. Andy and the team were able to dissect how often people on these platforms are exposed to political opinions, particularly from people whose opinions differ from their own. They were also...
2024-03-2559 minOpinion ScienceBONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2023)Happy New Year! For the first time in the show's history, this episode's a day late. Sorry, dear listeners.So it's 2024, and what better way to kick off the new year than to dive into some nostalgia for 2023 already? As has become tradition around here, I compiled some clips of favorite moments on the podcast from the last year. As I say every year, it’s not truly a “best of” per se because I really am attached to every episode. Instead, I’ve chosen some clips that highlight the kind of show this is, including some of the t...
2024-01-021h 02Opinion Science#77: Opinions in the Brain with Uma KarmarkarUma Karmarkar is a decision neuroscientist. She tries to understand how people make decisions when they have too little or too much information, and she uses tools and theories from neuroscience, psychology, and economics. I wanted to get Uma's take on the value of neuroscience in trying to understand consumer behavior. Does looking at brain signals give us anything special when we try to figure out why people buy what they buy, which advertisements are most influential, etc. We talk about the promises and limitations of neuroscience and cover a whole lot of ground in doing so!
2023-04-101h 01
Negotiations Ninja PodcastPersuasion in Negotiation with Andy LuttrellAre persuasion tactics effective in negotiation? How do you develop persuasiveness that isn’t overtly obvious? Persuasive rhetoric can be compelling—or it can completely backfire. So how do you effectively persuade someone to consider your side of an argument? Andy Luttrell—a Psychologist in the field of opinion science—joins me in this episode of Negotiations Ninja to dive into persuasion in negotiation. Outline of This Episode [1:53] Learn more about Andy Luttrell [2:29] What does persuasion really mean? [4:18] How do you use persuasion to drive decisions? [6:43] Increase your persuasiveness via credibility and trustworthiness [10:52] Why what you say and ho...
2023-02-1333 minNegotiate AnythingHow to Overcome Strong Opinions with Andy LuttrellRequest A Customized Workshop For Your Company: https://www.americannegotiationinstitute.com/services/workshops/In this episode, Andy Luttrell, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ball State University and Podcast host of Opinion Science, discusses the science of persuasion, as it relates to deeply held beliefs and strongly held opinions.Opinion Science Podcast: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/Audio Course: The Science of Persuasion: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/online-courses/Follow Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-luttrell/...
2023-01-3137 minOpinion ScienceBONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2022)Another year in the books! I don't think I ever really mastered writing the year as "2022," and now I have to write "2023." I'll figure it out one of these days.But another year meant another year of Opinion Science! This year saw even more new listeners, amazing guests, and an ambitious series of episodes over the summer. Your support has meant a lot.So even though I'm (again) a week or so behind on this, I wanted put together another "best of" episode, featuring notable moments from the podcast in 2022. As I say every year...
2023-01-091h 15Opinion ScienceSciComm Summer #13: John Sides - Contributing to Political DiscussionJohn Sides is a political scientist at Vanderbilt University and co-founded The Monkey Cage, which is a popular political science blog now available at the Washington Post. The blog gives academic social scientists a platform to use their expertise to help the public understand political news. In our conversation, John talks about the origins of TMC, the kinds of articles that are successful, and how (and why!) to write well for a public audience.This episode is the final episode in a special podcast series on science communication. You can find...
2022-08-291h 11Opinion ScienceSciComm Summer #12: Steve Rathje - Social Science on TikTokSteve Rathje has managed to rack up more than a million followers on TikTok (@stevepsychology) while pursuing a PhD in social psychology (and doing some very cool research). He shares quick videos about key insights from psychological science that are reaching an entirely new audience. In our conversation, he fills me in on the finer points of TikTok as a platform, why it's uniquely suited to science communication, and how Steve approaches each video to bring insights from social science to a largely untapped audience. This episode is part of a special podcast s...
2022-08-2257 minOpinion ScienceSciComm Summer #11: Alie and Micah Caldwell - Building an Independent YouTube ChannelAlie and Micah Caldwell produce the YouTube channel, Neuro Transmissions. Their videos present the basics of neuroscience and psychology in an accessible, engaging way. Alie is a neuroscientist and senior science writer at the University of Chicago Medicine. Micah is a licensed professional clinical counselor. In our conversation, we talk about the origins of Neuro Transmissions, their philosophy of science communication, and their new book. (This episode is a rebroadcast of Opinion Science #40: "Explaining Brains".)This episode is part of a special podcast series on...
2022-08-1554 minOpinion ScienceSciComm Summer #10: Tim Houlihan & Kurt Nelson - Interviewing Behavioral ScientistsTim Houlihan and Kurt Nelson are the hosts of Behavioral Grooves, which is a wonderful weekly podcast featuring interviews with behavioral scientists and practitioners. For #HotSciCommSummer, I wanted to learn more about how they started their podcast journey, what advice they have for budding podcasters, and what advice they have for academics who are going to be interviewed about their work. This episode is part of a special podcast series on science communication. You can find more info and episodes here: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/hot-scicomm-summer/Learn more about Opinion...
2022-08-0855 minOpinion ScienceSciComm Summer #9: Jesse Thorn - InterviewingJesse Thorn hosts the show "Bullseye" on NPR where he interviews people in arts and culture. A few years ago, he interviewed a bunch of incredible interviewers for his podcast, "The Turnaround." He's just the guy to talk to about the craft of interviewing people of note, which is a skill that's called for in lots of science communication efforts. So I was excited to meet Jesse and get his take on interviewing, including some really great tangible tips. This episode is part of a special podcast series on science communication. You can find more...
2022-08-011h 00Opinion ScienceSciComm Summer #8: Vanessa Bohns - Writing Books as an AcademicVanessa Bohns is a social psychologist at Cornell University, and last year she release a book for the public: You Have More Influence Than You Think. It's a great book about a program of research she's been working on for year. I wanted to talk to Vanessa about what it was like to translate her research into a format that would be useful and digestible for non-academic audiences. We also talk about why a full-time researcher would take on a project like this, how to actually accomplish it, and then what happens when the book is out...
2022-07-2557 minOpinion ScienceSciComm Summer #7: Dan Pink - Writing BooksDaniel Pink is a bestselling author who uses social science research to explore big questions about what it means to be human. He’s written seven books, and his newest one came out last February—The Power of Regret. You can also check out his Masterclass on sales and persuasion. In our conversation, Dan gives a look into his writing process. How does he go from an idea for a book to the final product? And how does he draw on social science along the way? This was a super fun chat—check it out
EI at WorkThe science of opinions with social psychologist Dr. Andy LuttrellIf you’ve debated where covid came from, whether Amber Heard is believable, or who should win a recent election – this is a podcast for you. Polarised opinions seem to be the norm on most things these days. Sometimes these conversations are enlightening and positive. Other times they’re toxic and damaging. So, learning how to express and solicit strong opinions is paramount. Spoiler alert – avoiding them altogether is not the answer. Especially at work. Special guest Dr Andy Luttrell, social psychologist and host of Opinion Science, shares the fascinating science of opinions. Dr Ben Palmer...
2022-06-0932 minOpinion ScienceSciComm Summer #1: Joss Fong - Producing Science VideosJoss Fong is a senior editorial producer at Vox. She produces science videos on a variety of topics, pushing the medium in ever more creative directions to convey interesting and important ideas.We spend a lot of our time talking about her most recent video: "How American conservatives turned against the vaccine"Here are some of the other videos we talked about in this episode:"Does Megalodon still exist? Shark Week debunked"“Are We Automating Racism?” (Glad You Asked series)"The state of gun violence in the US, explained in 18 char...
2022-06-061h 01Opinion ScienceIntroducing "SciComm Summer"Special summer series on science communication! Regular Opinion Science episodes will resume in September.Announcing a special podcast mini-series for the summer focused on social science communication. I wanted to talk to a bunch of people who have become experts at communicating research outside of academia through different forms of media.I also wanted to emphasize the unique challenge of social science communication. I felt that a lot of the popular discussions of science communication have focused on topics like chemistry, biology, astronomy…all important and interesting in their own right. But communicating findings in ps...
2022-05-3003 minOpinion Science#63: Why Polls Matter with G. Elliott MorrisG. Elliott Morris is a data journalist for The Economist. In July 2022, he’s releasing his first book, Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why We Need Them. The book takes a critical look at the history and current use of public opinion polling and the role it plays in democracy. Morris also contributed to The Economist’s 2020 presidential election forecasts. We talk about how he got involved in all of this, sources of error in polling, and the importance of opinion polls.Also in this episode, we hear from Andrew Kozak (@andr...
2022-05-231h 09Opinion Science#62: Persuasion via Emotion with Robin NabiRobin Nabi is a professor of communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She studies how emotional appeals can (and cannot) lead people to change their thoughts and behaviors. She’s published important research on the effects of anger, humor, and guilt, and she’s also developed integrated theories about how emotions can work together in the persuasion process. We talk about all this and more!When we talk about humor and persuasion, we briefly mention Dannagal Young’s prior appearance on the show. To listen to that check out: Episode 19: Political Humor as Persuasion with D...
2022-05-0951 minOpinion Science#61: Moral Conviction with Linda SkitkaLinda Skitka is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She's been studying people's moral convictions--the opinions that we connect to our core sense of moral right and wrong. Two people might agree about universal healthcare, for example, but they might disagree about how much their positions on this issue are drawn from their personal moral compass. Over the years, Linda and her colleagues have found that our opinions take on a different character if we've attached a feeling of moral significance to them. A few things t...
2022-04-2543 minOpinion Science#60: "Unconscious" Bias? with Adam HahnAdam Hahn spends a lot of time thinking about how well people know their own biases. Sure, people often refer to "implicit bias" as social biases that exist unconsciously. But do they really? How strongly can we claim we're unaware of these attitudes and is there any reason to think people can readily tell you what their gut reactions are when they encounter people of different racial, gender, and religious identities? Adam's a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath. A few things that come up in our conversation:
2022-04-1148 minOpinion Science#59: Belief Systems with Mark BrandtMark Brandt studies a bunch of things. He’s an assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. These days, he’s been exploring how we can think about belief systems as a network of interconnected opinions. Using mathematical simulations that specify how people’s opinions can be connected, Mark and his team have been able to establish a core model that explains a bunch of findings from political psychology.Mark also co-organizes a free online seminar, the Minority Politics Online Seminar Series (MPOSS). Check it out for a bunch of great presentations by res...
2022-03-2849 minOpinion Science#58: How Minds Change with David McRaney (ft. Adam Mastroianni)David McRaney is an author and host of the podcast You Are Not So Smart. In June, he’s releasing a new book—How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion (you can pre-order it now). In the book, David goes on a wild journey to understand the mechanics of persuasion. He combines research in psychology with stories of persuasion on the ground to arrive at an understanding of when and why people end up changing their opinions. In our conversation, David shares how he got wrapped up in reporting on social science research, why...
2022-03-1455 minOpinion Science#57: Media, Norms, and Social Change with Sohad MurrarSohad Murrar studies how media and norms affect people's opinions about social groups. Does media representation matter? Can infotainment aimed at reducing misconceptions really work? In this episode, Sohad gives us a glimpse into what the research says, her own experiences consulting with Hollywood creatives, and how conveying social norms can be a potent way of addressing prejudice.Also at the top of the show, you'll hear about a radio program from the 1930s: "Americans All--Immigrants All." You can listen to most episodes of that show at WNYC's archives. Many of the details about the...
2022-02-281h 07Opinion Science#56: Receptiveness to Other Opinions with Julia MinsonJulia Minson studies the psychology of disagreement. In particular, she's been working to understand what sorts of people are receptive to other opinions and how our perceptions of other people's receptiveness can improve conversations. Dr. Minson is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of government.Some things that come up in this episode:StoryCorps and the One Small Step initiative (the clip at the beginning of the episode is from "Family Politics")For a big overview of the kinds of things we discuss, check out...
2022-02-1453 minOpinion Science#55: Stereotypes at the Intersection with Chris PetskoChris Petsko studies which stereotypes come to mind in a given moment. He's a social psychologist and postdoctoral scholar at Duke University. I talk with Chris about his "lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping," which argues that we can only pay attention to one social identity at a time. As a result, the stereotypes that come to mind depend on the one lens through which we're seeing someone at the moment.Things we mention in this episode:Walter Lippman's 1922 book "Public Opinion"Testing a lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping (Petsko, Rosette, & Bodenhausen, 2022)An...
2022-01-3147 minOpinion Science#54: Influence is Your Superpower with Zoe ChanceZoe Chance is an assistant professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management. Prior to Yale, she managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel. In February, she's releasing her first book: Influence Is Your Superpower.In this episode, we talk about Zoe's winding road to becoming a business school professor, the class she teaches at Yale on influence and persuasion, and the insights she shares in her upcoming book. For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/influence-is-your-superpower-with-zoe-chance/Check out...
2022-01-1751 minOpinion ScienceBONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2021)Another year in the books! Sure, there was a lot of wild stuff in 2021--an insurrection, COVID vaccine rollouts, a new president, another installment in the Tiger King franchise...and my daughter was born!But through it all, we had Opinion Science. This year saw a bunch of new listeners, amazing guests, and some ambitious episodes. Your support has meant a lot.So even though I'm a couple weeks behind on this, I wanted put together another "best of" episode, featuring notable moments from the podcast in 2021. As I said in the 2020 "best of" episode...
2022-01-091h 08Opinion Science#53: Influence on the Ground with Brian AhearnBrian Ahearn specializes in applying the science of influence in everyday situations. He is one of only a dozen individuals in the world who currently holds the Cialdini Method Certified Trainer® (CMCT) designation, and he teaches the psychology of persuasion and influence as it applies to sales and other aspects of our lives.He's the author of Influence PEOPLE, which was named one of the best influence books of all time by BookAuthority. He followed that up with Persuasive Selling for Relationship Driven Insurance Agents.Late last year, he released a new book, Th...
2022-01-0349 minOpinion ScienceGiving and Getting Good Gifts [Rebroadcast]This is a rebroadcast of Episode 27: Giving and Getting Good Gifts (December 21, 2020).It’s that time of year when winter holidays send people on a buying spree as they collect gifts to give to every friend, family member, and acquaintance. And you’d think that after so many years of giving gifts for all sorts of holidays, we’d be pretty good at it. Right? Well, not according to research in psychology. In this episode, we explore the psychology of why giving to others is such a good thing to do, and also where gift givers go wrong...
2021-12-2046 minOpinion Science#52: Applying Behavioral Science with Melina PalmerMelina Palmer is founder and CEO of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioral economics consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world. Her podcast, The Brainy Business, has downloads in over 160 countries and is used as a resource for teaching applied behavioral economics for many universities and businesses. In this episode, I talk to Melina about how she got involved in the world of behavioral science, what behavioral economics means to her, and how she goes about applying research in social science to address real challenges in business.You can read...
2021-12-0650 minOpinion Science#51: On Debate with Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, & Noa OvadiaThis episode follows up on the previous episode of Opinion Science about IBM's Project Debater. If you haven't already, be sure to check out that episode.But this week we hear more from Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, and Noa Ovadia--three accomplished debaters. They'll share how they got into debate, what debate means to them, and why the exercise of debate is so important.In the opening section of the episode, we hear a quick clip from social psychologist Richard Petty. And the study I summarize is from a working paper by Peter Schwardmann, Egon Tripodi...
2021-11-2237 min
Podcast#72: Andy Luttrell on Consistent QualityThis is Cognitive Revolution, my show about the personal side of the intellectual journey. Each week, I interview an eminent scientist, writer, or academic about the experiences that shaped their ideas. The show is available wherever you listen to podcasts.Andy Luttrell is the kingpin of a content empire. His work spans from podcasts (Opinion Science) to YouTube (catchy summaries of key psych topics) to online courses (which have been taken tens of thousands of times on platforms such as Udemy) to all sorts of other stuff. He is also—and I suppose this is technically his da...
2021-11-161h 12Cognitive Revolution#72: Andy Luttrell on Consistent QualityThis is Cognitive Revolution, my show about the personal side of the intellectual journey. Each week, I interview an eminent scientist, writer, or academic about the experiences that shaped their ideas. The show is available wherever you listen to podcasts.Andy Luttrell is the kingpin of a content empire. His work spans from podcasts (Opinion Science) to YouTube (catchy summaries of key psych topics) to online courses (which have been taken tens of thousands of times on platforms such as Udemy) to all sorts of other stuff. He is also—and I suppose this is technically his da...
2021-11-161h 12Opinion Science#50: To Persuade is Human?In 2019, IBM introduced the world to Project Debater: an AI system that could go up against humans to debate anything. In this episode, we trace Project Debater’s growth from just an idea to a fully fledged piece of technology and the public debates it’s engaged in. And it raises a bigger question: is persuasion a fundamentally human ability or is it really something that machines are capable of?We hear from IBM engineer and project leaders Noam Slonim, expert debaters Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, and Noa Ovadia, communication neuroscientist El...
2021-11-0850 minOpinion Science#49: Inoculating Against Persuasion with Josh ComptonJosh Compton studies how “inoculating” people against persuasion can make them more resistant to arguments they encounter later. Dr. Compton is an associate professor of speech at Dartmouth and has written a lot about “inoculation theory,” which began (as a theory) back in the 60s with the work of William McGuire. We talk about lots of inoculation theory’s many extensions and applications.Things we mention in this episode:The “virgin-soil epidemic” explanation of disease spread among indigenous people following Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. (See this Atlantic article by Ostler, 2020)Will...
2021-10-2557 minOpinion Science#48: "Selling" Social Science with Daniel PinkDaniel Pink is a bestselling author who uses social science research to explore big questions about what it means to be human. He’s written six books, and a new one comes out in February—The Power of Regret. You can also check out his Masterclass on sales and persuasion. In our conversation, Dan gives a look into his writing process. How does he go from an idea for a book to the final product? And how does he draw on social science along the way? This was a super fun chat—check it out!
2021-10-1151 min
The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral EconomicsThe Science of Opinions, with Dr. Andy LuttrellToday, I am very excited to introduce you to Dr. Andy Luttrell, a social psychologist who has (at least so far) devoted his career to understanding people's opinions. You know I love a good question, and he is mostly curious about those opinions people hold onto really tightly and can't seem to let go of. As he asks on his website, "Why do we hold some views that define us and others that we're happy to change?" Such an interesting topic, and I am excited to let you hear some of his findings on the science of...
2021-10-0845 minOpinion Science#47: Moral Foundations & Political Opinion with Jesse GrahamJesse Graham studies human morality and what it means for our political opinions. He’s an Associate Professor of Management at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. As a graduate student with Jonathan Haidt, he helped develop Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), which has gone on to be a massively influential theory of morality and how it develops. One of Jesse’s key insights was that these moral foundations help explain the divides between liberal and conservative people, which has implications for all kinds of political opinions and pressing topics like political polarization.In...
2021-09-2746 minOpinion Science#46: Polling 101 with Ashley AmayaDr. Ashley Amaya is a senior survey methodologist at Pew Research Center. She has a PhD in Survey Methodology and is an expert when it comes to polling the country’s opinions. Our conversation highlights how the simple polling numbers you see on the news are the results of months—sometimes years—of work.Dr. Amaya shares how Pew recruits and maintains high-quality samples of survey respondents, carefully designs the questions that get asked, and checks their surveys’ demographics against the broader population. We also talk about what consumers should look for when assessing a poll’s l...
2021-09-1344 minOpinion SciencePortraits: "Just Because You Asked" (Vanessa Bohns)In a new occasional series on Opinion Science, Portraits gives a snapshot of insights in social science. This week, Dr. Vanessa Bohns shows us how we're more influential than we give ourselves credit for.Vanessa's new book is You Have More Influence Than You Think. It's available September 7th.To hear the full conversation I had with Vanessa, go back to Episode 21 of Opinion Science: More Influence Than You Realize with Vanessa Bohns.Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.For a ...
2021-09-0612 minOpinion Science#45: How Kids Judge with Larisa HeiphetzLarisa Heiphetz studies how kids think about religion and morality. She’s an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University where she runs the Columbia Social and Moral Cognition Lab. As a new dad, I’ve been thinking about how young kids form opinions—do they even form opinions at all? So I was curious to talk with Larisa about her work on how kids make different kinds of judgments and think about their new social worlds. If your interested in participating yourself (or your young child!) in Dr. Heiphetz’s research, you can sign up for st...
2021-08-301h 00Opinion Science#44: The Contact HypothesisHow can we make the world less prejudiced? Research from the social sciences hints at a promising solution. This week, we do a deep dive on “The Contact Hypothesis”: what it is, how we know it works, and what its limits are.We hear from four experts in this area whose research sheds light on the question:Tom Pettigrew, emeritus professor of psychology at University of California, Santa CruzLinda Tropp, professor of social psychology at University of Massachusetts-AmherstShreya Bhattacharya, economist; PhD from the University of HoustonSalma Mousa, assistant professor of political science at Yale University F...
2021-08-161h 07Opinion Science#43: Values with Greg MaioGreg Maio studies human values. He’s a professor of psychology at the University of Bath in England.* He also co-wrote the popular textbook, The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change, and in 2016, his own book came out called The Psychology of Human Values. In our conversation, he shares his work on what values are and why they’re so important. We talk about when values guide or choices (and when they don’t), how people have a hard time articulating their values, and how we can design interventions around the values that people can come together on.
2021-08-0244 minOpinion Science#42: Thinking with Richard NisbettRichard E. Nisbett has spent his career studying how people think. He is an emeritus professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, and his research has influenced how psychologists think about reasoning, introspection, culture, and intelligence. He has written several important books over his career, including The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why and Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking.His newest book is Thinking: A Memoir.In this episode, Nisbett shares samples of his work relating to our inability to know the inner workings of our own mi...
2021-07-1937 minOpinion Science#41: Taking Social Science into the World with Neil Lewis Jr.Neil Lewis Jr. doesn’t just study social questions—he studies them in the places where they matter. He’s an assistant professor of communication at Cornell University, and he’s interested in social inequities, how they work, and how we can address them. In addition to his own research, he also consults for organizations and contributes to FiveThirtyEight. He was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science in 2019 and won the SAGE Young Scholar award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2020.In our conversation, Neil shares his research on healt...
2021-07-0554 minOpinion Science#40: Explaining Brains with Alie and Micah CaldwellAlie and Micah Caldwell produce the YouTube channel, Neuro Transmissions. Their videos present the basics of neuroscience and psychology in an accessible, engaging way. Alie is a neuroscientist and senior science writer at the University of Chicago Medicine. Micah is a licensed professional clinical counselor. In our conversation, we talk about the origins of Neuro Transmissions, their philosophy of science communication, and their new book.Check your local bookstores for their upcoming book: Brains Explained: How They Work and Why They Work That Way.Some science...
2021-06-2153 minOpinion Science#39: Social Media Polarization with Chris BailChris Bail is a computational social scientist. He wrangles the data that our social interactions leave behind to better understand how ideas spread. He is Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Duke University, where he directs the Polarization Lab. A Guggenheim and Carnegie Fellow, he studies political extremism on social media using tools from the emerging field of computational social science. He is the author of Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make our Platforms Less Polarizing. Things we mention in this episode:Internet bots for go...
2021-06-0749 minOpinion Science#38: American Islamophobia with Nazita LajevardiNazita Lajevardi studies public opinion relating to Muslim Americans. She’s a political scientist and attorney at Michigan State University. In 2020, she published Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia. The book is an extension of her research on public opinion about Muslims in the United States, discrimination faced by Muslim Americans in politics, and the experience of facing these biases. In our conversation, we talk about all these questions and what makes Muslim American identity so tricky to pin down. Note. The brief clip at the top of the show is from Ep...
2021-05-2446 minOpinion Science#37: Influence with Robert CialdiniDr. Robert Cialdini is an internationally recognized expert on the science of influence. His book Influence is one of the most influential business and psychology books of all time, selling over five-million copies worldwide. As a social psychologist, Cialdini has conducted foundational research on compliance, social norms, and helping behavior. But he is perhaps best known for boiling influence down to several key principles.He just released an updated and expanded edition of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and it’s well worth checking out! I was excited to talk with him about th...
2021-05-1058 minOpinion Science#36: Negotiation with Kwame ChristianKwame Christian is an attorney and negotiation expert. He's the director of the American Negotiation Institute where he and his team offer training and consultation for a variety of negotiation needs. He serves as a professor for Otterbein University's MBA program and Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.In his podcast, Negotiate Anything, Kwame talks to experts in negotiation and persuasion to bring insights to a wide audience. In our conversation, he shares that the podcast has been downloaded over 3 million times!He is also the author of the book Finding Confidence in Conflict: How...
2021-04-2643 minOpinion Science#35: Ambivalence with Iris SchneiderDr. Iris Schneider studies the psychology of "ambivalence," which is when we can see both the pros and cons of something. Oftentimes research shows that ambivalence can be problematic, getting in the way of people being able to form a coherent view on something. However, Dr. Schneider suggests that there can be benefits to ambivalence if we're able to see it not as a challenge to overcome but a state to be embraced. Things we mentioned in this episode.For some good general resources for reading about the psychology of a...
2021-04-1241 minOpinion Science#34: Opinions of Ourselves with Ken DeMarreeKen DeMarree studies how opinion science applies how we see ourselves. He’s an associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo. In our conversation, we talk about how opinion science can be used to understand things like self-esteem, how people sometimes desire opinions they currently disagree with, and how some people just tend to be pretty confident in their views. Things we mention in this episode:California’s Self-Esteem Task Force (Guardian; NYT; The Cut)The psychology of strong opinions can help us understand how people see themselves (DeMar...
2021-03-2947 minOpinion Science#33: Liking What Helps You with David MelnikoffDavid Melnikoff studies how our goals affect how we feel about things. When stuff helps us reach a goal, we like it…even if it’s not the kind of thing we’d ordinarily like. In our conversation, we talk about what psychologists mean when they talk about people’s “attitudes,” how goals can affect those attitudes, and why all of this means that people can sometimes come to like immoral people. Things that come up in this episode:What is an “attitude”? (For more on this concept, check out this webpage.)“Ins...
2021-03-1548 minOpinion Science#32: Moralizing and Attention with Ana GantmanDr. Ana Gantman studies how people process moral stuff. She’s an assistant professor at Brooklyn College, and she finds that our attention is often drawn more quickly to morally relevant stimuli in our environment. More recently, she’s been looking into how our moral judgments collide with bureaucracy and how we can use moral psychology to address issues surrounding consent and sexual assault. Things we mention in this episode:The “moral pop-out” effect where moral stuff grabs our attention (Gantman & Van Bavel, 2014; Brady, Gantman, & Van Bavel, 2020)Moral pop-out seems to work li...
2021-03-0145 min