Shows / Why We Do What We Do
Why We Do What We Do
We explain popular and weird, little-known ideas in psychology. Whether you are a little curious about psychology, or a student, or even a professional, we have something for everyone.
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Episodes
- Why We Do What We Do
Understanding Chiropractic
Once again, we have an idea that has mostly been bogged down in the septic tank of pseudoscience. There seems to be some therapeutic benefit to chiropractic…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: That Time Humans Loved Radiation
This is another exploration of bad idea history. At one point, humans got really into consuming and surrounding themselves with irradiated materials. This idea…
- Why We Do What We Do
Fast Fashion
Fast fashion is a business model that emphasizes extremely high volume, cheap clothing designed to only last a short amount of time. This strategy produces an…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Do Our Pets Understand Us?
We have very special relationships with our pets. We usually try to talk to them. Do they understand what we are saying? Do they know their names? We quickly…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Importance of Peer Review
One could argue there are two ways of aggregating knowledge: by guessing or by verifying information. The current system for verifying is by checking one…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Victim vs. Warrior
There is a proposal that there is a dichotomy in human activities (specifically the cognitive ones) that can be characterized as a "warrior" mentality or a…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Psychology of Pain
Pain can be conceptualized physiologically, neurologically, and behaviorally. We review the physiological and neurological components of pain, and then spend…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Magic Eye
Autostereograms, better known as "Magic Eye" puzzles, are a unique 2D art in which repeated images create a 3D image, but you have to focus your eyes in just…
- Why We Do What We Do
Punk Rock Legacy
Large musical movements are large cultural movements. Rap, rock, country, and other genres often galvanized or reflected social changes and values. Punk rock…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: What is a Repertoire?
We often talk about what students can do by referring to their repertoire. But what does it mean to refer to their repertoire? A lot of philosohpy in one…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Board Games
Has it been so long? Abraham discusses his favorite discussion topic: Board games! Also ,there's been new research since that that further supports that board…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Restless Leg Syndrome
Do you ever feel an nearly uncontrollable urge to move your legs? If you do, you probably still don't have RLS, but it may be worth getting tested for a…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Paraphilia Episode
SEX! Now that we have your attention, this episode reviews some of the paraphilias that exist. More importantly, we try to understand with a compassionate and…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: What is "Learning?"
You would think we would want a full length for this topic. Maybe we still will do one! But for now, we figured we can at least help clear up some…
- Why We Do What We Do
Jonestown pt. 2
This second part completes the story of the tragedy of the murders at Jonestown. In addition, we expand on this conversation by unpacking the mentality of the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Backseat Driving
We all hate it. Yet, some of us do it. We talk about why people do it, how recipients perceive it, and how passenger commentary/critique/analysis affects…
- Why We Do What We Do
Jonestown pt. 1
One of the largest mass murders of American citizens in history took place in 1978 in Guyana at the hands of cult leader, Jim Jones. This discussion delves…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Nail Biting
Do you bite your fingernails or know someone who does? Why do we do this weird, self-destructive thing? What can we do to stop it? We quickly explore the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Tipping Point
Tipping is another oddly American tradition that we all pretty universally hate. Perhaps you did not know that the modern conception of tipping arose during…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Learned Helplessness
Some people use this term incorretly, some don't know it at all. To help get everyone on the same page, we are going to review the history of research that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Reframe: A Framework to Developing a Compassionate Care Instructional Model (With Special Guests)
Special guests Jennifer Farris, Meg Solomon, and Dr. Mari Cerda join us to talk about their new book about developing a compassionate care model. They outline…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Skeptical All Day
Can you walk around being skeptical all day long? At what point do you need to let your guard down? We suggest that not only can you go about your day being…
- Why We Do What We Do
Head Go Bonk: Bad
There is a unique type of brain trauma that destroys lives and cuts them short and we can't even tell that it has happened until after your death. Chronic…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Why We Twitch
Sometimes we have some random twitches that develop out of nowhere. What is going on with these? Why do they happen? And, what can we do about it? We explore…
- Why We Do What We Do
Replacement Theory
Replacement theory is essentially a propaganda campaign engineered to scare gullible people into giving power to autocrats. Versions of this have been around…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Placebo Controls for Vaccines
One of the most common strategies of current right-wing propaganda is to say something that sounds like reasonable words, but when you break it down it is…
- Why We Do What We Do
Golden Goose Awards
Science is not perfect, because it is human. But it is strives for correction, unlike almost any other human institution or endeavor. Much of what science does…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Scoville Scale
The Scoville scale is a method for measuring the heat of capsaicin-laden food. This is the amount of sugar water needed to entirely dilute the spice. But, we…
- Why We Do What We Do
Makeup
Lots of people smear colored dyes into the skin of their face almost every day. It's so commonplace, we hardly give it a second thought. We explore the history…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Science Cheat-Prevention
A trending strategy to bolster the interpretation of scientific results is to "pre-register" a study. This is publicly declaring your methods and data analysis…
- Why We Do What We Do
The End is Nigh!
We are all gonna die! Some day :) Top 10, or 12 or something times that humans incorrectly predicted the end of the world! People have been doing this for a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stuck in a Music Rut
Music is an important part of many people's childhood. Early, we start soaking up everything we hear and give equal opportunity to select the things we'll…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Masturbation (The Original DIY)
Years ago we talked about the science of masturbation (yes, ther's a science). Amazingly, there are some updates in the research on masturbation, so we decided…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) used to be escalating toward crisis. However, a public health campaign was able to effectively influence behaviors and…
- Why We Do What We Do
Autism Rising
There have been some wildly inaccurate claims in the news lately about autism and autistic people. There is a specific political agenda making the case that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Catch 'em Being Good
Facilitating prosocial behavior is something humans have struggled with for a long time. We unfortunately discovered that coercion was effective at directing…
- Why We Do What We Do
Privatize This!
A lot of engenuity has come out of various human endeavors over time. One system by which invention is motivated is the competition of capitalism. Thus, many…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Airplane Boarding
Airlines have tried various methods to herd people onto a plane efficiently. Governing a lot of moving people is tricky. Which methods work to get people…
- Why We Do What We Do
Teaching Literacy pt 2
Last episode we spent a lot of time discussing some history about text-based communication in general, so we barely touched on the concepts you would need to…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Middle Names
How many names do you have? In America, it is very common to have three names, with the second name, called the "middle name," being a way to honor family, or…
- Why We Do What We Do
Teaching Literacy pt 1
We are giving away the secret sauce. This is how to teach reading in Enlighs and how to do it efficiently. It's the rare trifecta of quick, cheap, and good…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Release the Hostage
The idea of holding someone hostage had to start somewhere. Actually, it started much more peacefully than what it evolved into. This episode is an exploration…
- Why We Do What We Do
Journalism vs. the World
Special guest, journalist Ben Miller, joins us to talk about journalism compared to other forms of "news" and the importance of journalism to a functioning…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stress Balls
Everyone knows these squishly, novelty door prizes. Stress balls are touted as being able to help reduce your stress via the mechanical action of squeezing. Do…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Benefits of Massage
A lot is made of the potential benefits of massage. Unfortunately, the camp has established firm roots to a lot of other pseudoscience. There seems to be…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Author Book-Signings
A signed copy of a first edition book might fetch you a high price down the road. But why? How does a signature increase the resale value of a book when it…
- Why We Do What We Do
Unhoused pt. 2
Our second discussion regarding houselessness we finish our review of some of the myths of houselessness as well as some potential solutions. It is a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Fake News
Fake news is a triple threat for manipulating an audience. Boiled down, it is essentially a propaganda technique. We quickly expoore fake news, how it works…
- Why We Do What We Do
Unhoused pt. 1
There are a lot of ideas, hypothesis, opinions, and judgements about the issue of houselessness (formerly known as homelessness, sorry RV dwellers). However…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Predictor of Future Behavior
Conventional wisdom is often wrong One maxim in particular asserts that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Given that every opportunity to…
- Why We Do What We Do
Daylight Saving Time
We all just endured slogging through yet another ritual of the mysterious tradition of "daylight saving time." This unloved, uniquely bitartisan practice has…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Brain Freeze
Do you impulsively consume smoothies, slushies, or ice cream at a speed that gives you a cold headache? We do. We were wondering what is going on with…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Imposter Syndrome
We originally published this episode February 26, 2020. Today we revisit with some updated research. Listen in to brush up on your imposter syndrome knowledge…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Amuse-Bouche
A mini episode seems like th perfect venue for this mini food. This is a very elite/priviliged way to think about food as it is supposed to relate to food…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Paradox of Tolerance
The paradox of tolerance is a philosphical thought experiment inspired in part by a curiosity about what gave rise to Hitler. The inquiry extrapolates what…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Variables That Influence Behavior
Do thoughts cause behavior? A common question about behavior is how we understand the variables of behavior to be external if we can observe our own internal…
- Why We Do What We Do
DEI
The current trend to discontinue and dismantle DEI motivated us to look into this suddently controversial issue. DEI will be another corpse on the pile of…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Musings and Prognostications 3: Goodbye Farms
Yet another check-in with the nightmare fuel that is the news. We consider the ramifications of cutting programs that prevent disease from spreading and keep…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Do Babies Recognize Good & Evil?
This classic episode revisits some old "research" attempting to assess the inherent morality of humans found in the gaze of babies looking at puppets. If that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Frisson: Musical Shivers
Do you get goosebumps and shivers when you hear certain songs? There is a name for this experience: frisson. We discuss frisson and what psychological…