Explore every episode of the podcast Stanford Psychology Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| 162 - Adam Benforado: How prioritizing kids benefits us all | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:50:35 | |
In today’s episode, Adani chats with Adam Benforado, a lawyer, writer, and professor at Drexel University’s Kline School of Law. Adam’s research, teaching, and advocacy are focused on children’s rights and criminal justice, and he brings insights from the mind sciences—most notably cognitive psychology—to law and legal theory. In this conversation, Adam tells us about his latest book, A Minor Revolution: How Prioritizing Kids Benefits Us All, laying out the multifaceted, complex context around children’s rights and parental authority in the U.S. Adam also shares how he first got to work on the issues he now champions and what his future vision is, for children and society more broadly. Adam’s website: https://www.adambenforado.com/ Adani’s website: https://www.adaniabutto.com Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod Stanford Psychology Podcast - Newsletter for the official Stanford Psychology Podcast! Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| 161 - Yuan Chang (YC) Leong: Emotional arousal & dynamic brain connectivity | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:40:58 | |
Su chats with Dr. Yuan Chang (YC) Leong. YC is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. He is the director of Computational Affective and Social Neuroscience Lab, which is a part of the Department of Psychology, a member of the Institute of Mind and Biology and the Neuroscience Institute, and an affiliate of the Data Science Institute. His research explores the neural and computational mechanisms underlying how goals, beliefs, and emotions influence human cognition, with a focus on why people interpret and respond to identical situations in different ways. In today's episode, we discuss what’s on YC intellectual radar these days, alongside with his recent paper "Dynamic brain connectivity predicts emotional arousal during naturalistic movie-watching," in which they show that we can decode arousal with open movie fMRI datasets. YC’s paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40215238/ YC’s lab website: https://mcnlab.uchicago.edu/ YC’s personal website: https://ycleong.github.io/ Su’s Twitter @sudkrc Su’s Bluesky @sudkrc.bsky.social Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Bluesky @stanfordpsypod.bsky.social Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| 152 - Laura Schulz: The journey of becoming a cognitive scientist and what babies and children have taught us about their cognition (REAIR) | 09 May 2025 | 01:00:27 | |
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: @BellaFascendini Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| Quick Announcement | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:00:53 | |
We now have a Substack! https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com | |||
| 62 - Carol Dweck & Matt Dixon: The Neuroscience of Intelligent Decisions | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:50:22 | |
Eric chats with Carol Dweck and Matt Dixon. Carol is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford, world-renowned for her work on fixed and growth mindsets. Her nearly 40-page long CV could not possibly be summarized here and includes prestigious awards such as the Yidan Prize for Education Research and the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association. Matt is a postdoc at Stanford working with Carol and James Gross. He studies the psychological and biological basis of motivation, decision-making, and emotion regulation strategy use in healthy and clinical populations. In this episode, Carol and Matt discuss their recent paper on the neuroscience of intelligent decision-making. Have we misunderstood – and underestimated – the role of the amygdala? Is our prefrontal cortex as important as we think? What even makes a decision intelligent? Throughout the chat, Carol and Matt propose a new conceptualization of intelligence that includes human motivation, not just abstract problem-solving skills. Eric asks them about clinical applications and how their work casts a more positive, a more understanding light on why adolescents are the way they are. Finally, they share advice for young scholars. 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: Paper: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Frev0000339 Eric's website | |||
| 61 - Chaz Firestone: Melting Ice With Your Mind | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:42:58 | |
Joseph chats with Chaz Firestone, Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Chaz’s lab studies how we see and think, and how seeing and thinking interact to produce sophisticated behavior. Recent projects in his lab have explored how our minds generate physical intuitions about the world, and other foundational questions about the nature of perception. Chaz has been named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, and this year was awarded the Stanton Prize by the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, which recognizes one young scholar who has made significant contributions to research at the intersection of psychology and the philosophy of mind. In this episode Chaz talks about his recent publication in Psychological Science titled "Melting ice with your mind: Representational momentum for physical states”. The study found that participants who viewed objects undergoing state changes (e.g., ice melting, logs burning) remember them as more changed than they actually were. Chaz discusses the implications of these findings for our theories of event perception and memory. | |||
| 60 - Robb Willer: Why Your Political Enemy Is Not as Violent as You Think | 25 Aug 2022 | 00:53:16 | |
Eric chats with Robb Willer, Professor of Sociology, Psychology, and Organizational Behavior, and the Director of the Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford University. Robb is also the co-Director of Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. He studies social forces that bring people together (such as morality and altruism), forces that divide them (such as fear and prejudice), and domains of social life that feature the complex interplay of the two (such as hierarchies and politics). Robb has published in top journals across different fields, and his lab’s work has been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, Vox, and Washington Post. In this episode, Eric chats with Robb about his latest work on false meta-perceptions. This line of work suggests something counter-intuitive: Democrats and Republicans might overestimate how violent the other party is. Such misguided perceptions can become self-fulfilling: each party risks reacting with violence to the overly violent picture they have painted of the outgroup. Robb also shares how he knows what research ideas to pursue and what other projects he is excited about these days. Finally, he talks about his less-than-straightforward journey into psychology and gives advice on how to teach psychology in a fun and engaging way. Links: Robb's Paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2116851119 Eric's website | |||
| 59 - Kevin Binning: How to Foster Equity in College Science Courses | 18 Aug 2022 | 00:49:06 | |
Anjie chats with Dr. Kevin Binning, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Kevin studies diversity and equity in education, with the aim to both understand and improve pressing societal problems. 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: Kevin’s paper on ecological intervention: Binning, K. R., Kaufmann, N., McGreevy, E. M., Fotuhi, O., Chen, S., Marshman, E., ... & Singh, C. (2020). Changing social contexts to foster equity in college science courses: An ecological-belonging intervention. Psychological Science, 31(9), 1059-1070. Kevin’s website: https://sites.pitt.edu/~kbinning/ Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod | |||
| 58 - Susan Fiske: A Life of Studying Diversity and Stereotyping | 11 Aug 2022 | 00:50:45 | |
Eric chats with Susan Fiske, Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology and Professor of Public Affairs at Princeton University. Susan is one of the world’s leading scholars studying social cognition, having written more than 400 articles and chapters as well as several books, including Envy Up, Scorn Down, and The Human Brand. She has won more awards than could possibly be listed, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the APA Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award. Susan’s biography is currently being highlighted in the 40 Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine exhibit at the National Academy of Sciences, to which she was elected in 2013. In this episode, Eric asks Susan about her latest work on how diverse environments paradoxically make us see different ethnic groups as more, not less similar. In the second half of the chat, Susan reveals why she brings exotic chocolate to lab meetings and how to find a research idea worth pursuing. She talks about her complicated journey into academia and how she developed her influential stereotype content model. She discusses the importance of female role models and the obstacles women face in academia. As if that is not exciting enough, she even gives dating advice! Links: Susan's paper on stereotype dispersion: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2000333117 Eric's website | |||
| 57 - Moira Dillon: Commonsense Psychology in Human Infants and Machines | 04 Aug 2022 | 00:42:26 | |
Bella chats with professor Moira (Molly) Dillon. Molly is an assistant professor in the department of psychology at New York University, where she directs the Lab for the Developing Mind. Molly and her lab use cognitive, developmental, and computational approaches to study infant cognition, including the early emerging knowledge about objects, people, and places; symbolic thought and reasoning in geometry and logic; pictorial and linguistic production, and the relation between human cognition and machine intelligence. In this episode, we discussed Molly's new research on commonsense psychology in human infants and how this research helps advance our understanding of machine intelligence. Be ready to be amazed by what human infants are capable of understanding and doing. WE NOW HAVE A SUBSTACK! Stay up to date with the pod and become part of the ever-growing community :) https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Links Bella's website Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod Let us know what you thought of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| 56 - Daniel Gilbert: Stumbling Into Psychology | 28 Jul 2022 | 00:50:20 | |
Eric chats with Dan Gilbert, Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Dan is captivated by a single fact—the world is not as it appears—and he uses science to uncover the illusions people have about the world, themselves, and each other. He is a contributor to Time, The New York Times, and NPR's All Things Considered, and in 2014 Science named him one of the world’s 50 most-followed scientists on social media. His TED talks have been seen by more than 15 million people and remain among the most popular of all time. His popular book, Stumbling on Happiness, spent 6 months on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over a million copies worldwide.
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| 55 - Jordan Starck: How University Diversity Rationales Inform Student Preferences and Outcomes | 21 Jul 2022 | 00:47:11 | |
Joseph chats with Dr. Jordan Starck. Jordan is an IDEAL Provostial Fellow at Stanford University. His research focuses on the reasons organizations embrace diversity, examining the psychological factors shaping people’s preferred approaches and the downstream consequences of different approaches. In this episode they chat about diversity. What reasons do entities like universities give for proclaiming to embrace diversity and inclusion? To what extent do these reasons correspond to educational outcomes?
*We are currently conducting a survey to get to know our listeners better and to collect any feedback and suggestions so we can improve our podcast. If you have 1 minute, please click the link here to submit your anonymous response: https://forms.gle/dzHqnWTptW8pSVwMA. Thank you for your time and support! | |||
| 54 - Mina Cikara: Hate Crimes Against Minorities | 14 Jul 2022 | 00:37:50 | |
Eric chats with Mina Cikara, Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, where she directs the Intergroup Neuroscience Lab. The lab uses social psychological and cognitive neuroscience approaches to study how group membership and prejudice change the course of social cognition, studying phenomena such as schadenfreude, empathy, and dehumanization. Mina’s work has been covered in outlets such as the New York Times and Time Magazine. | |||
| 151 - Robert Hawkins: Language, Collaboration, and Social Reasoning | 24 Apr 2025 | 00:50:10 | |
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 Misha's website: https://www.mishaokeeffe.com/ Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| 53 - Mimi Liljeholm: The Neuroscience of Agency, Learning, and How It Helps Us Understand AI | 07 Jul 2022 | 00:56:42 | |
Bella chats with professor Mimi Liljeholm. | |||
| 52 - Jay Van Bavel: The Power of Us | 30 Jun 2022 | 00:45:33 | |
Joseph chats with Dr. Jay Van Bavel, an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at the New York University. His research examines how collective concerns namely group identities, moral values, and political beliefs—shape the mind, brain, and behavior. In this episode we chat about his new book titled “The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony”. You can also find him in on twitter @jayvanbavel To learn more about Jay’s research you can visit his lab website, the Social Identity and Morality Lab: https://www.jayvanbavel.com/lab | |||
| 51 - Elika Bergelson: How Babies Learn Words | 23 Jun 2022 | 00:43:50 | |
Anjie chats with Dr. Elika Bergelson. Elika is a Crandall Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Her research aims to understand the interplay of processes during language acquisition. In this episode, Elika shares a recent perspective piece titled: “The comprehension boost in early word learning: Older infants are better learners”. Elika talks about how babies learn words, and how researchers get to know what babies know. You can read the article we discussed here: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdep.12373 To learn more about Elika’s research, you can visit her lab’s website: https://bergelsonlab.com/ or follow them on twitter @bergelsonlab).
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| 50 - Michael Kraus: The US Is More Unequal Than You Think | 16 Jun 2022 | 00:48:56 | |
Eric chats with Michael Kraus, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management. Michael’s lab studies what behaviors and emotions maintain and perpetuate economic and social inequality in society. Michael’s research has appeared in Psychological Review, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. In this episode, Michael talks about his recent work on how much US-Americans overestimate how equal their country is. For example, why are some people motivated to deny the vast wealth inequality between Whites and African Americans? Michael then shares how he has successfully intervened to make people’s estimates somewhat more accurate. Finally, Eric asks Michael about advice for young researchers and how he comes up with interesting research ideas. If that is not exciting enough, Michael even performs a power analysis live on the podcast! But not of the statistical kind… | |||
| 49 - Kurt Gray: Understanding Moral Disagreement | 09 Jun 2022 | 00:52:37 | |
Joseph chats with Dr. Kurt Gray about what drives our moral judgments, how we reason about the morality of non-human agents, the factors underlying moral disagreement and how we can bridge partisan animosity. Dr. Gray is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he runs the Deepest Beliefs Lab and the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding. His lab investigates people’s deepest beliefs and why they matter for society and organizations. | |||
| 48 - Nicholas Coles: Asking Big Question with Big-team Science | 02 Jun 2022 | 00:39:30 | |
Anjie chats with Dr. Nicholas Coles. Nicholas is a Research Scientist at Stanford University, the co-director of the Stanford Big Team Science Lab, and the Director of the Psychological Science Accelerator. He conducts research in affective science, cross-cultural psychology, and meta-science. | |||
| 47 - David Dunning: The Psychology of Trust and Unwarranted Cynicism | 26 May 2022 | 00:47:02 | |
Eric chats with David Dunning, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where he directs the Self and Social Insight Lab. The lab studies questions such as how well do people know themselves–and their competence and character? How and when do people successfully engage in self-deception? How good are people as amateur psychologists–trying to anticipate the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others? Most famously, Dave has worked on what is called the Dunning Kruger Effect, where the least competent individuals in a domain tend to be the most overconfident in their skills. In this episode, Eric chats with Dave about trust. Who do we trust? How accurate are we in assessing another’s trustworthiness? Why do we sometimes trust people we think to be selfish? Why do we distrust people who are actually kind? What does trust have to do with respect? Is our kindness actually driven be negative, not positive emotions? Finally, Dave shares how to find a research idea worth pursuing and gives general advice for young academics curious about a career in psychology. | |||
| 46 - Marlone Henderson: The Burden and Benefits of Scheduling Time for Charity | 19 May 2022 | 00:46:41 | |
Joseph chats with Dr. Marlone Henderson about how people think about the burdens and benefits of giving time to charity. They also talk about people’s moral evaluations of volunteering and how journal guidelines may incentivize production of theoretical versus practical research. Dr. Henderson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. His research aims at understanding the role that basic cognitive processes play in promoting social harmony in the domains of social conflict, social judgment and prosocial behavior. Henderson, M. D., Jung, H., M Baker, E., & Wakslak, C. J. (2021). Anticipated effort and morality of segregated versus aggregated volunteering. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 34(5), 611-624 | |||
| 45 - Tiffany Brannon: Moving Toward More Inclusive Institutions through "Pride and Prejudice" | 12 May 2022 | 00:48:09 | |
Anjie chats with Dr. Tiffany N. Brannon, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at UCLA. She directs Culture and Contact Lab. Her research examines socio-cultural identities in negatively stereotyped groups such as African-Americans and Latino-Americans; and she investigates the potential for these identities to serve as a psychological resource— one that can facilitate a variety of individual and intergroup benefits. In this episode, we discuss her recent article titled “Pride and Prejudice” Pathways to Belonging: Implications for Inclusive Diversity Practices Within Mainstream Institution”. We also chat about what insights qualitative methods could bring us. | |||
| 44 - Lasana Harris: Moving Beyond Stereotypes When Encountering Strangers | 05 May 2022 | 00:53:34 | |
Joseph chats with Dr. Lasana Harris about how using traits rather than stereotypes when thinking about strangers can help combat social bias. They also address questions like when is it useful to make a situational versus a dispositional attribution, what are the differences between social and personality psychology, and some advice for academics entering psychology.
Dr. Harris’ personal website: https://lt-harris.info/ | |||
| 150 - Kendrick Kay: Large-scale fMRI Datasets and What to Consider | 10 Apr 2025 | 00:37:45 | |
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:
Kendrick’s website: http://cvnlab.net | |||
| 43 - Henrike Moll: The Nuances of Theory of Mind - How Young Children Understand Others' Perspectives and Beliefs | 28 Apr 2022 | 00:42:33 | |
Bella chats with Dr. Henrike (Henny) Moll. Henny is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, where she directs the Minds in Development lab. Henny's primary research focus lies in children's understanding of perspectives and their ability to engage in joint attention. She studies how infants and young children come to understand the world and the role that others play in introducing them to the world. Her studies are informed by insights from philosophy of mind, education, and anthropology. In this episode, we discussed Henny's research on theory of mind, young children's perspective taking, especially when other people's beliefs clash with their own beliefs or with reality, and how the concept of experiential record plays an important role in children's ability to understand other people's beliefs. Henny also shared the lab's future directions and some exciting upcoming projects. *We are currently conducting a survey to get to know our listeners better and to collect any feedback and suggestions so we can improve our podcast. If you have 1 minute, please click the link here to submit your anonymous response: https://forms.gle/dzHqnWTptW8pSVwMA. Thank you for your time and support! | |||
| 42 - Anuj Shah: Knowledge of Strangers and Community Policing | 21 Apr 2022 | 00:51:04 | |
Joseph speaks with Prof. Anuj Shah about a lab experiment on social perceptions, in particular how when we learn a few details about a stranger, we seem to feel like they know and understand us too. They also talk about a field experiment in the New York City housing developments which affected social perceptions and was linked to lower rates of crime after people were provided with some details about neighborhood police officers. Anuj is an associate professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. His research uses psychology and behavioral science to examine social issues such as poverty, youth violence, and crime. Anuj’s personal website: http://theslab.uchicago.edu/anuj/ | |||
| 41 - Vanessa Bohns: You Have More Influence Than You Think | 14 Apr 2022 | 00:50:31 | |
Eric chats with Vanessa Bohns, social psychologist and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University. Vanessa studies how people influence one another, and how they can underestimate how much influence they really have. Vanessa has been a Visiting Scholar at the NYU Stern School of Business and has taught at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. | |||
| 40 - Ashley Thomas: How Children Use Saliva Sharing to Infer Close Relationships | 07 Apr 2022 | 01:07:53 | |
Joseph and Ashley talk about how infants, toddlers and children think about social relationships, how they track who is connected and how they are connected, what we can learn about children from studying animal behavior, and how children in other cultures might think differently about social relationships. | |||
| 39 - Robert Rosenthal: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies And The Pygmalion Effect | 31 Mar 2022 | 01:30:17 | |
Eric chats with Robert Rosenthal, Professor of Psychology at University of California Riverside. Bob is the former Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard. Bob has gained worldwide fame for his work on self-fulfilling prophecies: “When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur.” | |||
| 38 - Angie Johnston: How Studying Dogs (!) Helps Us Understand Human Social Learning | 24 Mar 2022 | 00:44:58 | |
In this episode, Anjie chats with Dr. Angie Johnston, who is currently an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College, where she directs the Canine Cognition Center and Social Learning Laboratory. Her works take a comparative approach: comparing human learning to domestic dogs’ learning, as a way to examine which aspects of human learning are unique and which are shared among species. In this episode, we are going to talk about one of her recent works that try to answer a question that many dog owners may have: why does my dog sometimes look back at me? You can check out the paper we discuss here: Johnston, A. M., Chang, L. W., Wharton, K., & Santos, L. R. (2021). Dogs (Canis familiaris) prioritize independent exploration over looking back. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 135(3), 370. To learn more about Angie’s research, you can visit her personal website and her lab’s website. She is also on Twitter as @AngieMJohnston
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| 37 - Molly Crockett: Moral Outrage, Trust During Covid, And Incentives in Academia | 17 Mar 2022 | 00:54:52 | |
Eric chats with Molly Crockett, Associate Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Molly studies how people make moral decisions, both in the lab and in everyday life. Their lab’s research has won numerous awards around the world, and Molly will be moving their lab to Princeton University in summer 2022.
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| 36 - Gillian Sandstrom: Talking to Strangers | 10 Mar 2022 | 00:47:18 | |
Kate chats with Gillian Sandstrom, a Senior Lecturer in the Psychology of Kindness at the University of Sussex and the Director of the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness. Gillian’s work focuses on the benefits of minimal social interactions with “weak ties” and strangers, and the barriers that prevent people from connecting with others. In this episode, Gillian tells Kate about the misconceptions that prevent people from talking to strangers and the surprising benefits that can come from engaging in fleeting interactions with strangers, even if we will never see them again. Check out Gillian’s paper, Why do people avoid talking to strangers? A mini meta-analysis of predicted fears and actual experiences talking to a stranger, which received an Honorable Mention in the Journal of Self and Identity’s 2021 Best Paper Award, here. You can learn more about Gillian’s exciting research on her website: gilliansandstrom.com. You can also connect with her directly on Twitter @GillianSocial. | |||
| 35 - Diego Gambetta: Trust, Distrust, and Cynicism | 03 Mar 2022 | 00:55:07 | |
Eric chats with Diego Gambetta, social scientist and Carlo Alberto Chair at the University of Turin. Diego has studied topics as diverse as trust, the mafia, and violent extremism. His work has been widely cited around the world. Diego has held past appointments at numerous universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, and Stanford.
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| 34 - Fiery Cushman: The Possibility of Violence | 24 Feb 2022 | 00:47:06 | |
Joseph Outa chats with Professor Fiery Cushman, professor of psychology at Harvard University. Fiery directs the Moral Psychology Research Lab where he investigates how people make decisions in social contexts; he focuses on questions like why and how did punishment evolve, what are the emotional systems that prevent us from doing harm, and how do humans make sense of each other’s behaviors. He received his BA and PhD from Harvard University and has been bestowed with various awards and fellowships including the APA Distinguished Award for Early Career Contributions, the Stanton Prize from the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, just to name a few. He has written over 50 journal articles and is published in prestigious journals like Cognition, Psychological Science and the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), and his research has been continuously funded by organizations such as NSF, the Templeton Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. | |||
| 149 - Jenna Wells: How Micro-Moments of Connection Shape Health and Happiness | 27 Mar 2025 | 00:53:22 | |
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-wells Jenna’s Twitter: @JennaLWells Jenna’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: @EnnaYuxuanChen Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com | |||
| 33 - Jon Jachimowicz: Should You Follow Your Passion? | 17 Feb 2022 | 01:07:02 | |
Eric chats with Jon Jachimowicz, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. Jon studies people’s passion for work, specifically how people can pursue, fall out of, and maintain their passion over time. He also studies how people perceive inequality. Jon has won numerous academic awards and was listed as a Poets & Quants 40 under 40 honoree and Forbes 30 under 30.
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| 32 - Ethan Kross: Why We Talk to Ourselves and How to Make Our Inner Voices Work in Our Favor | 10 Feb 2022 | 00:46:11 | |
Kate chats with Ethan Kross, an award-winning professor of Psychology and Management & Organizations at the University of Michigan, and the director of the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory. Ethan’s research focuses on the inner conversations people have with themselves and the impacts of such conversations on health and well-being. In this episode, Ethan shares insights from his best-selling book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It. Ethan talks about the reasons why we all silently talk to ourselves, explains how our inner conversations can go awry, and shines light on some of the powerful tools we can use to harness our inner voices. Ethan also discusses a new project in which he partnered with curriculum experts to bring the science of the brain and mind into the classroom. Check out Chatter: https://www.ethankross.com/chatter/ Learn more about Ethan and his work: https://www.ethankross.com | |||
| 31 - Tom Gilovich: Judging Individuals, Judging Groups | 03 Feb 2022 | 00:42:52 | |
Eric chats with Tom Gilovich, Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. Tom’s Judgment and Belief Lab studies how people evaluate the evidence of their everyday experience to make judgments, form beliefs, and decide on courses of action. Why do people make seemingly wrong decisions? When do they misread evidence? Tom’s research has been widely cited around the world, and he is the author of multiple books, including The Wisest One in the Room, co-authored with Lee Ross. Paper on inequality
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| 30 - Claudia Haase: Emotion Regulation in Couples | 27 Jan 2022 | 00:40:33 | |
Kate chats with Claudia Haase, Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Claudia’s research examines pathways towards happy and healthy development across the life span with a particular focus on emotions and emotion regulation. In this episode, Claudia shares insights from her work on romantic couples and how they navigate the emotional ups and downs of close relationships. Claudia also offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the methods her lab uses to study couples' interactions and outlines key directions for future research on interpersonal emotion regulation. | |||
| 29 - Axel Cleeremans: The Study of Consciousness, Cognition, and Decision-Making | 20 Jan 2022 | 01:08:09 | |
Bella chats with Prof. Axel Cleeremans, professor of Cognitive Science and research director with the National Fund for Scientific Research at the Free University of Brussels. He directs the Center for Research in Cognition & Neuroscience and leads the Consciousness, Cognition and Computation Group. He is also the field chief editor at the Frontiers in Psychology journal, which by far has the most multi-disciplinary editorial board with more than 11,000 researchers from all over the world. He has given hundreds of talks and has been featured in many TV interviews and the extraordinary science documentary, The Most Unknown on Netflix. In this episode, we discuss Axel's research on consciousness, the seminal philosophical debates on consciousness, and the current challenges and future direction of the field. Axel also shares his experience as a cast member on The Most Unknown. More about the Most Unknown here: https://www.themostunknown.com We would love to hear what you think of this episode, or if you have any other suggestions for guests or topics for our podcast. You can reach us at stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com. You can also connect with us on Twitter @StanfordPsyPod. Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, please consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcast or elsewhere so more people can find us. Thank you so much! | |||
| 28 - Kateri McRae: How Emotions are Generated | 13 Jan 2022 | 00:41:46 | |
Kate chats with Kateri McRae, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Denver and the director of the Automaticity, Affect, Control & Thought Lab. Kateri's work focuses on emotion, cognition, and the interplay between them. In this episode, Kateri shares insights from her recently published quantitative case study of specific phobia for clothing buttons. Kateri also discusses the broader implications of her work for research on the different ways in which emotions can be generated: relatively automatic responses compared to the more "slow-burning" mental processes. Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1077722920300857 | |||
| 27 - David Lagnado: How Causal Reasoning Can Help Us Make Better Judgments and Solve Criminal Cases | 06 Jan 2022 | 00:51:21 | |
Bella chats with Prof. Dave Lagnado, a professor of Cognitive and Decision Sciences in the Department of Experimental Psychology at UCL. Dave's research focuses on how people use causal models to draw inferences and make decisions. He has written over 100 articles and co-authored a textbook on the psychology of decision making. He has worked with US intelligence, the UK government and various legal and financial institutions, looking at methods to improve reasoning and decision making. | |||
| 26 - Richard Wilkinson: Inequality, Health, and Positive Psychology | 30 Dec 2021 | 00:59:45 | |
Marianne and Eric chat with Professor Richard Wilkinson, Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham. Richard is author most recently of the book The Inner Level, and co-founder of The Equality Trust. Eric's website | |||
| 25 - Brian Nosek: The Pursuit of Open and Reproducible Science | 23 Dec 2021 | 00:51:23 | |
Joseph chats with Brian Nosek, co-Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Open Science. The Center's mission is to increase the openness, integrity and reproducibility of scientific research. Brian is also a professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia where he runs the Implicit Social Cognition Lab. Brian studies the gap between values and practices with the goal of understanding why the gap exists, its consequences and how to reduce it. Brian co-founded Project Implicit, a collaborative research project that examines implicit cognition - thoughts and attitudes that occur outside our awareness. In 2015, he was named one of Nature’s 10 and to the Chronicle for Higher Education Influence list. He won the 2018 Golden Goose Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science - only the 2nd time a psychologist has won the award. Brian received his PhD from Yale University in 2002. Paper: Nosek, B. A., Hardwicke, T. E., Moshontz, H., Allard, A., Corker, K. S., Almenberg, A. D., ... & Vazire, S. (2021). Replicability, robustness, and reproducibility in psychological science. | |||
| 24 - Paul Rozin: Improving Psychology | 16 Dec 2021 | 01:06:27 | |
Eric chats with Paul Rozin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Paul is one of the world’s leading experts in a variety of fields, ranging from cultural to moral to social psychology. He has twice been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for 2007. Eric's website | |||
| 148 - Dorsa Amir: How Culture Shapes Cognition | 27 Feb 2025 | 00:35:52 | |
Anjie chats with Dr. Dorsa Amir, an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. She directs the Mind and Culture Lab, where she studies how culture shapes the developing mind. In this episode, Dorsa shares her papers that probe the many ways cultural environments can influence cognitive processes. She outlines a new framework proposing four possible “pathways” by which culture might (or might not) shape cognition. She also shares her own path into cultural psychology, blending anthropology and cognitive science to tackle age-old questions about the human mind. | |||
| 23 - Special Episode: What Is It Like to Get (Paid) Summer Research Experience at CSLI? | 09 Dec 2021 | 00:29:29 | |
Special thanks to participating alumni: Nicholas Wright, College of William & Mary Jiayi Wang, Boston University Jon Saad-Falcon, Georgia Institute of Technology Shayan Hooshmand, Columbia University | |||
| 22 - Kelly McGonigal: Communicating Psychology | 02 Dec 2021 | 00:56:22 | |
Eric chats with Kelly McGonigal, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford who specializes in understanding the mind-body connection. She is the best-selling author of The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress. Her TED talk, "How to Make Stress Your Friend," is one of the most viewed TED talks of all time, with over 27 million views. Kelly’s latest book, The Joy of Movement, explores why physical exercise is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. In January 2020, Oprah Magazine named Kelly the first ever O! Visionary, people whose groundbreaking way of seeing the world mean a better future for us all. Eric's website | |||
| 21 - James Gross: Building Emotion Regulation Skills During the Pandemic and Beyond | 18 Nov 2021 | 00:45:55 | |
Kate chats with James Gross, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab. His work focuses on emotions: What they are, how they unfold over time, and how people regulate them in different contexts. In this episode, James shares insights from a recent study examining the effects of brief emotion regulation interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic across 87 countries. James also discusses the broader implications of his work and talks about how people can learn to work with their emotions instead of fighting against them. | |||