Dr. Helen Joyce is a journalist, mathematician, women’s right advocate, and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. 

In this episode, we talk about Helen’s background in mathematics and transition into journalism, and eventually the so-called gender culture war. We discuss sex differences in personality, why gender nonconformity is normal, and why the transgender debate has turned into such a contentious and politicized topic. We trace this story back to both the complex biology of sex differentiation, and postmodern philosophical problems surrounding identity, and how these decision points become difficult to enshrine into law. We discuss what social and legal norms should be surrounding protected gendered spaces, freedom of speech and pronoun use, intersex populations, libertarianism, and whether adults should be free to choose medical sex reassignment. Helen offers sound and practical advice for individuals wanting to navigate these contentious waters with an open mind, and do right by people when trying to both remain respectful to individuals struggling with gender dysphoria and not invalidate the truths of biological sex.

Dr. Carl Marci is a psychiatrist, Director of the Social Neuroscience Psychotherapy Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and author of Rewired: Protecting Your Brain in the Digital Age. 

In this episode, we discuss how social media and digital technology impact attention span and brain development, what is happening to kids in the digital age, and how advertising companies use neuroscience research to addict their users. Dr. Marci talks about his experience as both a psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, and entrepreneur who has worked with digital broadcasting and technology companies. We talk about the rapid rise of mental health problems, social contagion theory, and why in-person communication is more enriching than online communication (ironically, as we speak on an online platform). Dr. Marci shares his recommendations for developing healthy screen habits and how to turn the fear of missing out into the joy of missing out on digital immersion. 

Dr. Karen Bales is a Professor of Psychology and Neurobiology at UC Davis, and an expert in oxytocin, pairbonding, and the neurobiology of care. 

In this episode we discuss Karen’s background, education, and research on parental care and pairbonding across a wide variety of species including marosets, tamarins, titi monkeys, prairie voles, and seahorses. We discuss the shared evolutionary lineage between humans and other primates, similarities and differences between apes and monkeys, monkey mating and parenting behavior. We then discuss Karen’s experience working with Sue Carter studying oxytocin and the neurobiology of pairbonding in prairie voles, which led Karen to form her own lab at UC Davis studying the oxytocin system in other species. Lastly, we discuss a recent influential study examining the parental behavior of gene-edited prairie voles lacking an oxytocin receptor.

Dr. Sami Yousif is a cognitive psychologist and MindCORE postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode we dive deep into two topics among Sami's wide range of research experiences: spatial cognition and teleological belief. 

We discuss spatial cognition, imagistic vs. propositional vs. coordinate representations of space and navigation, the development of spatial reasoning in children, and how spatial cognition differs between humans and animals.   

We also discuss teleology, or the explanation for the purpose of things, and how teleological beliefs differ across individuals and across framing of questions. In particular, "why" questions may be broken down into either descriptive "how" questions or teleological "purpose" questions.  

Learn more about Sami's work at: https://www.samiyousif.org/

Dr. Adam Green is a cognitive neuroscientist and the Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University, where he directs the Lab for Relational Cognition. He is the Founder and President of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity, and Editor-In-Chief of the Creativity Research Journal. 

In this episode we discuss Adam's expertise in creativity research, the extent to which creativity is innate or can be learned, whether creativity is a unidimensional or multidimensional construct, and how creativity manifests in the brain. We additionally discuss some of Adam's recent and ongoing work on the neuroscience of belief, including how religious believers and non-believers create representations of God. Lastly, we touch on the subject of belief in free will, and whether the brain is truly a deterministic system.

I hope to continue the conversation on free will and neurophilosophy with Adam sometime soon. In the meantime, learn more about his work at: https://cng.georgetown.edu/home

Dr. Megan Peters is a cognitive neuroscientist and an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, where she directs the Cognitive & Neural Computation Lab. 

In this episode we discuss Megan's background in cognitive science, and a research path which allowed her to combine interests in computation with philosophical questions about human subjective experiences. In a wide-ranging conversation we discuss how consciousness and subjective experience might arise from a collection of neurons, the phenomenology of perception, human perception and decision-making under uncertainty, unconscious perceptions, metacognition and confidence about our subjective experiences, and how metacognition differs from error-correction in artificial intelligence. 

Learn more about Megan's work at: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/cnclab/

Dr. Bill von Hippel is an evolutionarily social psychologist and a Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is also the author of The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy. 

In this episode we discuss The Social Leap, a journey through over 6 million years of human evolution: from our moderately intelligent, moderately social chimpanzee-like ancestors, to the hyper-intelligent, hyper-social species we are today. Bill and I discuss a number of revolutions and selection pressures that led to our evolution, including environmental changes, the rise of bipedalism and tool use, long-distance hunting, mastery of fire and cooking, and most importantly, the social intelligence necessary to communicate and cooperate. 

Dr. Nilam Ram is a Professor of Psychology and Communication at Stanford University, and one of the founders of the field of screenomics: the new interdisciplinary field of research based on the time-series analysis of screens and digital behavior. 

In this episode, we discuss Nilam's background in finance and quantitative psychology, the use of longitudinal research methods to examine changes in behavior and cognition throughout the lifespan, and the use of experience sampling methods in developmental science. As smartphones became more pervasive, Nilam describes the rise of mobile sensing methods in psychology, eventually leading to the birth of screenomics. We finally discuss the broad goals and potential applications of screenomics research, including interactive media which predict behavior, and the precautions taken to ensure smartphone data is analyzed with ethical and privacy concerns in mind. 

Dr. Abigail Marsh is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Georgetown University, where she directs the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience. She is also the author of The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between.

In this episode, we discuss Abby's background in social psychology, and a life-changing experience of hers that motivated inquiry into the nature of costly altruism. In a wide-ranging conversation we discuss the neural correlates of empathy (or lack thereof) in psychopaths and altruistic kidney donors, animal research on care and evolutionary theories of empathy, the role of oxytocin in governing care, how social media hijacks our systems of reward and fear, and how mindfulness and in-person interactions may improve trust and well-being. 

Dr. Glenn Fox is a faculty member at the University of Southern California's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, in the Marshall School of Business. His current projects focus on neural systems for emotion regulation, high stakes training, and developing entrepreneurial mindset skills in founders and business leaders. Glenn is also the Director and Founder of the USC Found Well Initiative which aims to understand and promote entrepreneurial mindset in founders and business leaders.

In this episode we discuss Glenn's background bridging neuroscience and business in understanding human decision-making, and the neuroscience behind several traits important for leadership, including emotional resilience, empathy, and gratitude. Additionally, we discuss personality differences in entrepreneurial thinkers and their relation to neuroscience, including the extent to which leadership ability is biological vs. a learned skill. 

Learn more about Glenn's work at: 

https://glennrfox.com/

Follow Glenn on social media:

https://twitter.com/glennrfox?s=20&t=BULakuBbyXxDtY4h577DiQ

https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-r-fox-phd-2418bba1

Dr. Aaron Sell is an evolutionary psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology & Criminology at Heidelberg University with expertise in the evolution of anger, aggression, and hatred. In this episode we discuss how these different emotions are psychologically distinct, their evolutionary adaptiveness, and the "mismatch" between experiencing these emotions in tribal settings and in our modern interconnected world.

Dr. Cedric Boeckx is a biolinguist and Research Professor at the Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Barcelona. In this episode we discuss Cedric's research background, talk about what language is, from a scientific perspective, how it evolved in humans, and how it can be studied through cognitive psychology, computational modeling, and the human fossil record.

Dr. Robert Barton is a Professor of Anthropology at Durham University who studies primate brain evolution and cognition.

Dr. Alexey Tolchinsky is a licensed psychologist and an adjunct professor at the George Washington University. 

In this episode, we discuss Alexey’s clinical experience as a therapist, our shared research interests in neuropsychoanalysis, chaos theory as a way to measure complexity in neuroscience and psychology, narrative fallacy in research, and the importance of specifying the right level of analysis for psychological problems. As case studies we discuss personality traits, anxiety, core affects within basic emotion theory, and their connections to evolutionary psychology and analytic psychology.

Dr. Edward Slingerland is a Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia and author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization. In this episode we talk about his book Drunk and dive into the history of alcohol, its health and societal benefits and costs, competing evolutionary theories as to why humans like alcohol, and how alcohol use changed with the rise of modern distillation technologies. Learn more about Edward's work and find his book at: https://www.edwardslingerland.com/drunk

Dr. Andrew Knoll is the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University, and author of A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters. In this episode, we further condense those four billion years into one introductory-level conversation. Dr. Knoll walks us through Earth's early history and the evolution of life on Earth, his background in geology, and research examining what Earth's early history can tell us about how life evolved. For more in-depth coverage of these topics, see Dr. Knoll's book: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Earth-Billion-Chapters/dp/0062853910

Dr. Nicholas Christakis is a physician, sociologist, network scientist, and Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science, Internal Medicine & Biomedical Engineering at Yale University. He is also the author of numerous books including Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, and Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live. 

In this episode we discuss Dr. Christakis' background in medicine, and his transition into network science: the study of social networks, how they form, change, and interact to shape our behavior. We discuss how network science can be understood both from an evolutionary perspective, as in Blueprint, and in public health, as in Apollo's Arrow. Pandemics are nothing new to humans, and Dr. Christakis argues that we can learn from our evolutionary and historical past in facing COVID-19 and other potential pandemics, and respond to them better than ever if we put such knowledge and our technological advancements to good use. 

Dr. Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist, Professor at the University of Cape Town, and author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. In this episode we discuss Dr. Solms' background in neuropsychology, the overlap between modern neuropsychology and psychoanalysis, and Dr. Solms' early research on dreaming. We then discuss the illusive nature of consciousness, Dr. Solms' central arguments in The Hidden Spring that consciousness is evolutionarily ancient and grounded in feeling, and modern attempts of using quantitative methods to tackle the mystery of consciousness. 

0:00:04 Introduction to Dr. Mark Solms and his interest in consciousness 0:03:22 Dr. Solms' background in psychoanalysis and its influence on his research 0:06:56 The importance of studying subjective states in neuroscience 0:10:48 The shift towards appreciating subjectivity in the field of neuroscience 0:15:20 The study of dreams and their connection to emotion and memory 0:18:58 The transition from studying dreams to studying consciousness 0:22:48 The relationship between feeling and consciousness 0:30:56 Collaboration with Karl Friston and the exploration of consciousness 0:39:27 The emergence of feeling from non-feeling and the study of artificial consciousness 0:46:33 The discussion on panpsychism and the limits of consciousness 1:00:14 The connection between free will, feeling, and probabilistic choices

Dr. Jeremy DeSilva is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College, and author of the book First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human. He is a paleoanthropologist, specializing in the locomotion of the first apes (hominoids) and early human ancestors (hominins). His particular anatomical expertise-- the human foot and ankle-- has contributed to our understanding of the origins and evolution of upright walking in the human lineage.

In this episode we discuss Jeremy's book First Steps and his research on the evolution of human locomotion: from quadruped apes to upright humans. We additionally discuss how paleoanthropologists identify and date fossils, and how the fossil record can be used to understand our evolutionary past. 

Dr. Randy Thornhill is an evolutionary biologist and a Distinguished Professor of Biology Emeritus at the University of New Mexico. He is a pioneering researcher of parasite-stress theory, which describes how pathogens have throughout history shaped our behavior and values. 

In this episode we discuss parasite-stress theory and the behavioral immune system, and how conservative values are cross-culturally associated with regional parasite prevalence. Additionally, we discuss these findings in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and how advancements in sanitation throughout history may have given rise to more liberal ideals. 

Dr. Beth Smith is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California where she directs the Infant Neuromotor Control Laboratory. Dr. Smith's research focuses on the development of neural control of movement during infancy and evaluates interventions for neural and functional development in infants with or at risk for developmental delay.

Dr. Katie Bottenhorn is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California. In this episode we talk about Katie's background in neuropsychology, the methodological aspect of neuroinformatics, and Katie's dissertation research focusing on how hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle impact women's brains. Additionally, we discuss gender imbalances in STEM fields such as neuroscience, and compare large sample neuroimaging studies to deep phenotyping approaches featuring a large number of scans within a small sample. 

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

0:46 - Pursuing psychology and chemistry as an undergrad

3:33 - Neuroimaging vs wet lab neuroscience research

5:47 - Plans for neuroscience grad school

9:13 - STEM gender imbalance and the "leaky pipeline"

11:11 - Katie's transition into methodological research

15:52 - Pursuing data science without a math or computer science background

18:33 - Applying deep phenotyping methodology to studying women's health

20:55 - Dense sampling methods in neuroimaging: more scans, not more participants

24:14 - The replication crisis in neuroimaging

26:11 - Big data neuroscience via large samples vs. deep phenotyping

28:25 - Katie's dissertation work looking at how hormonal fluctuations change women's brains

32:00 - Determining causality in brain and behavior

34:59 - How hormones change brains during puberty

36:46 - Katie's plans for postdoctoral research

Dr. Babak Hemmatian is a cognitive scientist and postdoctoral research fellow at the Beckman Institute of the University of Illinois. His research focuses on using natural language processing techniques to analyze natural discourse, such as social media posts, as they relate to personal and political beliefs. In this episode we discuss Babak's background in computational cognitive science, his PhD research analyzing how Reddit and Twitter users' perspectives on the legalization of gay marriage and marijuana use changed over time, and the ethics of collecting data from social media users. 

Dr. David Geary is a cognitive developmental and evolutionary psychologist and Curators' Distinguished Professor and a Thomas Jefferson Fellow at the University of Missouri. He is an expert in children's mathematical development and the evolution of human sex differences. 

Dr. Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he directs the Human Nature Lab. Dr. Christakis is an MD-PhD physician and sociologist known for applying social network analysis to the study of public health and the evolutionary psychology of cooperation. He is the author of several books including Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.

In this episode Dr. Christakis and I discuss the methods of social network analysis, similarities and differences to game theory and population simulation research, and how cooperation and friendship co-evolved with social cognition. We discuss evolutionary explanations of modern day public health dilemmas including disease spread, obesity, loneliness, and internalizing disorders, as well as their development across the lifespan and cross-culturally. 

Dr. Mark Schaller is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia and one of the pioneering researchers of the behavioral immune system. 

Dr. Rosalind Arden is a behavioral geneticist, Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, and an expert in the study of intelligence. In this episode we discuss the genetic and environmental factors that influence human intelligence, and Rosalind's pioneering work studying intelligence in dogs.

Dr. Arik Kershenbaum is an evolutionary biologist and lecturer at the University of Cambridge with expertise in studying animal communication. In this episode we discuss his book, The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy, and the many universal features of evolution and communication that we might expect to find in alien life. 

Dr. Julia Marshall is a postdoctoral researcher at Boston College, where she studies children's cooperative development, moral development, and desire to punish. In this episode we discuss Julia's background in psychology, how moral values can be studied empirically in children, the developmental factors that lead to the desire to punish and cooperate, and compare children's and adults' prosocial norms. Learn more about Julia's work at: https://www.juliaannemarshall.com/ 

Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:25 - What first got Julia interested in psychology 3:48 - How is morality studied empirically? 6:41 - Are children's moral beliefs innate, or socially constructed? 7:37 - Children and adults have different views on punishment 13:44 - How psychological studies with children differs from studies with adults 16:18 - Sampling bias in psychology research 17:40 - Studying cooperative behavior vs. antisocial behavior 19:57 - Social behavior in humans vs. animals 24:38 - How third-party punishment arises in humans 31:04 - Fairness as expectation of norms 33:15 - Is all prosocial behavior inherently selfish? 38:27 - Conformity vs. following one's conscience 42:51 - How temperament and aggression influence cooperation 46:29 - Julia's current and future research

Dr. Ryan Boyd is a computational social and behavioral scientist at Lancaster University. In this episode, we discuss Ryan's background in psychology, his transition from experimental to computational psychology, and his exposure to natural language processing. Additionally, we discuss how natural language processing research can be used to analyze text and predict personality, behavior, and authorship. Finally, we discuss the ethics of data collection on social media, and forms of data science that may be used to protect privacy. 

Dr. Danbee Kim is the pioneer of field neuroscience: the non-invasive neuroscientific study of animals in their natural habitats. In this episode we discuss Danbee's motivation to create field neuroscience, the amazing neurobiology of cuttlefish, and Danbee's field neuroscience work on cuttlefish and humans for her PhD dissertation. She currently works at the UK-based company NeuroGears, focusing on building collaborative projects that use storytelling and interactive experiences to help people apply scientific methods of understanding to their daily lives. Learn more about Danbee's work and find her graphic novel "The First VIRS" at: http://www.danbeekim.org/

Dr. Brad Duchaine is a Professor of Psychology at Dartmouth College, where he runs the Social Perception Lab. Sarah Herald is a Psychology PhD Student working in the Social Perception Lab. In this episode we talk about the neuropsychology of social perception, facial recognition, and face processing disorders including prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces) and prosopometamorphopsia (PMO; distortions in face perception). Learn more about their research, and get in contact for a research study if you or someone you know has a face processing disorder at: https://lab.faceblind.org/index.html

Dr. Manoj Doss is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University. In this episode we discuss his background in neuropsychopharmacology and his research studying the effects of psychedelic drugs on episodic memory and cognition. 

Dr. Kevin Mitchell is an Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin. In this episode we discuss his background in genetics and neuroscience, the evolution of cognition, and the interplay of genes and environment in shaping human behavior, philosophy of mind, and his book Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are. Learn more about Kevin's work at: https://www.kjmitchell.com/

Dr. Eric Schwitzgebel is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. In this episode we discuss his thoughts on "in-between" beliefs, moral philosophy, and why most theories of consciousness are crazy.

Dr. Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist, Professor at the University of Cape Town, and author of The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. 

In this episode, we discuss The Hidden Spring - core areas within the brainstem which are the root of all feeling and consciousness in all vertebrates - and pioneering discoveries from affective, cognitive, and computational neuroscience that bridge together to build this theory. We discuss connections to philosophy of mind, active inference and predictive processing theories of consciousness, the (im)plausibility of panpsychism, whether memory is necessary for consciousness, the difference between metacognition and consciousness, how brain damage influences consciousness, feeling, and decision-making, whether invertebrates or even single cellular life can learn and possess consciousness, and where cognitive neuroscience has gone astray in being overly reductionist and dismissive of the complexity of animal subjective experience. We also talk about core differences between basic emotion theory, which states that we evolved with core brain systems dedicated to innate qualitatively distinct emotions, and constructed emotion theory, which argues that all emotions are cognitive contextual interpretations of affective valence and arousal. Finally, we discuss Dr. Solms’ early research on dreams, the connection between dreams, memory consolidation, imagination, and problem-solving, and the history and legacy of psychoanalysis in shaping modern neuropsychology.

Dr. David McKemy is a Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California. He is an expert in the neurobiology of pain. 

Dr. Tor Wager is a Professor of Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, where he runs the Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience Laboratory and conducts research on emotion and belief. Learn more about his work at: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/canlab/

Dr. Edward Hagen is a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University. In this episode we discuss the field of anthropology, evolutionary approaches to studying mental health and substance use, and the evolution of leadership.   

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW3g4ElSF3c&lc=UgzzkXB9wQ24E2OZYgx4AaABAg

Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:26 - What is anthropology? 4:51 - How Ed became interested in biological anthropology 7:15 - How anthropologists differ from historians 9:33 - Evolutionary approaches to human behavior 17:00 - Studying mental health through the lens of evolutionary psychology 25:12 - The "mismatch hypothesis" of depression  28:36 - Kin selection 31:51 - Evolutionary medicine and infectious disease 36:09 - The evolution of substance use 40:53 - The paradox of drug addiction 43:02 - Why adults like bitter flavors 44:43 - Why some animals deliberately consume toxins 52:04 - Just the right amount of toxin 54:45 - Evolving the enjoyment of drug use 1:00:20 - How humans discovered complex drugs 1:02:00 - The evolution of leadership

Dr. Oriel FeldmanHall is a social affective neuroscientist and an Assistant Professor at Brown University, where she studies the neural basis of human social behavior, with a focus on morality, altruism, and socio-emotional decision-making. Learn more about Oriel's work at: http://www.feldmanhalllab.com/

In this episode we discuss Oriel's background in psychology, her research on moral decision-making and altruism, and how these subjective constructs are operationalized and measured in neuroscience. We also discuss her current and future work of studying the neural basis of social cognitive mapping. 

Dr. William Ngiam is a cognitive neuroscientist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago, where he studies visual working memory. Learn more about his work at: https://williamngiam.github.io/

In this episode we discuss William's background in neuroscience, the neural mechanisms behind visual working memory, and what cognitive psychology tells us about the philosophy of perception. Additionally, we discuss William's involvement in the open science movement and the reproducibility crisis in science, better termed the "credibility revolution." 

Dr. Richard Tremblay is an Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Psychology at the University of Montreal and one of the world's leading experts on childhood aggression. In 2017 he received the Stockholm Prize in Criminology for his work on studying the developmental origins of aggression in children and his intervention studies meant to improve the developmental trajectories of delinquent children.

In this episode we discuss Dr. Tremblay's background in psychology and his large-scale longitudinal studies of the development of aggression in children which showed that aggression is most frequent in toddlers, and declines with age. We additionally discuss his use of twin studies to examine what proportion of aggression is due to genetic vs. environmental factors, sex differences in aggression, environmental risk factors for criminality, and interventions which can be made to improve developmental trajectories in high-risk children. 

Dr. Johnna Swartz is an Assistant Professor of Human Development at the University of California, Davis. Learn more about her research at: https://swartzlab.faculty.ucdavis.edu/

In this episode we discuss Johnna's background in psychology and neuroscience, her ongoing research examining the neural correlates of depression in adolescents cross-culturally, and what neuroscience teaches us about mental health. 

Dr. Michael Serra is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Texas Tech University. Learn more about his research in the Learning and Metacognition Lab here: http://webpages.acs.ttu.edu/mserra/ 

In this episode we discuss the cognitive and neural basis behind learning and memory, Michael's work researching metacognition in the context of education, and what cognitive psychology teaches us about how to be better learners. 

Dr. Jakub Szymanik is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation at the University of Amsterdam. 

In this episode we discuss natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and Jakub's research on forms of linguistic cognition such as quantifiers and categorical reasoning. 

Dr. Katie Gordon is a licensed clinical psychologist, co-host of the Psychodrama Podcast, and the author of The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook. Learn more about her work and find her book and podcast at: https://kathrynhgordon.com/ 

In this episode we discuss Katie's background in clinical psychology, her work as a therapist, suicide prevention, and tips for managing mental health.  

Timestamps:  0:00 - Introduction 0:59 - How Katie became interested in clinical psychology 2:37 - Introduction to psychology research 4:35 - Working in a mental hospital before grad school 5:37 - How to manage one's own emotions when working with suffering patients  7:24 - The types of patients Katie works with 9:06 - Nature vs. nurture in mental illness 13:23 - Therapy's role in society 15:39 - Tools from therapy that everyone can use in their relationships  17:40 - What progress looks like in therapy 21:04 - Teaching patients to solve problems rather than solving their problems 22:21 - How it feels to see a patient improve 26:15 - Suicide prevention 28:17 - The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook 29:40 - Suicidal ideation 32:18 - Suicidal thoughts 34:40 - Sex differences in suicidal behavior 36:10 - Suicide attempt survivors  37:25 - Suicide in popular media 39:47 - How being a therapist has influenced Katie's personal relationships 42:27 - The Psychodrama Podcast 43:56 - Comedians and therapists 46:21 - Honesty in therapy 47:17 - Mental health diagnoses and misconceptions 49:31 - Unconditional positive regard

Dr. Jorge Morales is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Northeastern University, where he directs the Subjectivity Lab. In this episode, we discuss Jorge’s research on the neuropsychology and philosophy of visual perception, introspection, and theory of mind as lenses through which to study consciousness.

We discuss the neural and computational building blocks of perception, the evolution of self-awareness, consciousness in simple organisms, and the plausibility of panpsychism and other theories of consciousness. We also discuss brain damage and psychiatric illnesses, such as blindsight agnosia and schizophrenia hallucinations as windows into how our brain constructs or misconstructs the reality in front of us. Lastly, we discuss philosophical questions of ontology and epistemology: do objects really exist in the way that our mind perceives them?

Dr. Nadia Chernyak is an Assistant Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. In this episode we discuss her research on children's moral development, conceptions of fairness and inequality, and the role numeracy skills play in these conceptions. Learn more about Dr. Chernyak's research at: https://www.dosclab.com/   

Video available at: https://youtu.be/MOjgJGU-KW4

Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:35 - How Nadia became interested in studying moral and social development 1:48 - Psychology vs. philosophy  2:48 - Conducting psychological experiments with young children  4:06 - Inequalities perceived by young children and even monkeys  8:55 - When and how children begin to apply moral stances to inequality 10:42 - Nadia's research on children's moral cognition 14:24 - Is the motivation for sharing innate?  15:28 - How temperament influences moral values  16:37 - Why Nadia focuses her research on children  17:45 - Looking at numeracy development in the context of fairness and morals  22:18 - How perceptions of inequality scale 25:26 - Cognitively advanced but selfish children  27:05 - Merit vs. equality  28:30 - Practical implications of Nadia's research 31:01 - The difficulty of comparing unquantifiables   32:18 - Cognitive mechanisms behind the development of high-level reasoning 34:00 - Moral stage theory  34:53 - Moral thought experiment  36:32 - Fairness vs. prosociality  40:09 - Group biases in prosocial behavior 42:20 - Overlap between moral psychology and moral philosophy  46:02 - Creating quantifiable scales of unquantifiables  49:00 - Evaluating ulterior motives 51:18 - Nadia's plans for future research 55:10 - How stereotypes influence cognition

Dr. Felipe De Brigard is a Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he runs the Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab. Learn more about his research at: https://www.imclab.org/   

In this episode we discuss Felipe's background in philosophy and neuroscience, his research on imagination and counterfactual thinking, and the role of memory in consciousness.   

Timestamps:  0:00 - Introduction 0:29 - Felipe's background in philosophy and neuropsychology 1:58 - Bridging philosophy and cognitive neuroscience in his PhD 3:41 - Neuroscience as an applied medical field vs. a theoretical study of the mind 9:00 - The rise of experimental philosophy  11:12 - Felipe's research interests in memory, imagination, and counterfactual thinking 15:26 - The role of memory in consciousness 22:07 - Is experience discrete or continuous? 24:37 - Phenomenology in neuroscience 30:59 - Does multitasking exist?  33:08 - Different types of cognitive processes involved in imagination 36:09 - Felipe's own research on counterfactual thinking 39:20 - Differences in brain activation when imagining things that do vs. do not involve yourself 43:25 - The evolution of counterfactual thinking  46:35 - How counterfactual thinking influences our memory 47:36 - The most interesting question Felipe would like to see answered in his career

In this episode I interview Dr. Essi Viding, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at University College London and author of Psychopathy: A Very Short Introduction. We discuss her research on the development of antisocial behavior, the degree to which psychopathic traits are influenced by genetic and environmental factors, and early-intervention strategies which may help improve the developmental trajectory of antisocial children.