Best Michael Inzlicht Podcasts (2024)

1
Episode 110: RE-RELEASE: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf) 1:21:43

7M ago1:21:43

1:21:43

Andrew Devendorf joins Alexa and Yoel to discuss his work on "me-search" (or self-relevant research) within clinical psychology. He talks about the prevalence of mental health difficulties within the field, and the harmful taboos against speaking openly about them. And, he shares his own reasons for studying depression and suicide, and how he has b…

1
Episode 109: RE-RELEASE: Against Mindfulness 1:23:45

7M ago1:23:45

1:23:45

Playing devil's advocate, Yoel and Mickey mount a criticism against the scientific study of mindfulness. What is mindfulness? Can we measure it? Is mindfulness-based therapy effective? Can mindfulness improve the quality of attention beyond the meditation cushion? Are effects of mindfulness mostly placebo effects produced by motivated practitioners…

1
Episode 108: RE-RELEASE: We Need to Talk About Fraud 1:23:20

7M ago1:23:20

1:23:20

Yoel and Alexa are joined by Joe Simmons to talk about fraud. We go in-depth on a recent high-profile fraud case, but we also talk about scientific fraud more generally: how common is it, how do you detect it, and what can we do to prevent it? This is a re-release of Episode 73, originally released on September 29, 2021. Special Guest: Joe Simmons.…

1
Episode 107: Against Anti-DEI Rhetoric 1:07:02

8M ago1:07:02

1:07:02

Jennifer Gutsell joins Alexa to discuss the controversy surrounding Yoel's experience interviewing at UCLA. They focus on a post, written by Alexa, in which she pushes back against defenses of "viewpoint diversity" and argues that the graduate petition advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was a brave effort that should be taken ser…

1
Episode 106: We Need to Talk About Fraud Again 1:08:13

10M ago1:08:13

1:08:13

Harkening back to episode 73, Alexa and Yoel discuss recent evidence of fraud documented in the Data Colada blog post "Clusterfake." The post is the first in a series of four, which will collectively detail evidence of fraud in four papers co-authored by Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino. First, the co-hosts dive into the details, wi…

1
Episode 105: Patchwork Politics 58:42

12M ago58:42

58:42

In heated political debates, people are often accused of being hypocrites, lacking consistent foundational values. Today, Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper by David Pinsof, David Sears, and Martie Haselton, that challenges the commonsense notion that political belief systems stem from our core values. Instead, the authors propose that people fo…

1
Episode 104: Quantifying the Narrative of Replicable Science 1:09:18

1y ago1:09:18

1:09:18

Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper that takes a machine learning approach to estimating the replicability of psychology as a discipline. The researchers' investigation begins with a training process, in which an artificial intelligence model identifies ways that textual descriptions differ for studies that pass versus fail manual replication tes…

1
Episode 103: Psych (with Paul Bloom) 1:09:26

1y ago1:09:26

1:09:26

Alexa and Yoel chat with Paul Bloom about his newest book, Psych: The Story of the Human Mind. The book, built from Paul's popular Introduction to Psychology course, is an opinionated overview of the field of psychology but also a window into his deep fascination with the mind. Yoel and Alexa spend some time picking Paul's brain, inquiring about wr…

1
Episode 102: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf) 1:19:29

1y ago1:19:29

1:19:29

Andrew Devendorf joins Alexa and Yoel to discuss his work on "me-search" (or self-relevant research) within clinical psychology. He talks about the prevalence of mental health difficulties within the field, and the harmful taboos against speaking openly about them. And, he shares his own reasons for studying depression and suicide, and how he has b…

1
Episode 101: An Outside Perspective on Implicit Bias 1:15:31

1+ y ago1:15:31

1:15:31

Alexa and Yoel discuss the much trodden topic of implicit bias from a less trodden perspective: that of the general public. Offering insight into the public's views is a paper by Jeffrey Yen, Kevin Durrheim, and Romin Tafarodi, which explores public thinking about the implicit association test (IAT) through an examination of the New York Times comm…

1
Episode 100: What Happened at Perspectives on Psychological Science? 1:24:28

1+ y ago1:24:28

1:24:28

Yoel and special guest Rachel Hartman discuss the recent ouster of Klaus Fiedler, the former Editor in Chief of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, over allegations of racism and abuse of power. They try to untangle a complicated story of peer review gone awry, explain the dueling open letters condemning and supporting Fiedler, and c…

1
Episode 99: Is MTurk Too Good To Be True? 1:03:09

1+ y ago1:03:09

1:03:09

In a recent article, psychologists Webb and Tangney document their experience collecting psychology data online using Amazon's crowdsourcing platform MTurk. Alarmingly, the authors conclude that ultimately only 2.6% of their sample was valid data from human beings. Yoel and Alexa weigh in on these findings, discussing what researchers can reasonabl…

1
Episode 98: Inspired Science (with Spencer Greenberg) 1:10:51

1+ y ago1:10:51

1:10:51

Yoel and Alexa are joined by Spencer Greenberg, founder of the behavioral science startup incubator Spark Wave and host of the Clearer Thinking podcast. He describes how he became fascinated with psychology and behavior change, and how he's been working to provide empirically-backed strategies for everday tasks, like making decisions or forming hab…

1
Episode 97: Getting Into Grad School 57:49

1+ y ago57:49

57:49

With grad school application deadlines around the corner, Alexa and Yoel discuss how, exactly, that process works. Big picture, they talk about their goals in selecting graduate students to work on their labs, and whether they've gotten good at the process. They also examine typical application requirements - including recommendation letters, perso…

1
Episode 96: So, What Do You Do? 1:12:14

1+ y ago1:12:14

1:12:14

Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper, written by Hughes, Srivastava, Leszko, and Condon, that created and validated a new index of "occupational prestige." The index is intended to provide a tool to measure the third component of socioeconomic status, alongside income and education. The cohosts consider how occupational prestige might lead to diff…

1
Episode 95: What are Teachers Good For? (with Paul Bloom) 1:07:19

1+ y ago1:07:19

1:07:19

Paul Bloom joins Yoel and Alexa to talk about the glamour and humiliation of teaching psychology at the college level. They discuss how they've changed their approaches to teaching over the years, and whether they've become more skilled or more out of touch (or both). Alexa shares her experiences teaching about morality and evolution to a predomina…

1
Episode 94: Individualism, Interdependence, and Student Loans 59:04

1+ y ago59:04

59:04

Inspired by a recent Atlantic article ("The Myth of Independent American Families" by Stephanie H. Murray) Alexa and Yoel consider what it means to live in an indiviualistic society. At an abstract level, they discuss different visions for interdependence, from communes to church communities to welfare states. On a more personal note, they reflect …

1
Episode 93: Facing a Social Media Mob (with Stefan Uddenberg) 1:14:55

1+ y ago1:14:55

1:14:55

Yoel and Alexa are joined by Stefan Uddenberg, a social perception researcher and author of the paper "Deep Models of Superficial Face Judgments." This paper was the focus of a previous episde - "A Face for Podcasting" - in which the co-hosts discussed the research, and the resulting controversy. Now, Stefan offers a new, insider perspective. He be…

1
Episode 92: Should SPSP Stay Out of It? 1:13:55

1+ y ago1:13:55

1:13:55

As the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) starts gearing up for their 2023 conference, Alexa and Yoel debate some of the organization's recent efforts to be more anti-racist and politically engaged. First, the co-hosts discuss debate over moving the conference from its originally scheduled location (Atlanta, Georgia) due to the st…

1
Episode 91: Decriminalizing Mental Illness 1:21:39

2y ago1:21:39

1:21:39

Yoel and Alexa chat with Jennifer Cox and Lauren Kois, co-directors of the Southern Behavioral Health and Law Initiative. Established in 2020, the initiative was created to address the dearth of mental health resources for people who become involved with the legal system. Jennifer and Lauren walk our co-hosts through common scenarios that can occur…

1
Episode 90: Freelance Kinkology (with Aella) 1:26:01

2y ago1:26:01

1:26:01

Independent researcher Aella joins Yoel and Alexa to talk about her experiences doing freelance social science. Their discussion touches on some far-ranging topics, from the upsides of Twitter microfame to the humbling experience of questioning one's faith. At one point, they consider the compromises - good and bad - that come from catering to one'…

1
Episode 89: What's Wrong with Social Media? 1:23:09

2y ago1:23:09

1:23:09

Mickey returns with the hot takes you know and love. He joins Yoel and Alexa to discuss Jonathan Haidt's recent Atlantic article, "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid." Haidt claims the answer is social media, but the cohosts aren't fully convinced. To shed a bit more light on the matter, they turn to an article by Amy …

1
Episode 88: Many Many Labs 1:14:07

2y ago1:14:07

1:14:07

Earlier this year, the last of five "Many Labs" projects was accepted for publication at Collabra: Psychology, representating the culmination of a nearly-decade long series of multi-lab replication efforts. In this episode, Alexa and Yoel consider what they've learned from Many Labs 1 through 5, including insights about replication, expertise, and …

1
Episode 87: The Distracting Nature of Nudges 1:11:14

2y ago1:11:14

1:11:14

Originating within the behavioral sciences, "nudging" has received attention as a way to achieve broad societal change by promoting small, individual adjustments. We're told, for instance, that if we all do our part reduce our carbon footprints we can stave off climate change. In today's episode, Yoel and Alexa consider a critique of "nudging" offe…

1
Episode 86: A Face For Podcasting 1:05:00

2y ago1:05:00

1:05:00

Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent study that examines the facial features that people perceive as "smart," "dorky," "trustworthy," or a number of other traits. The study quickly captured a lot of attention, eliciting both fascination and anger. The cohosts turn to Twitter, and to Alexa's undergraduate students, to attempt to gain a deeper understandi…

1
Episode 85: People Dealing With the Pandemic Pretty Well, Study Finds 1:07:33

2y ago1:07:33

1:07:33

Originally, Yoel and Alexa set out to discuss a study examining stress and decision-making during the pandemic. However, they get sidetracked by the ways that data are packaged - first by APA, and then by NPR - into a newsworthy account that may not tell the whole story. They identify ways in which the summary statements and headlines may exaggerat…

1
Episode 84: Check Your Values? 1:08:49

2y ago1:08:49

1:08:49

Alexa and Yoel fight some more, this time over whether or not science should be value free. They consider a position taken by W. E. B. Du Bois, who argued that social change was only possible if scientists focused solely on finding truth. In the process, they consider whether scientists should ever keep findings to themselves, and discuss the merit…

1
Episode 83: Grand Challenges 1:15:59

2y ago1:15:59

1:15:59

Yoel and Alexa discuss the "grand challenges" of psychological science, as identified in a recent survey of APS members. While usually nauseatingly agreeable, the two find many points of contention when it comes to psychology's shortcomings - from the kinds of diversity worth wanting to the value of decolonizing your syllabus. In the end, they make…

1
Episode 82: Psychology Worth Knowing 1:15:27

2y ago1:15:27

1:15:27

Yoel and Alexa embrace their credulous sides and consider concepts from psychology that have importance for people in their private and public lives. Each of us lists the three social psychological ideas that we think are most relevant to people's lives - the kinds of things we would teach if we could give just one lecture. There are areas of conse…

1
Episode 81: Against Retribution 1:10:42

2y ago1:10:42

1:10:42

Alexa moonlights as a guest and answers Yoel's questions about her recent paper, in which she argues that the criminal justice system should abandon retribution. Alexa claims that when we ask if someone is blameworthy, we are asking social scientific questions: Were they rational? Were they being coerced? Were they acting out of character? We discu…

1
Episode 80: The C-Word (with Julia Rohrer) 1:26:31

2y ago1:26:31

1:26:31

Personality psychologist and methodologist Julia Rohrer joins the show to talk about causal claims, strategic ambiguity, and how tough it is to tell what empirical claims many psychology papers are making. To illustrate, we subject Yoel's first paper, "Conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals," to some vigorous post-publication peer re…

1
Episode 79: All About Authenticity 1:21:18

2y ago1:21:18

1:21:18

Alexa and Yoel talk authenticity. What is it? Is it good to have it? And why does Alexa score higher on it than Yoel? We talk about a draft paper examining how people infer authenticity in themselves and others, and a recently-published paper suggesting that supposedly highly authentic people might just be motivated to present themselves that way. …

1
Episode 78: Meehl on Theory 1:08:58

2+ y ago1:08:58

1:08:58

Alexa and Yoel are back with more amateur philosophy of science. This time, we do a deep dive into a paper by the legendary Paul Meehl: "Appraising and Amending Theories: The Strategy of Lakatosian Defense and Two Principles that Warrant It." What can this classic paper tell us about how to do better research? We also talk about lactose, tandem bic…

1
E8 Myrto Mylopolous 25:08

2+ y ago25:08

25:08

Myrto Mylopolous Myrto is an Associate Professor in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Carleton University in Canada. She works on a number of topics, including the relation between agency and consciousness, skills and intentions and motor representations. Her work has appeared in prestigious philosophy and cognitive science journals, including Ph…

1
E7 Michael Inzlicht 24:15

2+ y ago24:15

24:15

Michael Inzlicht. Michael is research excellence faculty scholar at the University of Toronto, with appointments in the Department of Psychology and in the Rotman School of Management. He's published more than 100 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and he's edited two books. His work has been featured in media outlets around the worl…

1
E6 Michael Bratman 27:52

2+ y ago27:52

27:52

Michael Bratman. Michael is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, where he is also the U. G. and Abbie Birch Durfee Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences. He's the author of seven books, including the forthcoming Shared and Institutional Agency: Toward a Planning Theory of Human Organization. Michael has received many, many, …

1
E5 Luca Ferrero 24:35

2+ y ago24:35

24:35

Luca Ferrero. Luca is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California at Riverside. He's published extensively in the Philosophy of Action and Meta-Ethics, and he's the editor of the forthcoming Routledge Handbook for the Philosophy of Agency.

1
E4 Kevin Timpe 24:30

2+ y ago24:30

24:30

Kevin Timpe. Kevin is the William H. Jellema Chair of Christian Philosophy at Calvin College. He's the author and editor of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven books, including Free Will: Sourcehood and its Alternatives, Arguing about Religion, Free Will and Theism, Virtues and Vices, among others. His most recent book…

1
E3 Jennifer Morton 22:19

2+ y ago22:19

22:19

Jennifer Morton. Jennifer is Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. She's a senior fellow at the Center for Ethics and Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her book, Moving Up Without Losing Your Way: The Ethical Costs of Upward Mobility, has been awarded the Frederick W. Ness Boo…

1
E2 Alfred Mele 15:23

2+ y ago15:23

15:23

Alfred Mele. Al is the William H. And Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He's the author of a dozen books including Irrationality, Springs of Action, Motivation and Agency and Manipulated Agents: A Window Into Moral Responsibility, as well as over 150 articles. His work addresses central issues about human ag…

1
E1 Introduction 12:30

2+ y ago12:30

12:30

We tend to think of ourselves as not just passive creatures at the mercy of the world, but as active as agents who can at least sometimes direct our own lives. This idea, the idea of our agency, is both intriguing and far reaching. To open today's episode, we've asked our guests to give us a brief characterization of how they define human agency. W…

1
Episode 77: Against Method? 1:14:38

2+ y ago1:14:38

1:14:38

Alexa and Yoel tackle Paul Feyerabend, the wild man of philosophy of science. What can we learn from his "anything goes" argument for methodological anarchy? We go deep on the first five chapters of Feyerabend's most famous work, "Against Method," and discuss his (maybe not entirely serious) arguments for extreme theory proliferation, ignoring the …

1
Episode 76: Preregistration (What is it Good For) 1:07:43

2+ y ago1:07:43

1:07:43

Alexa and Yoel talk about objections to preregistration. Does preregistration imply that researchers can't be trusted? Does it mean that they can't use their best judgment? When might preregistration be unhelpful? We also discuss researcher degrees of freedom in a recent paper testing Cardi B's maxim that "hoes don't get cold." Plus: ketchup on ice…

1
Episode 75: Beyond Experiments 1:07:01

2+ y ago1:07:01

1:07:01

Alexa and Yoel talk about a paper purporting to show that winning the Nobel Prize increases your lifespan. In the process, they dip their toes into non-experimental causal inference and discuss whether there is a taboo in psychology about drawing causal conclusions from non-experimental data. Plus, Yoel does his best to explain what an instrumental…

1
Episode 74: Pleasurable Suffering (with Paul Bloom) 1:24:34

2+ y ago1:24:34

1:24:34

Paul Bloom joins us to talk about why we want to suffer. Sometimes it's a means to an end, but sometimes we desire it for its own sake. Among other things, we talk about mountain-climbing, whether you'd want to run just the end of the marathon, experience machines, BDSM, and parenting. Plus, a very special extra guest host, kidney donation, pronoun…

1
Episode 73: We Need to Talk About Fraud (with Joe Simmons) 1:22:08

2+ y ago1:22:08

1:22:08

Yoel and Alexa are joined by Joe Simmons to talk about fraud. We go in-depth on a recent high-profile fraud case, but we also talk about scientific fraud more generally: how common is it, how do you detect it, and what can we do to prevent it? Special Guest: Joe Simmons. Links: Drav India Session Ale Milkshake IPA - Microbrasserie Vox Populi A-OK I…

1
Episode 72: The Climate Survey (with Danielle McDuffie) 59:21

2+ y ago59:21

59:21

Danielle McDuffie is a graduate student in psychology at the University of Alabama. This is the story of how she ran a graduate student climate survey, the explosive results, and the very contentious year that ensued. Special Guest: Danielle McDuffie. Links: Crisp Apple | Angry Orchard Kettle Sour Brunch - Microbrasserie Vox Populi rogue.com | BATS…

1
Episode 71: The Good Life 1:06:27

2+ y ago1:06:27

1:06:27

Alexa and Yoel discuss a new paper (Oishi & Westgate, 2021) arguing that psychological richness is an overlooked aspect of the good life. In the process, they compare psychologically-rich-life scores, plan hypothetical vacations, and compare major regrets. Also, Alexa reviews an (accidentally-purchased) alcohol-free beer. Links: IPA du Nord-Est (be…

1
Episode 70: Older 1:04:41

2+ y ago1:04:41

1:04:41

Alexa and Yoel tackle the most dreaded subject: getting older. Have they become better researchers and people over the years? Are they happier and more connected? Or are they just more forgetful and less good at stats? Plus: some listener feedback about self-care raises conceptual questions about suffering.…

1
Episode 69: How to Self-Care 1:11:59

3y ago1:11:59

1:11:59

Alexa and Yoel go deep on self-care. What is it, how do you do it, and why does the term raise Yoel's hackles? How hard do we actually work, and should we be trying to work less? Also, Alexa shares an amazingly successful culinary experiment. Links: The Least Stressful Jobs Of 2013 How Hard Do Professors Actually Work? - The Atlantic Research shows…

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Michael Inzlicht Podcasts

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