Cognitive Revolution

#75: Susanna L. Harris on Building Community through Communication Dec 14, 2021

I've been a fan of Susanna for a long time following her on her social media. She's one of my favorite personalities in science communication, and it's been impressive and inspiring to watch her grow her platform over the last few years. She just recently graduated with her PhD in microbiology from University of North Carolina. During her time in grad school, she founded PhD Balance, which seeks to raise awareness about the prevalence of mental health issues in graduate school by sharing stories and building communities. She is currently manager of engagement and communications at Xontogeny, which is a bio-tech accelerator—taking seed-stage biotech startups and helping them to grow. In this conversation, we talk finishing up one's grad school work and making sense of how to take the next step. We start off talking about Susanna's recent move across the US, and her experience graduating during March 2020. It's at this point that I ask Susanna a rather subversive question, and from there we talk about growing as a person during grad school, Susanna's own story of mental health in grad school which motivated her to found PhD balance, and her strategies for productivity: from hanging out with her dogs, to organizing her to-do list. It was a conversation I really enjoyed! You can find Susanna at susannalharris.com and on Twitter/Instagram @susannalharris. You can find more about my work at codykommers.substack.com and on socials @codykommers. Thanks for listening!

#74: Nicole Barbaro on Judging a Book by its Cover Nov 30, 2021

I've been following Nicole's work for a long time, and I'm a big fan. She's developed a platform for her writing as well as a presence on social media. It's been cool to watch her do it. Nicole has a PhD from Oakland University in psychology with a specialization in evolution and human development. Most of her recent work focuses that expertise on the area of education. She's also a prolific reader. It's something she takes seriously as a part of her identity, and she wears it really well. I've been following her book reviews for a long time in other venues, but she just recently started a new forum for them at bookmarkedreads.substack.com/. In this conversation, we talked about Nicole's experiences excelling in academia then transcending it, her approach to picking new books (it always starts with the cover), as well as strategies for getting one's work and ideas out to a broader audience. She's a really cool individual, and I'm excited to see where her work takes her in the future!

#73: Tara Thiagarajan on Brains—All 7 Billion of Them Nov 23, 2021

Tara Thiagarajan is the Founder and Chief Scientist of Sapien Labs. Based in Washington, DC, Sapien Labs is a non-profit organization whose mission is to take brain diversity seriously. Most research in psychology and neuroscience treats the brain as a kind of monolithic entity, as if every brain were the same. But we know that's not true: there are important differences in the brain not only between individuals, but within the same individual from day-to-day. We also know that psychology and neuroscience have historically focused on a skewed sample of mostly white, mostly American, mostly undergraduate participants. Tara's goal with Sapien Labs is to truly account for what it means to look at differences in brains among all people on the planet. One of their in-progress projects is the Human Brain Diversity Project. Over the next five years, this project will "build an open database of 40,000 individuals across 4 countries and continents consisting of EEG recordings along with extensive information about demographics, lifestyle, technology use, diet and cognitive and mental health aspects." One of their papers, published this year in Nature Scientific Reports, showed the effect of "stimulus poverty" on brain physiology. They showed that the different stimuli people encounter on an average day—from phone use, to travel, to reading, and beyond—correlate with different physiological signatures in the brain, as measured by EEG. I found Tara's projects, as well as her overall story, very fascinating. I'm excited to see how those projects continue to develop in the coming years. More info: codykommers.com/post/73-tara-thiagarajan

#72: Andy Luttrell on Consistent Quality Nov 16, 2021

Andy Luttrell is the kingpin of a content empire. His work spans from podcasts (Opinion Science) to YouTube (catchy summaries of key psych topics) to online courses (which have been taken tens of thousands of times on platforms such as Udemy) to all sorts of other stuff. He is also—and I suppose this is technically his day job—an Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at Ball State University. His academic work centers on how people form and change their opinions, and he's a lot of fun to talk to. In this episode I ask him how he's able to create such a large amount of really high quality content so consistently while ALSO being a professor while ALSO being a new father. We talk about magic, and how a love of performance still pervades Andy's work today. And also we go down several tangents discussing tricks of the trades in podcasting and other common areas of interest. I really enjoyed talking to Andy and found myself impressed by how well he carries himself in front of a microphone. I hope you'll feel the same! More info: codykommers.com/post/72-andy-luttrell

#71: David Edmonds on Turning Philosophy into a Career Nov 09, 2021

David Edmonds did his degrees in philosophy. Then he did something unexpected. He made money. I don't know how much. But, as far as I can tell, enough to reasonably call what has had so far a "career." He was a long-time broadcaster doing features at the BBC World Service. He also hosts and produces a number of popular podcasts, including Philosophy Bites, Philosophy 24/7, and (my personal favorite) Social Science Bites. He's also written a number of books—most notably Wittgenstein's Poker, which builds on his expertise in philosophy. I admire Dave's work because he's been able to find ways to turn his interests and ideas into opportunities and content. It's the kind of thing I'd like to do, so I asked him about how he went about doing it. He's a fun guy, and I know you'll enjoy the conversation.

#70: Salma Mousa on Investing in Big Projects Oct 26, 2021

Salma Mousa is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale. She recently took that position after a post-doc in Stanford's Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law, and the Immigration Policy Lab. She is a rising star in the field of political science and has published some of the field's highest profile papers in recent years. Her work centers around questions of how people build social cohesion after conflict. What drew me to her work is that it addresses some of our most significant social questions—about how reduce prejudice and violence, about how to make a society that works for everyone—in ways that are both theoretically motivated and have a grounding in the real world. Her work breathes new life into established theories, such as intergroup contact theory—the idea that the most effective way to reduce prejudice between groups is positive social contact. She recently published a solo-author paper in Science on "Building social cohesion between Christians and Muslims through soccer in Post-ISIS Iraq" which we discuss at length toward the end of the conversation. She is also an author on a paper about "The Mo Salah Effect" which showed genuine reductions in anti-Muslim prejudice in Liverpool after Mohamed Salah joined the city's football team. It's an awesome study, the details and backstory of which we also get into. One thing that stood out to me about Salma's work is that she does a smaller number of big, important project really well, rather than a bunch of smaller projects that aren't as meaningful. I so often feel that science (especially in psychology) rewards quantity over quality, and so it is incredibly inspiring to see someone who invests in big projects which will lead to actually important advancements in our understanding of human behavior. She was a pleasure to talk to, and I know you'll enjoy this conversation. More info: codykommers.com/post/70-salma-mousa

#69: Coltan Scrivner on First-Gen to Fame Oct 19, 2021

Coltan Scrivner: you may not know the name, but you will. Coltan is a first-gen college student, and one of the most impressive PhD students I've come across. His family is from Slaughterville, Oklahoma, and did his undergrad and masters in Oklahoma before beginning his PhD at the University of Chicago's Department of Comparative Human Development. He's carved out for himself a fascinating area of specialization: morbid curiosity. It's really cool to see him conceive of an academic niche and to position himself as the unequivocal world expert. He's under contract for Penguin Random House to write a trade book on morbid curiosity, which is how I found him originally. But what I didn't know before our interview is that he also has a TV series in the works. As a PhD student! Wow. In this conversation, I talked to him about his story of developing his interests and expertise, how he was able to be so productive so early in his career, and what his research has uncovered about why we're fascinated with death, horror, and violence. Coltan is definitely going places. Also, I watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe later that night on Coltan's recommendation. Let's just say... it lives up to Coltan's billing. His website: https://www.coltanscrivner.com/ More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#68: Alexandra Chesterfield on Being a Conservative in a Liberal Environment Oct 12, 2021

Alexandra Chesterfield is co-author of the book Poles Apart: Why People Turn Against Each Other, and How to Bring Them Together. It's a look at political polarization in our society, how we've gotten to this point, and what we can do about it. Jonathan Haidt called it "A fascinating read, which will help anyone who wants to step out of the polarization cycle and become part of the solution." Alex has a masters degree in Cognitive and Decision Science, and she's been using that background to apply insights from behavioral science in real world settings. She was also an elected Councillor in Guildford for the Conservative Party. Her co-authors are Laura Osborne, a professional communicator, and Alison Goldsworthy, who helped to create the first depolarization course at Stanford. Together they host the Changed My Mind podcast, in which they interview eminent thinkers about topics on which they've changed their mind. This conversation has two parts. In the first, we talk about Alex's background—primarily being a person with conservative-leaning principles in predominantly liberal environments. This sets the stage for a discussion of the work Alex and her co-authors present in Poles Apart. I also ask her about the limits of what psychology can teach us about effective de-polarization. You can find the link to the paper we discussed here: https://gershmanlab.com/pubs/HowToNeverBeWrong.pdf. My newsletter: codykommers.substack.com More info: codykommers.com/post/68-alex-chesterfield

#67: Rebecca Saxe on the Beauty of the Mind Oct 05, 2021

I have been a big fan of Rebecca and her work for a long time. She is the John W. Jarve (1978) Professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. She is a co-author on a handful of my all-time favorite papers in my own area of research interest, called "theory of mind" — the process by which we come to understand the minds of others. There's so much that I enjoyed about this conversation, but the overall theme that stands out to me has to do with the pure joy Rebecca takes (and, by extension, spreads) in her appreciation of the mind. She loves digging deep in the recesses of her own thoughts and feelings, as well as trying to inhabit the thoughts and feelings of others. Whether in formal theory of mind research or in a good novel, she seems constantly to be sensitive to the beauty of the mind in all its facets. It is one of the features of her scholarly career which has made her work so influential among her colleagues and her mentorship so impactful among her students. More info: codykommers.com/post/67-rebecca-saxe My newsletter: codykommers.substack.com

#66: Gordon Allport, the 20th Century's Psychologist Sep 28, 2021

Gordon Allport was one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century. He was the progenitor of the modern forms of both social and personality psychology. His 1954 book, The Nature of Prejudice, is one of the most cited works in the whole field. He also happens to be one of my favorite thinkers of all time. Allport's core drive as a psychologist was to leverage experimental rigor in service of broad humanistic understanding. He wanted reliable experiments that gave legitimate results. But he also wanted those results to tell us something profound about what it means to be human. Not just in an abstract, for-people-on-average kind of way. But as it pertains to the life of an individual, their lived experience, and the idiosyncrasies in the way they perceive the world. Allport was one of the first cognitivists. Though we don't associate him with the Cognitive Revolution, many of the early leaders of cognitive science were his students (e.g., Jerome Bruner, George Miller). Allport also had an abiding appreciation for the fact that a person is not just the contents of their mind, but is a product of their social context. Considered in totality, Allport embodied many of the most important insights and perspectives in 20th century psychology. In this biographical essay, I sketch a portrait of Gordon Allport, his work, and the social and intellectual context in which that work was produced. I tell of how Gordon struggled in graduate school, and how he also lost his 'spark' while studying at Harvard; how a trip to Constantinople, and later Germany, reignited that spark; how the two dominate paradigms in social science of the first half of the twentieth century (Behaviorism and Freudianism) led to Allport's modern psychology; and how the scientific study of prejudice in the 1950s led to some of psychology's most important impacts on society. I go deep on Allport's most well known work, The Nature of Prejudice, as well the book that was his ultimate life goal but he could never get right: Letters from Jenny. There's so much in his story that I resonate with and that I think contemporary psychology can learn from and aspire to. I hope you'll feel the same. If you enjoyed this work, please check out my newsletter — where this piece was originally published: codykommers.substack.com

#65: Elizabeth Ricker on Personalizing Your Creative Process Sep 21, 2021

I really enjoyed this conversation with Elizabeth Ricker; it was one of those conversations where I felt as though I'd found a kindred spirit, someone who goes about life in approximately the same way as myself. Elizabeth did her undergraduate in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and her master's in Mind, Brain, and Education at Harvard. She is a creature of enthusiasm: she is driven by what strikes her as interesting, and she has no time for anything that doesn't. This made for a fun conversation. We covered a lot of ground: moving through her own story to uncover how she developed the ideas presented in her new book, Smarter Tomorrow. At first, I was a bit skeptical of her concept of "Neurohacking" — whether, as her book's subtitle claims, 15 minutes of neurohacking a day can help you work better, think faster, and get more done. But Elizabeth convinced me. Her work runs really deep. And at it's core it's driven by a philosophy of radical individualization: that what is most important in finding the "right" process is finding the process that works for you. This isn't something we fully appreciate in our productivity cultures, which often prescribes to everyone the approaches that have worked only for a few successful individuals. As Elizabeth presents it, neurohacking is all about finding the productivity niche that is idiosyncratically yours. My newsletter: codykommers.substack.com

#64: Azeem Azhar on the Exponential Age Sep 14, 2021

Azeem Azhar is a technologist and investor with a background in technology journalism. His newsletter, Exponential View, is enjoyed by ~200,000 readers per week. The occasion for our discussion was Azeem's new book: The Exponential Age; or in the UK: Exponential. It is about the discrepancy between the rate of technology's change—which is exponential—and the rate of change in the rest of society, in our cultural practices, and in the way we think (which is slower). This is the exponential gap, and it is where many of our society's most pressing problems lay. In this episode, Azeem and I talk about some of the key arguments in his book and their extrapolations to other topics of interest. We also talk about his background: starting when he was a boy living in Zambia, encountering computers for the first time. You can dig further into Azeem's work in his book or through his newsletter, both available here: https://www.exponentialview.co/. If you'd like to follow my own work you can subscribe to this podcast or my newsletter: codykommers.substack.com.

#63: Jay Van Bavel on the Power of Us Sep 07, 2021

Jay Van Bavel is the closest thing social psychology has to a rock star. His official title is Associate Professor of Psychology and Neural Science at New York University, and both he and his work are much beloved by young psychologists everywhere. His lab studies intergroup neuroscience, and I've found much of his research incredibly inspiring throughout the years. He's popular on Twitter, where you can follow him @JayVanBavel. In an effort to bless the world with more stellar social psychological content, Jay has published a book. It is called THE POWER OF US, and it's officially available for the reading public! Co-authored with his colleague and friend, Dominic Packer of Lehigh University, it's a perfect book for anyone who would like a state of the union on what we know about intergroup psychology and how we can leverage those insights to improve society. You can also follow Jay and Dominic on their Substack newsletter: powerofus.substack.com. Between the book, Twitter, and the newsletter, you'll FINALLY be receiving the daily recommended dose of JVB that your doctor has been hounding you about for so long. Also — if you'd like to follow along with more of my own work, you can check out the links below. Cognitive Revolution: codykommers.com/podcast My writing: codykommers.substack.com Thanks for listening!

#62: Edward Slingerland on How to Drink Well Jun 08, 2021

Ted Slingerland is a professor at the University of British Columbia, where his interests and affiliations include East Asian studies, psychology, philosophy, and religious history. He is also unconscionably good looking. His latest book is "Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization." It's a fun take on the functional role alcohol and other intoxicants played in the development of human society. In this conversation we talk about Ted's experience dropping out of Princeton to move to California, discovering Chinese philosophy, choosing the humanities over the sciences, being a scholar of China who isn't especially fond of china, the civilizational functions of alcohol (an insight that grew out of Ted's work on China), the individual functions of alcohol (including how it makes you more effective at work), raising children in northern vs southern drinking cultures, and alcohol as a cultural symbol.

#61: Scott Atran on the Risks We're Willing to Take Jun 01, 2021

Wow. Scott Atran. What a guy. What a career. I'd be willing to bet that Scott has had the highest density of near-death encounters during his research than anyone else in the history of the social sciences. He details a number of them over the course of this conversation. He holds various academic appointments in Paris, Michigan, and Oxford. Scott is also author of a book called "Talking to the Enemy" which gives insights in his field work getting people from different religious and political factions to resolve their conflicts peacefully rather than with violence. He's full of amazing stories and tremendous insights, and I know you're going to like this conversation a lot. Enjoy!

#60: Wade Davis on Becoming an Entrepreneur of Knowledge May 25, 2021

Wade Davis makes his living being interesting. He is a cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist by trade, and holds a position as the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. In August 2020, he wrote an essay that became the most viral piece ever published on Rolling Stone's website (link below). He was first put on the map by his 1986 book on Haitian zombies, "The Serpent and the Rainbow." From there he's developed an incredible career as an author, TV host, and photographer. He's made an inspiring non-traditional path for himself, following what's of greatest interest to him rather than pandering to the academic job market. I find it incredibly inspiring, and in this conversation we get into all the details about what that track as an "entrepreneur of knowledge" has look liked for Wade. Viral essay on the "End of the American Era": https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/covid-19-end-of-american-era-wade-davis-1038206/

#59: Christopher Bail on How Social Media Shapes Our Identity May 18, 2021

Chris Bail is a professor of sociology and public policy at Duke and directs the Polarization Lab. He's done a lot of great research in the last half decade or so on how social media affects political polarization in our society. He's written a great book summarizing this research, called Breaking the Social Media Prism. It's out now, and it's a crucial read for understanding one of the defining topics of our age. In this conversation, Chris and I talk about Chris's experience moving to the Congo as a kid, figuring out how best to make an impact, the role of good mentorship, riding the wave of computational social science, and rethinking the mainstream narrative of what's going on with social media.

#58: Jeff Hawkins on Tackling the Big Problems May 11, 2021

Jeff Hawkins is one of my favorite neuroscientists ever. He does the kind of big, ambitious projects I love to see people going after. The driving question of his research is no less than "How does the neocortex work?" He wants to solve intelligence, and he wants to do it the way the brain does. Jeff is an innovative in mobile computing and is widely known as the founder of Palm and the creator of the Palm Pilot. He saw the big picture in that space before anyone else did, and the smart money says that the same goes for his theory of the brain. I read Jeff's 2004 book, "On Intelligence," and it made a big impact on me. His latest book, "A Thousand Brains: A new theory of intelligence" is out now, and details his latest progress on figuring out how the brain really works. In this conversation, we talk about Jeff's early experience, particularly balancing his success in business with his love for neuroscience, as well as the origin of the ideas he lays out in A Thousand Brains. Our conversation gets a bit heated toward the end. But I think it's a healthy difference of opinion, as I am a great admirer of Jeff and his team's work. Book list:

#57: Nancy Kanwisher on Finding Your Niche May 04, 2021

Nancy Kanwisher is a much beloved cognitive neuroscientist at MIT. She has published some of the most influential papers in her field (for example, the discovery of the Fusiform Face Area). And it often seems that most other influential findings in cognitive neuroscience which were not made directly by Nancy herself were made by one of her students. In this episode, we talk about Nancy's experiences growing up with a love of science, struggling to get traction in graduate school, deciding between science and journalism, the early days of fMRI, and her approaches to mentorship. She is a brilliant scientist and compelling human, and I'm very excited to share this interview! Book list: Coverage of Nancy on Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/natashaumer/this-badass-scientist-shaved-off-her-hair-to-teach-students The original FFA paper: https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/17/11/4302.full.pdf More info: codykommers.com/post/57-nancy-kanwisher

#56: Louis Menand on How to Write about Everything Apr 27, 2021

Louis Menand is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English at Harvard University. He has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1995. He is also my favorite non-fiction writer. His latest book, The Free World, is perfect. His book, The Metaphysical Club, won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for history. They are two of the greatest things I've ever read. In 2016, he won the National Humanities Medal. What else is there to say?

#55: Brian Christian on AI as a Human Problem, Pt 1 Apr 20, 2021

Brian Christian probably has a better handle of the human aspects of artificial intelligence than any other writer today. He recently published The Alignment Problem, his third book on this theme. His first was The Most Human Human, an exploration of what AI can tell us about what makes us human, and his second was Algorithms to Live By (co-authored with cognitive scientist Tom Griffiths), an exploration of what AI can tell us about how to be better humans. Brian's latest installment explores how humans can make better AI. That is, better not in the algorithmic sense, but in the societal sense. At any rate, I loved talking to him. We have lots of overlapping interests, as my academic training has mostly been in computational cognitive science and my interests mostly skewing towards the more humanistic aspects of it. Brian also has an MFA in poetry. Which I think is super badass. (Part 2 to follow at an undisclosed point in the future...)

#54: Pedro Domingos on Making the Textbook Smaller Apr 13, 2021

I first became familiar with Pedro's work through his 2015 book, The Master Algorithm. But as it turns out, his existence extends prior to my familiarity with him—which is what the bulk of what we explore in this conversation. Pedro is a professor at the University of Washington and a venerable AI researcher. He has a great quote about how as fields grow, their textbooks become larger. Then, as they mature, the textbooks become smaller again. I don't know if that's true. But it's a nice line, coming from a guy who wrote a book about getting AI down to a single master algorithm.

#53: Liz Neeley on the Foundations of Good Stories Apr 06, 2021

Liz is a world-renown science communicator. She is founder and CEO of Liminal, a very exciting project which we get into in this conversation. We also talk about Liz's experience leaving graduate school to pursue a non-academic path, choosing uncertainty over the linear path, what it means to tell good stories about science, creating new webs of meanings throughout life, and the business model of storytelling. Enjoy!

#52: Benjamin Moser on the Performance of Everyday Life Mar 30, 2021

Ben Moser is the pulitzer prize winning author of the recent biography of Susan Sontag, innovatively entitled "Sontag." This is one of the most fun and wide ranging conversation I'd had on the show. I stewed over whether or not to release the whole two hour conversation. But I loved how so many of the themes that we began early in the conversation—which sounded inconsequential in the moment—came full circle later on. If you want to skip straight to Ben's story, the meat of that begins the around the 30 minute mark. If, instead, you're interested in the full scope of nominal determinism, powerful women, gay men, whether Ben is good looking, whether Cody is good looking, and beginning things before you're good at them, then this conversation will definitely have something to offer. You will also enjoy this conversation if, like me, you want to be like Ben Moser when you grow up.

#51: Damon Centola on How Anomalies Drive Scientific Progress Mar 23, 2021

Damon Centola is a professor in the Annenberg School for Communication, the School of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is Director of the Network Dynamics Group and Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. His latest book is Change: How to Make Big Things Happen. In this episode we talk about Damon's childhood growing up in an intentional community, the influence of his undergraduate curriculum in classics, how Heidegger changed his life, transitioning from philosophy and sociology, getting into network science at the perfect time, and building the academic ideas that became Change. Book list: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-damon-centola-social-change-reading-list/

#50: Ethan Kross on Harnessing the Voice in Your Head Mar 16, 2021

Ethan Kross is a Professor of Psychology and Management at the University of Michigan. His new book is "Chatter: the voice in our head, why it matters, and how to harness it." In this episode, we talk about Ethan's early connection with meditation and other forms of inspecting inner life, his personal mantra, the influence of his father, how he got into psychology, the books that have had the greatest impact on him, and where his most influential ideas came from. INTERVIEW BEGINS—6:38 Reading list: https://bookshop.org/lists/top-picks-ethan-kross/

#49: Joseph Henrich on What History Can Tell Us About Psychology Mar 09, 2021

Joseph Henrich is Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is the co-author of one of the most influential social science papers of the previous decade. That paper described "WEIRD" people—those who are from a Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic culture—and how overgeneralization based on WEIRD samples has skewed social science research. He recently published a book expanding on this idea and shedding further light on why WEIRD psychology is so peculiar, called "The WEIRDest People in the World." In this conversation, we talk about where these ideas came from, who really came up with with the acronym WEIRD, how Joe's early trajectory wound through aerospace engineering and anthropology, and much more. The resonating theme of this interview is that history matters. It matters for understanding the psychological make up of our own culture. It matters for how Joe developed his most influential ideas, based on his own unique educational history. Furthermore, psychology as a field has mostly done a poor judge of accounting for the history of people and cultures. Joe is co-author on a recent paper making an argument that this needs to change: see his recent "Psychology as a Historical Science" for more details. INTERVIEW BEGINS—8:55. Joe's website: https://henrich.fas.harvard.edu/ Cody's website: https://www.codykommers.com/ Cody's twitter: https://twitter.com/codykommers

#48: Sir Simon Baron-Cohen on Putting Together the Big Picture from the Details Mar 02, 2021

Sir Simon Baron-Cohen is professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, where he is Director of the Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of Trinity College. Simon's work has been foundational in research into Theory of Mind (how we understand the contents of others' thoughts) and Autism. His most recent book is The Pattern Seekers—which connects his years of theorizing about the nature of Autism with how humans have developed over the course of our species' history. In this conversation, we go deep into the genesis of his most influential ideas. I've been a student of Simon's work for many years, and it was a great pleasure to hear more about the personal side of his work.

#47: William Labov on What People Actually Say Feb 23, 2021

William Labov is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the field of sociolinguistics. In other words, he was the first person to build a modern study of linguistics based on what people actually say, rather than artificial sentences made up by researchers (yes, I'm talking about you, Chomsky). Bill recently won the Talcott Parsons Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which is given out every four years to a single scholar throughout all of the social sciences. I interviewed Bill in late 2020, and this episode is a bit different than anything I've done previously. Instead of releasing the entire conversation, I've recorded some thoughts about what initially drew me to Bill and his work, and interspersed his own words throughout. Bill (and his partner Gillian Sankoff) were also kind enough to send some of the original tapes from Bill's field interviews, including the one from Bill's most famous paper. Bill has really had a special career as a scholar—and it's not over yet. He's got a book in the works, reflecting on the thousands of linguistic interviews he's conducted throughout his career. Keep an eye out for it!

#46: Nicholas Christakis on Mastering Skills Feb 16, 2021

To say Nicholas Christakis has mastered a few skills throughout his career would almost certainly be underselling it. Nicholas is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale. He has an MD from Harvard, a PhD in sociology from Penn, and a masters in public health from Harvard. Throughout the pandemic, he's been working tirelessly to bring reliable information to the public sphere. He's made numerous appearance as an expert on up-to-the-minute pandemic info on Sam Harris' podcast, and also managed to churn out an entirely new book contextualizing the current pandemic in our species' social history. This conversation puts all that in the bigger picture of his overarching career -- which spans everything from abstract analyses of social networks to hands-on care as a Hospice physician. We get into many different topics, mainly about how he brings together all these different perspectives to develop a holistic understanding of human social behavior as it plays out in the unfolding of historical events. You check out his new book, Apollo's Arrow.

#45: Tanya Luhrmann on Writing about Culture, Belief, and Life Feb 09, 2021

Tanya Luhrmann is the Watkins University Professor in the Stanford Anthropology Department. Much of her work has taken an anthropological perspective on psychological topics. For example, her most recent book: How God Becomes Real. It takes an ethnographic approach to understanding how individuals and cultures maintain belief in divine powers. Another of her book that's of special interest to me is Of Two Minds, an award-winning ethnographical perspective on American psychiatry. And it's not just her work that's compelling, so is she. She's essentially my new platonic ideal of an anthropology professor. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope you do too.

#44: Anil Seth on Interdisciplinarity in Practice Feb 02, 2021

Anil Seth is a Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His TED talk has over 10 million views, and he's been featured on many big-name podcasts such as Making Sense with Sam Harris and BBC's Life Scientific. Anil comes to the study of consciousness with the perspective of physics and the natural sciences. In this episode, we talk about his personal experiences, the influence of one-of-a-kind thinkers like Oliver Sacks and Gerald Edelman, and how to bring together perspectives from many disciplines to solve large problems. Anil has a new book coming out at the end of this year called "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness." Keep an eye out for it! Anil's website: https://www.anilseth.com/ Anil's twitter: https://twitter.com/anilkseth Anil's newsletter: https://www.anilseth.com/mailing-list Cody's website: https://codykommers.com Cody's Twitter: https://twitter.com/codykommers

Notes from the Field: Myanmar Feb 01, 2021

Something big is happening right now in Myanmar. As of today, the military has taken over, announcing measures taken in the name of emergency rule. In others words: a coup. It's absolutely devastating news. But not unprecedented: Myanmar has a long history with this sort of thing. A big headline is that Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by military powers. The situation is unfolding, and at the moment the events look quite dire. I urge you to follow the news through people who are there on the ground, relaying events as they unfold. For example, @the_ayeminthant on Twitter. Myanmar is a country that I love and have studied in some depth. In my podcast, Notes from the Field, I did a two part episode on Myanmar's largest city and former colonial capital, Yangon. Though the situation there is grave today, it is in general an incredible and beguiling place. I hope that my episode gives a bit of insight into that, as well as the history of military rule and Aung San Suu Kyi's place in it, which I talk about at some length. I hope it might give you some feeling of personal connection to the place, as well as some background on what's happening. That said, the piece is light in tone, and there's nothing light about what's happening there right now. Like I said, I encourage you to follow sources who are tracking it as it unfolds. In the meantime, maybe this episode (and the second part, which you can find at Notes from the Field) can give you a small glimpse into a wonderful but troubled country.

#43: Denise Sekaquaptewa on How to Make Universities Work For Everyone Jan 19, 2021

Denise Sekaquaptewa is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. She did her PhD at the Ohio State University, and her research has focused on stereotype threat, implicit bias, and prejudice. In this conversation we talk about her family's heritage, her experience in community college, deciding between continuing in the service industry and becoming a psychologist, books she has loved, the changes she would like to make to help academic departments become places where lots of kinds of people can succeed, and why she believes becoming a good person comes before becoming a good scholar.

#42: Richard Nisbett on Telling More Than He Can Know Jan 05, 2021

Richard Nisbett is the Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of social psychology and co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is also the co-author of one of my favorite psychology papers of all time: "Telling More than We Can Know." In this conversation, Richard self-reports on what got him into psychology, the books that most impacted him, the influence of his mentor Stanley Schachter, and his best practices for collaboration and mentorship. Those self reports sure seem accurate, though I'm not sure either of us is in an especially good position to judge. We also digress a fair bit into psychological history, particularly about Freud, Gordon Allport, and Kurt Lewin. Another fun fact about Richard: he's Malcolm Gladwell's favorite psychologist.

#41: Michael McCullough on Why We Give a Damn Dec 01, 2020

Michael McCullough is a professor of psychology at University of California, San Diego, where he runs the Evolution and Human Behavior Lab. Mike and I had a chat about his new book, "The Kindness of Strangers." The title for that book as originally conceived was "Why We Give a Damn" -- and even prior to that "Why We Don't Give a Damn." I happen to like those titles, though I can understand why the publisher didn't, and so I thought I'd trot them out to have a modest life of their own. In this conversation, we talk about Mike's first inspiration to study psychology, the influence of Christianity on his personal development and later his study of religion, his approach to mentorship, where he thought the conversation surrounding the biological basis of altruism went wrong, and rethinking the parable of the Good Samaritan. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

Actually Against Academia Nov 26, 2020

A couple of weeks ago, Mickey Inzlicht and Yoel Inbar, of the excellent podcast Two Psychologists Four Beers, released a discussion of theirs called 'Against Academia?' The motivation for the discussion was that Mickey had noticed several occasions on which people -- one of them being himself -- were called out for expressing positive takes on life in academia. The mainstream position to hold on academic life is a negative one: it's a biased system, a pyramid scheme, a travesty for mental health, etc. They break down a number of considerations on both sides, digging into where some of these claims are identifying something real and important and other areas where they are exaggerations. Both Mickey and Yoel are tenured professors at an excellent university, and they acknowledge that their view is one of the better ones you can get in an academic appointment. It's a really useful conversation that brings up a lot of worthwhile, well-considered points. I'd like to add to it by responding to it from my own perspective: as someone currently doing a PhD who does not plan to pursue an academic career. Full transcript: https://www.codykommers.com/post/actually-against-academia

#40: Howard Gardner on the Synthesizing Mind Nov 24, 2020

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He's best known as the developer of the theory of multiple intelligences, the idea that being smart is more complex than just an IQ score. That theory was introduced in his 1983 book Frames of Mind. In this conversation we talk about his interdisciplinary education, his non-traditional path in academia, the principles of the "synthesizing mind," when to break the rules and when to follow them, and how to connect with one's deeper humanity. Howard's latest book, A Synthesizing Mind, is out now. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#39: Yael Niv on the Moral Obligations of Scientists Nov 10, 2020

Yael Niv is a professor in Princeton department of psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. She is also a discernibly high-quality human being. I have been an admirer of her and her work for many years now. But she's been in the fore of my mind of late because of a couple papers she recently published: on "The Primacy of Behavioral Research in Understanding the Brain" and "The Case Against Economic Values in the Brain" (co-authored with Benjamin Hayden). In this interview, we mostly talk about her background as a psychologically-oriented computational neuroscientist, which has been impressively focused from relatively early on. It's clear how a lot of the ideas that are gaining wide-spread attention (even outside the usual circles of computational neuroscience) having been circling in the heads of Yael and her colleagues for a long time. We talk about the origins of her behavioral primacy paper, as well as the best advice on mentoring she learned from Peter Dayan. It's a fun conversation, and I hope you enjoy! More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#38: Barry Wellman on the Academic Social Network Nov 03, 2020

Barry Wellman was instrumental in developing the modern understanding of social networks. Barry co-founded the International Network for Social Network Analysis in 1977, with Bev Wellman. The original ideas surrounding social networks began with sociologists -- especially Harrison White, of Harvard, with whom Barry studied -- who were changing the understanding of how people related in society. Barry continued to develop these ideas throughout his long career at Toronto. In many ways, this strain of sociological research is crucial for understanding our modern conception of social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. Barry is the author or editor of several books, including “Networked: The New Social Operating System” co-authored with Lee Rainie. Keep an eye out for his new book, on academic writing, which is due out in 2021. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#37: Susan Goldin-Meadow on Being a World-Class Listener Oct 27, 2020

Susan Goldin-Meadow is the 2021 recipient for the Rumelhart prize, the highest award in cognitive science. She has amassed an amazing body of research throughout her career. It centers on gesture, and how our bodies integrate into our linguistic communication. We touch on a lot of her greatest research hits in this episode. Something she said that stood out to me was about how she mentors her many students. She sets them on a research project to get them going, then listens to how they talk about it, really listens. In a sense, this kind of deep, empathic, multi-faceted listening is what Susan has been doing her entire career. She listens to things the rest of us seem not to hear -- from gestures in the deaf children to the proclivities of her students.

Notes from the Field: The Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho Oct 22, 2020

This is an excerpt from my new show, Notes from the Field. It's one of my favorite episodes from Season 1. It features a place that I previously knew nothing about before going there: the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. If you enjoy this episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to the rest of the first season. More info: https://www.codykommers.com/notes-from-the-field

#36: Richard Shweder on How to Observe the World Oct 20, 2020

In this episode I talk to Richard Shweder, one of the founders of the field of cultural psychology. He has had a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary career. We talk about his roots, early education, biggest influences, his experience as a grad student at the Department of Social Relations, the origins of cultural psychology, and his recent work on pluralism. Ultimately the conversation reflects Rick's gift as a psychologist and anthropologist: observing the world for what it is. It's a long one, but we cover a lot of good stuff. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#35: Annie Duke on Betting on Your Best Self Oct 13, 2020

One thing that's immediately clear about Annie Duke is that her best self is pretty damn awesome. In this conversation, we get deep into the story of her career and the key moments that defined who that best self is. It gets really personal really quick. We start off with a discussion of her family, and in particular how she learned to separate work from identity. From there we talk about the big steps in her trajectory, from leaving her PhD program with one month left to go, to deciding on becoming a professional poker player. Then we get into her books: first, Thinking in Bets, as well as her new book, How to Decide. It's a wide ranging conversation, and we cover a lot of interesting ground. Ultimately it comes back to the role of mentors -- Annie has had some great ones in her life -- and how their job is to help you find the best version of yourself. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#34: Don Norman Oct 06, 2020

Don Norman is a cognitive scientist and designer. He is perhaps best known for his book "The Design of Everyday Things." This was a landmark work which detailed the fundamentals of human-centered design. It is a conception of design not just based on how things looks, but how people think. And while this book has been most influential among designers and other practitioners, its origin is in Don's work as a cognitive scientist. Throughout his career he has found himself in many of the most exciting times and places in the field's history, including the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard, led by George Miller and Jerome Bruner, and in the very first years of UC San Diego's department of cognitive science. In this episode we talk about Don's career, his process for finding and learning about big ideas, the difference between academics and practitioners, the cognitive science origins of Don's design work, how Don went about crafting his style of prose, and a host of other topics. It's a fun one. More info: https://www.codykommers.com/post/34-don-norman

#33: Mahzarin Banaji Sep 29, 2020

In this episode, I go in-depth with Mahzarin Banaji on her life story. Mahzarin started off just about as far away from life as a Harvard professor as you can imagine. And while she's a superstar of social psychology now, her introduction to the field was a chance encounter with a set of the five volume Handbook of Social Psychology, which she haggled down to a dollar per book at a random market in a train station. She's a truly fascinating human being, as well as a top-notch scientist. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

#32: Sade Abiodun Sep 15, 2020

This week's guest is neuroscientist, filmmaker, and inimitable personality Sade Abiodun. She is a first year PhD student the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, and her latest film project was Godspeed. This short film has done well on the festival circuit, and Sade was a finalist for the highly selective Sundance fellowship. In this episode, we talk about the difficulties of starting grad school, especially while a world-wide pandemic is in progress. In particular, we talk about balancing grad school projects with non-grad school projects (e.g., filmmaking, podcasting), and the opportunity for reinvention of identity that beginning a new program offers. We also talk about the connection between neuroscience and film, in using experimental paradigms with naturalistic stimuli. We try our best to get #neurocinematics to become a cultural phenomenon. Finally, we talk about a paper Sade wrote a couple years back on academia and race, a conversation which has -- how should I put this? -- been brought up with renewed fervor over the past few months. She summarizes the perspective she gave in that paper and how it might be updated in response to current events. You can find more about Sade's work at her website: https://www.sade.space/ More info on this show is available here: https://www.codykommers.com/podcast

#31: Sir Nigel Shadbolt Sep 08, 2020

The name "Nigel Shadbolt" is spoken in my corner of the world with hushed tones and much reverence. This is not only because he is a big deal generally, but because he is an especially around Jesus College, Oxford, where he currently serves as Principal. What exactly one does as Principal of an Oxford college, I'm not entirely sure, but like all of Sir Nigel's accolades, it seems pretty significant. Nigel has made contributions in a wide range of fields, including artificial intelligence and public policy. His work was key in developing the technology for the World Wide Web, alongside his long-time collaborator Tim Berners-Lee. Together they founded the Open Data Institute. Trust me on this one, Sir Nigel's list of accomplishments is long. I look forward to sharing this conversation with you. More info: codykommers.com/podcast

Coming Back from Covid Sep 01, 2020

This is the first podcast episode I've released in a couple months. The honest reason for that is that I've found it hard to cope with the pandemic. In this episode, I talk about what I've struggled with, the areas in which I've grown, and how I want to grow going forward. Written version: https://www.codykommers.com/post/covid Newsletter: https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter

#30: Daniel Everett on Being Fully Immersed Jun 30, 2020

Dan Everett is the closest thing we have to a real life Indiana Jones. He is an academic whose work has mostly taken place in the far reaches of the jungle, where few others dare to tread. His crowning achievement is learning the Pirahã language, which before Dan undertook it had never before been cracked by an outsider. Dan began his swashbuckling career as a missionary and Bible translator. After a while, his ideological alliances shifted and he remained in the Amazon as an anthropologist and linguist. In this interview we talk about how this shift impacted his relationship with his family (imagine having a crisis of faith while on a mission in the Amazon while your entire family is along with you; his ex-wife, by the way, is still there as a missionary). We also talk about how he brought back evidence that directly contradicted major claims that Chomsky had made, his experience between the subject of famous American writer Tom Wolfe's last book before he died (The Kingdom of Speech), and Everett's forthcoming project on the life of Charles Sanders Peirce. Dan's official title is Trustee Professor of Cognitive Sciences at Bentley University. A picture of Dan, fully immersed: https://daneverettbooks.com/about-dan/ More info available at codykommers.com/podcast

#29: Maria Konnikova on Doing the Work Jun 23, 2020

One of Maria's biggest influence as an undergrad was Steven Pinker, who she studied under while at Harvard. The family resemblance is easy to see. She is so confident, smart, driven, and competent that it can at times verge on overwhelming. She earned her PhD in psychology from Columbia, where she studied under famous psychologist Walter Mischel. Eventually she went on to become a staff writer at the New Yorker. But lots of people get their PhD. Lots of people write for high profile magazines. What makes Maria truly unique is that she is the only writer ever to take leave of a job at the NYer to pursue a career as a professional poker player. This sabbatical is the subject of her new book, The Biggest Bluff. I am tremendously excited to her it the moment it comes out. Maria is a huge inspiration to me, and it was a great pleasure to have her on the show. We talk about her childhood as a Russian immigrant in America, the two crucial lessons she learned from Steven Pinker, the steps she took to establish herself as a writer, how she convinced Walter Mischel to take her on as a grad student by going against the conventional advice, what inspired her to get into taking on the subject of Sherlock Holmes in her first book, and the origins of her interest in poker and risky decision-making. Ultimately, I think the big lessons of Maria's fantastic career are not so difficult to understand. She wanted to be a writer. So what did she do? She wrote a lot. When she needed a further experience (e.g., getting her PhD, becoming a poker player) to serve her material, she went ahead and did it. There's no doubt about it: Maria has done the work. More info at codykommers.com/podcast

#28: Steven Pinker on Career Uncertainty Jun 16, 2020

"Uncertainty" would not exactly be the first word that comes to mind when one thinks of Steven Pinker's current position in the world. But that wasn't always the case. There was actually a stretch in Steve's early career in which he found himself in the throws of uncertainty and anxiety. In this conversation, we dig into a lot of Steve's early career experiences, as well as his process as a writer. One of the things that stood out to me in what Steve said was that from early on he had an overarching sense that he wanted to study human nature. But it wasn't always precisely clear to him what that entailed -- or at least there were a number of paths he could've taken to get there. Obviously, he did quite a bit right throughout the process, but it was nonetheless fascinating to see the bets he made that paid off and how he balanced his options while equivocating about what the right move was. In addition to the nature of humans and their societies, we also talked about important subjects like the content of Steve's closet (including his notable collection of cowboy boots) and his advice for sourcing potential mates through literary and philosophical correspondence. Steve's official title is Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. You will recognize him from his books -- including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Sense of Style, and Enlightenment Now -- as well as whatever mean thing Nassim Taleb has most recently tweeted about him. Be sure to keep an eye out for his forthcoming book on the tools of rationality. More info at: https://www.codykommers.com/podcast

#27: Mark Granovetter on Why There Are Revolutions Jun 09, 2020

Mark and I recorded this interview about a month ago, before the outbreak of protests across the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. A lot has changed since then. Conversations are different, as are the topics under discussion. This interview does not reflect those changes, at least not directly. Even so, a number of the topics in our conversation and in Mark's research more generally are relevant. In my hometown of Seattle, I watched these protests turn violent as the city toppled into rioting and chaos. And while individual acts of vandalism and looting are deplorable, there is no doubt that riots have played a crucial role in societal change over the course of history. When a riot spurs on regime change, we call it a "revolution." As you'll hear in our conversation, the societal, economic, and psychological causes of revolutions has been an underlying motivation in many of Mark's great ideas. In particular are his threshold models of collective behavior, which compare the spread of rioting to -- of all things -- an epidemic. Still, these abstract concepts can seem very distant from the heart of the matter while it's unfolding around us. What I hope Mark's perspective and his research can help us keep in mind is that riots are not isolated events perpetrated solely by malicious individuals. They are reflections of the societal and economic systems in which they are embedded. It's easy enough to identify that connection between the actions of seemingly violent individuals and broken systems when it's occurring in someone else's country. Such dramatic actions may even appear a necessary impetus for change. But it can be harder to see the connection when it's happening in our own country and our own city. And while this does not mean we should support or condone violence, it should be taken as a signal of a massive issue with the system. Healthy societies and economies don't produce riots, no matter what the ideological motivation of their citizens might be. Throughout history these events have often proved to be tipping points into a different way of doing things. That different way can either be much better or much worse. Let's make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure ours is a case of the first one. --- So much of what is interesting in the world consists in the interplay between the specific and the general. Sciences tends to focus on the general ("what are the laws that govern the universe?") while humanities tend to focus on the specific ("what did this particular individual do at this particular time?"). There is also a similar interplay between studying behavior at the level of the individual ("what is this person's psychological state?") and studying behavior at the level of the group ("how do all these people fit together into a coherent whole?"). I know of no person who has dedicated his career more fully to the study of social behavior in a way that bridges these perspectives than my guest for this episode, Mark Granovetter. Mark is a professor of sociology at Stanford, and one of the most influential sociologists of all time. His work formed the backbone for Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, and several of his papers are among the most cited in his discipline. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, mainly drawing from Mark's early career experiences and where his most famous ideas came from. But we also get into his relationship to Gladwell, as well as the interplay between psychology and sociology. When talking about where his initial interests in sociology came from, he said something that I really loved because I think it captures the core of so much of his work: "Of course it was very interesting: 'Why was there a French revolution?' and 'Why was there a Russian revolution?'... But I realized that the thing I really wanted to understand was 'Why are there revolutions?'" More info at: codykommers.com/podcast

#26: Alan Baddeley on Proceeding Logically May 19, 2020

Alan Baddeley is a professor of psychology at the University of York. He is best known for his model of working memory, which essentially won out in the history of cognitive psychology as the model of working memory. He's been in the game for many years, and a couple years back published a career retrospective called Working Memories, which details his experiences, where his ideas came from, and what he observed around him during the Cognitive Revolution. What is perhaps less known about Professor Baddeley is that he began his PhD doing memory working at Cambridge because his studentship was sponsored to help develop memorable postal codes for the U.K.'s postal service. Otherwise, he might not have become a memory researcher at all. In this episode we talk about how Bertrand Russell influenced him to become a psychologist, the difference between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cognitive Revolution, and how to develop an academic career by proceeding through a series of logical steps.

#25: Michèle Lamont on Building Big Ideas May 12, 2020

This week's guest is someone very special. Michèle Lamont has had a huge impact on my own thinking as a psychologist. She is the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and a Professor of Sociology and African American Studies at Harvard University. The first time I encountered her work was in a book she wrote, published in 2000, called the Dignity of Working Men. It's a work of comparative sociology in which she interviews working class men in both New York and France, both black and white individuals, and essentially allows them to tell their story of the way they see the world while providing some sociological interpretation. It's a brilliant work, and has only become more relevant over time. I highly recommend to anyone interested in understanding more about a huge section of the population that isn't as well represented in typical academic discourse. At any rate, it was a huge honor to talk to her. She has a number of other books that you can check out. In this episode we talk a lot about how her ideas have built on top of one another over time, to really become a truly holistic comparative sociology covering a big part of our world. Here is the interview she mentioned in our conversation: https://sociologiskforskning.se/sf/article/view/19754 Oh, and the movie she was trying to think of was Mephisto by Werner Herzog. Michèle's website: http://www.michelelamont.org/ Michèle's Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlamont6 My newsletter: https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter My Twitter: https://twitter.com/__cek

#24: Michael Inzlicht on the Optimal Number of Beers per Psychologist May 05, 2020

Mickey Inzlicht wanted to be a dentist when he grew up. But unfortunately he only made it as far as Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, with a joint appointment in the Rotman School of Management. He represents one psychologist and two beers worth of the Two Psychologists Four Beers podcast. He's someone who I look up to a whole lot, and there's a lot about what he's been able to do in his career that I'd like to be able to do in my own: successful podcast, professor in social neuroscience (similar topic to the lab I'm doing my PhD in), strong family life, and seems to have a lot of fun doing all that stuff. He's done a lot of excellent work over the course of his career, my favorite of which is the effort paradox which is the idea that the most effort something costs us to pull off the more we value it. The paradox is that we are still for the most part effort averse creatures, try to avoid unnecessary hard work, and are unlikely to begin things that we think we necessitate a ton of it. In this episode we talk about his background in psychology, especially as a first generation college student. Mickey gets into his three top productivity tips that work for him. We also talk shop about pods, how he started his, as well as the podcast ecosystem generally. We wrap up discussing effort, value, meaning, and other topics related to Mickey's research. Mickey's Twitter: @minzlicht Mickey's Pod: https://fourbeers.fireside.fm/ Cody's Twitter: @__cek Cody's Newsletter: https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter

#23: Brad Love on Lifelong Exploration Apr 28, 2020

Little known fact about Brad Love: he holds the world record for the youngest sounding voice for any fully grown adult male. Okay, that might not literally be true. But the guy sounds young -- a fact that belies his prominence and esteem as a professor in the field of cognitive science. In fact, he's such a venerable academic figure that he's mentored students who have gone on to establish themselves as venerable academic figures. So how does he keep himself so young? That's easy: constant exploration. As Brad says in our conversation, he has never felt like he quite locked into doing just one thing; he's always on the lookout for what strikes him as new, fresh, and interesting. We get into a wide-ranging discussion in this episode including the differences between the British and American higher education systems, how to read through a new scientific literature (for example, should you just open a thousand Chrome tabs and hope to get through them eventually?), and what the ideal psychology undergraduate curriculum would look like. We also talk about Brad's unique experiences as an undergrad at Brown and as a grad student at Northwestern. He is currently a professor at University College London, and is also a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Brad's Lab: http://bradlove.org/ Brad's Twitter: @Prof Data My Twitter: @codykommers My newsletter: https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter

#22: Rob Henderson on the Search for Stability Apr 21, 2020

Rob is a Gates scholar at Cambridge, doing his PhD in Psychology. He's written for such venerable outlets as the New York Times and Quillette. As you'll hear, he served in the Air Force and grew up in the foster system. He brings a different perspective than the usual one to the academic realm. Rob are exactly what we need in the academic world: people who have a different set of life experiences than the median one who are intelligent and thoughtful and trying to reconcile the empirical findings of psychological science with their own experiential portion of the world. He's got such an interesting story, which is mostly what we talk about here, and if you find it compelling I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you sign up for his newsletter. Rob's Twitter: @robkhenderson Rob's newsletter: eepurl.com/gNOyq5 Cody's Twitter: @codykommers Cody's newsletter: codykommers.com/newsletter

#21: Olga Khazan on the Power of Outsiders Apr 07, 2020

Olga's family moved to America when she was four years old. They were a Jewish family from Russia. Growing up in small town Texas, let's just say that she was the only one of her classmates named Olga. She is intimately familiar with what it's like to be an outsider. In her new book, Weird, Olga studies how the ways in which we fail to fit in are often what gives us our unique advantage. She is a staff writer for the Atlantic, and this book draws on her experience as a journalist. She's spent the last five years tracking down weirdos and outsiders to tell their stories and connect the dots on what's common between them. In this conversation, we talk about Olga's story, how her parents were against her going into journalism (they've since come around), when she began thinking about weirdness as an intellectual puzzle, and the works in which she finds inspiration as a writer. The Olga Khazan Outsiders Reading list: https://www.codykommers.com/post/the-olga-khazan-reading-list Olga on Twitter: https://twitter.com/olgakhazan @olgakhazan Olga's website: https://olgakhazan.com/ Cody on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codykommers @codykommers Cody's newsletter: https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter

Lab Lockdown #3: Steve Rathje Apr 03, 2020

Steve is a PhD student in social psychology at Cambridge. He recently published an article on Psychology Today about the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of social psychology. I thought it touched on a lot of great points, and so I wanted to have him on the show to go into it a bit deeper. We also talked about adjusting work expectations to match our new mode of cooped-up existence, the implications of the pandemic for the theatre industry, whether the "War on a Hidden Enemy" metaphor lands from a psychology perspective, and what's going to be different once we're on the other side of this thing. As always you can connect with me through Twitter @codykommers and through my newsletter, which you can find at codykommers.com/newsletter. You can connect with Steve on Twitter @SteveRathje Steve's article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/words-matter/202003/will-the-coronavirus-bring-us-together-or-push-us-apart

#20: Julia Shaw on Who We Are and Why It Matters Apr 01, 2020

This is probably the most interesting interview I've done on Cognitive Revolution to date (sorry, Paul Bloom). To call Dr Julia Shaw by her title of psychological scientist at University College London is to severely underestimate the breadth of her mind. She is the kind of scholar who could accurately be described as "complete." It's not that she knows everything. But nothing is outside of the bounds of her interests or capability for engagement. It's a very inspiring thing to see. In this episode, we talk about -- what else? -- the Coronavirus pandemic, but also: lockdown reading lists, how Julia's troubled family history influenced her interest in psychology, overcoming toxic grad school environments, whether it's possible to appreciate great art from terrible people, whether heterosexuality exists, and a host of other far flung topics. You can follow Dr Julia Shaw on Twitter @drjuliashaw and on her website drjuliashaw.com. You can also check out her books: the Memory Illusion, and Making Evil. If you want to keep up with Cognitive Revolution you can subscribe on whichever platform you may be listening through. You can also follow me on Twitter @codykommers and through my newsletter at https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter.

The Christof Koch Consciousness Reading List Mar 30, 2020

As a new part of Cognitive Revolution, I'm gathering reading lists from as many of my guests as I can going forward. I'm always fascinated to know which books have most influenced a person. And it's also useful to see what's impacted others, so you can dig into material that has a relatively high probability of impacting your own life. This episode features a section of my conversation with Christof Koch that didn't really fit into the larger episode with him. In it we discuss his favorite books and his recommended reading on consciousness. You can check out the full reading list (including my own recs) here: codykommers.com/post/christof-koch-reading-list.

Lab Lockdown #2: Jeffrey Lees Mar 20, 2020

Jeff is a PhD at Harvard Business School. He's been working from home for years. And now that the rest of us are in the same position, he recently shared some of his tips for keeping productive and sane when work life and home life begin to coalesce. You can follow him on Twitter @Leesplez. You can also read my recent piece about self-motivation here: https://www.codykommers.com/post/self-motivate

Lab Lockdown #1: Jaclyn A. Siegel Mar 19, 2020

In this crazy times characterized by the chaos of a worldwide pandemic, I've decided to do something a little different on the pod. It's a series I'm calling "Lab Lockdown." The idea is to talk to other grad students about how they're getting through all this while trying to maintain a semblance of sanity and productivity. It's also an opportunity to talk about their current research projects. My first guest in this series is Jaclyn A. Siegel. She's a PhD student at Western Ontario, and she has such a powerful story that connects her personal experiences to her academic interests. We talk about gratitude, using self-isolation as an opportunity for connecting with others, feminism, and adopting cats. You can follow her on Twitter @jaclynasiegel. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#19: Christof Koch on Incandescent Intellectualism Mar 17, 2020

Christof Koch is a one man symphony of passion. The only thing he has to offer is an unrelenting, indissoluble, incandescent fascination with the subjects that he's drawn to and develop a profound expertise on their every aspect. And oh my, what a thing it is to behold. The primary objects of his interest are consciousness and the brain -- what is the physical basis of existence and our experience of it? Christof is the director of the Paul Allen Brain Institute -- which, to give you an idea of what that means, billionaire Paul Allen was hanging out in his office one day, and asked himself, "If I could have one neuroscientist in the world run my institute, who would I choose?" Christof was the obvious answer. He was mentored by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. I can only imagine what it was like to be in a room with those two, in a swirling discussion of the physical basis of consciousness that would have surely convinced you of the truth of determinism because once it got started there was no stopping it. In this conversation we talk about many things, but probably none of them are as eminently worth mentioning as our discussion of Christof's experience of 5 MeO DMT -- which is a psychedelic compound secreted on the back of a species of toad inhabiting the Colorado Road that, so I hear, makes psilocybin seem like an aspirin. Christof's new book is "The Feeling of Life Itself." Make sure to check it out! More info at codykommers.com/podcast.

#18: Michael Tomasello on Writing for Young People Mar 10, 2020

Michael Tomasello is one of the most influential cognitive scientists of the twenty-first century. And yet I would still argue that he is still somehow under-appreciated. He's a truly independent thinker and throughout his career he has pursued ideas that don't fit neatly into any particular intellectual silo but make their presence felt across many of them. In this episode, we talk about the influence of Jerome Bruner, Lev Vygotsky, and Jean Piaget on Mike's thought, where anthropology went after the Cognitive Revolution, how he wrote his first book because he had nothing else going on, writing to shape the minds of young people, the role of outlines in writing, being "problem centered," and the intellectual freedom that comes with being outside of the establishment. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing! You can follow me on Twitter @codykommers, and through my newsletter at codykommers.com/newsletter.

Newsletter Excerpt: "On Forcing the Issue" Mar 05, 2020

If you listened to Cognitive Revolution before, you've probably heard me talk my Friendship Friday newsletter. I've played around with that format for a couple months now, and I haven't been able to get it to feel quite right. Last week, I tried something a bit different and liked the way it came off. So I figured I would share that with you here. If you like the new direction and want to receive more content like this, you can subscribe on my website: codykommers.com/newsletter.

#17: Sander van der Linden on Intrinsic Motivation Mar 03, 2020

If you haven't recently, go look up a picture of actor Paul Rudd. Now, Ben Affleck. My guest for the show this week looks like their love child (go ahead, look it up for yourself). It's uncanny. At any rate, Sander is also a professor of psychology at Cambridge and directs the Social Decision Making lab there. In this episode, we talk about being a night owl in a morning person's world, lucid dreaming, his short-lived career getting umbrellas for bankers, increasing motivation by tying tasks into a larger goal, doing research that's meaningful for society, balancing scientific research and public outreach, "Why not just reach out to people?", perseverance ("Just send them another email"), improving as a mentor, and tackling big research questions. Hope you enjoy! More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#16: Heather Berlin on Bringing Science to the Masses Feb 25, 2020

Dr Heather Berlin is one of the purest science communicators I've ever come across. Pure in the sense that she is, above all, a scientist; her dedication to the craft is obvious. But she also clearly believes that it's important those results don't stop at a handful of specialists. Because she values in the insights of science so deeply, she can't help but make sure as many people as possible can benefit from them! Her day job is as a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her other day job is as a TV doctor, in which she cohosts shows like Star Talk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson or the documentary "Bill Nye: Science Guy." In this episode, we talk about writing and performing off-broadway shows with her husband (who is a rapper), her re-specialization into clinical work, choosing a PhD over med school, strategies for putting yourself out there, and increasing representation of women in science communication. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#15: Nicola Clayton on Enthusiastic Serendipity Feb 18, 2020

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a bird? Not just to fly, but to really, truly understand the world from a bird's perspective. I don't think I have. At least not to the extent that Nicky Clayton has. She is a joyous human being full of unique perspective on corvids, animals, humans, babies, magicians, artists, and scientists. Her official title is professor of comparative cognition at Cambridge, and you can find her on twitter @nickyclayton22. In this episode we talk about her work in China, the phenomenology of bird existence, how to make your own luck, combining science and art to explore memory, letting ideas grow organically, how to encourage others to be more sensitive to the world around them, the connection between magic and cognition, and informal fieldwork in everyday life. As always you can find more info at codykommers.com/podcast.

BONUS: When Should a Conversation End? Feb 11, 2020

This episode is something of a new experiment I'm trying. I read three previous pieces I've written on various topics around friendship. The first is called "Which is Better: More Friends or Closer Friends?" The second is "The Violation of Love Languages." And the third is "When Should a Conversation End?" I chose this topic as it's related to my recently re-vamped newsletter, Friendship Friday. You can subscribe on my website. More info at https://www.codykommers.com/post/bonus-when-should-a-conversation-end

#14: Weiji Ma on Dealing with Imposter Syndrome Feb 04, 2020

Weiji Ma is an associate professor of neural science and psychology at NYU. He is the co-founder of the Growing Up in Science seminar series in New York (you can find more about those seminars online), as well as the Rural China Education Foundation. In this episode, Weiji and I talk about making friends when you're different than your peers, living up to expectations, how we dealt with an "addiction" to online chess and other pathological cases of distraction, finding the right "tough love" mentors, surviving the post-doc phase to get running your own lab, setting the tone of a lab as a PI, managing friction between lab members, why working with Christof Koch didn't go well for him, and how to make the academy a better place to work in. More info at codykommers.com/podcast.

#13: David Pizarro on How to Find Collaborators Jan 28, 2020

David Pizarro is an associate professor in the department of psychology at Cornell. He is also chief science officer at BEworks and cohost of the venerable psychology/philosophy podcast Very Bad Wizards. In this episode, Cody and David talk about learning to work with your natural strengths and weaknesses, finding collaborators who make you better, how to structure your work around laziness, learning to say no, using anger as an academic motivator, getting in early on the podcast scene, and what Cody's advisor thinks about him doing this podcast. More info available on codykommers.com/podcast.

#12: Dorsa Amir on Ultimate versus Proximate Goals Jan 21, 2020

Dorsa Amir is a postdoctoral fellow at Boston College. She took her PhD in anthropology from Yale, and has a popular Ted Talk on how the industrial revolution changed childhood. In this episode, Cody talks with Dorsa about strategic planning as a daily routine, mastering self-regulation, aiming big even when you're risk averse, ultimate goals versus proximal goals, and the most important things psychologists can learn from anthropologists. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#11: Nicholas Epley on Designing a Good Life Jan 14, 2020

Nick Epley is the John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavior Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is the author of the book "Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want." In this episode, Cody talks to Nick about the value of true liberal arts education, the advantages of getting married young, learning the craft of psychology, Nick's crazy proposal to his wife (which didn't go as planned), having kids during grad school, the biggest differences between working in psych departments versus business schools, and what it means to design a good life. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#10: David DeSteno on Being Optimally Interdisciplinary Jan 07, 2020

David DeSteno is a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where he directs the Social Emotions Group. He has published many books, including "Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride." In this episode, Cody talks to David about the difference between academic and popular writing, balancing your true interests with pragmatic considerations, how to be optimally interdisciplinary, and debating core beliefs versus trying to learn from one another. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#9: Linda B. Smith on Making the Best Local Decisions Dec 31, 2019

Linda B. Smith is a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Indiana University. She is a prolific cognitive scientist, specializing in child development, who has won many of the most prestigious awards in the field -- including the Rumelhart prize and the Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award. In this episode, she talks to Cody about transfering from engineering to psychology, what it means to be truly rigorous as a psychologist, going against the grain of Chomsky, getting through personal doubts and crises, being influenced by unexpected sources, and making the best local decisions in your career. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#8: Cory Clark on Getting Traction Dec 17, 2019

Cory Clark is a professor of quantitative social psychology at Durham University. She is the co-host of the Psyphilopod podcast, as well as the proud owner of the prestigious Twitter handle @ImHardCory. In this episode, Cody and Cory talk about the gateway drugs to psychology, getting traction in research, on being a modern psychologist (with a podcast), and what we still don't know about successful de-biasing. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#7: Bradley Voytek on Being a F**k up with Potential Dec 10, 2019

Bradley Voytek is a professor of cognitive science, neuroscience, and data science at UC San Diego. He is the author of Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? and was the first data scientist at Uber. In this episode, Cody talks to Brad about the neuroscience of zombies, community building, being an insanely good mentor, overcoming low grades or initial setbacks, the influence of Oliver Sacks, and Brad's CV of failures. You can follow him on Twitter @BradleyVoytek. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#6: Axel Cleeremans on Getting in on the Ground Floor Dec 03, 2019

Axel Cleeremans is a professor of cognitive science in the Department of Psychology of the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. He is also a Research Director for the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research. In this episode, Cody talks with Axel about his decision to move to the US for his PhD and work with pioneers in artificial intelligence like Jay McClelland and Herb Simon. They also discuss significant life changes, being at the forefront of neural network research in AI, how students mold their advisor's interests, and being in on the ground floor of scientific interest in consciousness. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#5: Susan Fiske on the Role of Psychology in Society Nov 26, 2019

Susan Fiske is a professor of psychology at Princeton University. She is a pioneer in the field of social cognition, and co-author of the famous text Social Cognition. In this episode, Cody digs into her decades of experience as a social psychologist. They discuss the biggest single thing that psychologists can contribute to society, why conservatives tend not to become social psychologists, how Professor Fiske made her mark in a male dominated field, and the trip around the world that jump-started her research career. More info at codykommers.com/podcast.

#4: Scott Barry Kaufman on Planning with Precision and Purpose Nov 19, 2019

Scott Barry Kaufman is a professor of psychology at Columbia. He is the author of several books, including Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. He is the host of the The Psychology Podcast. Most importantly, he is a caring and compassionate human being. You can find him on Twitter @sbkaufman. In this episode, Cody talks to Scott about having a tactical plan to achieve goals in the course of plotting a unique life path. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#3: Chantel Prat on Unexpected Advantages Nov 12, 2019

Chantel Prat is a cognitive neuroscientist, author, and general-purpose badass. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington, where she leads the Cognition & Cortical Dynamics Lab. In this episode, Cody talks with Chantel about the magical moments of randomness that life throws at you and how a curve ball can be just what you need to hit a home run. Keep an eye out for her forthcoming book, slated for release in early 2021! More info at codykommers.com/podcast.

#2: Paul Bloom on Picking the Perfect Title Nov 05, 2019

Paul Bloom is a prolific author and has written books such as "Against Empathy," as well as articles in venues like the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic. He is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale. In this episode, Paul talks to Cody about his unique schedule for productivity, what it takes to write for a broader audience, and how to pick the perfect title. More information is available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#1: Art Markman on Getting Your Work Out There Oct 29, 2019

Art Markman is an accomplished author, podcaster, and psychology professor at UT Austin, as well as Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations. In this episode, Art gives Cody his perspective on how to take risks, be in the right place at the right time, and get your work out there for a broader audience. More information is available at codykommers.com/podcast.

Introduction: Bertrand Russell's Cognitive Revolution Oct 22, 2019

Welcome to Cognitive Revolution. If you're new to the podcast this is a good place to start. It is an introduction to what you'll be hearing later on, in which Cody tells the story of Bertrand Russell's famous work "Principia" and the personal woes that Russell had to go through to finish it. Find out more about the show at codykommers.com/podcast.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected