Converging Dialogues

Latest Episodes:

#51 - The WEIRDest People in the World: A Dialogue with Joseph Henrich Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Joseph Henrich about WEIRD people and cultural evolution. They start the conversation by defining what WEIRD means and some of the essential features of WEIRD people. They talk about cumulative cultural evolution and how this works in tandem with natural and sexual selection. They discuss some examples of individualistic and collective cultures and some of the similarities and differences. They engage with each other about whether culture causes evolutionary change or is merely a variable that influences change. They talk about the spread of Christianity and how it has impacted cultural evolution. They also discuss the impact of cultural evolution on markets and economic systems. They also mention the impact of war and the global collective brain as a way of understanding cultural evolution in the digital age along with many other topics.

Joseph Henrich is Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on evolutionary approaches to psychology, decision-making, and culture. He has done research on topics such as cultural evolution, human sociality, prestige, and large-scale cooperation. He is the author of The Secret of Our Success: How culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species, and making us smarter. The topics in this book and his most recent book, The WEIRDest People in the World: How the west become psychologically peculiar and particularly prosperous are discussed in this episode. You can find both books along with his research at his website. Twitter: @johenrich

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#50 - The Phenomenology of Soren Kierkegaard: A Dialogue with Amber Bowen Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Amber Bowen about Soren Kierkegaard's philosophy. They discuss Amber's background and involvement in studying Kierkegaard and her dissertation on the phenomenological self in Kierkegaard's philosophy. They talk about the counter-intentionality and the ego, along with defining and discussing the differences between the self and ego. They engage with each other about the self and how Kierkegaard believed the "other" was essential for understanding the self. They also discuss the reasoning for Kierkegaard using religious content and analysis in his works. Additionally, they discuss his main concept "leap of faith" and how Kierkegaard discusses this philosophically and theologically, along with many other topics.

Amber Bowen is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Redeemer University in Ontario, Canada. She has her Bachelor of Arts in History and Master of Arts in Philosophy of Religion from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She recently obtained her PhD in Philosophy from Trinity College at University of Aberdeen where she conducted her dissertation, Hearing, Doing, Becoming: A Kierkegaardian Phenomenology of the Self. She continues to do research on phenomenology in Kierkegaard's philosophy and also studies the Gadamer hermeneutical approach to philosophy. You can find her work in popular articles and journals here. Twitter: @amber_bowen

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#49 - The Self-Conscious Emotion of Pride: A Dialogue with Jessica Tracy Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jessica Tracy about the self-conscious emotion of pride. They begin the discussion by defining emotions and describing their evolutionary function. They talk about the basic emotions and the self-conscious emotions and describe the differences between affect, feelings, and emotions. They explain the challenges with the positive vs. negative emotions framework and how social emotions present in other mammals.

They provide a definition of pride and how it works towards social status and rank. They talk about the two types of pride, authentic and hubristic pride, and how one could view pride as an internal system. They discuss what the self is and how pride works with an understanding of the self. They talk about pride in non-WEIRD populations and how one can recognize pride expression. They engage about the the different models of explaining pride for social dominance, hierarchy, and status along with explaining the positive and negative aspects of both types of pride. They talk about how shame and pride interact and some of the measures used to assess for shame and pride. They also discuss Jessica's research on developing a more accurate taxonomy for distinct positive emotions.

Jessica Tracy is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a Sauder Distinguished Scholar. She runs the emotion and self lab at UBC where she studies emotion, moral thinking, nonverbal expression, self-conscious emotions (e.g., pride, shame), narcissism, status and hierarchy, and trends in psychological science. She is also the Associate Editor for the journal, Affective Science. She is the author of the book, Pride: The secret of success which you can find here. You can also find all of her scientific articles at her website. Twitter: @profjesstracy

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#48 - Our Social Instinct for Cooperation: A Dialogue with Nichola Raihani Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nichola Raihani about our social instinct for cooperation. They begin by discussing the first part of her book which details the genetic aspects of making one's body function and how cooperation is within each individual. They discuss the second part of the book on cooperation within the family unit. They talk about the power of kin selection and cooperative breeding. They dialogue about menopause, the grandmother hypothesis, and why cooperative breeding is important. They continue by discussing the third part of the book on cooperation with other humans and why reciprocity and interdependence are important for prosocial interactions. They talk about inclusive fitness and some of the differences between biological altruism and psychological altruism. They discuss the fourth and final part of the book where Nichola details punishment and the threat of punishment as being important for cooperation. They mention the value of reputation and social status and some of the darker elements of cooperation.

Nichola Raihani is a researcher at her lab of social evolution and behavior and professor of evolution and behavior within the field of experimental psychology at University College London. She is a royal society university research fellow and fellow of the royal society of biology. Her primary research topic is on the evolution of cooperation in nature. Nichola's new book, The social instinct: How cooperation shaped the world, is available here and here. You can find her research here. Twitter: @nicholaraihani

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#47 - Evolution Misconceptions and the Myers Briggs: A Dialogue with Laith Al-Shawaf May 24, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Laith Al-Shawaf about common misconceptions surrounding evolution and the faulty statistical science for the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Evolution is the first topic. They discuss the common misconceptions of evolution such as randomness, survival of the fittest, purpose and genetic determinism, and just-so stories. They discuss the importance of ethology and evolutionary psychology along with some of the common criticisms of evolutionary psychology.

Next, they discuss the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and provide an overview of the test's history and origins. They give a brief overview of the important statistical concepts of reliability and validity and how the MBTI fails with these basic statistical elements. Specifically, they discuss continuous vs. discrete variables and the arbitrary boundaries imposed with the MBTI. They also talk about why people continue to use the MBTI and if there are better alternatives. They also ponder if personalities are able to change and many other topics.

Laith Al-Shawaf is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. His main areas of focus with his research are in the evolutionary origins of emotions (specifically, disgust, anger, shame, guilt, and hunger), personality, and error management theory. The two popular articles mentioned in this episode are here and here. He is well-published within the scientific journals which you can find links to his articles at his website. Twitter: @laithalshawaf

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#46 - The Humanism of Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy: A Dialogue with Paul Grant & Ellen Inverso May 17, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Grant and Ellen Inverso about Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R) . They provide an overview of Aaron Beck’s cognitive model both theoretically and in clinical practice. They discuss the power of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as an Evidence-Based Treatment (EBT) and why that’s important. They talk about whether one can use CBT techniques without conceptualizing. They discuss what CT-R is and how it has had an emphasis on treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. They explain why they started with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and how the theoretical model integrates many aspects of humanism. They talk about the differences between CT-R and CBT-Psychosis (CBT-P). They also mentioned the empirical evidence and support for CT-R and how they continue to move forward in exploring other aspects of CT-R’s application.

Dr. Paul M. Grant is a clinical psychologist and Co-Director of the Center for Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy (CT-R). For the past 20 years, Dr. Grant, along with Aaron T. Beck, MD, originated and advanced CT-R, which is a revolutionary evidence-based approach to treating severe mental health conditions. He has extensively researched and studied the theoretical basis and application of CT-R to individuals given a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Ellen Inverso, PsyD, is Director of Clinical Training and Implementation at Beck Institute Center for Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy. She has a national reputation for advocacy and dissemination of CT-R. A co-developer of CT-R, she has created transformative CT-R programming for psychiatric inpatient units, programmatic residences, schools, and community teams, with special focus on adolescents and young adults, individuals engaging in extreme forms of self-injury, individuals considering transitions into the community following extended periods of institutionalization, and families. A licensed psychologist, Dr. Inverso supervises early career professionals in CT-R, guides her seasoned colleagues to add the approach to their armamentarium, and has co-authored curricula for training peer specialists and expert trainers in CT-R. Along with Dr. Aaron T. Beck and colleagues, she is co-author of the new book, Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy for Serious Mental Health Conditions, out through Guilford Press.

You can find all of the info on CT-R here.

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#45 - Walking Upright: The Importance of Bipedalism: A Dialogue with Jeremy DeSilva May 10, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jeremy DeSilva about the importance of bipedalism. They discuss the evolutionary history of hominoids, hominins, and hominids. They talk about the earliest evolution of bipedalism in other species. They also discuss the importance of Lucy and Ardi and the differences and similarities between these two early Australopithecus. They talk about where Homo Erectus fits into the timeline and whether bipedalism was essential for human evolution. They engage about the elements of gait for different human species and the relevance for modern humans. They also talk about bipedalism and the aspects of birth, socialization, and many other topics.

Jeremy DeSilva is a paleoanthropologist and Associate Professor of anthropology at Dartmouth College. He specializes in the locomotion of the first apes and early human ancestors. Specifically, he studies fossils of human ankles and feet to understand the evolution of bipedalism. His book, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human is available here. You find him at his website and also on Twitter: @desilva_jerry

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#44 - The Mathematical Power of Neuroscience: A Dialogue with Grace Lindsay May 03, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Grace Lindsay about the computational approach that can be used to understand the brain. They discuss what computational neuroscience is and provide a brief overview and review of neuroanatomy. They talk about action potentials and the comparisons with an electrical circuit. They discuss the Hopfield Network as a way to understand various forms of memory in the brain, specifically within the hippocampus. They explain how early computer science research helped in creating a model for visual sequencing. They also discuss the future of computational neuroscience such as the Bayesian model, backpropagation, and many other topics.

Grace Lindsay is a computational neuroscientist at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre/Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit University College London. She received her PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University. Her first book, Models of the Mind: How Physics, Engineering, and Mathematics Have Shaped Our Understanding of the Brain discusses many of the elements discussed in this episode. You can purchase that book here. You can find her at her website. Twitter: @neurograce

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#43 - Feminist Existentialism: A Dialogue with Talia Welsh Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Talia Welsh about feminism, existentialism, and the nature of work. They discuss feminist theory and ask if feminism adds a chapter to philosophy or should revolutionize the field? They talk about what to do with problematic artists and can one separate the art from the artist? They dialogue about defining womanhood, understanding masculinity and femininity, reforming masculinity, and reimagining the nuclear family in the 21st century. They also discuss an active life, a person's contributions to society, and redemption and forgiveness

The topic of work is something that Talia has been researching more recently. They define work and its variants from a phenomenological perspective. They discuss differences between cognition and thinking, work as meaning, and how people attempt to find value and meaning in science. They also discuss religion, criticisms about organized religion, and many other topics.

Talia Welsh has a PhD in philosophy and is currently a UC Foundation professor of Philosophy and Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She spends most of her research with Merleau-Ponty and has translated his lectures given at Sorbonne in the volume, Child Psychology & Pedagogy: The Sorbonne Lectures 1949-1952. You can find her work here.

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#42 - The Dark Side of Sexual Evolution: A Dialogue with David Buss Apr 26, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Buss about evolutionary psychology and his new book on sexual deception, harassment, and assault. They discuss his background and how he founded and developed the field of evolutionary psychology. They have a broad discussion of sexual selection, sexual differences, and different mating strategies. They talk about his new book, When Men Behave Badly, and why there is mating conflict. They explore why men are responsible for darker, predatory behaviors and some of the variance among men. They discuss the dark triad of personality and the overall dark side of human nature. They also talk about the application and future directions of evolutionary psychology.

David Buss is a psychologist and one of the founders of evolutionary psychology. He is a full professor of psychology at the University of Texas and is the head of the Individual Differences and Evolutionary Psychology area. He runs a lab researching human mating strategies which includes mate selection, mate retention, and mating emotions. He is the author of numerous books which include the main textbook for evolutionary psychology, Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind and his popular science book, The Evolution of Desire. His newest book, When Men Behave Badly: The Hidden Roots of Sexual Deception, Harassment, and Assault, explores the themes discussed in this episode. You can find his scientific publications at his website. Twitter: @profdavidbuss

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