Stanford Psychology Podcast - Stanford Psychology

Latest Episodes:

187 - Geoff Hinton & Jay McClelland: Two AI Pioneers in Conversation (RE-AIR) Nov 05, 2026

Show notes

This re-air episode features Eric's chat with 2024 Nobel Laureate Geoffrey Hinton and Stanford Professor Jay McClelland, two pioneers who have spent nearly half a century laying the groundwork for modern-day AI, advancing research on neural networks long before it captured the world's imagination.

In fact, their early work faced significant skepticism from the scientific community - an experience they candidly discuss in this episode. This wide-ranging conversation covers everything from the capabilities of recent breakthrough LLMS like DeepSeek to AI agents, the nature of memory and confabulation, the challenges to aligning AI with human values when we humans don’t even agree on our values, and Geoff's fascinating new theory of language, featuring an analogy of words as thousand-dimensional, shape-shifting Lego blocks with hands.

Geoff, who retired in 2023, divided his time between the University of Toronto and Google DeepMind. With numerous accolades including the 2018 Turing Award and 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, he is perhaps best known for co-developing the backpropagation algorithm - now a cornerstone of AI research. Jay, currently at Stanford and Google DeepMind, has revolutionized our understanding of human learning through his work on Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP), applying neural network principles to understand phenomena like language acquisition. His insights into human learning have profoundly influenced how we understand machine learning.

Their friendship dates back to the late 1970s and grew stronger as both collaborated with fellow pioneer David Rumelhart. They share some touching memories about Dave in this episode. Remarkably, despite decades of friendship and building upon each other's work, this appears to be their first recorded conversation together. Eric challenged them to discuss their latest insights and disagreements.

The original episode was recorded on January 29, 2025.

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Links:

Geoff's website

Geoff's Google Scholar

Jay's website

Jay's Google Scholar

Eric's website

Eric's X @EricNeumannPsy

Podcast X @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Let us know what you think of this episode, or of the podcast! stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

186 - Ian Gotlib: Understanding Depression Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

This week, Katia is joined by Ian Gotlib, a professor of psychology at Stanford University. In this episode, we explore risk factors for depression, its connection to other disorders, and what individuals can do to manage their risk. We also discuss findings from a decade-long study of girls whose mothers have depression, how the way preteens speak may predict internalizing behaviors up to six years later, and how artificial intelligence can advance psychological research.

Ian Gotlib’s Lab Website: https://snaplab.stanford.edu/

Ian Gotlib’s paper, Natural language processing of youth speech predicts psychopathology across adolescence: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-026-00683-9

Ian Gotlib: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-gotlib-09256526a/

Katia Kriakova: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiakriakova/

Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

185 - Brian Knutson: What Neuroscience Reveals About Our Decisions Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

This week, Katia Kriakova has a conversation with Brian Knutson, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Stanford University. In this episode, we explore the neuroscience of decision-making, how brain activity can predict behavior and relapse in addiction, and why our choices don’t always align with how we want to live.

Brian Knutson’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-knutson-8b87762a5/

Brian Knutson’s Lab Website: https://spanlab.stanford.edu/people/brian-knutson/

Katia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiakriakova/

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

184 - Tamar Schapiro: What Philosophy Can(not) Tell us About Children, Adults, and the Root of All Evil Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Julie and Adani chat with Tamar Schapiro, professor of philosophy at MIT! Tamar is interested in a wide range of things, from what it means to make good decisions in everyday life to ethical theory and the history of ethics (especially Kant and the British Moralists). We discussed Tamar’s work on why we treat children differently from adults, dig into whether and how reactivity might be the root of all evil, and close with some practical life advice based on Tamar’s own journey through philosophy and life!

Tamar’s faculty webpage: https://philosophy.mit.edu/schapiro
Tamar’s recent book, Feeling Like It: a Theory of Inclination and Will: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198862932.001.0001
Tamar’s paper, Childhood and Personhood: https://access.heinonline.com/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/arz45&i=593

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on The Philosophy of Childhood: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/childhood/

Julie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hengj/

Adani: https://www.adaniabutto.com
Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod
Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

183 - William Damon: How to Live a Purposeful Life Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

This week, Katia Kriakova has a conversation with William Damon, a professor at Stanford University. He is one of the world's leading researchers on human development across the lifespan and has pioneered the scientific study of purpose in life. In this conversation, we explore how we can make our own lives more purposeful and expand purpose beyond ourselves.

William Damon’s book on purpose: The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life

William Damon’s paper: The Psychology of Purpose: A Comprehensive Approach

William Damon’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamdamon/

Katia Kriakova’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiakriakova/

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanford-psychology-podcast/

182 - Bill Burnett: How to Design a Meaningful Life Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

This week, Katia has a conversation with Bill Burnett, an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He is the co-founder of Stanford's Life Design Lab and also the co-author of Designing Your Life and How to Live a Meaningful Life. In this conversation, Bill shares how we can live in alignment with our values and compass, how prototyping can help us embrace uncertainty, and how to design a life that is more meaningful to us.

Designing Your Life Website: https://designingyour.life/

Bill Burnett’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-burnett-4225401/

Bill Burnett’s Books:

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life

How to Live a Meaningful Life: Using Design Thinking to Unlock Purpose, Joy, and Flow Every Day

Katia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiakriakova/

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

181 - Nomisha Kurian: Critical Hope for the Future of Children & AI Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

Adani chats with Nomisha Kurian, Assistant Professor in Education Studies at the University of Warwick, Associate Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and Associate at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research in Digital Education. Nomisha has been at the forefront of research on children’s safety and well-being, elucidating what it means for up-and-coming AI technologies to support children’s development and align with their best interests. She has also advised the UK Government Open Innovation Team, spearheaded policy briefs, and previously researched children’s rights law at Yale University. We discuss how a recently-viral NYT article relates to Nomisha’s frameworks for developmentally aligned AI, why we should have “critical hope” for the future, and learn more about the exciting things she’ll be releasing later this year!

NYT feature – “What Parents in China See in A.I. Toys”: https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000010595407/china-ai-toy-chatbot.html

Nomisha’s framework on developmentally aligned AI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44436-025-00009-z
Nomisha’s further work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wT89nlAAAAAJ
Nomisha’s children’s book: https://nosycrow.com/book/university-of-cambridge-think-big-artificial-intelligence/

Adani’s website: https://www.adaniabutto.com
Adani’s Bluesky @adani

Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod
Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

180 - Andrew Lampinen: Translating Cognitive Psychology to AI Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, Elizabeth chats with Dr. Andrew Lampinen as a part of our Alumni in Industry series. Andrew is currently a Member of Technical Staff at Anthropic. Prior to joining Anthropic, he worked as a Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind, and before that he earned his PhD here at Stanford and researched how humans are able to learn new things rapidly. His work bridges cognitive science and artificial intelligence, often with a focus on how the complex behaviors and representations of models, agents, or humans emerge from their learning experiences or data. In this episode, Dr. Lampinen shares his experiences in academia and industry and offers an insightful perspective on how these two research landscapes may be similar and different.

Andrew's website: https://lampinen.github.io/

Elizabeth’s: website: imelizabeth.github.io

Elizabeth’s BlueSky: @imelizabeth.bsky.social

Podcast BlueSky @StanfordPsyPod.bsky.social

Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

179 - Cynthia Osborne: Translating Evidence Into Early Childhood Policy Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

Adani chats with Cynthia Osborne, Professor at Vanderbilt University and Executive Director of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center. Prof. Osborne’s work focuses on translating developmental science into effective, evidence-based policies for families and young children in the U.S. We discuss what the field of Early Childhood Policy entails, the ongoing work that Prof. Osborne and the Impact Center conduct, and why the first three years of childhood are so critical. Prof. Osborne also tells us about her path into her current work, how she built the Impact Center’s wonderful team, and what advice she would pass on to students seeking to bridge research and policy!

Cynthia Osborne’s page: https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/cynthia-osborne/
Cynthia Osborne’s publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tRc8EmMAAAAJ
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center: https://pn3policy.org/
Policy Impact Calculator: https://pn3policy.org/policy-impact-calculator/
Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap: https://pn3policy.org/pn-3-state-policy-roadmap-2025/

Adani’s website: https://stanford.edu/~aabutto/
Adani’s Bluesky @adani

Podcast Twitter @StanfordPsyPod
Podcast Substack https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or of the podcast! :) stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

178 - Julia Nolte: Why We Avoid Difficult Decisions Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

This week, Enna chats with Dr. Julia Nolte, Assistant Professor of Economic Psychology at Tilburg University. Julia’s research examines how information management, risk perception, and decision-making change across adulthood. She is particularly interested in what keeps people, especially older adults, from making well-informed and high-quality decisions, and how we can better support people in making choices that align with their goals and values.

In our conversation, Julia discusses how her early interest in theater sparked her interest in psychology, how she came to study aging and decision-making, and what her work can teach us about information avoidance, decision-making, and the very human challenge of choosing between imperfect options.

Julia’s Website: https://www.julianolte.org/

Julia’s X: @Dr_Julia_Nolte

Julia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-nolte-8aa02b158/

Julia’s Paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0361073X.2025.2473849

Enna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ennayuxuanchen/

Enna’s X: @EnnaYuxuanChen

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com

Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod

Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/

Podcast Contact: stanfordpsychpodcast@gmail.com