Two Psychologists Four Beers

Latest Episodes:

Episode 54: Being WEIRD (with Joe Henrich) Sep 23, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey interview one of the most influential social scientists of our generation, Harvard University's Joe Henrich. Why are people from the West so peculiar, so different from other people the world over? What led the West to be particularly prosperous? If not intelligence, what marks humans as so special? What are the various approaches to the evolutionary study of human behaviour? Does psychology suffer from a theory crisis? Has religion been a net plus to the survival of human groups?

Bonus: Who is lazier, psychologists or economists?

Special Guest: Joe Henrich.

Sponsored By:

The Great Courses Plus: The Great Courses Plus is a Video-On-Demand service brought to you by The Great Courses – the leading global media brand for lifelong learning and personal enrichment. With thousands of in-depth videos taught by the world’s greatest professors, you’ll always have something fascinating to learn about. Promo Code: BEERS

Links:

Episode 52: Cold Takes (with Neil Lewis, Jr.) Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey welcome Neil Lewis, Jr. of Cornell University to the podcast. Is psychology ready to be applied to help the response to the COVID-19 pandemic? What are the opportunity costs of applying a psychological intervention? How does Neil navigate Twitter so effectively? What will Neil be doing over at FiveThirtyEight? What can meta-analyses and registered reports tell us about stereotype threat?

Bonus: How is Mickey like Jesus?

Special Guest: Neil Lewis, Jr..

Links:

Episode 51: Against Orthodoxy Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

After over a year of (mostly) avoiding controversial topics, Yoel and Mickey dive in to talk about orthodoxy, dissent, and "cancel culture." Does the narrowing of acceptable views make us dumber or does it represent a drawing of new moral boundaries that make us more kind? How does the silencing of dissent lead to self-censoring? Why does it appear like some people are given more permission to dissent than others? Is cancel culture leading to a right-wing backlash?

Bonus: Why was the podcast account suspended from Twitter?

Links:

Episode 50: The Upside of Feeling Bad (with Claudia Haase) Jul 29, 2020

Show notes

For their 50th episode, Yoel and Mickey welcome Northwestern University psychologist Claudia Haase to the podcast to discuss relationships and mistakes. What was life like in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall? How can Yoel and Mickey iron out their relationship problems? How is life as a working academic and mother during a global pandemic? Why are people so scared to admit to their mistakes? How can we learn from failure?

Bonus: Should you delete Twitter?

Special Guest: Claudia Haase.

Links:

Episode 49: Why Buddhism is Wrong (with Evan Thompson) Jul 15, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey have a far ranging conversation with University of British Columbia professor of philosophy, Evan Thompson. Despite growing up with a daily meditation practice and contributing to the cognitive science of mindfulness, why does Evan not consider himself a Buddhist? Is Buddhism a religion that is truly different from other religions? Is the self an illusion, as is popularily portrayed by Buddhist modernists such as Sam Harris? What do failures to replicate social psychology studies of embodied cognition mean for the larger enterprise of embodied cognition? Can science and traditional Buddhism co-exist? Why is Evolutionary Psychology a doomed entreprise?

Bonus: Which city is superior, Toronto or Vancouver?

Special Guest: Evan Thompson.

Links:

Episode 48: Clocks and Garbage Cans (with Rachel Ruttan) Jul 01, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey host Rachel Ruttan, who is an assisant professor of organizational behavior and human resources at the Rotman School of Management. What is organizational behavior and how is it different from psychology? What makes for a good research idea? How is figure skating like academia? When big corporations espouse social values, does it cheapen people's commitment to these values?

Bonus: What is the best way to suss out if a new friend smokes weed?

Special Guest: Rachel Ruttan.

Links:

Episode 47: Talking about Racism (with Keith Maddox) Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey welcome back returning guest Keith Maddox from Tufts University to talk about his research on racism. What is shadeism? Can anything be done to make it easier to talk about race and racism? What happens to poeple who confront racism? Has social psychology overplayed the impact of implicit prejudice? Has psychology overplayed the role of the individual racist, and not focused enough on structural racism?

Special Guest: Keith Maddox.

Links:

Episode 46: Very Good Men (with Very Bad Wizards) Jun 03, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey try to settle their feud with the boys from Very Bad Wizards, Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro. They discuss what psychology, philosophy, and art can and can't do. Does psychology get more respect than it deserves? How has philosophy contributed to supporting the COVID-19 pandemic response? In principle, is it possible to measure authoritarianism or love or neuroticism? How has VBW not become an icon of the IDW?

Bonus: Who loves Tamler's step-mother the most?

Special Guest: Very Bad Wizards.

Links:

Episode 45: Being Human (with Scott Barry Kaufman) May 13, 2020

Show notes

Yoel and Mickey welcome humanistic psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman to the show. Scott talks about his academic path from intelligence researcher to positive psychologist. What is humanistic psychology? Can one study humananistic concepts like self-actualization, flourishing, and meaning scientifically? What does evolutionary psychology get wrong about basic human needs?

Bonus: SBK sings!

Special Guest: Scott Barry Kaufman.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Two Psychologists Four Beers

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected