Serious Inquiries Only

It's another science thingy subjected to the Lindsey treatment! A study purports to show that people in a position of privilege view any effort to promote equality as an attack on them. Does the study hold up? Will Lindsey talk methods to us? Find out! Stay tuned after for a special message from Andrew Torrez. Links: New Scientist Article , Brown et al study 2022

By popular request, Lindsey will be taking us through this fascinating science-thingy! Certain kinds of meditation can reduce feelings like guilt, sadness, etc. But is that good? Does it make people less likely to help others in different ways? Find out! Links: Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Guilt and Prosocial Reparation , popular coverage

Our own Dr. Lindsey Osterman has had an abortion, does not regret it, and wants to tell us why this basic healthcare right matters not just for those in extreme circumstances. Then, we discuss the political situation and what can actually be done about it. Yelling may be involved.

There's possibly a new brand of centrist-IDW-know-it-all online, and it's called a "sensemaker." Or, is it a totally normal good thing? I don't know. So I brought in way-too-online-person Aaron Rabinowitz to explain just wtf is going on here. We ended up having a wide ranging discussion on the centristy-IDW manosphere and what makes it tick. And why Elon Musk blows.

You've likely seen this study covered across the interwebs. Well, does it hold up to the SIO-Osterman treatment? Find out!

Dr. Lindsey Osterman explains the rest of the persuasion review paper. This episode has a lot of good, practical info if you're wanting to try to change minds, for real! Links: Hussein & Tormala (2021) Undermining Your Case to Enhance Your Impact , Jost et al (2003) Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition , Jost et al (2007) Are Needs to Manage Uncertainty and Threat Associated With P...

With so many people in our country seemingly living in an alternate universe of facts, persuading people to change their mind has never been more important. But... how can we actually do that? What actually works? Dr. Lindsey Osterman is here to science us about it! Hussein & Tormala (2021) Undermining Your Case to Enhance Your Impact

That's the claim made by many right wing anti COVID restriction people. What's more, it seems to be based on a CDC report. So is there anything to it? Find out! Links: Yard et al (2021) CDC report , Popular press coverage of report 1 , 2 , 2020 CDC report (claiming that adolescent ED visits for mental health increased by 31% in 2020 compared to 2019) , CDC Reports on decline in total ED visits for...

Yeah it's some commentary about the Joe Rogan controversy. I couldn't help it. People are being too wrong on the internet.

You might have seen the coverage recently of a study that claims to show that giving poor mothers cash payments changed their babies’ brain activity in ways associated with stronger cognitive development. So what is the study, and does it hold up to SIO science thingy scrutiny courtesy of Dr. Lindsey Osterman? Find out! Links: NYT write-up , Troller-Renfree and colleagues (2022) The Impact of a Po...

We had a number of questions from the November QnA that never happened to get to, as well as some new ones for January. Here's to getting back to regular on these!

What the saga around the subreddit r/antiwork says about our society and capitalism's death grip on us.

It's time to give another viral thingy the Dr. Lindsey Osterman treatment! A viral tweet summarizing the findings of a political science study alleges that the people have "near-zero" impact on public policy. What is this study, what did it find, and was it good science? Find out! Links: Gilens & Page (2014) - Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens , V...

The Facebook Whistleblower's testimony and interviews have made some alarming claims about social media and the harms it may cause. But do all of those claims hold up to scrutiny? Maybe not! Let's see what psychologist Dr. Lindsey Osterman has to say! Lindsay's billion links: Internal Report 1, Teen Mental Health Deep Dive , Internal Report 2, Hard Life Moments: Mental Health Deep Dive , Whistlebl...

Is it ghosts? Dave Chappelle's boring unoriginal transphobia, rat jacket fetishes, Democratic party bashing, and more! Here's that Grandpa Joe blackface post.

It's part 2 of our Littman breakdown, find out what her latest junk study says. This time it's about detransitioning and it suffers from many of the same problems as her first study we covered in part 1. Also, friend of the show Aaron Rabinowitz, host of Embrace the Void , dug up some of the questions Littman asked. Which ones were and were not included says a ton about what the answers must have...

Recently, a study by Lisa Littman has been making the rounds among the anti-woke. You may remember Littman mentioned in the amazing 2 part series debunking The End of Gender . She is the inventor of the transphobic bull shit concept "rapid onset gender dysphoria" which is science words for "kids these days." In this two part series, Dr. Lindsey Osterman breaks down both of her bogus studies and wh...

In a vital follow up to our police bias episodes, today we break down a new study that shows police killings were undercounted by MORE THAN HALF. This confirms what many of us have suspected about the "official data" on police violence, and it's only the tip of the iceberg. Links: Lancet article , Fatal Encounters , Mapping Police Violence , The Counted  

We've got some great questions as always! This time we start with some personal slash whimsical stuff including what song lyrics we have been wrong about. Other great segments include sex stuff and why Jordan Peterson is wrong about evo-psych. Or just... everything. Links: Dwulit & Rzymski (2019) - Associations of Porn Use with Sexual Dysfunctions  

It's part 2 of our sex stuff series. Dr. Lindsey Osterman did a deep dive into porn related research. Either that or I caught her looking at porn and she proposed this series as an elaborate cover. But either way you're getting some great stuff! Does the anti-porn side of the argument have the weight of evidence on their side? Is porn actually totally fine? Find out! Links: Michael Hobbes, Human T...

But don't take my word for it, Dr. Lindsey Osterman is here to break down the social science for us! And guess what, SURPRISE SURPRISE, it doesn't support the conservative war on porn and sex work. And it's not just conservatives, it's NYT's Nicholas D. Kristof, and prominent anti-porn feminists like Catharine MacKinnon . Listen as Lindsey explains why the war against sex work is bad for everyone....

Therese Chan, an actual vet (though not a horse doctor) is here to talk about Ivermectin. What is it, what does it do, what does it not do, why are so many people taking it, will it turn you into a horse, will it turn you back from a horse to a human, is this a simulation, no really is it, how is any of this real, and more!

It's that time again! Patrons asked some fantastic questions. Like, what's our favorite piece of visual art? Is Bari Weiss right about Amy Cooper? What are Lindsey's thoughts on tenure? Are morals taught or learned? When should people resign in protest vs. staying and fighting? And more!

... AGAINST ANTI GAY ACTIVISTS. Yeah. It's a bad science thingy. But bad science thingies are a bat signal for Dr. Lindsey Osterman, who is here to break down this study for us! What does the study prove? What does it definitely not prove? Find out! Uzarevic et al. (2021) "Are Atheists Unprejudiced? ", Uzarevic et al. (2017) "Are Atheists Undogmatic? ", Speed & Brewster (2021) "Christians, but not...

You might have seen the very scary headlines about a Massachusetts outbreak in which 74% of those infected were vaccinated. That sounds terrifying! But is it? What does actual science person Dr. Lindsey Osterman make of these numbers? The news is actually far better than you might think! Find out why! In a quick first segment, Lindsey gives us a hilarious recap of how thoroughly Sam Harris acciden...