Why We Do What We Do

The human tendency to use language to name things is remarkably important and foundational. While we don't delve into the incredibly deep and nerdy philosophy of naming specifically, we tackle some of the major implications and interesting effects of naming tendencies. Links for Today: Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Exper...

Yoga is extremely old but likely began in central Asia thousands of years ago. There are certainly health benefits, and possibly psychological benefits. There are also a lot of bonkers claims made by yogis. Listen in and learn all about yoga!. Links for Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stretching-theory/202002/can-yoga-make-you-smarter https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/the-11-ma...

We are not canceled! Or at least we hope not. But this is a discussion about cancel culture. Where it comes from, why we do, and what purpose does it serve? Most people take a firm stance for or against "canceling" someone. Instead, we are bringing a nuanced discussion to this newly re-relevant topic. Links for Today: https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained...

Another one of those pesky human biases. Or maybe westerner biases. Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to interpret our own behavior as being due to our circumstances and others' behavior as due to internal factors. Some researchers believe this effect might be less robust than it seems. Either way, a lot of fun and jokes to be had for what there is to learn. Links for Today: https://et...

A behavior analyst (ABA) and an occupational therapist shared a love of precision teaching. They decided to collaborate to use the benefits of both approaches to help their own children and the children they serve. Two heads are better than one! Links for Today: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-aba-and-ot-podcast/id1538336498 (iTunes link to their podcast) https://www.facebook.com/abaando...

Common sense is what you don't have to think about. It's just intuitively right. Another name for our base reaction to things without thinking first is human bias, logical fallacy, and wrongheadedness. Common sense is overated. Next time you think something is common sense, you might want to stop and think again! Links for Today: . https://www.cyc.com/ https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2020/11/248194...

When was the last time you thought about money? Chances are pretty recently, if not right before you read this. If you weren’t thinking about money specifically, you were likely thinking about something by which money would access. It consumes us, for better or for worse. Chasing that paper seems to occupy much of our day, whatever our profession. Endless debate persists about who should earn what...

Conversion "therapy" is predicated on the wrongheaded idea that (a) there is something wrong with people of non-traditional binary sexual identity or orientation, and (b) it can be fixed with religious (Christian) tradition. Moreover, this does not even meet a loose definition of a "therapy." This intervention is eerily similar to the torture and practices of the witch trials. PSA that this contai...

Placebos emerged as a standard pharmaceutical research practice as a way of testing out the efficacy of novel treatments with various illnesses. This made it possible to determine if positive effects could be directly related to the intervention. However, a phenomenon began occurring in which those who were given no direct treatment, but believed they had, began experiencing similar symptoms. Coul...

People have been manipulating one another for most of human history. But the term for this kind of manipulation and abuse is fairly new. Coined in a play, people use gaslighting because they can successfully control other people. It works because it undermines pretty much every aspect of our psychology. We cover signs of gaslighting and strategies for escaping it. Links for Today: Abramson, K. (20...

Interpretation comes in several forms such as translating between languages, interpreting behavioral phenomena, and analyzing data. While we may believe we’re approaching any novel situation with a fresh set of eyes, our behavior in any situation is influenced by an endless history of similar circumstances. Looking at a set of data, be it COVID cases, the stock market, or a functional analysis, th...

Many believe you can manipulate colors to influence thoughts and emotions. This is kind of a little bit true. Mostly because clever PR people can leverage existing color associations to prime you to react or feel a certain way. However, this is cultural and learned and subject to change with different associations. Seeing orange won't make you hungry. Unless it's an orange maybe. And assuming you...

Although surveys show that men do tend to cry more than women, that disparity disappears when you examine cultures in which crying is not considered taboo. Humans are unique in that we cry and have intense emotional reactions to symbolic events and not just mechanically as a response to an irritant. We discuss how the lacrimal system excretes (fun word) tears and how and why we cry. Although we do...

Handedness is both genetic and environmentally determined. Consider that left-handedness was demonized by many cultures, and subsequently, many tools and infrastructure were designed to be most easily used by right-handed people. Although there may be some correlations with personality and gender and other things, what hand-dominance may say about you is probably pretty limited. Links for Today: h...

Protests have been a human practice for probably as long as we have had civilized groups. This practice is when a group of people unite to actively force change in their government, community, or world stage. We discuss the history of protesting and provide some helpful suggestions for how to protest safely. Links for Today: https://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/SafeyDuringProtest_F.pdf https://www.self...

The practice of mummifying the dead was a process that was prevalent in ancient Egypt and practiced in various forms in several areas of the world for thousands of years. Although the procedures differed across cultures subtly, the most popular type was the Egyptian method that took as long as 70 days to complete, and involved a careful process of dehydration, organ removal, and utilization of oil...

Exorcisms are a dangerous practice that have killed people. We explore the history of exorcisms, how they work, what to expect, and why we should avoid them. Only one left after this in our Halloween series. Links for Today: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist257/stephwhit/final/exorcism_pro.html Recommendations: Abraham: Listen charitably to people trying to talk to you. Shane: Texas...

Mystic healing practices existed in many cultures for a large proportion of human history. But for a few hundred years, people, mostly women, were tortured and killed under suspicion of practicing witchcraft. Religious groups were largely responsible for these horrible act, which also turned out to be lucrative. Links for Today: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/witchcraft-julie...

There are potential evolutionary reasons for fear of darkness, but our language also plays a role. This specific fear, nyctophobia, is relatively innocuous and has some fairly basic treatments. Listen in to learn about why we fear and how systematic desensitization is used to treat it. Links for Today: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-the-evolutionary-reason-why-we-re-afraid-of-the-dark (Evolut...

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party. For this and the next episode, we sit down and interview everyday citizens who are registered to one of the four largest voting political parties in the United States. We keep it positive and they talk about why they find common ground with their aligned party. Links for Today: https://www.reuters.com/ https://www.bbc.com/news https://howiehawkins.us...

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party. For this and the next episode, we sit down and interview everyday citizens who are registered to one of the four largest voting political parties in the United States. We keep it positive and they talk about why they find common ground with their aligned party. Links for Today: https://www.reuters.com/ https://www.bbc.com/news You can reach us direct...

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party. For this and the next two episodes, we sit down and interview everyday citizens who are registered to one of the four largest voting political parties in the United States. We keep it positive and they talk about why they find common ground with their aligned party. Links for Today: https://www.reuters.com/ https://www.bbc.com/news https://www.amazon...

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party. For this and the next three episodes, we sit down and interview everyday citizens who are registered to one of the four largest voting political parties in the United States. We keep it positive and they talk about why they find common ground with their aligned party. Links for Today: https://www.reuters.com/ https://www.bbc.com/news https://www.psyc...

Euphemisms act as selected by a given verbal community often as an alternative to a subject that has been regarded as touchy, uncomfortable, or politically incorrect. These usually include humorous replacements and in some cases can even be misleading. There are several forms of euphemisms that offer potential for some comical alternatives to certain topics, fostering creative slang among professi...

It's never too late to learn something new! Learning and teaching are inherently linked, so we spend some time reviewing the best most-evidence based strategies for teaching new skills, learning new skills, and how to practice. This can be summarized as: Break the new skill into smaller component skills, build fluency at component skills, have some self-reward system in place, have someone hold yo...