Why We Do What We Do

Black Lives Matter. Special guests Jelisa Scott and Mawule Sevon talk anti-racism and growing up with dark skin in the United States. Links for Today: Check out Jelisa's Podcast: Be Better ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-be-better/id1476015868?i=1000446486643 ) Recommendations: Jelisa: Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cateteria? ( https://www.amazon.com/Black-...

Workplace performance, be it group or an individual, is something that has been studied for decades. Nearly 100 years ago, a series of studies on worker performance yielded an interpretation that an increase in productivity occurred regardless of the manipulation of the independent variable. Researchers at the time attributed these changes to the presence of the experimenters, noting that workers...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a nebulous concept and can mean many things. It's unlikely we should be afraid of the future of AI, but just in case, we laid out the most updated laws of robotics adapted from Isaac Asimov's original idea that inspired such movies as i Robot. Hilarity ensues. Links for Today: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3359852/ https://searchenterpriseai.techtarge...

There is a very unfortunate history of the science of syphilis. One of our great shames is the Tuskegee experiments. However, we also bust a few myths about syphilis in a joking montage. Finally, there are few behavioral strategies for prevention that can help slow the spread. Safe sex for everyone! Links for Today: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186656#symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/std/...

Syphilis emerged about 500 years ago as a menacing sexually transmitted disease that quickly transcended cultures and remained a present menace until the 20th century, when the advent of penicillin was discovered to be an effective method of defeating the bacteria. Links for Today: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186656#symptoms https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/CTAproviders.htm https://e...

Stockholm Syndrome has been a common area of study for close to 50 years following an infamous 1973 bank robbery incident in Sweden. The widely publicized behavior of hostages positive interacting with their captors, to the point of advocating for leniency in punishment has baffled professionals for decades. While initially studied as a syndrome that defines unorthodox, almost pathetic-seeming beh...

"Human nature" is often used as an excuse, explanation, justification, or assumption for the good and bad things that we do. Although we can make general statements about human voluntary and involuntary behavior, most of the time that people invoke this phrase, they claiming ignorance or giving up understanding. No more! it is difficult to argue that a behavior is "human nature" if not all humans...

Someone suffering from severe muscle-wasting diseases or other muscular or bone-degenerative diseases that aren't neurological might very much like a new body. But there are many many things to connect to the brain to make this work. You might think that a brain transplant would be easier, but it would likely but much more difficult. A few researchers have tried this, but skeptics have pointed out...

Many scientists and the general population have wondered for over 100 years if we possess a “sixth sense” that alerts us to when someone is staring at us from afar, behind, or off to the side. This presents a fear for some and a case of curiosity for others. Investigation into this question has yielded fascinating information about what environmental cues the eyes can pick up even when they are da...

Dreams are influenced by environmental stimuli. There are many theories for why we dream, but how we dream is more interesting anyway. Also, there is metaphorical dreaming, which is also interesting. Dream interpretation is still nonsense. Yay for the dreamers! Links for Today: https://search-proquest-com.portal.lib.fit.edu/docview/212672817?accountid=27313 https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fullte...

Board games are activities with no particular output. Abraham gets passionate about his favorite topic. There are several recommendations for various games based on why you might be interested in playing. - Casual Gamer 1. Ticket to Ride 2. Codenames 3. Suspicion 4. Dicecapades 5. Telestrations 6. Bananagrams 7. Point Salad 8. Felicity 9. Anomia 10. 5-Minute Dungeon - Gateway to games 1. Fluxx 2....

We support Black Lives Matter. We recorded this well before the protests began, so nothing is related to the current protests in this episode. Nevertheless, we wanted to show our support in some small way! Is kissing learned or genetic? Both of course. But why do we do it? It turns out It is pretty common among a wide range of cultures, yet not completely universal. The history is also unclear and...

We support Black Lives Matter. We recorded this well before the protests began, so nothing is related to the current protests in this episode. Nevertheless, we wanted to show our support in some small way! WARNING: We discuss sexual content in this episode. Due to the nature of this discussion, we take a somewhat lighthearted and joking approach. However, we are also professional and scientific in...

People drive distractedly because we get fluent at it, because it is boring, and because there is little to no adverse consequence for doing so. Our phones are the most modern why we distract ourselves while driving, but there are plenty of other things that take our attention away from the the task at hand. Basic behavioral intervention might help, or maybe autonomous cars are the answer. Listen...

One of our most common biases is our motivation to rationalize our way through contradictory evidence. This might have an evolutionary advantage. However, it also allows us to be delusional to the point of self-destruction. What is going on with this? Listen in and find out! You can reach us directly at 775.525.0908, at info@wwdwwdpodcast.com , through the comments below OR on social via @wwdwwdpo...

During our live stream event, the whole team got together to discuss human behavior and ask "why?" Why we ask the question why, why we are gross, why we do (or don't) socially distance, why we are bored, and why we listen to podcasts. We included a special guest expert on cybersecurity and answer audience questions. We also list some of our favorite podcasts for others to check out. You can reach...

In the second part of this discussion, we elaborate on variables that motivate engagement with social media. Furthermore, we consider who is accountable to social media addiction. What are the treatment options for these behavior patterns? Listen to find out! We are hosting our first ever live stream event on May 1st at 5 pm PST in celebration of our 3-year anniversary. Join us for a team discussi...

86% of the world’s population use social media daily, from every culture and walk of life imaginable. Social media has offered us a way to keep in touch and connect like never before, but does it follow the trends of anything in that too much of it can be a bad thing? When does one go from casual user to fully addicted? Several personality traits such as neuroticism mixed with extraversion may put...

Triage is a system of sorting people into categories of priority. Although it seems like common-sense, it had to start somewhere and its current form is newer than you might think. Medicine pioneered the use of triage on the battle-fields (although evidence suggests that ancient Egyptian physicians may have used basic triage as part of their general medical system). However, triage has also been a...

The "stages" of grief that you may have heard of have gotten a bad reputation because there was a misunderstanding that the proposal was that those are the only stages and that they are definitively experienced in that order. Instead, stages are framework for expecting the kinds of reactions one might have to grief. In addition, there is a relatively straightforward behavioral explanation of grief...

In a more thorough analysis of the history of Montessori schools, we uncovered regulations that may have inadvertently forced dilution of the possible effectiveness of the model. In this investigation, we discuss some of the research and compare and contrast Montessori with other evidence-based education methods. You can reach us directly at 775.525.0908, at info@wwdwwdpodcast.com , through the co...

This episode will walk you through the history and development of Maria Montessori’s method of education. Her pedagogy focuses on two fundamental approaches to learning: 1) unique multi-sensorial learning materials, and 2) a self-directed environment for children. The exploration that follows from these prepared environments maybe creates endless learning opportunities that are accompanied by inst...

The rise in incidents of dyslexia is likely due to better awareness and diagnostic tools, as well as increased emphasis in schools on reading skills. Although there are several performance-based diagnostic tests, neurological tests have not been very successful at identifying exactly what biological factors contribute to dyslexia. There is hope though because many curricula and teaching strategies...

Is it Jiff Peanut Butter or Jiffy Peanut Butter? Turns out, Vader never said, "Luke, I am your father." Retellings that become popular that incorrectly reference a cultural event can carry a lot of weight in our memories. Furthermore, if we mishear, or think we knew about something, that can feel cemented in our memories as if it really happened. As we have discussed before, our memories are highl...

Authority has long tried to narrow the pool of suspects in a crime. Eventually, police turned to psychologists to help understand the person so that they could be more easily discovered. This opened the door for all kinds of wild speculation that was about as useful as a psychic (really, they compared profilers to psychics in the research). But some pioneering researchers are starting to use scien...