Think It Through: the Clearer Thinking Podcast

Apr 15 2024 39 ep. 22 mins 27
Think It Through: the Clearer Thinking Podcast artwork

I know...thinking is hard. But here we go anyway...

  Society & Culture  Education  Science
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Episode 36: Beyond Logic: Magical Thinking and How It Affects Us

Apr 15 2024 29 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April reveals that her husband is a rain god. Well, he's not, but he thinks he is. She discusses this uniquely human thing we do called magical thinking.Episode 36 Show Notes (oooh, so many sources!)Good basic explanation of magical thinking:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/magical-thinkingWait, here's another one:https://www.medicalnewstoday

Episode 35: Fallacy Watch: the Gish Gallop

Mar 07 2024 19 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April discusses an unfair and unethical debate tactic used by many politicians, conspiracy theorists, and anyone else who insists on "winning" arguments. She also revisits Brandolini's Law, which means she gets to say "bullshit" more than a few times.Episode 35 Show Noteshttps://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/gish-gallop.htmlA good basic

Episode 34: The (Surprisingly) Positive Aspects of Existential Dread and Terror Management Theory

Feb 12 2024 21 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April warns people that they might need a break while listening; but in the end, it's surprisingly positive. Just like her!!!Episode 34 Show Noteshttps://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-to-know-existential-dreadGood discussion of the basics of existentialism, existential dread, why existential crises occur and how to handle them.https://www.bbc.com/w

Episode 33: Gratitude as a Tool for Clearer Thinking

Jan 15 2024 12 mins  
Send us a textTo kick off a new year, April looks at the impact that the emotion of gratitude can have on our mental, emotional, and even physical health. The message here is--the better you feel about yourself and the world around you, the better your cognitive processes will be.Episode 33 Show NotesThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's article on gratitude is, um, kinda deep

Episode 32: Heuristics: How Our Brains Get Through the Day Without Exploding

Nov 05 2023 21 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April admits that she doesn't always calmly and rationally think things through; but hey, neither do you. Why? Heuristics, that's why. She discusses these handy, if sometimes problematic, mental shortcuts that help get us through the day without our brains literally exploding. And by literally, I mean figuratively; but literally sounds better, plus it

Episode 31: Science vs Pseudoscience

Aug 16 2023 29 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April realizes that the difference between science and pseudoscience isn't a distinct line, it's more of a continuum. Nevertheless, science remains scientific, while pseudoscience is, well, not so much.Episode 31 Show Notes:Here's the Science Council's definition of science:https://sciencecouncil.org/about-science/our-definition-of-science/ Great disc

Episode 30: Grief and Your Brain

Mar 30 2023 9 mins  
Send us a textIn this short episode, April discusses how grief affects our brains--hers in particular, because she just lost one of her best friends and it hurts. So this might be more for her than for you, but you should listen anyway.The good news is that she'll be ok. Eventually...Episode 30 Show NotesGreat article from the Today Show website about how our mind deals with death:

Episode 29: Ethics in Journalism: an Interview with Eunette Gentry

Jan 23 2023 35 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April talks to Dr. Eunette Gentry about the public's lack of trust in the press and why we should have more faith in journalists and reporters. It's about codes of ethics, people! Episode 29 Show NotesThis Gallup poll shows the low percentage of trust that the public has in the media: https://news.gallup.com/poll/394817/media-confidence-ratings-record

Episode 28: Ambiguity and Equivocation

Oct 27 2022 22 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April explains linguistic ambiguity, equivocation, and the equivocation fallacy. She also tells some really bad jokes. Episode 28 Show Notes:Moore, Brooke and Parker, Richard. Critical Thinking. McGraw Hill. 2017.This is current textbook I use to teach my Critical Reasoning class. Much of what I say here about the types of linguistic ambiguity is take

Episode 27: Intellectual Humility: Why It Needs To Be Okay To Say "I Was Wrong About That"

Aug 02 2022 16 mins  
Send us a textIn this episode, April discusses the concept of intellectual humility, which is something that people could use more of (and by "people," she means herself).Episode 27 Show Notes (so many really good sources!!!):Here's Ed Kang's article from the website YouEQ: https://www.you-eq.com/news-events/emotional-intelligence-skills-intellectual-humility#:~:text=According%20to