Two Psychologists Four Beers

Nov 11 2024 115 ep. 73 mins 5.6k

Two Psychologists Four Beers Podcast artwork

Two psychologists endeavor to drink four beers while discussing news and controversies in science, academia, and beyond.

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Episode 114: Psychology Worth Doing (with Paul Bloom)

Nov 11 2024 75 mins

Paul Bloom joins the show to talk about a recent paper in which he argues that much of developmental psychology is not worth doing. We also talk about where he thinks psychology has succeeded, and whether we should be more skeptical of progressive-friendly social science findings. Plus: is it ever a good idea to tell your friend that the person they're dating is bad for them?Sp

Episode 113: The Road to Cincinnati (with Adam Mastroianni)

Oct 21 2024 69 mins

Researcher and writer Adam Mastroianni joins the podcast to talk about why he left academia, what conventional scientific research might be missing, and how he ended up writing a succesful science blog instead of more journal articles. Plus: what is a Science House? How do we know that psychology is making progress? And should scientific fraud be a crime?Special Guest: Adam Mastroi

Episode 112: All About ADHD (with Amori Mikami)

Sep 02 2024 60 mins

University of British Columbia professor and ADHD expert Amori Mikami joins the show to talk attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). What is it, how has our understanding of it changed over the years, and how accurate is the public discourse about it? Plus, some more on Yoel's own ADHD journey and a quiz where we establish how many of Yoel's annoying behaviors are

Episode 111: We Are So Back

Jul 31 2024 61 mins

Mickey joins Yoel for the first new episode in nearly a year. We talk what's been up with the show, plans for the future, and what it feels like to briefly be (almost) internet-famous. In the second half of the show, we talk about expertise and prediction. When social scientists make predictions about the future, should we listen? How much should failures of prediction make us

Episode 110: RE-RELEASE: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf)

Oct 04 2023 81 mins

Andrew Devendorf joins Alexa and Yoel to discuss his work on "me-search" (or self-relevant research) within clinical psychology. He talks about the prevalence of mental health difficulties within the field, and the harmful taboos against speaking openly about them. And, he shares his own reasons for studying depression and suicide, and how he has been discouraged from cit

Episode 109: RE-RELEASE: Against Mindfulness

Sep 27 2023 83 mins

Playing devil's advocate, Yoel and Mickey mount a criticism against the scientific study of mindfulness. What is mindfulness? Can we measure it? Is mindfulness-based therapy effective? Can mindfulness improve the quality of attention beyond the meditation cushion? Are effects of mindfulness mostly placebo effects produced by motivated practitioners and adherents? Should we be i

Episode 108: RE-RELEASE: We Need to Talk About Fraud

Sep 20 2023 83 mins

Yoel and Alexa are joined by Joe Simmons to talk about fraud. We go in-depth on a recent high-profile fraud case, but we also talk about scientific fraud more generally: how common is it, how do you detect it, and what can we do to prevent it? This is a re-release of Episode 73, originally released on September 29, 2021.Special Guest: Joe Simmons.Links:Beers - DravMilkshake IPA -

Episode 107: Against Anti-DEI Rhetoric

Aug 30 2023 67 mins

Jennifer Gutsell joins Alexa to discuss the controversy surrounding Yoel's experience interviewing at UCLA. They focus on a post, written by Alexa, in which she pushes back against defenses of "viewpoint diversity" and argues that the graduate petition advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was a brave effort that should be taken seriously. Jennifer ela

Episode 106: We Need to Talk About Fraud Again

Jun 23 2023 68 mins

Harkening back to episode 73, Alexa and Yoel discuss recent evidence of fraud documented in the Data Colada blog post "Clusterfake." The post is the first in a series of four, which will collectively detail evidence of fraud in four papers co-authored by Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino. First, the co-hosts dive into the details, with Alexa soberly (in bot

Episode 105: Patchwork Politics

May 17 2023 58 mins

In heated political debates, people are often accused of being hypocrites, lacking consistent foundational values. Today, Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper by David Pinsof, David Sears, and Martie Haselton, that challenges the commonsense notion that political belief systems stem from our core values. Instead, the authors propose that people form alliances with others, and deve