Two Psychologists Four Beers

Apr 01 2025 119 ep. 73 mins 5.8k
Two Psychologists Four Beers Podcast artwork

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

  Science  Society & Culture
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Episode 118: Do We Have a Purity Problem? (with David Pizarro)

Apr 01 2025 72 mins  
Arguably, the last 25 years of moral psychology have been about people's judgments of "purity violations"--ostensibly harmless acts that "are disgusting or degrading to one’s spiritual nature." From sex with (dead) chickens to pet-eating to baby Jesus buttplugs, moral psychologists have been fascinated by purity transgressions. Moral psychologist and purit

Episode 117: Good News for the Chronics (with Mickey Inzlicht)

Mar 06 2025 79 mins  
On-again off-again co-host Mickey Inzlicht joins the show to debrief about the recent SPSP (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) conference. We then dissect a new paper purporting to show working memory deficits in heavy cannabis users, including a deep dive into the preregistration. Finally, we discuss a recent Op-Ed in the Guardian that argues that research on AI empath

Episode 116: Can We Do Science Without Ideology? (with Moin Syed)

Jan 22 2025 87 mins  
Cultural and developmental psychologist and open science advocate Moin Syed joins the show to talk what he thinks people get wrong about ideology, diversity, and open science. We talk about what role, if any, researchers' ideology should play in their science, and what it means when people describe psychological research as "ideological." In the second half of the sho

Episode 115: What's Wrong with Living in a Bubble? (with Mickey Inzlicht)

Dec 04 2024 71 mins  
Occasional co-host Mickey Inzlicht joins the show to talk about the 2024 election, Bluesky, and his crusade against yard signs. We discuss prediction markets, Democratic declines with non-college voters, and whether Bluesky is a political bubble (and if so, if there's anything wrong with that). Also, Mickey explains his problem with yard signs and defends his beer snobbery.Link

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