Shows / Why We Do What We Do
Why We Do What We Do
We explain popular and weird, little-known ideas in psychology. Whether you are a little curious about psychology, or a student, or even a professional, we have something for everyone.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
Episodes
- Why We Do What We Do
Functional Analysis pt. 4
In the fourth and final installment of our series on Functional Analyses, we finally discuss some of the controversies and disagreements among practitioners…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: The Weirdest Thing We Believe
In a totally unscripted, candid conversation, we ask one another: what is the weirdest thing you believe? It's a conversation bound to leave you a little…
- Why We Do What We Do
Functional Analysis pt. 3
This is the third installment in what will turn out to be a four-part series on the functional anlaysis technology employed by behavior analysts to identify…
- Why We Do What We Do
Midlife Crisis
Are you already skeptical? Do you think you know? Are you a true believer? We take a scientific lens to the idea of the midlife crisis. Consider that this…
- Why We Do What We Do
Functional Analysis pt. 2
In our ongoing discussion about the tool used to determine why we do what we do, the functional analysis, we explore more about the various research…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: One Hit Wonders
What are one-hit wonders? Why do one-hit wonders happen? Is this a real thing? What about no-hit wonders? We'll get into some of the reasons and misconceptions…
- Why We Do What We Do
Functional Analysis pt. 1
Experimental Functional Analyses (FAs) are one of the most foundational practices in contemporary behavior analysis. It emerged as a more conceptual exercise…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Animal Chiropractic
We did a full episode on chiropractic, but we didn't get into the application for animals. Given the questionable nature of chiropractic in the first place…
- Why We Do What We Do
Birding!
Tens of millions of people in the United States and likely hundreds of millions around the world have a shared interest in our avian friends. Birding is a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: What is the Point of Science?
It seems like an obvious answer to a silly question. But try to answer it and you find it can kind of spiral into more difficult conundrums. This doesn't mean…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Altruism
An all truism about altruism. We are reflecting on this earlier episode with a more nuanced view than the first time around. When it comes to matters of…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: How Many Senses Do We Have?
How many senses do we have? Like so many things, it depends entirely on how you define "senses." If the question is how many distinct things can we sense?…
- Why We Do What We Do
American Sign Language pt. 2
In this discussion, we get into the grammar and structure of ASL. We also talk about non-manual markers and their importance in communication for ASL speakers…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Iran Deal pt. 2
In our strange decision to record a two-part mini, we are following up last week's mini with more information about the recent Iran "deal." Of course, we…
- Why We Do What We Do
American Sign Language pt. 1
There are an estimated 70 million deaf, hard of hearing, or hearing impaired people in world. Given that language globably developed through auditory…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Iran, Deal? pt. 1
Every once in a while, something so monumental happens, we decide to release a topical episode rather than a timeless one. The recent Memorandum of…
- Why We Do What We Do
AAVE pt. 2
This follow-up discussion gets into the grammar mechanics and and cultural, structural aspects of AAVE. We add our own interpretation and philosophical…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Autistic Pets
With the increased awareness of neurodivergence in humans, we find many people turning to one of our favorite pasttimes: superimposing human emotions and…
- Why We Do What We Do
AAVE pt. 1
AAVE is a dialect of English that is often derided by racists. However, linguists have shown that this is a fully realized dialect like any dialect of any…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Feedback for Grant Reform
Last week, we released an episode dsicussing the rise of authoritarian takeover of science by controlling what science can be conducted and how it can be…
- Why We Do What We Do
How to Kill Science
How to kill science is also how to kill humans. The incompetent "leadership" in the United States is racing toward dictatorship in their desire to kill all…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Mosh Pits
Mosh pits are the rough-house style dancing/bopping that people do at music concerts. But where and why did this start? And why are they called mosh pits?…
- Why We Do What We Do
Faith Healing
Professional magicians tell you that they are tricking you for entertainment. Charlatan, con artist magicians tell you that they are performing real magic that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Three-Card Monte
This old sleight of hand card trick is designed to steal your money. Be warned, you cannot win this game. It is rigged and 100% unwinable. We explain how the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Speed Reading
Years ago, we looked into the research on speed reading. What we found raised difficult questions about how viable this strategy really is. As we reviewed…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Car-Sick
Sometimes we get nauseaus when riding around in or on vehicles. What is going on with this? We explore motion sickness and what you can do about it... if…
- Why We Do What We Do
Antimetabole and Chiasmus
There is a form of rhetoric that is suprrisingly effective at persuading people to adopt beliefs regardless of their accuracy. These are called "antimetabole."…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Evidence of Bigfoot?
In several interviews, Jane Goodall explained why she believed there was evidence of Bigfoot. While she was a wonderful natural scientist, a good science…
- Why We Do What We Do
English Accents
Why do American and UK Accents sound so dissimilar? Could a couple hundred years of infrequent communciation result in that much drift? Did the Americans…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Designer Genes
There are pros and cons to the trajectory of genetic engineering research. Eventually, we will be confronted by a systemic drive to apply these interventions…
- Why We Do What We Do
Billboard Hot 100
This fascinating and yet entirely expected piece of Americana has shaped the music industry for better or worse (probably worse). But, why does it exist at…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Suicide Hotline (988)
Recent research has evaluated the effect of changes made to the national suicide hotline in 2022 in the US. Scientists analyzed the success of this program by…
- Why We Do What We Do
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy pt. 2
In the last discussion, we covered the history of CBT and the cognitive aspects of the intervention. In this segment, we'll review the behavioral components…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stroop Test
In 1935 John Ridley Stroop published an article with a new experiment showing that people struggle to name things when there is a conflicting word…
- Why We Do What We Do
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy pt. 1
The most well-recognized psychotherapy in the world is also the most widely researched. You've likely heard that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: My, What Big Holes You Have
This ambiguously titled discussion is about the practice of stretching piercings to become large holes. We talk about the history of this practice, how it's…
- Why We Do What We Do
Dr. Kevorkian
Dr. Kevorkian was a controversial figure in the 1990s when he began providing unsanctioned assisted suicide service to terminally-ill patients. Kevorkian…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Repeatedly Incorrect
Have you ever noticed that you always make the same typo when writing? Or, that you repeatedly misspeak some phrase or mispronounce some word when talking?…
- Why We Do What We Do
Interbehaviorism
Nearly a century ago, a groundbreaking philosopher of psychology was way ahead of his time. J.R. Kantor developed a theory of psychology that finally rooted…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Arrows Point the Way
Symbols are weird. Actually, there are fairly intuitive in many cases, but many are surprisingly new. We explore the recent history of the arrow symbol and the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Scared Straight
Perhaps this would have made a good Halloween episode? Probably not. Anyway, this episode honors April Fool's day by examining a foolish endeavor: Scared…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Magestic Manatees
Manatees are remarkable and gentle creatures. Possibly the source of mermaid stories of old, these strange aquatic mammals live life on the slow side. Some…
- Why We Do What We Do
First Episode Psychosis
Psychosis is an experience that some people have in which they struggle with the ability to discern their experience from the current ongoing reality. This…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Name Traditions
Does your name mean anything? Many cultures around the world choose names because they have some explicit, intended meaning, while others assign names for…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Mithridatism
This is another nostalgia, re-release of a previous episide with a brief update at the end. This is a discussion of the idea to ingest poison to build a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Computer Music
AI music is not only here to stay, it is rapidly gaining in mainstream popularity. We briefly discuss the history of computer music, the changes it has made to…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: 10 Ways to Ruin Your Sleep
This is a re-run (nostalgia) of our fun-spirited discussion about how to ruin your sleep. We play the entire episode, plus some added research from the last…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Top 100
This is our 100th mini! So, we spend the mini talking about the number 100! Things that humans, make, some facts about non-human animals... and human animals…
- Why We Do What We Do
Inside Out 2: A Commentary
Why We Do What We Do goes back to the movies! Last week, we reviewed Disney + Pixar's Inside Out, so we are taking on the sequel. In many ways, this film…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: LARP
Humans love to play. Some of us are willing to be more immersed in that play than others. Those who live for the immersion will often dress up for their…
- Why We Do What We Do
Inside Out: A Commentary
Why We Do What We Do goes to the movies! A couple of movies have directly taken on representing the inner world of our behavior, and we finally decided that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! This 5-second two-player game to settle disputes began in ancient China and quickly spread throughout the world. Some research…
- Why We Do What We Do
N-Rays
Not to be confused with Neutron Imaging, which is also sometimes called N Rays, N-Rays were a scientific discovery at the turn of the 1900s that promised a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Red Light Therapy
Shining red lights on our bodies is all the rage in the "wellness" space. Red lights are purported to do a hole host of incredible things, which raised our…
- Why We Do What We Do
Guess Who..?
In a departure from our standard episode format, Abraham will profile three people and see if Shane can guess who they are. You can play along! Send us in your…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: The Cat's Meow
Do cat's only meow at humans? What does their meowing mean? We once again spend a mini reviewing the interesting feline behavior of meowing. Yes, they mostly…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: How to Protest Safely
Once again, we find ourselves in distressing and troubled times. Those of us inspired to action have taken to the streets in peaceful demonstrations and…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: The Sweetness
What does it mean to say something is sweeter than something else? What does 200 times sweeter even taste like? We explain the method scientists use to measure…
- Why We Do What We Do
Burning Man pt. 2
In part 2, we continue through the history of the Burning Man event. Then, we get into what to expect what how to prepare if you plan to attend Burning Man…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Teeth Grinding
One of the most spine-tingling, misophonia-inducing sounds (for some) is the sound of teeth grinding together. Bruxism, teeth-grinding, is a habit that can…