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
Head Go Bonk: Bad
There is a unique type of brain trauma that destroys lives and cuts them short and we can't even tell that it has happened until after your death. Chronic…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Why We Twitch
Sometimes we have some random twitches that develop out of nowhere. What is going on with these? Why do they happen? And, what can we do about it? We explore…
- Why We Do What We Do
Replacement Theory
Replacement theory is essentially a propaganda campaign engineered to scare gullible people into giving power to autocrats. Versions of this have been around…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Placebo Controls for Vaccines
One of the most common strategies of current right-wing propaganda is to say something that sounds like reasonable words, but when you break it down it is…
- Why We Do What We Do
Golden Goose Awards
Science is not perfect, because it is human. But it is strives for correction, unlike almost any other human institution or endeavor. Much of what science does…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Scoville Scale
The Scoville scale is a method for measuring the heat of capsaicin-laden food. This is the amount of sugar water needed to entirely dilute the spice. But, we…
- Why We Do What We Do
Makeup
Lots of people smear colored dyes into the skin of their face almost every day. It's so commonplace, we hardly give it a second thought. We explore the history…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Science Cheat-Prevention
A trending strategy to bolster the interpretation of scientific results is to "pre-register" a study. This is publicly declaring your methods and data analysis…
- Why We Do What We Do
The End is Nigh!
We are all gonna die! Some day :) Top 10, or 12 or something times that humans incorrectly predicted the end of the world! People have been doing this for a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stuck in a Music Rut
Music is an important part of many people's childhood. Early, we start soaking up everything we hear and give equal opportunity to select the things we'll…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Masturbation (The Original DIY)
Years ago we talked about the science of masturbation (yes, ther's a science). Amazingly, there are some updates in the research on masturbation, so we decided…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) used to be escalating toward crisis. However, a public health campaign was able to effectively influence behaviors and…
- Why We Do What We Do
Autism Rising
There have been some wildly inaccurate claims in the news lately about autism and autistic people. There is a specific political agenda making the case that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Catch 'em Being Good
Facilitating prosocial behavior is something humans have struggled with for a long time. We unfortunately discovered that coercion was effective at directing…
- Why We Do What We Do
Privatize This!
A lot of engenuity has come out of various human endeavors over time. One system by which invention is motivated is the competition of capitalism. Thus, many…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Airplane Boarding
Airlines have tried various methods to herd people onto a plane efficiently. Governing a lot of moving people is tricky. Which methods work to get people…
- Why We Do What We Do
Teaching Literacy pt 2
Last episode we spent a lot of time discussing some history about text-based communication in general, so we barely touched on the concepts you would need to…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Middle Names
How many names do you have? In America, it is very common to have three names, with the second name, called the "middle name," being a way to honor family, or…
- Why We Do What We Do
Teaching Literacy pt 1
We are giving away the secret sauce. This is how to teach reading in Enlighs and how to do it efficiently. It's the rare trifecta of quick, cheap, and good…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Release the Hostage
The idea of holding someone hostage had to start somewhere. Actually, it started much more peacefully than what it evolved into. This episode is an exploration…
- Why We Do What We Do
Journalism vs. the World
Special guest, journalist Ben Miller, joins us to talk about journalism compared to other forms of "news" and the importance of journalism to a functioning…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stress Balls
Everyone knows these squishly, novelty door prizes. Stress balls are touted as being able to help reduce your stress via the mechanical action of squeezing. Do…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Benefits of Massage
A lot is made of the potential benefits of massage. Unfortunately, the camp has established firm roots to a lot of other pseudoscience. There seems to be…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Author Book-Signings
A signed copy of a first edition book might fetch you a high price down the road. But why? How does a signature increase the resale value of a book when it…
- Why We Do What We Do
Unhoused pt. 2
Our second discussion regarding houselessness we finish our review of some of the myths of houselessness as well as some potential solutions. It is a…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Fake News
Fake news is a triple threat for manipulating an audience. Boiled down, it is essentially a propaganda technique. We quickly expoore fake news, how it works…
- Why We Do What We Do
Unhoused pt. 1
There are a lot of ideas, hypothesis, opinions, and judgements about the issue of houselessness (formerly known as homelessness, sorry RV dwellers). However…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Predictor of Future Behavior
Conventional wisdom is often wrong One maxim in particular asserts that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Given that every opportunity to…
- Why We Do What We Do
Daylight Saving Time
We all just endured slogging through yet another ritual of the mysterious tradition of "daylight saving time." This unloved, uniquely bitartisan practice has…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Brain Freeze
Do you impulsively consume smoothies, slushies, or ice cream at a speed that gives you a cold headache? We do. We were wondering what is going on with…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Imposter Syndrome
We originally published this episode February 26, 2020. Today we revisit with some updated research. Listen in to brush up on your imposter syndrome knowledge…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Amuse-Bouche
A mini episode seems like th perfect venue for this mini food. This is a very elite/priviliged way to think about food as it is supposed to relate to food…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Paradox of Tolerance
The paradox of tolerance is a philosphical thought experiment inspired in part by a curiosity about what gave rise to Hitler. The inquiry extrapolates what…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Variables That Influence Behavior
Do thoughts cause behavior? A common question about behavior is how we understand the variables of behavior to be external if we can observe our own internal…
- Why We Do What We Do
DEI
The current trend to discontinue and dismantle DEI motivated us to look into this suddently controversial issue. DEI will be another corpse on the pile of…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Musings and Prognostications 3: Goodbye Farms
Yet another check-in with the nightmare fuel that is the news. We consider the ramifications of cutting programs that prevent disease from spreading and keep…
- Why We Do What We Do
Nostalgia: Do Babies Recognize Good & Evil?
This classic episode revisits some old "research" attempting to assess the inherent morality of humans found in the gaze of babies looking at puppets. If that…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Frisson: Musical Shivers
Do you get goosebumps and shivers when you hear certain songs? There is a name for this experience: frisson. We discuss frisson and what psychological…
- Why We Do What We Do
True-ish Crime: Bloodstain Pattern Analysis
Not the BPA that is commonly advertised as being not in our water bottles (at least I don't think so...), bloodstain pattern analysis is an investigative tool…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: High Dive Into a Tiny Pool
We plunge into the perilous yet enthralling world of stunt diving into shallow pools—a practice in which the stakes are as high as the platforms. From the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Adrenaline Junkies
Think adrenaline junkies are just chasing the thrill? Think again. From BASE jumping to bull riding, the real high might not be what you think. Join us as we…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Why Are Wedding Veils a Thing?
Ever stop to think about how strange it is that women wear fabric over their entire faces during wedding ceremonies? We did, and so we looked into the history…
- Why We Do What We Do
Bullying
Bullies are all around us. What drives these proto-criminals to be the jerks that they are? It's complicated. A tragedy of errors the drives people to be the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Watching Zits Pop
Some of us have a nearly irresistable fascination with watching sores, boils, pustules, and zits be drained of their viscous contents. Some of us are repulsed…
- Why We Do What We Do
Why We Love Competition
Why do we love to compete? From Olympic games to trivia nights, competition is everywhere—but what drives us to strive, push, and sometimes obsess over being…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Stop Looking at Me, Swan!
Being stared at can be disconcerting the piont of sparking violent conflict. But why? Do other animals similarlty react to staring? We explore what it is about…
- Why We Do What We Do
Stendhal Syndrome
What is Stendhal Syndrome? Also known as an “Art Attack,” this is a psychosomatic experience triggered by overwhelming encounters with art. Learn how stress…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: How Science Names Things
Why is that every animals as a latin "sciency" name? How are these names created? This is the area of the esoterically named binomial nomenclature. These are…
- Why We Do What We Do
Welcome to the Big Ivy League
The ivy league school club is enduringly exclusive. We trace the origins of the term "ivy league," the history of those schols, and the factors that perpetuate…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Student to Teacher Ratio
Start with: What is the purpose of education? If the answer is to produce intelligent, competent individuals, that means we care about how effective education…
- Why We Do What We Do
The Good Old Days
We got to 400 episodes! Let's take a look back into the past... not really, but we'll stalk about nostalgia—what it is, how it works, and why it’s more than…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: The Tongue Map
The tongue map neatly divides taste into salty, sweet, sour, and bitter zones on which we can taste only those specific flavors. Turns out, it’s wrong. In this…
- Why We Do What We Do
Goodbye 2024
It's Christmas! Let's finish out the year with a chill retrospective on the year we are leaving behind. We recap our year as podcast, movies and TV we watched…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Musings and Prognostications Continued (Immigration)
Another continuation of our discussion about the fall-out of the recent US election. In this discussion, we consider the implications for immigration on the…
- Why We Do What We Do
What the Economy Is (and Isn't)
What is the economy, really? In this episode, we discuss the intricate maneuvering of goods, services, and decisions that shape our world. We'll unravel the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: Musings and Prognostications Continued (Censorship)
This discussion is a brief follow up to our episode reacting to the recent, 2024 US election (likely a series of minis we will continue as things unfold). We…
- Why We Do What We Do
Vasectomies: Snip Snip, Hooray!
Cutting to the chase... we discuss vasectomies: what they are, why they work, and why some folks say they’re the best thing since sliced… tubes. With…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: I'm Sorry, But...
Some people have a real problem with buts. Many of the popular airmchair psychologists love to delivery quick, simple heuristics as panacea and life-coaching…
- Why We Do What We Do
Musings and Prognostications
Welcome to the new dictatorship! In this discussion, we reflect on the recent US election and the factors that contributed to the surprising shift in the…
- Why We Do What We Do
Mini: (Not) The Definition of Insanity
A lot of people like to share what they believe is the definition of insanity. What the definition of insanity is NOT is doing the same thing over and over…