Podcast Episodes

Episode 62: On The Knife's Edge

What would drive someone to take another person's life? When researchers at the University of Chicago asked that question, the answer was a laundry list of slights: a stolen jacket, or a carelessly l…

Published on 8 years, 10 months ago

Episode 61: Just Sex

We all know casual sex isn't about love. But what if it's not even about lust? Sociologist Lisa Wade believes the pervasive hookup culture on campuses today is different from that faced by previous g…

Published on 8 years, 10 months ago

Encore of Episode 20: Remembering Anarcha

A recent paper found that black patients receive less pain medication for broken bones and cancer. Black children receive less pain medication than white children for appendicitis. The research is ne…

Published on 8 years, 10 months ago

Episode 60: Fortress America

Barely a week after assuming office, President Donald Trump set off a worldwide firestorm when he decided to temporarily ban entry to migrants from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from a…

Published on 8 years, 10 months ago

Episode 59: The Deep Story

In the months since the presidential election, many have noted that lots of Americans live in bubbles — echo chambers filled with the voices of people who mostly agree with us. Sociologist Arlie Hoch…

Published on 8 years, 11 months ago

Episode 58: Pedestals and Guillotines

It's inauguration season, which means balls, parades, and celebrations. We may love the pomp and circumstance, but there's another, darker side to our psychology, too. Whether we like the new preside…

Published on 8 years, 11 months ago

Episode 57: Slanguage

Young people have always used language in new and different ways, and it has pretty much always driven older people crazy. But the linguist John McWhorter says all the "likes" and LOLs are part of a …

Published on 8 years, 11 months ago

Episode 56: Getting Unstuck

At one time or another, many of us feel stuck: in the wrong job, the wrong relationship, the wrong city – the wrong life. Psychologists and self-help gurus have all kinds of advice for us when we fee…

Published on 8 years, 11 months ago

Encore of Episode 15: Loss and Renewal

Maya Shankar was well on her way to an extraordinary career as a violinist when an injury closed that door. This week, we look at how she wound up at the top of another field: the social sciences.

Ho…

Published on 9 years ago

Encore of Episode 32: The Scientific Process

There is a replication "crisis" in psychology: many findings simply do not replicate. Some critics take this as an indictment of the entire field — perhaps the best journals are only interested in pu…

Published on 9 years ago