Show Notes
Yoel and Alexa are joined by Spencer Greenberg, founder of the behavioral science startup incubator Spark Wave and host of the Clearer Thinking podcast. He describes how he became fascinated with psychology and behavior change, and how he's been working to provide empirically-backed strategies for everday tasks, like making decisions or forming habits. He also offers an alternative perspective on open science, arguing that a phenomenon he calls "importance hacking" has been overshadowed by p-hacking in calls for science reform. Greenberg further challenges the Alexa and Yoel to consider whether the "open scientist" will fall short of what can only be achieved by the truly "inspired scientist." Finally, Spenccer has a major project in the works, and he gives us the honor of the big reveal. Special Guest: Spencer Greenberg. Links: Two Psychologists Four Beers on Untappd
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Career science, open science, and inspired science (with Alexa Tullett) | Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg
Transparent Replications
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More from Two Psychologists Four Beers
Harvard psychologist and philosopher Josh Greene joins the show to talk about his influential work in moral psychology and why he has partly moved from basic science to applied projects. We talk about two ways he's trying to apply his research to change the real world. The first is Giving Multiplier, a donation platform that nudges people towards higher-impact giving (listeners can get extra matching funds on Giving Multiplier by visiting https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/BEERS). The second is Tango, an online interactive quiz game that gets Democrats and Republicans to like each other a little better.
Andy Masley joins Yoel and Mickey to talk about a claim that's made him (in)famous: using AI chatbots doesn't meaningfully affect your carbon footprint or water usage. We discuss what data centers actually do with water, why "ten times a Google search" is not a useful metric, and why people really don't want data centers built near them.
Paul and Yoel talk about whether it's a problem that psychologists seem to be no better than laypeople at predicting behavior. We also cover a recent controversy in anthropology, talk a little bit about the Odyssey (movie), and discuss whether people ought to be drinking more.
Cognitive scientist Molly Crockett joins the show to talk about what it's like to be known in the field as an "AI skeptic." We talk about where Molly is actually skeptical, but also what she thinks that label gets wrong. Along the way, we cover a bunch of other things too: Molly's research in social neuroscience, computational modeling, and moral psychology; Molly and Mickey's disagreements about empathic AI; and Molly's case for what she's calling "thick empathy." Finally, Molly makes a pitch for non-alcoholic beer, which sadly falls on deaf ears. Special Guest: Molly Crockett. Links: OSF | The pitfalls of pay-to-play morality
Researcher, professor, and former Division III football player Nick Epley joins the show to talk about why we underestimate the benefits of social connections. We are a social species, and yet many of us choose to avoid connecting with others. Nick and I talk about his research on this, and about his new book, A Little More Social, which is all about how we can change our behavior to connect more with others. Special Guest: Nick Epley. Links: Nicholas Epley