Opinion Science
Episodes
#116: Change Beliefs, Change Opinions? with Yamil Velez
04 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Yamil Velez is an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, where he studies what makes political opinions hard to shift. He’...
#115: Raising Color-Conscious Kids with Sylvia Perry
06 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/Learn more about Opinion Science at htt...
#114: Making Immigration Popular with Alex Kustov
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Kustov studies public opinion about immigration—why it’s so durable, why it becomes so politically explosive, and what (if anything) can mak...
Introducing Mind Games
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I'm excited to share a preview of a new podcast I think you’d enjoy: Mind Games.What if you could hypnotize yourself into a better you? Or.... ...
#113: Psychology in the Age of AI with Steve Rathje
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Steven Rathje is a postdoc at New York University and an incoming assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He studies the psychology of tech...
#112: Thinking Categorically with Greg Murphy
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Murphy studies the psychology of concepts. How do we use language to understand things, and how do we sort the world into categories? In our conv...
#111: You Don't Know What You Like with Paul Eastwick & Eli Finkel
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Eastwick and Eli Finkel are two social psychologists who study the gears and levers of romantic relationships. What do people find attractive in ...
#110: The Value of Entertainment with Sara Grady
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sara Grady studies the function of entertainment—why we watch, play, and listen to the media that fill our lives. She's an assistant professor ...
#109: The Realities of Political Persuasion with David Broockman
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
David Broockman is a political scientist at UC Berkeley who digs into one of democracy’s core questions: can political messages really change minds?...
SciComm Summer #26: Lulu Miller on Leading with Story
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lulu Miller has done a lot of things and done them very well. She is currently the co-host of Radiolab and its family-friendly spinoff, Terrestrials. ...
SciComm Summer #25: Sarah McAnulty on Art and Community in Science Communication
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah McAnulty is a squid biologist and a science communicator. She's come up with all sorts of creative ways to bring science to the people, esp...
SciComm Summer #24: Joe Palca on NPR Science Reporting
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Palca reported on science for NPR for years. He found his sweet spot, capturing people's interest and filling them in on curious new findings...
SciComm Summer #23: Alison Fragale on Giving Keynote Talks
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alison Fragale is an organizational psychologist who gives keynote talks and leads workshops outside academia. She talks frankly about what it takes t...
SciComm Summer #22: Alex Dainis on Producing Online Videos
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Dainis is a freelance science communicator and video producer. She's been making science videos on YouTube for years, including recent work ...
SciComm Summer #21: Joel Bervell on Short Form Video
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Bervell recently graduated from medical school, which is when he gained fame as an influencer helping the public navigate good medical science. H...
SciComm Summer #20: Adam Cole on Making "Howtown"
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kicking off the 3rd season of Hot SciComm Summer is Adam Cole. Adam started at NPR’s Science Desk in 2011 where he started making short videos and r...
Introducing "SciComm Summer"...Season 3!
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You didn't think #HotSciCommSummer was done, did you?Join me for a whole new season of Hot SciComm summer, a special laid-back podcast series fea...
#108: Characters Matter with Matt Grizzard
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Grizzard is a communication scholar who studies how people relate to characters in entertainment media as a sign of how much they enjoy one story...
#107: Showing Open-Mindedness with Mohamed Hussein
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mohamed Hussein studies how the psychology of persuasion and politics interact. He is an assistant professor of marketing at Columbia Business School....
#106: Moral Outrage with Kurt Gray
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kurt Gray studies our moral minds and how we grapple with everyday ethics. In his new book, Outraged, he explores the deep psychology of human nature ...
#105: Targeted Messaging Online with Sandra Matz
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sandra Matz is a computational social scientist at Columbia Business School. She uses big data to understand people and what motivates them to act. An...
#104: Posters as Persuasion with Angelina Lippert (ft. Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr.)
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Angelina Lippert is the Executive Director and Curator at Poster House in New York City. She is an expert when it comes to the use of posters as a too...
#103: Taking Extreme Action with Joe Siev
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Siev studies extreme political behavior and its appeal. He's a postdoctoral fellow at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virg...
#102: Protest with Colin Wayne Leach
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
*If you downloaded this episode early, the wrong file was uploaded. Sorry! We're all good now.Colin Wayne Leach is a social psychologist who also...
#101: Studying Persuasion with Rich Petty
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Richard Petty is a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. He's probably best known for co-developing the Elaboration Likelihood M...
#100: A Unified Model of Persuasion
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1980s, two social psychologists--Rich Petty and John Cacioppo--devised a new way to make sense of persuasion: the Elaboration Likelihood Model....
#99 The Power of Random Roommates with Sarah Gaither and Analia Albuja
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Drs. Sarah Gaither and Analia Albuja study racial identity and how we can overcome racial biases. They just published an important new study on the ef...
#98: Deep Canvassing with Dave Fleischer
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Fleischer is a political organizer who led the team that pioneered “deep canvassing,” which is a particularly effective form of face-to-face ...
#97: Opinions and Reputations with Christian Wheeler
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christian Wheeler studies the intersection of opinions, communication, and personal identity. He’s a professor of management and marketing at the St...
#96: Anti-Science Views with Aviva Philipp-Muller
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aviva Philipp-Muller studies why people might pass on science. She’s an Assistant Professor of marketing at the Beedie School of Business at Simon F...
#95: Marketing Across Cultures with Aaron Barnes
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville College of Business. He studies how persuasion, branding, and cons...
#94: Bringing Behavioral Science to Government with David Halpern
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Halpern is the President & Founding Director of the Behavioral Insights Team. It started as a "nudge unit" in the British governme...
#93: A Life in Behavioral Science with Daniel Kahneman
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Kahneman was a titan in social science. He transformed our understanding of decision-making, he taught a generation about social psychology, he...
#92: Can We Fix Social Media? with Andy Guess
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Andy Guess studies how social media platforms shape people’s political views. He’s an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Prince...
#91: Being a Social Science Maverick with Sendhil Mullainathan
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sendhil Mullainathan does a lot of things, and he does them well. He’s a professor of Computation and Behavioral Science at the University of Chicag...
"...Ridiculous" Ep. 5: The Future!
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To look into the future of Behavioral Economics, we talked to three young researchers who are pushing the field further. A new generation of researche...
"...Ridiculous" Ep. 4: Behavioral Economics Goes Mainstream
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eventually, Behavioral Economics emerged as an influential perspective. It’s become mainstream in Economics, and it’s helped inform programs and p...
"...Ridiculous" Ep. 3: Children of Unlikely Parents
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Behavioral Economics was using psychology to understand economics, but what did economists and psychologists think about their unexpected marriage? Sl...
"...Ridiculous" Ep. 2: Importing Psychology
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky were two psychologists with big ideas about how people made decisions. Their careful research launched a brand new wa...
"...Ridiculous" Ep. 1: Beyond Anomalies
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For years, neoclassical economists have made an unusual assumption—that people are rational decision-makers. But a few social scientists have dared ...
Introducing: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics"
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Coming February 26th! I team up with the guys at Behavioral Groovesto produce a 5-part podcast series on behavioral economics. We tell the story of ho...
#90: How Prejudice Works with Jack Dovidio
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Dovidio's work is at the heart of how we currently understand the psychology of prejudice. He's spent his career considering where prej...
#89: Opinions of our Partners with Jim McNulty
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jim McNulty is a professor of psychology at Florida State University. He studies close relationships, and in this episode, we talk about his research ...
BONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2023)
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! For the first time in the show's history, this episode's a day late. Sorry, dear listeners.So it's 2024, and what bette...
#88: Studying Happiness with Liz Dunn
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Dunn studies the psychology of happiness. One of her major research areas has looked at generosity's effects on well-being. We're ...
#87: How Juries Decide with Mikaela Spruill
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mikaela Spruill studies juries and the legal system’s role in sustaining social inequalities. She’s a postdoctoral fellow in criminal justice with...
#86: Framing Political Issues with James Druckman
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Druckman studies how political messages can shape people's opinions. He is maybe best known for his work on framing issues as a strategic ...
#85: Having Curious Conversations with Mónica Guzmán
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mónica Guzmán wants us to have better conversation with the people we disagree with. She's the Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Ange...
#84: Moral Lessons in Media with Lindsay Hahn
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lindsay Hahn studies how entertainment media convey moral messages, especially among children. She's an assistant professor of communication at t...
#83: The Fundamental Nature of Opinion with Russ Fazio
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Russ Fazio has spent his career getting to the bottom of how opinions work. From his first study as a college student in 1974 to a leading expert in b...
#82: Having Political Conversations with Taylor Carlson
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Carlson studies how people navigate political discussions. She does a bunch of interesting work, but I was most interested in talking with her ...
#81: Moral Language with Morteza Dehghani
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Morteza Dehghani is a psychologist and computer scientist who uses sophisticated analytics to churn through the words we use when we talk to each othe...
#80: Don't Get Fooled Again with Dan Simons & Chris Chabris
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Simons and Chris Chabris are psychological scientists who care about attention and reasoning. They're probably best known for their groundbre...
SciComm Summer #19: Latif Nasser on Making "Radiolab"
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Latif Nasser is the current co-host of the WNYC show Radiolab. Radiolab is probably the first podcast I was ever really a fan of. I've been liste...
SciComm Summer #18: Alie Ward on Making "Ologies"
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alie Ward is a lot of things--an actor, illustrator, TV host. But I was especially interested in talking to her about her undeniably popular science p...
SciComm Summer #17: Siri Carpenter on The Open Notebook
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Siri Carpenter began her science writing journey without a playbook. She was working on a Ph.D. in social psychology and ended up being awarded a AAAS...
SciComm Summer #16: Sam Jones on Charting Your Own Path
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Jones wears many hats. She's executive producer of the podcast Tiny Matters. She's also worked on other podcast and video projects. She&...
SciComm Summer #15: Adam Mastroainni on Substack (etc.)
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Mastroianni is a social psychologist and the author of Experimental History, available on Substack. But what is Substack? And is it a good vehicl...
SciComm Summer #14: Melinda Wenner Moyer on Science Journalism
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Melinda Wenner Moyer is a science journalist and contributing editor at Scientific American magazine. Recently, Melinda received the Excellence in Sci...
Introducing "SciComm Summer"...Season 2!
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
(Another) special summer series on science communication! Regular Opinion Science episodes will resume in August.Announcing another season of my speci...
#19 (Updated): Political Humor as Persuasion with Danna Young
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Dannagal Young studies political humor. She pulls together psychology, communications, and political science, to understand how political satire w...
#79: "Survivor" Bias with Erin O'Mara Kunz
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Erin O’Mara Kunz is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Dayton. We spend the whole episode on her new paper analyzing racial a...
#78: Our Impressions of Others with Leor Hackel
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leor Hackel studies how we learn about other people and how we make decisions about them. He’s an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Universit...
Political Persuasion with Alex Coppock (Rebroadcast)
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I'm happy to reshare my conversation with political scientist, Alex Coppock. This episode first ran on October 12, 2020, and just a fe...
#77: Opinions in the Brain with Uma Karmarkar
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Uma Karmarkar is a decision neuroscientist. She tries to understand how people make decisions when they have too little or too much information, and s...
#76: You Can't Tell Me What To Do with Ben Rosenberg
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Rosenberg studies how people react to having their freedom threatened. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Dominican University of Calif...
#75: High-Quality Listening with Guy Itzchakov
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guy Itzchakov knows how to listen. He's an associate professor in the Department of Human Services at the University of Haifa. He studies the mar...
#74: When a Society Changes its Mind with Tessa Charlesworth
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tessa Charlesworth studies patterns in people’s beliefs and opinions over time, mapping out the minds of a society over decades. She’s currently a...
#73: Navigating Diversity with Maureen Craig
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Maureen Craig studies how we navigate a diverse social world. She's an associate professor of psychology at New York University. In our conversat...
#72: Fighting Against Misinformation with Sander van der Linden
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sander van der Linden studies the psychology of misinformation. He and his lab have conducted studies to understand why people believe false informati...
#71: "Person" = "Man"? with April Bailey
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
April Bailey is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, and she studies the psychology of androcentrism—people’s ...
BONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2022)
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Another year in the books! I don't think I ever really mastered writing the year as "2022," and now I have to write "2023." I...
#70: A "Mixed" Bag with Geoff Durso
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Geoff Durso studies what happens when we face mixed information. When people do good things and bad things. When a product has positive and negative q...
#69: Directing Attention (and Other Lessons from the Science of Magic) with Anthony Barnhart (ft. Erik Tait)
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Barnhart is Associate Professor of Psychological Science at Carthage College. But just as notably, he's a magician. As a result of this dual...
#68: Intellectual Humility with Tenelle Porter
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tenelle Porter is a new colleague of mine at Ball State University. She's an educational psychologist, and one of the things she studies is intel...
#67: Confronting Prejudice with Margo Monteith
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Margo Monteith is a Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. She studies how we can reduce prejudice in the world by co...
#66: Your Language Shapes Your Opinions with Efrén Pérez
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Efrén Pérez is a professor is a professor of Political Science and Psychology at UCLA. He studies political attitudes and behaviors among various ra...
Systemic Racism with Phia Salter (Rebroadcast)
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I'm out with COVID, so I'm re-sharing an early Opinion Science episode that has remained one of the most downloaded episodes of t...
#65: Language is for Doing with Thomas Holtgraves
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Holtgraves studies how language helps us do things. We use words to inquire, to instruct, to command, and to persuade. Words are social. He's...
#64: Saving Democracy with Robb Willer
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robb Willer studies social and political divides, and maybe more importantly, he tries to find ways to overcome them. In our conversation, he shares h...
SciComm Summer #13: John Sides - Contributing to Political Discussion
29 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
John Sides is a political scientist at Vanderbilt University and co-founded The Monkey Cage, which is a popular political science blog now available a...
SciComm Summer #12: Steve Rathje - Social Science on TikTok
22 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Rathje has managed to rack up more than a million followers on TikTok (@stevepsychology) while pursuing a PhD in social psychology (and doing so...
SciComm Summer #11: Alie and Micah Caldwell - Building an Independent YouTube Channel
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alie and Micah Caldwell produce the YouTube channel, Neuro Transmissions. Their videos present the basics of neuroscience and psychology in an accessi...
SciComm Summer #10: Tim Houlihan & Kurt Nelson - Interviewing Behavioral Scientists
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Houlihan and Kurt Nelson are the hosts of Behavioral Grooves, which is a wonderful weekly podcast featuring interviews with behavioral scientists ...
SciComm Summer #9: Jesse Thorn - Interviewing
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jesse Thorn hosts the show "Bullseye" on NPR where he interviews people in arts and culture. A few years ago, he interviewed a bunch of incr...
SciComm Summer #8: Vanessa Bohns - Writing Books as an Academic
25 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist at Cornell University, and last year she release a book for the public: You Have More Influence Than You Think....
SciComm Summer #7: Dan Pink - Writing Books
18 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Pink is a bestselling author who uses social science research to explore big questions about what it means to be human. He’s written seven bo...
SciComm Summer #6: Evelyn Carter - Training and Consulting
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Evelyn Carter is a social psychologist who specializes in communicating science-based practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion to organizations. ...
SciComm Summer #5: Taylor Scott - Bridging Research and Policy
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Scott is an assistant research professor at Penn State, she's the director of research translation in the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative...
SciComm Summer #4: David Nussbaum - Writing Op-Eds
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
David Nussbaum is a social psychologist with a keen talent for pitching Op-Eds. He's worked with many social scientists to land articles in major...
SciComm Summer #3: David McRaney - Making Social Science Engaging
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
David McRaney is a writer and podcaster who has been covering important work in psychology for many years. Although he was a guest on Opinion Science ...
SciComm Summer #2: Meryl Horn - Producing the "Science Vs" Podcast
13 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Meryl Horn is a producer at Science Vs from Gimlet Media and Spotify. Science Vs is a popular science podcast that pits timely claims against scienti...
SciComm Summer #1: Joss Fong - Producing Science Videos
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Joss Fong is a senior editorial producer at Vox. She produces science videos on a variety of topics, pushing the medium in ever more creative directio...
Introducing "SciComm Summer"
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Special summer series on science communication! Regular Opinion Science episodes will resume in September.Announcing a special podcast mini-series for...
#63: Why Polls Matter with G. Elliott Morris
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
G. Elliott Morris is a data journalist for The Economist. In July 2022, he’s releasing his first book, Strength in Numbers: How Polls Work and Why W...
#62: Persuasion via Emotion with Robin Nabi
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Robin Nabi is a professor of communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She studies how emotional appeals can (and cannot) lead peop...
#61: Moral Conviction with Linda Skitka
25 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Linda Skitka is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She's been studying people's moral convict...
#60: "Unconscious" Bias? with Adam Hahn
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Hahn spends a lot of time thinking about how well people know their own biases. Sure, people often refer to "implicit bias" as social b...
#59: Belief Systems with Mark Brandt
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Brandt studies a bunch of things. He’s an assistant professor of psychology at Michigan State University. These days, he’s been exploring how...
#58: How Minds Change with David McRaney (ft. Adam Mastroianni)
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
David McRaney is an author and host of the podcast You Are Not So Smart. In June, he’s releasing a new book—How Minds Change: The Surprising Scien...