Why We Do What We Do
Episodes
Your Lizard Brain
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us will blame our most instinctual behaviors, impulses, and drives on the vestigial, reptilian parts of our brains. My lizard brain made me do...
Mini: PTO vs. Sick Leave
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Employers should consider what they are incentivizing and de-incentivizing when they put certain policies in place. One such common policy is to make ...
Not So Sweet Revenge
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
People often invoke our impulses by referencing the lizard part of our brains. What is this vistigial reptillian cortex that weilds so much power over...
Mini: Scientific Understanding
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We can broadly categorize our levels of confidence or purpose of scientific data based on the amount of and quality of the information we have about t...
Nostalgia: Grit With Steven Hayes
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we needed to release another nostalgia episode this week. This was our second most popular episode ever. Dr. Ste...
Mini: Mood Rings
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mood rings change color to inform the external world about our emotional states. How does this magical jewelry make our most private, inner experience...
Thumbs and the Evolution of Culture
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do pandas have thumbs? Kind of. We should periodically take the time to acknowledge and admire the significan role our biological morphology affects o...
Mini: Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many people have taken a strong stance for a particular approach to reasoning: either inductive or deductive. However, we are going to try to argue th...
Black Applied Behavior Analysts Conference
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to put on a conference? We invite speical guests Jackie and Tyanna to talk about how and why they are a part of the team that organi...
Mini: Does Philosophy Matter for Expertise?
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our least scripted, most free-form discussion ever! Abraham doesn't even tell Shane the topic until after hitting record. This is the most raw, actual...
The Seven Wonders
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know all seven of the wonders? Do you know how they were chosen? As a species, we seem to be fascinated with lists and ranking things. So, let'...
Mini: Can Stress Turn Your Hair Gray?
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The idea that stress turns our hair gray has been the punchline of many jokes. Do those of us with anxiety gray sooner? We do a quick dive into the sc...
Nostalgia: Social Media Addiction pt. 2
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oh rare Friday release! This is our follow up to our nostalgia episode on Social Media addiction. Enjoy!This concludes our mult-month coverage of the ...
Nostalgia: Social Media Addiction pt. 1
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded in the early days of the pandemic, we are resurrecting this little gem to put a cap on our series of addiction-themed episodes. Amazing how m...
Mini: Books Bound in Human Skin
03 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
WARNING: Contains discussion of death, murder, and mutliation which some listeners may find disturbing. Who even wants to think about this? A lot of p...
How to Treat Addiction
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wishful thinking, empty promises and empty threats, and shaming don't work to treat addiction. People have been trying to strategize ways to overcome ...
Mini: Catnip
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is catnip "drugs" for your cat? Why does it affect them the way that it does? We explain what is going on in the brain and the behavior of cats when t...
Food Addiction
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Another example of behavioral excess of things that are biologically necessary. Again, the utility of calling this an "addiction" is questionable, and...
Mini: Traffic Jams
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Traffic is the worst. But, why do traffic jams happen in the first place? Am I the problem? Are you the problem? Are we all the problem?! We'll unpack...
Gambling pt. 2
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whereas part 1 was more about the history of gambling, casinos, and the psychology of designing gambling and gambling environments to foster addiction...
Mini: Skin Idioms
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We did an episode on idioms a while back. During that discussion, we ended up having to cut a lot of the content we had prepared. In particular, there...
Gambling pt. 1
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One behavioral addiction of the "inessential" variety is gambling. This is an issue that has ruined many lives and pumped a lot of money into the city...
Mini: Burning Books
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Book burning has been used both to destroy cultures or just symbolically send a message. Either way, it is a pretty juvenile temper tantrum thing to d...
Sex Addiction
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You've seen the title of this episode, so now that we have your attention: sex addiction! What are the psychometric criteria by which sex becomes an a...
Mini: Shampoo
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humans haven't had shampoo for very long in our relative history. What about our ancestors, what did they do without shampoo? Animals don't seem to re...
Harm Reduction
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have been engineering strategies to reduce the risks of life for as long as humans have been engineering everything. As it relates to addiction...
Mini: Why We Lottery
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to our new episode format, the mini! Although this is our second one, we are still excited to be exploring this new way of doing episodes. Thi...
War on Drugs
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The saga continues as we explore the historical policy blunder that was the "War on Drugs." What lead to the development of this idea? We review the d...
Mini: Clapping
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to our first ever new episode format that we are trying out. These miniature episodes will be supplemental, additional episodes that we releas...
The Disease Model of Addiction
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The disease model of addiction is a popular philosophical approach to dependency. The idea is to remove fault and blame from the addicted individual. ...
Alcoholics Anonymous
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Alcohol dependency is a complicated condition that has killed a staggering number of people. Fortinuately, many people have banded together to support...
Addiction: The Beginning
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most people are only one or two nodes away from someone who has struggled with some sort of addiction, or may struggle themselves. But what is this ph...
In the Event of The Apocalypse
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you thought about what you'll do if a significant disaster destroys most of humankind? Perhaps you've prepared for the zombie apocalypse or a nuc...
Nostalgia: Aphantasia (Thinking Without Pictures)
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This re-run updates a previous episode on our musings about what aphantasia is, and the purpose of diagnoses. This condition describes people who can'...
Mind-Body, Problem?
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Psychologists and philosophers speculated for centuries trying to understand how the conscious experience of the mind relates to the physical substrat...
Speaking Behaviorese
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Technical and professional jargon can be furstratingly opaque and many professionals lament the frequent use of technical speak. However, there is a b...
Generational Characteristics
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kids these days...but what does that mean? Have kids changed over time? Many people believe that there is something to say about the different "genera...
24 and Me
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Down Syndrome is a genetic condition with some characteristic features and complications. We explain how this condition occurs, the history, features ...
Right to Work Laws
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Unions are grouops of employees who band together to form an allied unit that works to support its members in a work environment. This usually results...
Life and Death Drive
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do we do what we do? Because we do! That's the thesis of the life and death drive. We explain and dismantal this little known hypothesis of behav...
Why I'm Not Doing Something Else Right Now
24 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Science and quantitiative model nerds, this is for you! Or maybe not... We explain the mathematical model that purports to explain choice-making. We e...
Artificial Intelligence with Joseph Dailey
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Engineering student and behaviorist Joseph Dailey joins us to talk about artificial intelligence: where it came from, where it is going, and what it c...
Handwriting Analysis
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have long been interested with shortcuts for peering into the enigma of the mind. Further, we search desperately for any clues that can help us...
Three Meals Per Day
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three meals per day has been so ingrained in western (and other cultures) for so long that it seems like it might be a biological requirement for huma...
2023 That's a Wrap
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! This is a re-cap of the year we just completed. What we talked about in the various episodes this year, what we read and watched, in m...
Brainwashed
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Give that cerebrum a good scrubbing. There are two conditions under which we can get a handle on the phenomenon of brainwashing: What conditions produ...
Talented Genius
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Think of the most talented person you have ever known or known about. Now think about what it means to say that that person is talented. In this discu...
Uncanny
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The uncanny valley started as a futurists fear about the future of robotics. But we have seen multiple instances of unsettling imagery in CGI that has...
Social Media Influencers
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody wants to influence the world (to the tune of Tears for Fears). Being an influencer is one of the most enticing jobs out there for many peopl...
Nostalgia: Bystander Effect
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Let's take a trip back in time to our discussion on the bystander effect, as well as an update on what has happened in research since. What other vari...
The TSA in the USA pt. 2
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most people report feeling that the TSA is successfully protecting against threats. Are they right? Some argue that not flying pushes people toward dr...
The TSA in the USA pt. 1
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Transportation is an enormous part of any economy. Airplanes are one of the more recent inventions that have changed the landscape of security around ...
Internet Trolls
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What makes someone a troll? We are all a little bit troll-y sometimes. We dive into how and why it works, when it is good and bad, and a brief history...
Evil Shenanigans
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why are some people evil? What is evil anyway? Is evil even real? We discuss the philosophy of what evil is and why it occurs... if it occurs.Recommen...
Satanic Panic
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1970s in the US and other parts of the world, a great fear was blossoming in the hearts of normal, every day people. The very real threat of th...
Psatanism
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Spooky season 2023 continues with this dive in to actual Satanism. It is a lot newer than you might think. Also, there are different kinds of satanism...
Left-Hand Path Magic
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to our spooky, Halloween-themed kick-off! We went even more specific than usual and will be talking about Satan the whole month of October. Ha...
Color "Blind"
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does the world look like when you are color deficient? Why are more men color deficient than women? Can glasses really help color deficient peopl...
Professional Wrestling
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sorry for Abraham's poor mic quality this episode! It'll be back to normal next time. Why do people become pro wrestlers? Why do people watch professi...
Breaux
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Henry Breaux was a kind, beloved person with a tragic story. In a rare instance of profiling a single individual, we use this inspiring story to...
Veganitarianism
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Plant-based food and hygeine products are gaining in popularity. What is behind this trend in vegan leaning? We explain the history of veganism, the n...
History of Slavery pt 2
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The conditions of slavery, the current state of modern slavery, and other things we need to talk about. Check out our conclusion to this dicussion. Re...
History of Slavery pt 1
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As new policies are attempting to revise history by rebranding slavery in a more flattering manner, we decided to review the history of slavery to get...
Nostalgia: What Happened to Asperger Syndrome?
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the archive, we have dusted off this old discussion in which we explain how Asperger Syndrome came and went. Further, we provide a few updates on...
Speaking in Tongues
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Divine gift? Neurological breakdown? Sims? No matter what you think is the attributible variable, speaking in tongues involves humans doing things, an...
Excited Delirium
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard of the mental diagnosis that literally causes death? Or, at least that is what some would like you to believe. We uncover the conspirac...
Naked
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are a few things we all have in common as humans, and one of those is that we all have a naked body at some point. Some people make that "some p...
Orca Party
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Killer whales have been making the news lately for attcking boats. This is particularly notable because they seem to have spread this trend to other o...
Super Tasters
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Your tongue is special. It might taste a lot or a very little. Some people have extra super-sensitive tongues packed with many taste receptor cells an...
Nostalgia: The Polygraph Test
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is a rerun and update of our episode on the polygraph. Originally recorded in 2017, we wanted to see what new research has happened since our ori...
Take the Good With the Bad
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most enduring theories of choice-making is the behavioral economics model called "Prospect Theory." People tend to avoid risk twice as much...
Homeowner Associations
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Homeowner Associations (HOAs) are (mostly) involuntary paid memberships into systems that can regulate nearly everything about your home and life arou...
Dancing Until You Drop
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A few times through history a large crowd of people stopped everything they were doing and just started dancing... Sometimes until the dancing resulte...
Video Game Violence
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Video games often depict graphic violence, gore, and other behaviors that would be considered extremely inappropriate, immoral, and illegal. What effe...
Tough on Crime
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Tough on Crime" has been a popular rallying cry in the US for some time. However, what does this actually mean? Further, how does it impact the behav...
Heroic Rats
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rats have been a source of much rage and fear for their various behaviors and disease-carrying proclivities. But they are an impressive evolutionary s...
Scientology, Allegedly
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Scientology is one of the newer religions in the world. And, although you have probably heard a lot about them, they are pretty small in number. Why d...
If These Flags Could Talk
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the global ways that people communicate symbolically, flags are a sort of universal-ish language, depending on the flag. Where did they come fr...
I Pledge Allegiance...
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Compulsory, ritualistic pledging an oath of fealty to a leader or government's flag sounds like something you might see in an oppressive tyranical gov...
Nostalgia: Consciousness: The Case For And Against
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
First aired in November 2017, what has happened in the world of consciousness since this episode? Both a lot and somehow very little. As always, the d...
Wokeism
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Wokeism has a much longer history than you might think and its original meaning has been appropriated and obfuscated beyond recognition. We break down...
The Psychology of Swearing
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Swearing involves the use of taboo words considered coarse, blasphemous, or otherwise unacceptable in polite or formal speech to accentuate a statemen...
Facilitated Communication Pt. 3: The Damage
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this third and final installment of our discussion about Facilitated Communication, we explain why Facilitated Communication is not only ineffectiv...
Facilitated Communication Pt. 2: The Science
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The follow-up to the history of Facilitated Communication. How can we determine if the messages typed by an individual with little or no previous lang...
Facilitated Communication Pt. 1: Magic Keyboard History
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Being as charitable and honest as we can, facilitate communication is an ineffective pseudoscience. We explore the history, the claims, and a careful ...
Seizure Alert Dogs
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Seizure alert animals, like dogs, help during and after seizures and require training and upkeep. They aren't just pets and may stay with their owner ...
Ancestral Hallucinations: The Bicameral Mind
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A highly controversial speculative hypothesis. Julian Jaynes read ancient texts and arrived at a unique and wholly original hypothesis: Our ancestors ...
How THC Makes You Feel High
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The royal "you" feel high, that is. Many if not most people understand that THC is the primary chemical in cannabis respnosible for the effect of feel...
Fan Fiction
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fan fiction is whn fans take liberties with their favorite characters and put them in new situations or contexts, creating their own stories. It's a w...
Gone Feral
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Feral" is a fancy word for describing something that's wild, untamed, and unaccustomed to human contact - kinda like that one coworker who always bri...
Episode 300: Spartans!
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Spartan culture was all about being tough and ready for battle. They trained hard, ate tough, and had no time for luxuries like haircuts or personal h...
Are Ultra-processed Foods Making Us Less Intelligent?
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It has been suggested that consuming too much ultra-processed food can lead to a decrease in cognitive abilities, particularly in areas such as decisi...
The Authoritarian Way
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is not about authors. Authoritarians represent an oppressive governmental structure including "communism" and dictatorships. Although different i...
John B. Watson: Psychologist, Advertiser, Bad Parent
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
WARNING: There is some discussion about suicide.John Broadus Watson was a giant historical figure in the history of psychology and is often referred t...
Let's Talk About Immigration (part 2)
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This second conversation gets into the more widely discussed arguments about immigration. Countries that receive legal and illegal immigrants can prof...
Let's Talk About Immigration (part 1)
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Transnational immigration is a major talking point and vote-motivating topic among many people around the world. People migrate due to push and pull f...
2022 Wrap Up
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We celebrate 5 years as a podcast with some then and now reflections. We review some of the topics we have covered, entertainment we have enjoyed, sci...
The Interesting World of Steampunk
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is steampunk? Why is steampunk? Who is steampunk? This is the future as imagined through the fashion and technology of victorian era zeitgeist, o...
What is a Cast-Iron Stomach?
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Some people can eat nearly anything (or actually anything) without becoming ill. One man's digestion was so severe that he would eat four times the av...
In The Ketaminetime
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ketamine is a new and still controversial medical intervention being explored for its utility in mental health treatment. Is there something of substa...