KUT » Two Guys on Your Head

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, there are the known knowns, the known unknowns, and the unknown unknowns; and it’s in the latter that the most cause for concern arises. What we don’t know we don’t know but think we know can be dangerous, and in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology behind it.

It can be enjoyable, even exciting, and inspiring to watch TED Talks or read self-help books, or even listen to this show. But the truth is, doing these things won’t solve the big problems. Just taking in information cannot feed the world, won’t treat depression, and can’t change behavior; these things take a lot of work and a lot of time. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why they won’t help, yet why we still love them.  

What is it about online shopping that makes us feel so good, even when we don’t actually purchase anything? In this edition of  Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke take stock of the psychology behind the online shopping experience.

It’s tough to eliminate bias and noise from any decision we make, so how do we deal with all the noise and bias in our life? As Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, prioritizing what’s most important can help.

There is a lot of talk in our society today about eliminating bias from decision making, but it turns out that even if you could do that there are things influencing your decisions that are still beyond your control. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of noise vs. bias.

We may think when we are oohing and aahing at little babies that we are just having fun, but they’re actually learning a lot about language and communication. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of infant-directed speech.

The idea that money doesn’t make you happy is easy to get behind if you have it, but if you don’t it’s a hard one to buy into (pun intended). Yet the correlation between money and happiness is more complicated than one might think. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explain the relationship between money, security, opportunity, and happiness.

Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? It turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those white sweet grains of sugar. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing a nice amount of dopamine. While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival. This might have been beneficial to us a hundred and fifty thousand years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station, and coffee shop around the corner, craving sugar has its consequences.    

We may think that being able to pay attention to two or more things at the same time is a character trait. We say, “so and so is just scatterbrained and can’t focus on more than one thing.” But the truth is none of us can. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of selective attention.

We may underestimate the role that our emotions of an event play in our memory of that event. But it turns out there are ways to manipulate those memories and separate the emotion out; even from Flashbulb memories. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why looking at how traumatic memories are formed has led to new treatments for PTSD that are not chemical-based.\r\n

There is an observation in psychology that looks at how people behave when they have not lived up to the expectations they set for themselves; the “What The Hell Effect.” In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, and Dr. Bob Duke talk about, not only what it is, but why it is.\r\n

We’ve all heard of it, but what is it? On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of the midlife crisis.\r\n

We may use the saying, “it’s a slippery slope,” without knowing the full psychological dimensions of it. That’s why in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, we asked Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke to explore what the saying actually entails.\r\n

You’ve heard the saying, “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” But does that literally mean you have to put yourself in someone’s position in order to understand where they are coming from? As Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, according to a study published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it just might.\r\n

From a Views and Brews recorded live at the Cactus Cafe in 2019, KUT’s Rebecca McInroy talks with Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke about the psychology behind how to interviewing for a job.\r\n

It can be hard to talk with kids about tough things; a death or sickness in the family, the loss of a job, mental illness, the list goes on. But as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, learning strategies for opening up conversations is better than the alternative of saying nothing.\r\n

Selfishness gets a bad rap, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, taking time for yourself is a necessity.

Holding the attention of a group isn’t easy, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, a little confidence can go a long way.

When it comes to disasters and preparing for them there is a lot we might not consider. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of being in the midst of catastrophe (in this case a very cold one) and how to mentally focus in order to prepare for the unexpected.

You may think that bookending a critique in two compliments is a good strategy, but it turns out it has unintended negative consequences. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of the “sh*t sandwich.”