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172 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Introducing "SciComm Summer"
30 mei 2022 · 3 min
Special summer series on science communication! Regular Opinion Science episodes will resume in September. Lees meer
Announcing a special podcast mini-series for the summer focused on social science communication. I wanted to talk to a bunch of people who have become experts at communicating research outside of academia through different forms of media.
I also wanted to emphasize the unique challenge of social science communication. I felt that a lot of the popular discussions of science communication have focused on topics like chemistry, biology, astronomy…all important and interesting in their own right. But communicating findings in psychology, political science, and economics comes with its own quirks. Of course, the series is still largely under the SciComm banner.
So whether you’re an academic who wants to communicate your research more widely, a journalist interested in covering more social science topics, or just someone in the world who’s looking to be a better communicator, I think you’ll find a ton to like this series.
Just stay subscribed to Opinion Science to get this summer series. All episodes in the series will also be available online at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/hot-scicomm-summer/
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#63: Why Polls Matter with G. Elliott Morris
23 mei 2022 · 1 uur 10 min
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 We Need Them. The book takes a critical look at the history and current use of public opinion polling and the role it plays in democracy. Morris also contributed to The Economist’s 2020 presidential election forecasts. We talk about how he got involved in all of this, sources of error in polling, and the importance of opinion polls. Lees meer
Also in this episode, we hear from Andrew Kozak (@andrewkozaktv), meteorologist for Spectrum News 1 in Ohio. He shares how weather forecasting works and common misconceptions about forecasts.
Some music sourced from Blue Dot Sessions.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/polls-polling-g-elliott-morris/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#62: Persuasion via Emotion with Robin Nabi
9 mei 2022 · 51 min
Robin Nabi is a professor of communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. She studies how emotional appeals can (and cannot) lead people to change their thoughts and behaviors. She’s published important research on the effects of anger, humor, and guilt, and she’s also developed integrated theories about how emotions can work together in the persuasion process. We talk about all this and more! Lees meer
When we talk about humor and persuasion, we briefly mention Dannagal Young’s prior appearance on the show. To listen to that check out: Episode 19: Political Humor as Persuasion with Danna Young
Some things that come up in our conversation:
Sarah McLaclan’s powers of emotional manipulation (ASPCA)
Aristotle’s treatise on Rhetoric, including ethos (Miyawaki, 2017), logos (Trebing, 2017), and pathos (Tollefson, 2017).
Robin has a nice summary of work in this area in a chapter for The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects (Nabi, 2017)
Emotion is not as irrational as we may believe (e.g., Clore, 2011; Mull, 2019)
Emotions can help frame an issue (Nabi, 2003)
“Emotional flow” or the sequence of emotions in a message (Nabi, 2015)
Some sound effects sourced from freesfx.co.uk
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/persuasion-via-emotion-with-robin-nabi/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#61: Moral Conviction with Linda Skitka
25 april 2022 · 43 min
Linda Skitka is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She's been studying people's moral convictions--the opinions that we connect to our core sense of moral right and wrong. Two people might agree about universal healthcare, for example, but they might disagree about how much their positions on this issue are drawn from their personal moral compass. Over the years, Linda and her colleagues have found that our opinions take on a different character if we've attached a feeling of moral significance to them. Lees meer
A few things than come up in this episode:
Bernie Sanders’ 2016 speech urging people to treat inequality as a moral issue.
In the opening, I discuss some research I did on how the mere perception of moral relevance makes opinions harder to change (Luttrell et al., 2016)
For a summary of the research on moral conviction, Linda and her colleagues recently published a great overview in Annual Review of Psychology (Skitka et al., 2021)
The early days of distinguishing moral conviction from other characteristics (Skitka et al., 2005)
People resist conformity when they hold a morally convicted attitude (Aramovich et al., 2012)
The question of how emotion plays a role in moralized opinions (Brandt et al., 2015; Skitka & Wisneski, 2011; Skitka et al., 2018; Wisneski & Skitka, 2016)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/moral-conviction-with-linda-skitka/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#60: "Unconscious" Bias? with Adam Hahn
11 april 2022 · 49 min
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 biases that exist unconsciously. But do they really? How strongly can we claim we're unaware of these attitudes and is there any reason to think people can readily tell you what their gut reactions are when they encounter people of different racial, gender, and religious identities? Adam's a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath. Lees meer
A few things that come up in our conversation:
In the intro, I talk about the work of Russ Fazio (e.g., Fazio et al., 1986) and John Bargh (e.g., Bargh et al., 1992) looking into the automatic activation of attitudes. I also highlight Greenwald and Banaji's (1995) presentation of "implicit social cognition." (The quote about using "implicit" to refer to processes outside of awareness is from a 2001 chapter by Banaji and Tesser.) Also, big tip of the hat to Adam Hahn for helping me organize the structure of the introduction.
You can take the Implicit Association Test (IAT) at "Project Implicit"
Whether implicit bias is unconscious depends on how you define "unconscious" (Hahn & Goedderz, 2020)
People can predict their scores on the IAT (Hahn et al., 2014; Hahn & Gawronski, 2019)
People's predictions of their IAT performance is predictable (Rivera & Hahn, 2019)
For details on some of the newer (unpublished as of yet) work that Adam talks about, you might enjoy this 2021 talk he gave at Université Grenoble Alpes.
News clips at the top of the show were sourced from the following: NPR [1] [2], 5News, CBSNews, Devex, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, & The Young Turks.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/unconscious-bias-with-adam-hahn/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more ab…
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#59: Belief Systems with Mark Brandt
28 maart 2022 · 49 min
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 we can think about belief systems as a network of interconnected opinions. Using mathematical simulations that specify how people’s opinions can be connected, Mark and his team have been able to establish a core model that explains a bunch of findings from political psychology. Lees meer
Mark also co-organizes a free online seminar, the Minority Politics Online Seminar Series (MPOSS). Check it out for a bunch of great presentations by researchers who are studying a range of important topics.
A few things that come up in our conversation:
We focus on a recent summary of the idea that networks can help explain belief systems (Brandt & Sleegers, 2021)
Using network analysis, we can identify which opinions are central to a belief system (Brandt et al., 2019)
It is difficult to quantify an individual person’s network of opinions (Brandt & Morgan, 2022; Brandt, 2022)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/belief-systems-with-mark-brandt/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#58: How Minds Change with David McRaney (ft. Adam Mastroianni)
14 maart 2022 · 56 min
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 Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion (you can pre-order it now). In the book, David goes on a wild journey to understand the mechanics of persuasion. He combines research in psychology with stories of persuasion on the ground to arrive at an understanding of when and why people end up changing their opinions. In our conversation, David shares how he got wrapped up in reporting on social science research, why he wanted to learn more about persuasion, and what he’s learned about how minds change. Lees meer
Also at the top of the episode is a look at some brand new research by Adam Mastroiannion how public opinion in the United States has changed over the years…and how people are generally ignorant about what these changes have been. For details, check out the paper (Mastroianni & Danas, 2022), which came out last week in PNAS. (You should also check out Adam’s blog, Experimental History.)
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/how-minds-change-with-david-mcraney/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#57: Media, Norms, and Social Change with Sohad Murrar
28 februari 2022 · 1 uur 8 min
Sohad Murrar studies how media and norms affect people's opinions about social groups. Does media representation matter? Can infotainment aimed at reducing misconceptions really work? In this episode, Sohad gives us a glimpse into what the research says, her own experiences consulting with Hollywood creatives, and how conveying social norms can be a potent way of addressing prejudice. Lees meer
Also at the top of the show, you'll hear about a radio program from the 1930s: "Americans All--Immigrants All." You can listen to most episodes of that show at WNYC's archives. Many of the details about the program and how it responded to anti-immigrant prejudice at the time is thanks to a wonderful book by Susan Herbst: A Troubled Birth: The 1930s and American Public Opinion.
Some of the research Sohad and I talk about includes:
Thoughtfully produced infotainment can lead to reduced prejudice in viewers (Murrary & Brauer, 2018)
How stories can foster more positive attitudes toward social groups (Murrar & Brauer, 2019)
Conveying pro-diversity social norms serves to increase tolerance and inclusion (Murrar, Campbell, & Brauer, 2020)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/media-norms-social-change-with-sohad-murrar/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#56: Receptiveness to Other Opinions with Julia Minson
14 februari 2022 · 53 min
Julia Minson studies the psychology of disagreement. In particular, she's been working to understand what sorts of people are receptive to other opinions and how our perceptions of other people's receptiveness can improve conversations. Dr. Minson is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of government. Lees meer
Some things that come up in this episode:
StoryCorps and the One Small Step initiative (the clip at the beginning of the episode is from "Family Politics")
For a big overview of the kinds of things we discuss, check out a recent review article about receptiveness by Julia and her colleague, Frances Chen (Minson & Chen, in press)
The effects of asking questions on receptiveness (Chen, Minson, & Tormala, 2010)
Eye contact can foster resistance to persuasion (Chen, Minson, Schöne, & Heinrichs, 2013)
Measuring receptiveness to opposing views as a personal trait (Minson, Chen, & Tinsley, 2019)
Developing an algorithm to detect receptiveness using language (Yeomans, Minson, et al., 2020)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/receptiveness-with-julia-minson/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#55: Stereotypes at the Intersection with Chris Petsko
31 januari 2022 · 48 min
Chris Petsko studies which stereotypes come to mind in a given moment. He's a social psychologist and postdoctoral scholar at Duke University. I talk with Chris about his "lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping," which argues that we can only pay attention to one social identity at a time. As a result, the stereotypes that come to mind depend on the one lens through which we're seeing someone at the moment. Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
Walter Lippman's 1922 book "Public Opinion"
Testing a lens-based account of intersectional stereotyping (Petsko, Rosette, & Bodenhausen, 2022)
An early summary of a lens-based theory of categorization and stereotyping (Petkso & Bodenhausen, 2020)
Sexual orientation and racial identity interact to predict relevant outcomes (Petsko & Bodenhausen, 2019)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/stereotypes-at-the-intersection-with-chris-petsko/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#54: Influence is Your Superpower with Zoe Chance
17 januari 2022 · 52 min
Zoe Chance is an assistant professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management. Prior to Yale, she managed a $200 million segment of the Barbie brand at Mattel. In February, she's releasing her first book: Influence Is Your Superpower. Lees meer
In this episode, we talk about Zoe's winding road to becoming a business school professor, the class she teaches at Yale on influence and persuasion, and the insights she shares in her upcoming book.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/influence-is-your-superpower-with-zoe-chance/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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BONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2021)
9 januari 2022 · 1 uur 8 min
Another year in the books! Sure, there was a lot of wild stuff in 2021--an insurrection, COVID vaccine rollouts, a new president, another installment in the Tiger King franchise...and my daughter was born! Lees meer
But through it all, we had Opinion Science. This year saw a bunch of new listeners, amazing guests, and some ambitious episodes. Your support has meant a lot.
So even though I'm a couple weeks behind on this, I wanted put together another "best of" episode, featuring notable moments from the podcast in 2021. As I said in the 2020 "best of" episode, it’s not truly a “best of” per se because I really am attached to every episode. S eriously, there's something in every episode of the show that has stuck with me. So instead, I’ve chosen some particularly meaningful episodes for me, fan favorites, and moments that highlight what this show is all about.
If you’re new to the show, this is a great place to start! And if you’ve been listening since the beginning, join me on some fun memories from this year.
-Andy
Featured 2021 episodes:
Episode 30: “Us vs. Them” with Jay Van Bavel
Episode 32: Moralizing and Attention with Ana Gantman
Episode 35: Ambivalence with Iris Schneider
Episode 36: Negotiation with Kwame Christian
Episode 37: Influence with Robert Cialdini
Episode 44: The Contact Hypothesis
Episode 47: Moral Foundations & Political Opinion with Jesse Graham
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#53: Influence on the Ground with Brian Ahearn
3 januari 2022 · 49 min
Brian Ahearn specializes in applying the science of influence in everyday situations. He is one of only a dozen individuals in the world who currently holds the Cialdini Method Certified Trainer® (CMCT) designation, and he teaches the psychology of persuasion and influence as it applies to sales and other aspects of our lives. Lees meer
He's the author of Influence PEOPLE, which was named one of the best influence books of all time by BookAuthority. He followed that up with Persuasive Selling for Relationship Driven Insurance Agents.
Late last year, he released a new book, The Influencer, which uses narrative to teach principles of influence.
In a lot of ways, our conversation follows up on my interview with Robert Cialdini from earlier this year, so be sure to check out Episode 37: Influence with Robert Cialdini.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/influence-on-the-ground-with-brian-ahearn/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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Giving and Getting Good Gifts [Rebroadcast]
20 december 2021 · 47 min
This is a rebroadcast of Episode 27: Giving and Getting Good Gifts (December 21, 2020). Lees meer
It’s that time of year when winter holidays send people on a buying spree as they collect gifts to give to every friend, family member, and acquaintance. And you’d think that after so many years of giving gifts for all sorts of holidays, we’d be pretty good at it. Right? Well, not according to research in psychology. In this episode, we explore the psychology of why giving to others is such a good thing to do, and also where gift givers go wrong. Along the way, we’ll pick up some tips for how to approach giving in a smarter, more effective way.
Many guests in this episode!
We hear from Laura and Bethany Sanders about childhood gifting go awry. Laura Sanders is a stand-up comedian and illustrator, so check out her work!
Dr. Lara Aknin is an associate professor of Social Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She studies what makes people happy.
Dr. Jeff Galak is an associate professor of Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. He also runs the YouTube channel, “Data Demystified.”
Dr. Julian Giviis an assistant professor of Marketing at West Virginia University's John Chambers College of Business and Economics. He studies gift-giving.
Research in this episode:
Part I: Why give to others? Lara Aknin and her colleagues found that college students were happier when giving money to other people vs. spending on themselves (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008). She has replicated this finding all over the world, with kids, and other populations (see Dunn et al., 2020).
Part II: How gift-givers and gift-recipients disagree.
A. Gift-givers focus on the moment of giving whereas recipients are thinking more long-term (Galak, Givi, & Williams (2016)
B. Gift-givers think price matters more than receivers do (Flynn & Adams, 2009)
C. Givers avoid repeatedly giving the same thing, but recipients don’t mind (Givi, 2020)
D. People opt to give sentimental gifts les…
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#52: Applying Behavioral Science with Melina Palmer
6 december 2021 · 50 min
Melina Palmer is founder and CEO of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioral economics consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world. Her podcast, The Brainy Business, has downloads in over 160 countries and is used as a resource for teaching applied behavioral economics for many universities and businesses. Lees meer
In this episode, I talk to Melina about how she got involved in the world of behavioral science, what behavioral economics means to her, and how she goes about applying research in social science to address real challenges in business.
You can read the first chapter of her book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, for free using this link: http://www.thebrainybusiness.com/opinionscience
For more information about my comments about "honesty nudges" at the end of the episode, you can check on a recent article by Kristal et al. (2020) and this BuzzFeed News article.
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/applying-behavioral-science-with-melina-palmer/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#51: On Debate with Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, & Noa Ovadia
22 november 2021 · 38 min
This episode follows up on the previous episode of Opinion Science about IBM's Project Debater. If you haven't already, be sure to check out that episode. Lees meer
But this week we hear more from Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, and Noa Ovadia--three accomplished debaters. They'll share how they got into debate, what debate means to them, and why the exercise of debate is so important.
In the opening section of the episode, we hear a quick clip from social psychologist Richard Petty. And the study I summarize is from a working paper by Peter Schwardmann, Egon Tripodi, and Joël J. van der Weele.
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue).
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/debate-with-harish-natarajan-dan-zafrir-noa-ovadia/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#50: To Persuade is Human?
8 november 2021 · 51 min
In 2019, IBM introduced the world to Project Debater: an AI system that could go up against humans to debate anything. In this episode, we trace Project Debater’s growth from just an idea to a fully fledged piece of technology and the public debates it’s engaged in. And it raises a bigger question: is persuasion a fundamentally human ability or is it really something that machines are capable of? Lees meer
We hear from IBM engineer and project leaders Noam Slonim, expert debaters Harish Natarajan, Dan Zafrir, and Noa Ovadia, communication neuroscientist Elisa Baek, and best-selling author Daniel Pink.
To learn more about Project Debater, visit IBM’s Project Debater website and watch this great mini documentary about the system.
Clips from IBM events were made available by IBM and are licensed creative commons.
For a transcript of this episode, head to: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/to-persuade-is-human/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#49: Inoculating Against Persuasion with Josh Compton
25 oktober 2021 · 58 min
Josh Compton studies how “inoculating” people against persuasion can make them more resistant to arguments they encounter later. Dr. Compton is an associate professor of speech at Dartmouth and has written a lot about “inoculation theory,” which began (as a theory) back in the 60s with the work of William McGuire. We talk about lots of inoculation theory’s many extensions and applications. Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
The “virgin-soil epidemic” explanation of disease spread among indigenous people following Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. (See this Atlantic article by Ostler, 2020)
William McGuire’s original formulation of “inoculation theory” (McGuire, 1964)
A lot of the work Josh discusses is reviewed in Compton et al. (2021) and Compton (2021).
Online games that help inoculate against fake news: “Bad News”, “Breaking Harmony Square”, and “Go Viral!”
For a transcript of this episode, go to: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/inoculating-against-persuasion-with-josh-compton/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#48: "Selling" Social Science with Daniel Pink
11 oktober 2021 · 51 min
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 six books, and a new one comes out in February—The Power of Regret. You can also check out his Masterclass on sales and persuasion. In our conversation, Dan gives a look into his writing process. How does he go from an idea for a book to the final product? And how does he draw on social science along the way? This was a super fun chat—check it out! Lees meer
Things that come up in our conversation:
Scapple: a mind-mapping app that Dan uses.
The psychology of counterfactual thinking (see Smallman & Summerville, 2018)
Classic social influence study on reusing hotel towels (Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius, 2008)
“Paper Lion” by George Plimpton
Stumbling on Happiness by Dan Gilbert
How to Change by Katy Milkman
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#47: Moral Foundations & Political Opinion with Jesse Graham
27 september 2021 · 47 min
Jesse Graham studies human morality and what it means for our political opinions. He’s an Associate Professor of Management at the Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. As a graduate student with Jonathan Haidt, he helped develop Moral Foundations Theory (MFT), which has gone on to be a massively influential theory of morality and how it develops. One of Jesse’s key insights was that these moral foundations help explain the divides between liberal and conservative people, which has implications for all kinds of political opinions and pressing topics like political polarization. Lees meer
In our conversation, Jesse fills us in on the early days of his research and the development of MFT over time, walks through the implications of MFT for political ideology, and reflects on where the theory is now.
Things that come up in this episode:
Divisions between liberal and conservatives: antipathy (Iyengar et al., 2019), geographic segregation (Motyl et al., 2014), avoiding each other’s opinions (Frimer, Skitka, & Motyl, 2017), and even shorter Thanksgiving dinners (Chen & Rohla, 2018; Frimer & Skitka, 2020)
Jonathan Haidt’s “Social Intuitionist Model” of morality (Haidt, 2001)
Moral Foundations Theory (Graham et al., 2013; for a useful overview, check out MoralFoundations.org)
Values beyond the moral (Schwartz, 1992)
How adult political leanings can be predicted from observations of them as kids (Block & Block, 2006)
Ideology and geographic preferences (Motyl et al., 2020)
Moral foundations and the basis of vaccine attitudes (Amin et al., 2017; Karimi-Malekabadi et al., 2021), needle exchange attitudes (Christie et al., 2019), and a variety of political attitudes including abortion (Koleva et al., 2012)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/moral-foundations-political-opinion-with-jesse-graham
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinion…
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#46: Polling 101 with Ashley Amaya
13 september 2021 · 45 min
Dr. Ashley Amaya is a senior survey methodologist at Pew Research Center. She has a PhD in Survey Methodology and is an expert when it comes to polling the country’s opinions. Our conversation highlights how the simple polling numbers you see on the news are the results of months—sometimes years—of work. Lees meer
Dr. Amaya shares how Pew recruits and maintains high-quality samples of survey respondents, carefully designs the questions that get asked, and checks their surveys’ demographics against the broader population. We also talk about what consumers should look for when assessing a poll’s legitimacy and where else experts are looking for the public’s opinion.
A few things that come up in this episode:
65% of U.S. adults think there is intelligent life on other planets (Pew Research Center; June 30, 2021)
Pew Report: “Measuring the Risks of Panel Conditioning in Survey Research” (June 9, 2021)
Sampling methods: address-based sampling vs. random digit dialing (RDD) vs. non-probability sampling
Weighting survey responses by demographics (see this page on Pew’s website)
The importance of well-written survey questions (see this video from Pew)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/polling-101-with-ashley-amaya/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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Portraits: "Just Because You Asked" (Vanessa Bohns)
6 september 2021 · 12 min
In a new occasional series on Opinion Science, Portraits gives a snapshot of insights in social science. This week, Dr. Vanessa Bohns shows us how we're more influential than we give ourselves credit for. Lees meer
Vanessa's new book is You Have More Influence Than You Think. It's available September 7th.
To hear the full conversation I had with Vanessa, go back to Episode 21 of Opinion Science: More Influence Than You Realize with Vanessa Bohns.
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#45: How Kids Judge with Larisa Heiphetz
30 augustus 2021 · 1 uur 1 min
Larisa Heiphetz studies how kids think about religion and morality. She’s an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University where she runs the Columbia Social and Moral Cognition Lab. As a new dad, I’ve been thinking about how young kids form opinions—do they even form opinions at all? So I was curious to talk with Larisa about her work on how kids make different kinds of judgments and think about their new social worlds. Lees meer
If your interested in participating yourself (or your young child!) in Dr. Heiphetz’s research, you can sign up for studies here: https://columbiasamclab.weebly.com/childstudysign-up.html
Things we mention in this episode:
Developmental psychology as a research tool to understand big questions (see Heiphetz, 2014)
How we think of moral as different from facts and preferences (e.g., Heiphetz et al., 2013, 2014, 2017)
Research on how kids evaluate “helpers” and “hinderers” (e.g., Hamlin & Van de Vondervoort, 2018).
Psychological “essentialism” and why kids tend to think that way (Heiphetz, 2020)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/how-kids-judge-with-larisa-heiphetz/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#44: The Contact Hypothesis
16 augustus 2021 · 1 uur 7 min
How can we make the world less prejudiced? Research from the social sciences hints at a promising solution. This week, we do a deep dive on “The Contact Hypothesis”: what it is, how we know it works, and what its limits are. Lees meer
We hear from four experts in this area whose research sheds light on the question:
Tom Pettigrew, emeritus professor of psychology at University of California, Santa Cruz
Linda Tropp, professor of social psychology at University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Shreya Bhattacharya, economist; PhD from the University of Houston
Salma Mousa, assistant professor of political science at Yale University
For a transcript of this episode, fully annotated with references, go to: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/the-contact-hypothesis/
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#43: Values with Greg Maio
2 augustus 2021 · 45 min
Greg Maio studies human values. He’s a professor of psychology at the University of Bath in England.* He also co-wrote the popular textbook, The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change, and in 2016, his own book came out called The Psychology of Human Values. In our conversation, he shares his work on what values are and why they’re so important. We talk about when values guide or choices (and when they don’t), how people have a hard time articulating their values, and how we can design interventions around the values that people can come together on. Lees meer
*In my intro for this episode, I mistakenly said the University of Bath was in Wales. It is actually in England. Greg was at Cardiff University for years before recently moving to Bath, and Cardiff is in Wales. Sorry for the mixup!
Some things we mention in this episode:
What are values? (See this useful online article by Dr. Maio.)
How do values work and how has the science on this evolved? (see Maio, 2010)
How values can act as “truisms” that make them hard to defend (Maio & Olson, 1998; Bernard, Maio, & Olson, 2003; 2005)
Values can contribute unity on otherwise divisive issues (e.g., Wolf, Haddock, Manstead, & Maio, 2020)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/values-with-greg-maio/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#42: Thinking with Richard Nisbett
19 juli 2021 · 38 min
Richard E. Nisbett has spent his career studying how people think. He is an emeritus professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, and his research has influenced how psychologists think about reasoning, introspection, culture, and intelligence. He has written several important books over his career, including The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why and Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. Lees meer
His newest book is Thinking: A Memoir.
In this episode, Nisbett shares samples of his work relating to our inability to know the inner workings of our own minds, whether we can call various cognitive biases “errors” in reasoning, and how culture shapes the way we interact with the world.
Some things that come up in this episode:
Nisbett’s favorite study: Norman R. F. Maier’s finding that people fail to understand where their insights come from (Maier, 1931)
The classic set of studies by Richard Nisbett and Tim Wilson on our failure to introspect on cognitive processes (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977)
The study where a goat entered a classroom (but that was really about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation; Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973)
Nisbett’s work on errors in reasoning (Nisbett & Ross, 1980; Nisbett, 1992)
Early work by Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama on the effects of culture on how we think about ourselves (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; also see Markus’ book Clash!)
The “Culture of Honor” (Nisbett, 1996)
Cross-cultural differences in analytic versus holistic thinking (see Nibsett’s Geography of Thought for a summary)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/thinking-with-richard-nisbett/
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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and c…
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#41: Taking Social Science into the World with Neil Lewis Jr.
5 juli 2021 · 55 min
Neil Lewis Jr. doesn’t just study social questions—he studies them in the places where they matter. He’s an assistant professor of communication at Cornell University, and he’s interested in social inequities, how they work, and how we can address them. In addition to his own research, he also consults for organizations and contributes to FiveThirtyEight. He was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science in 2019 and won the SAGE Young Scholar award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2020. Lees meer
In our conversation, Neil shares his research on health communication and education disparities, talks about what it takes to collaborate outside of academic institutions, and how he approaches science communication.
Things we mention in this episode:
In my introduction to this episode, I pull from a variety of sources to highlight the value of applied psychological research. These include the research by the Research Branch, Information and Education Division of the War Department, a history of social psychology (Kruglanski & Stroebe, 2011), Kurt Lewin’s research on eating organ meats (Lewin, 1943), reflections on social psychology’s “fun and games” (Ring, 1967), references to social psychology’s “crisis of confidence” (Elms, 1975), and Katz’s reflection on the value of basic and applied social research (Katz, 1951).
Field study of health messages in a physician waiting room (Lewis et al., 2020) and the laboratory research it was based on (Albarracin et al., 2007)
Neil brings up a controversial paper suggesting that social psychology isn’t a science—instead, it’s a study of history (Gergen, 1973)
The opening of the episode features audio from the World War II film, Why We Fight: Prelude to War, produced by the U.S. Office of War Information (1942).
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/taking-social-science-into-t…
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#40: Explaining Brains with Alie and Micah Caldwell
21 juni 2021 · 54 min
Alie and Micah Caldwell produce the YouTube channel, Neuro Transmissions. Their videos present the basics of neuroscience and psychology in an accessible, engaging way. Alie is a neuroscientist and senior science writer at the University of Chicago Medicine. Micah is a licensed professional clinical counselor. In our conversation, we talk about the origins of Neuro Transmissions, their philosophy of science communication, and their new book. Lees meer
Check your local bookstores for their upcoming book: Brains Explained: How They Work and Why They Work That Way.
Some science communication resources that came up in our conversation:
ComSciCon: A free science communication workshop for graduate students
Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science
COMPASS Science Communication Trainings
Alan Alda’s book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?
The Union of Concerned Scientists
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/neuro-transmissions-with-alie-&-micah-caldwell/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#39: Social Media Polarization with Chris Bail
7 juni 2021 · 50 min
Chris Bail is a computational social scientist. He wrangles the data that our social interactions leave behind to better understand how ideas spread. He is Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Duke University, where he directs the Polarization Lab. A Guggenheim and Carnegie Fellow, he studies political extremism on social media using tools from the emerging field of computational social science. Lees meer
He is the author of Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make our Platforms Less Polarizing.
Things we mention in this episode:
Internet bots for good and evil
@simscreens: A Twitter bot tweeting out frames from The Simpsons
Using Twitter bots to understand polarization (Bail et al., 2018)
Many people just don’t care about politics (check out my interview with Nathan Kalmoe)
Dr. Bail’s earlier work on how anti-Muslim sentiment spreads (Bail, 2016)
Tools developed by the Polarization Lab to fight back against polarization
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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/social-media-polarization-with-chris-bail/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#38: American Islamophobia with Nazita Lajevardi
24 mei 2021 · 46 min
Nazita Lajevardi studies public opinion relating to Muslim Americans. She’s a political scientist and attorney at Michigan State University. In 2020, she published Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia. The book is an extension of her research on public opinion about Muslims in the United States, discrimination faced by Muslim Americans in politics, and the experience of facing these biases. In our conversation, we talk about all these questions and what makes Muslim American identity so tricky to pin down. Lees meer
Note. The brief clip at the top of the show is from Episode 4 ("Strawberries") of the Hulu show Ramy and is presented for purposes of commentary and education.
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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/american-islamophobia-with-nazita-lajevardi/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#37: Influence with Robert Cialdini
10 mei 2021 · 59 min
Dr. Robert Cialdini is an internationally recognized expert on the science of influence. His book Influence is one of the most influential business and psychology books of all time, selling over five-million copies worldwide. As a social psychologist, Cialdini has conducted foundational research on compliance, social norms, and helping behavior. But he is perhaps best known for boiling influence down to several key principles. Lees meer
He just released an updated and expanded edition of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and it’s well worth checking out! I was excited to talk with him about the new book, how he started studying influence, what made him write a book for the public at a time when academics stayed within their university walls, and how we can be effective communicators of social science findings.
Things we mention in this episode:
“Basking in reflected glory” (Cialdini et al., 1976)
The “full cycle” approach to social psychology (Cialdini, 1980; Mortensen & Cialdini, 2010)
Observing littering in a natural environment to study psychological questions (Cialdini & Baumann, 1981)
Belonging to a group feels personal when your personal identity and group identity are fused (Swann & Buhrmester, 2015)
People who are highly identified with a political party are more willing to hide evidence of tax fraud by a politician from their party (Ashokkumar, Galaif, & Swann, 2019)
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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/influence-with-robert-cialdini/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#36: Negotiation with Kwame Christian
26 april 2021 · 43 min
Kwame Christian is an attorney and negotiation expert. He's the director of the American Negotiation Institute where he and his team offer training and consultation for a variety of negotiation needs. He serves as a professor for Otterbein University's MBA program and Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. Lees meer
In his podcast, Negotiate Anything, Kwame talks to experts in negotiation and persuasion to bring insights to a wide audience. In our conversation, he shares that the podcast has been downloaded over 3 million times!
He is also the author of the book Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life. In it, he shares how to overcome obstacles that get in the way of effective conversations. For a glimpse, check out his TEDx Dayton talk, "Finding Confidence in Conflict."
You can find the negotiation guides Kwame mentions in this episode at the ANI website: https://americannegotiationinstitute.com/negotiation-guides/
In our conversation, Kwame helps define what negotiation is, the reason why people struggle with it, and how we can use practice and psychology to get better at it.
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Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/negotiation-with-kwame-christian/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#35: Ambivalence with Iris Schneider
12 april 2021 · 42 min
Dr. Iris Schneider studies the psychology of "ambivalence," which is when we can see both the pros and cons of something. Oftentimes research shows that ambivalence can be problematic, getting in the way of people being able to form a coherent view on something. However, Dr. Schneider suggests that there can be benefits to ambivalence if we're able to see it not as a challenge to overcome but a state to be embraced. Lees meer
Things we mentioned in this episode.
For some good general resources for reading about the psychology of ambivalence, see: van Harreveld, Nohlen, & Schneider (2015); Schneider & Schwarz (2017)
You can see people’s ambivalence by tracking the movement of their mouse as they choose whether something is “good” or “bad” (Schneider et al., 2015)
Only a third of people’s everyday decisions are between two alternative options (Fischoff, 1991)
Some people just tend to be more ambivalent than others, and it’s related to having less bias (Schneider et al., 2020; Simons et al., preprint)
Lots of characteristics of people’s opinions can be considered either valuable or problematic, depending on your perspective (e.g., Rydell et al., 2006; Tormala et al., 2011)
Identity-based motivations guide people’s interpretation of difficulty (e.g., Oyserman, 2015)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/ambivalence-with-iris-schneider/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#34: Opinions of Ourselves with Ken DeMarree
29 maart 2021 · 48 min
Ken DeMarree studies how opinion science applies how we see ourselves. He’s an associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo. In our conversation, we talk about how opinion science can be used to understand things like self-esteem, how people sometimes desire opinions they currently disagree with, and how some people just tend to be pretty confident in their views. Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
California’s Self-Esteem Task Force (Guardian; NYT; The Cut)
The psychology of strong opinions can help us understand how people see themselves (DeMarree et al., 2007)
More “accessible” self-esteem is more durable and impactful (DeMarree et al., 2010)
Seeing yourself in both positive and negative ways makes your self-esteem more susceptible to influence (DeMarree et al., 2011)
When we want an opinion we don’t already have, it makes us conflicted (DeMarree et al., 2014; 2017)
Some people just tend to be more confident in their views than others (DeMarree et al., 2020)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/opinions-of-ourselves-with-ken-demarree/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#33: Liking What Helps You with David Melnikoff
15 maart 2021 · 49 min
David Melnikoff studies how our goals affect how we feel about things. When stuff helps us reach a goal, we like it…even if it’s not the kind of thing we’d ordinarily like. In our conversation, we talk about what psychologists mean when they talk about people’s “attitudes,” how goals can affect those attitudes, and why all of this means that people can sometimes come to like immoral people. Lees meer
Things that come up in this episode:
What is an “attitude”? (For more on this concept, check out this webpage.)
“Instrumentality” and “action valence” affect how we feel about someone in the moment (Melnikoff, Lambert, & Bargh, 2019)
Morality isn’t always a valued quality in other people (Melnikoff & Bailey, 2018)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/liking-what-helps-you-with-david-melnikoff/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#32: Moralizing and Attention with Ana Gantman
1 maart 2021 · 46 min
Dr. Ana Gantman studies how people process moral stuff. She’s an assistant professor at Brooklyn College, and she finds that our attention is often drawn more quickly to morally relevant stimuli in our environment. More recently, she’s been looking into how our moral judgments collide with bureaucracy and how we can use moral psychology to address issues surrounding consent and sexual assault. Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
The “moral pop-out” effect where moral stuff grabs our attention (Gantman & Van Bavel, 2014; Brady, Gantman, & Van Bavel, 2020)
Moral pop-out seems to work like a motivational state because it goes away when needs for justice are satisfied (Gantman & Van Bavel, 2016)
Using EEG to study the time course of moral perception (Gantman et al., 2020)
The books The Utopia of Rules and Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
How “phantom rules” can be selectively enforced when someone’s violated other social norms.
Taking “consent pledges” before a party can get college students to moralize consent (The Daily Princetonian)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/moralizing-and-attention-with-ana-gantman/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#31: The Language of Opinion with Matt Rocklage
15 februari 2021 · 51 min
Dr. Matt Rocklage studies the words we use to express opinions. He’s an assistant professor of marketing the University of Massachusetts-Boston. In our conversation, Matt talks about the Evaluative Lexicon, which is a tool he developed to quantify the language of opinion. Take an online review, feed it into the Evaluative Lexicon, and it’ll tell you how much the person liked or disliked the product and how much their emotions played a role in their opinion. His research with this tool has shown just how potent emotion can be and how we should approach studying language in psychology. Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
The “Evaluative Lexicon” (Rocklage & Razio, 2015; Rocklage et al. 2018); you can learn more at: http://www.evaluativelexicon.com/
Emotion-based opinions tend to be stronger (Rocklage & Fazio, 2016; 2018; Rocklage & Luttrell, in press)
The role of emotion in consumer reviews (Rocklage & Fazio, 2020)
People turn to emotional language more when trying to be persuasive (Rocklage, Rucker, & Nordgren, 2018)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/language-of-opinion-with-matt-rocklage/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#30: "Us vs. Them" with Jay Van Bavel
1 februari 2021 · 31 min
Jay Van Bavel studies how our social identities shape the way we see ourselves and the people around us. He’s an associate professor of psychology at New York University. In an upcoming book, he and his colleague, Dominic Packer, present social identity theory. It’s a classic theory in social psychology that has inspired tons of research and continues to give insight into the modern world. At its root, it’s the idea that people often adopt an “us vs. them” mindset, which fuels lots of conflict between groups. In our conversation, Jay shares the basic tenets and controversies surrounding social identity theory and the direction his own research lab is going. Lees meer
For a quick overview of Social Identity Theory, featuring Dr. Van Bavel, you can check out this YouTube video [13:36] I made.
Things we mention in this episode:
Dominic Packer’s research on identity and dissent.
The pioneering work of John Turner and Henri Tajfel and the development of social identity theory.
Marilynn Brewer’s “Optimal Distinctiveness Theory”
Jay’s research on how social identities affect our thought and behavior in domains like politics (e.g., Van Bavel & Pereira, 2018) and social media (Brady, Crockett, & Van Bavel, 2020).
According to Facebook’s global creative director, Andrew Keller, the average person scrolls through 300 feet of mobile content a day.
Lilliana Mason’s book (Uncivil Agreement) applying social identity to politics.
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/social-identities-with-jay-van-bavel/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#29: Hype with Michael F. Schein
18 januari 2021 · 55 min
Michael F. Schein is a writer, speaker, and founder of the marketing agency, MicroFame Media. In his new book, The Hype Handbook, he explores the antics of historically successful “hype artists”—cult leaders, music promoters, propagandists, etc.—to extract 12 common strategies that get people excited about and committed to new ideas. Lees meer
In our conversation, we talk about how “hype” is or is not the same as “persuasion,” how much we’re able to learn from stories of historical hype artists, and the ethical and practical limits of hype.
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/hype-with-michael-f-schein/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#28: When Money Buys Happiness with Lara Aknin
4 januari 2021 · 43 min
Lara Aknin studies what makes people happy. In particular, she’s spent a lot of time looking at how being generous can improve one’s well-being. She is an associate professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, and you heard her a couple weeks ago on Opinion Science. Her work was featured on our episode on gift-giving, but she has so much interesting work that it seemed setting aside a whole episode for our entire conversation. Lees meer
Things that come up in this episode:
College students were happier when spending money on others vs. on themselves (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008; for a replication see Aknin et al., 2020)
The positive effects of spending on others extends around the world (Aknin et al., 2013), in small rural societies (Aknin et al., 2015; Aime et al., 2017), with children (Aknin, Hamlin, & Dunn, 2012), and among ex-offenders (Aknin et al., 2018).
Giver-focused gifts promoted greater relationship closeness than recipient-focused gifts (Aknin & Human, 2015)
For reviews of the effects of “prosocial spending,” see Aknin et al. (2018) and Dunn et al. (2020)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/when-money-buys-happiness-with-lara-aknin/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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BONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2020)
28 december 2020 · 1 uur 32 min
Although 2020 will be remembered mostly for annoyances and deeply tragic events, one thing that kept me going this year was starting this podcast. Being able to talk with friends, people I've long admired, and people I had only recently met was a real joy. Lees meer
I wanted to put together an episode with some notable moments in Opinion Science this year. It's not truly a "best of" per se because I really am attached to every episode! Although I was learning on the fly how to podcast, there's aspects of all of this year's episodes that I value.
So instead, I've chosen some particularly meaningful episodes for me, fan favorites, and moments that highlight what this show is all about.
If you're new to the show, this is a great place to start! And if you've been listening since the beginning, join me on some fun memories from this year.
-Andy
Featured 2020 episodes:
Episode 1: Word of Mouth with Jake Teeny
Episode 6: Film Criticism with Alissa Wilkinson
Episode 9: Systemic Racism with Phia Salter
Episode 15: Political Campaigning with Joe Fuld (*Hear the new season of his podcast)
Episode 16: Implicit Bias with Mahzarin Banaji
Episode 19: Political Humor as Persuasion with Danna Young (*See her new TED Talk)
Episode 20: The Cognitive Dissonance Episode
Episode 22: Political Persuasion with Alex Coppock
Episode 23: Polling Young Voters with Kristen Soltis Anderson
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#27: Giving and Getting Good Gifts
21 december 2020 · 45 min
It’s that time of year when winter holidays send people on a buying spree as they collect gifts to give to every friend, family member, and acquaintance. And you’d think that after so many years of giving gifts for all sorts of holidays, we’d be pretty good at it. Right? Well, not according to research in psychology. In this episode, we explore the psychology of why giving to others is such a good thing to do, and also where gift givers go wrong. Along the way, we’ll pick up some tips for how to approach giving in a smarter, more effective way. Lees meer
Many guests in this episode!
We hear from Laura and Bethany Sanders about childhood gifting go awry. Laura Sanders is a stand-up comedian and illustrator, so check out her work!
Dr. Lara Aknin is an associate professor of Social Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She studies what makes people happy.
Dr. Jeff Galak is an associate professor of Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. He also runs the YouTube channel, “Data Demystified.”
Dr. Julian Giviis an assistant professor of Marketing at West Virginia University's John Chambers College of Business and Economics. He studies gift-giving.
Research in this episode:
Part I: Why give to others? Lara Aknin and her colleagues found that college students were happier when giving money to other people vs. spending on themselves (Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008). She has replicated this finding all over the world, with kids, and other populations (see Dunn et al., 2020).
Part II: How gift-givers and gift-recipients disagree.
A. Gift-givers focus on the moment of giving whereas recipients are thinking more long-term (Galak, Givi, & Williams (2016)
B. Gift-givers think price matters more than receivers do (Flynn & Adams, 2009)
C. Givers avoid repeatedly giving the same thing, but recipients don’t mind (Givi, 2020)
D. People opt to give sentimental gifts less often than receivers would prefer (Givi & Galak, 2017); giving something as a gift can …
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#26: Intersectional Role Models in STEM with India Johnson and Eva Pietri
7 december 2020 · 48 min
Two guests! Drs. Eva Pietri and India Johnson stop by to share the important work they’re doing together on the power of role models for underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Lees meer
Things that come up in this episode:
Women and racial and ethnic minorities are under-represented in STEM fields (National Science Board, 2020)
Encouraging identity-safety in STEM among Black (Johnson, Pietri, Fullilove, & Mowrer, 2019; Pietri, Johnson, & Ozgumus, 2018) and Latina women (Pietri, Drawbaugh, Lewis, & Johnson, 2019)
Using videos to enhance relatability of scientists (Pietri, Johnson, Majid, & Chu, in press)
Extending these ideas to encourage women to identify with male scientists (Pietri, Drawbaugh, Johnson, & Colvin, in press)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/intersectional-role-models-in-stem-with-india-johnson-eva-pietri/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#25: Geography of Bias with Eric Hehman
23 november 2020 · 47 min
Dr. Eric Hehman studies the geography of bias. Lots of research has looked at the prejudice that lives in an individual person’s head, but Eric looks at the average amount of bias in particular location. On average, some counties have more implicit bias than others, and some states have more bias than others. But what does it mean? That’s what Eric and I talk about this week! Lees meer
Things we mention in this episode:
Zippia’s collection of fun maps, including Thanksgiving sides, pickle fandom, and sandwich preferences.
Regional implicit biases are related to police use of force against African Americans in that region (Hehman, Flake, & Calanchini, 2018)
Inspiration for Eric’s focus on regional bias (Motyl et al., 2014; Rae & Olson, 2015; Rentfrow et al., 2013)
How same-sex marriage legislation affected anti-gay bias one state at a time (Ofosu, Chambers, Chen, & Hehman, 2019)
Validating region-based measures of bias (Hehman, Calanchini, Flake, & Leitner, 2019)
Searching for environmental features that relate a region’s level of bias (Hehman, Ofosu, & Calanchini, 2020)
The “bias of crowds” model of implicit bias (Payne, Vuletich, & Lundberg, 2017)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/geography-of-bias-with-eric-hehman/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#24: Persuasion via Story-Telling with Melanie Green
9 november 2020 · 48 min
Melanie Green studies stories. She’s a professor of Communication at University of Buffalo, and for years she’s been looking into whether stories can serve to persuade people. Are stories just entertainment or can they change our minds? In this episode, we talk about stories, her research on persuasion, and the experience of being transported by a story. Lees meer
Topics that come up in this episode:
People differ in their “transportability,” which is associated with their receptiveness to narrative persuasion (Mazzocco et al., 2010)
Narrative persuasion depends on transportation (Green & Brock, 2000)
Meta-analyses of narrative persuasion studies (Braddock & Dillard, 2016; Oschatz & Marker, 2020; Zebregs et al., 2015)
Research by Jeff Niederdeppe’s lab on story-telling in health communication
Stories continue to be persuasive after proven false (Green & Donahue, 2011)
People make judgments of a person’s warmth or competence depending on whether they tell stories (Clark, Green, & Simons, 2019)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/persuasion-via-story-telling-with-melanie-green/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#23: Polling Young Voters with Kristen Soltis Anderson
26 oktober 2020 · 50 min
Kristen Soltis Anderson is a pollster and co-founder of Echelon Insights. For five years, she co-hosted the podcast, The Pollsters, she hosts the SiriusXM show, The Trendline, and the Fox Nation show What Are the Odds? She also regularly appears on television to discuss the latest polls. Lees meer
She’s spent a lot of time looking at polls of Millennials in particular. In 2015, she published her first book, The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America (And How Republicans Can Keep Up), in which she reviews data on millennials’ tendency to vote for Democrats and the unique features of modern life that may be driving this shift.
In this episode, we have a great conversation about her work, what political polling can reveal, and how young voters’ preferences may affect the 2020 U.S. election…and other elections to come.
Some things that come up in this episode:
Generation Z enjoys mocking Millennials (Buzzfeed)
The Bennington College study of political attitudes over one’s lifetime (Newcomb, 1943; Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1992)
Kristen’s new report on Generation Z and Millennials’ optimism for the future (Walton Family Foundation, 2020)
Check out my new audio course on Knowable: "The Science of Persuasion."
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/polling-young-voters-with-kristen-soltis-anderson/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#22: Political Persuasion with Alex Coppock
12 oktober 2020 · 41 min
Alex Coppock is an assistant professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research considers what affects people's political beliefs, especially the kinds of messages people regularly encounter--TV ads, lawn signs, Op-Eds, etc. In this episode, he shares the findings of a big, new study that just came out as well as what it means for how persuasion works. Lees meer
Things that came up in this episode:
A new study testing dozens the efficacy of dozens of political ads (Coppock, Hill, & Vavreck, 2020)
The long-lasting effects of newspaper op-eds on public opinion (Coppock, Ekins, & Kirby, 2018)
The effects of lawn signs on vote outcomes (Green, Krasno, Coppock, Farrer, Lenoir, & Zingher, 2016)
Framing effects in persuasion (for an overview, see Chong & Druckman, 2007)
The sleeper effect (see here for an overview)
For a transcript of this episode, visit: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/political-persuasion-with-alex-coppock/
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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#21: More Influence Than You Realize with Vanessa Bohns
28 september 2020 · 47 min
Vanessa Bohns studies the difference between how much influence people have and how influence they think they have. On the podcast, we talk about her studies, why people underestimate their influence, and whether this means we should try asking for more than we do now. Lees meer
If you sit tight until next year, Dr. Bohns has a book coming out called You Have More Influence than You Think.
A few things that come up in our conversation:
For a general overview of Dr. Bohns’ research on this topic, you can check out this article in Harvard Business Review or her review in Current Directions in Psychological Science.
People underestimate how many people they have to ask in order to get someone to agree to do something (Flynn & Bohns, 2008).
People even underestimate their influence in getting people to do ethically questionable things (Bohns, Roghanizad, & Xu, 2014).
We don’t realize how uncomfortable it is for people to say no to requests (Bohns & Flynn, 2010).
The influence process is different between in-person versus emailed requests (Roghanizad & Bohns, 2017).
People’s biases about influence even extend to how they think about unwanted romantic advances (Bohns & DeVincent, 2019).
We break down the difference between the “spotlight effect” and the “invisibility cloak” bias.
Tory Higgins’ “saying is believing” effect shows how much power audiences have (Higgins & Rholes, 1978).
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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New Episodes on the Way!
21 september 2020 · 2 min
Just a quick word about new episodes on the way and a switch to biweekly shows. Lees meer
Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.
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BONUS: Good Accidents with Elliot Aronson
7 september 2020 · 54 min
Elliot Aronson has seen a long and influential career in social psychology. Aronson got his PhD in 1959 from Stanford University, working with Leon Festinger on some of the first experiments testing dissonance theory. He authored a celebrated social psychology textbook, now in its twelfth edition, and he pioneered the research on the jigsaw classroom--"a cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience." Lees meer
Two weeks ago, I released a big episode on cognitive dissonance (check it out!), which pulled together interviews with several people who are experts in the field. Elliot Aronson was one of those experts, and I'm excited to share our full conversation with you this week. We talk dissonance but Elliot also shares how he became a social psychologist and what it takes to run a high-impact experiment.
Check out Elliot's writing:
The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic: A recent article in the Atlantic by Elliot Aronson and Carol Tavris
The Social Animal: Elliot's social psychology textbook
Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): A popular book about cognitive dissonance and other biases.
Not By Chance Alone: Elliot's autobiography
Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion
Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience
Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.