Episodios

  • Your Lizard Brain

    Your Lizard Brain
    Jul 17 2024
    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 it! What is the science and evolution behind this impulsive little humunculous? RecommendationsAbraham: Daich Coatings (https://daichcoatings.com/shop/luxrock-solid-surface-countertop/)Shane: Dope (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3850214/) Holidays:Disneyland’s AnniversaryNational Hot Dog DayNational Peach Ice Cream DayNational Tattoo DayTake your Poet to Work DayWorld Day for International Criminal JusticeWorld Emoji DayWrong Way Corrigan DayYellow Pig DayCoral Reef Awareness WeekEvery Body Deserves a Massage WeekHemingway Look Alike DaysNational Baby Food WeekNational Ventriloquism WeekPerseid Meteor ShowersSport Cliche WeekNational Hemp MonthBank Account Bonus MonthCell Phone Courtesy MonthLinks and References: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/managing-your-memory/201712/don-t-listen-your-lizard-brainhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/where-addiction-meets-your-brain/201404/your-lizard-brainhttps://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/limbic-systemhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4406946/https://www.earth.com/news/differences-in-the-mammalian-and-reptilian-brain-revealed/https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/triune-brainhttps://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain-the-inside-story/your-emotional-brain/beyond-our-lizard-brainhttps://www.biotechniques.com/neuroscience/10x_sptl_so_no-we-dont-have-a-lizard-brain/https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/study-finds-classically-mammalian-brain-region-reptilian-brains/https://brain.mpg.de/88758/research-labshttps://www.sciencealert.com/you-dont-actually-have-a-lizard-brain-evolutionary-study-revealshttps://bigthink.com/neuropsych/carl-sagan-reptile-brain/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    59 m
  • Mini: PTO vs. Sick Leave

    Mini: PTO vs. Sick Leave
    Jul 15 2024
    Employers should consider what they are incentivizing and de-incentivizing when they put certain policies in place. One such common policy is to make employees to use their PTO when taking sick days. This can seriously backfire. Psychology to the rescue!

    Links:
    1. https://www.trinet.com/insights/if-an-employee-gets-sick-after-using-all-of-their-paid-time-off-pto-for-the-year-am-i-obligated-to-grant-them-additional-paid-time-for-sick-leave

    Become a member! Support us at www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    13 m
  • Not So Sweet Revenge

    Not So Sweet Revenge
    Jul 10 2024
    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 our most base instincts? We'll unpack what this term is supposed to mean. Further, we explore the evolutionary, psychological, and scientific history of this idea and the "evidence" for it. Join us for a romping good take down.

    Recommendations
    • Abraham: Orbital Sanders
    • Shane: Fables comics series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/54296-fables)

    Holidays:
    • Don’t Step on a Bee Day
    • International Nikola Tesla Day
    • National Kitten Day
    • National Pina Colada Day
    • Pick Blueberries Day
    • Teddy Bears’ Picnic Day
    • U.S. Energy Independence Day
    • Air Conditioning Appreciation Days
    • Be Nice to New Jersey Week
    • Creative Maladjustment Day
    • Dog Days of Summer
    • Freedom Week
    • National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee Week
    • National Farriers Week
    • Nude Recreation Weekend
    • Operation Safe Driver Week


    Links:
    1. Schumann & Ross (2010). The benfits, cost, and paradox of revenge. Social and Psychology Personality Compass. https://www.pittcorelab.com/uploads/1/1/5/5/115561629/paradox_of_revenge_10.pdf
    2. Uniacke, S. (2000). Why is revenge wrong? Journal of Value Inquiry, 34. 61-69). https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jrnlvi34&div=7&id=&page=
    3. Jackson, J.C., et al. (2019). Revenge: A multi-level view and synthesis. Annual Review of Psychology, 70.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103305. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103305
    4. Stillwell, A. M., et al. (2010). We’re all victims here: Toward a psychology of revenge. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 30(3). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973530802375094
    5. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-complicated-psychology-of-revenge
    6. https://tnsr.org/2017/11/blunt-not-heart-enrage-psychology-revenge-deterrence/
    7. Price, M. (2009, June 1). Revenge and the people who seek it. Monitor on Psychology, 40(6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/06/revenge
    8. https://www.psychologs.com/the-psychology-behind-revenge/
    9. https://www.scienceofpeople.com/the-psychology-of-revenge/


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    1 h y 11 m
  • Mini: Scientific Understanding

    Mini: Scientific Understanding
    Jul 8 2024
    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 the phenomenon of interest. People hear these terms but don't fully understand what we mean when we call something a "theory," "law," or "hypothesis." We explain them here today.

    Support us at Patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

    Links:
    1. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Introductory_Chemistry/01%3A_The_Chemical_World/1.06%3A_Hypothesis_Theories_and_Laws#:~:text=A%20hypothesis%20is%20a%20tentative,summarizes%20the%20relationship%20between%20variables.
    2. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/10/31/1209683893/how-the-u-s-gun-violence-death-rate-compares-with-the-rest-of-the-world
    3. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    10 m
  • Nostalgia: Grit With Steven Hayes

    Nostalgia: Grit With Steven Hayes
    Jul 3 2024
    Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we needed to release another nostalgia episode this week. This was our second most popular episode ever. Dr. Steven Hayes ("Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life") joins us to discuss the concept of "grit" as well as share several personal anecdotes. Enjoy this rerun of a popular classic.

    Support us at Patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    1 h y 30 m
  • Mini: Mood Rings

    Mini: Mood Rings
    Jul 1 2024
    Mood rings change color to inform the external world about our emotional states. How does this magical jewelry make our most private, inner experiences overtly observable? Most people know this is temperature-based reaction... and it is. But, we'll explain how and what it means, if anything.

    Links:
    1. https://thebannercsi.com/2020/03/22/the-science-and-history-behind-mood-rings/
    2. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/was-the-mood-ring-a-gateway-drug-to-an-era-of-self-obsession
    3. https://wholesalejewelrywebsite.com/products/mood-ring-color-chart-cfr7043
    4. https://people.howstuffworks.com/mood-rings.htm


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    17 m
  • Thumbs and the Evolution of Culture

    Thumbs and the Evolution of Culture
    Jun 26 2024
    Do pandas have thumbs? Kind of. We should periodically take the time to acknowledge and admire the significan role our biological morphology affects our psychology as a species. Aside from language, humans have a simple adaptation that wsa likely crucial to how we have evolved as a species. This is our episode all about thumbs! RecommendationsAbraham: No Hard Feelings (https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/nohardfeelings)Shane: The Cipher by Kathe Koja (https://www.centipedepress.com/horror/cipher.html)Links: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-dexterous-thumbs-may-have-helped-shape-evolution-two-million-years-ago-180976870/https://www.npr.org/2010/07/26/128676181/a-handy-bunch-tools-thumbs-helped-us-thrivehttps://www.postregister.com/outdoors/humans-opposable-thumbs-grant-us-huge-advantages/article_87f0ce8c-c739-11ed-a365-4fadeb3996f9.htmlhttps://www.wral.com/story/thumbs-gave-human-ancestors-a-formidable-advantage/19497111/https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/human-origins/understanding-our-past/living-primates/the-grasping-handhttps://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Evol/opposablethumb.htmlhttps://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2015/01/oldest-primates-lived-trees/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEarly%20primates%20were%20using%20this,ground%20couldn't%20reach.%E2%80%9D&text=The%20ability%20to%20live%20in,access%20to%20valuable%20food%20sources.Almécija, S., Smaers, J. & Jungers, W. The evolution of human and ape hand proportions. Nat Commun 6, 7717 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8717Flatt A. E. (2002). Our thumbs. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), 15(4), 380–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2002.11927870https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/world/opposable-thumb-human-evolution-study-scn/index.htmlhttps://www.thestar.com/life/2012/05/07/body_parts_pinky_finger.htmlMacDermid, J. C., Lee, A., Richards, R. S., & Roth, J. H. (2004). Individual finger strength: are the ulnar digits "powerful"?. Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists, 17(3), 364–367. https://doi.org/10.1197/j.jht.2004.04.006https://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/pdf/20090727114916_large.pdfBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    45 m
  • Mini: Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning

    Mini: Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning
    Jun 24 2024
    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 that these approaches are not fundamentally different and any attempt to distinguish them is arbitrary. Did we succeed? You decide :)

    Support us at patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.
    Más Menos
    13 m