Rebecca McInroy

How Does Psychological Distance Effect Us?

The idea of distance conjures up many images in our minds. We might be thinking of how wonderful it will be when we are retired and have time to spend with our loved ones, do some traveling, or play 18 holes of golf on a weekday. Or perhaps when we think of distance, we think of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how far away the conflicts are from us.

For Art Markman and Robert Duke, how we process distance is particularly important, because it clues researchers in to how we think and make decisions as a result of distance.

Theory of Mind

Who knows what? Essentially, this is the basis of the complex concept of Theory of Mind, which is very misleadingly labeled. No, it’s not a theory that explains how mind works, as you might assume by the term, Theory of Mind. It’s a process within our minds that allows us to separate and distinguish between what we know ourselves and what we know that other people know, or don’t know. It’s a skill that is critical for accomplishing effective social interaction in the world. A better term might be Theory of Other’s Minds.

Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke do a wonderful job of explaining and dissecting this important skill in this week’s episode of Two Guys on Your Head. Have a listen and get smarter.

Online Dating

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke take us through the ins-and-outs of dating.

V&B: Time

“Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.” –Jorge Luis Borge

What is time? How can rhythm and time phrases bring us into a dialogue with the past? and how much of our relationship to and our knowledge of time is driven by our intuition? Listen back as KUT’s Rebecca McInroy talks with: cosmologist and astrologer, Kerrie Welch; jazz drummer Brannen Temple; and astrophysicist and psychology professor, David Gilden about Time.

V&B Extra: Neuroscience and Alzheimer’s Disease

On May 15, 2014 Views and Brews teamed up with the Center For Learning and Memory at The University of Texas at Austin for conversation about the neuroscience underlying Alzheimer’s disease. Listen back as Dr. Boris Zemelman, Dr. Kimberly Raab-Grahm, Dr. Mike Mauk and Dr. Jon Pierce-Shimomura talk with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy about what we know about memory and the brain, and their current research exploring various aspects of Alzheimer’s.

Mental Illness From Outside

A talk about why it can be so hard to live with mental illness, as a sufferer and as a caregiver with Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke.

The Persistence of False Beliefs

Our world these days is heavily laden with a constant flow of information moving through our minds. It’s unavoidable. How do we determine what of that steady information stream we will choose to believe? Once we’ve made that choice, what if we later find out that the information was false? How do we shed false beliefs? It’s a very biologically expensive thing to demand from our brains to change our beliefs.

On this week’s show, the good doctors, Art Markman and Bob Duke, discuss with Rebecca and analyze the process of belief formation and why our false beliefs are so persistently insistent that we reconsider them. In short form, our beliefs inherently require a certain amount of faith in the validity of the evidence that we recognize as support for those beliefs. An idea creates an imprint in our minds of the thought patterns that we use to justify our commitment to accepting a belief as true or false, whatever the case may be.

If we learn information later that challenges the validity of our belief, or if we downright learn that the belief was, in fact, false, we are then required to use our biological energy to create a new thought pattern imprint over the old one. It’s energy expensive.

The easiest way to view the world and the variety of differing beliefs or opinions in it is to identify ourselves with the people who share our beliefs. We tend to divide the world into two categories – 1) the people who share our beliefs, and 2) the idiots. While this may conserve energy, which it does (and we are instinctively programmed to conserve our energy,) the more energy expensive option of considering and learning to appreciate differing beliefs or opinions is more socially appropriate. You’ll have more friends if you are open to accepting differing beliefs, essentially.

Our current and rapidly developing technology-loaded existence can be very isolating. Society, these days, doesn’t require much confrontation with differing beliefs that will challenge our own, so we have to manually inject such exposure into our lives. In the non-stop stream of constant information flowing, try examining something outside your usual path. If you identify as a Democrat, watch Fox News. If you’re a Republican, watch the Colbert Report. You might find something interesting.

What’s The Difference Between Shame and Guilt?

When we feel guilt and shame after we’ve done something we know is wrong our heart may pound and we may feel sad, we might want to cry. Physiologically our response to both shame and guilt is the same, but cognitively the way we interpret these two emotions has consequences we may not realize.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke deconstruct the various dimensions of these two emotions

If we feel shameful after we’ve done something wrong we may want to hide away. We may feel that there is something fundamentally wrong with us and therefore atoning for our bad behavior is not possible.

Moreover, when we don’t feel we don’t have control over our actions and that rather it is our circumstance that “made us do it” we are more likely to repeat our transgression.

Guilt, on the other hand, can be a productive emotion in that when we feel we’ve done something wrong we can make up for it by confessing, apologizing or dealing with the behavior. It is the behavior that is bad but we are not bad people.

Yet there are still fundamental questions about the way we interpret the world through these two lenses.

The 18th century politician and philosopher Edmund Burke stated: “Guilt was never a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them, it leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion.”

Coming up in a Views and Brews this fall we’ll continue to tackle the topic of guilt and shame with Two Guys on Your Head Live. We’ll ask: is there a difference in the way we interpret shame we can hide vs. shame we cannot hide? What happens when we feel guilty but cannot atone? How does shame and guilt relate to morality, reason and the way we process behavior daily?

V&B: Coleman Hawkins and The Art of Failure

Coleman Hawkins, the great saxophone player, helped to establish jazz as a stand alone art form, distinguished from swing — the popular music of the day. With his originality, lyricism, and his keen sense of appreciating the latest trends, his work was the influence and foundation for bebop and the most expressive jazz ballads. And yet, what is the dearest price given for the artist who expresses his art?

Join Rabbi Neil Blumofe and KUT’s Rebecca McInroy for conversation and superlative live music recorded live at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas. It was an evening dedicated to discovering jazz and appreciating the beauty of this incredible and accessible American art form.

Featuring:

Shelly Carrol, saxophone

Ephraim Owens, trumpet

Red Young, piano

Roscoe Beck, bass

Brannen Temple, drums

Why Can Being On Hold Be So Frustrating

Whether it’s the blah music or the never ending labyrinth of a phone tree, we’ve all experienced the frustrations of being on hold. Even when we are only on hold for a minute or so our blood pressure can rise when an automated voice answers the phone. Why is being on hold so annoying? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Bob Duke take us through the good, the bad, and the ugly of on hold messaging.

V&B: Benny Goodman and The Art of Intersection

In this Views and Brews Remix feature on Benny Goodman host Rebecca McInroy and Rabbi Neil Blumofe engage in a spirited discussion about Goodman’s life, music and his relationships to his musicians — specifically, pianist Teddy Wilson, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, and guitarist Charlie Christian-and some of Austin’s best musicians help us relive Goodman’s style. Featuring: Ben Saffer, clarinet Erik Hokkanen, guitar Red Young, piano Roscoe Beck, bass Brannen Temple, drums.

In the 1930’s, the clarinetist and bandleader, Benny Goodman, brought jazz stylings to mainstream America. What was the lasting significance of Goodman’s contributions beyond the Swing Era? In an age of segregation, creeping fear, and xenophobia, Goodman boldly set forth a new agenda for American music, integrating his band and exasperating the assumptions of culture, sophistication, and assumed ways of life.

What does it mean to be a visionary? How do we balance our dreams and our dramatic idiosyncrasies with the everyday and grueling disciplined life that we must live to make an impact? How do we know if we have been successful? What does success really mean?

V&B: Clairvoyants Working in Law Enforcement

Unsolved mysteries are by their very nature interesting and quite often make for good drama. Our perception and understanding of these mysteries is more often than not informed by television, film, articles and so on. In this Views and Brews discussion, recorded live at the Cactus Cafe , we explored one area where the myths are profound and emotions run high—the relationship between psychics who work with law enforcement agencies.

KUT’s Rebecca McInroy hosted Dr. Kim Rossomo from The Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation at Texas State University, Dr. John McLaren professor in the department of criminal justice at Texas State University, clairvoyant and lecturer Gharith Pendragon , and remote viewer Dr. Paul Smith , author of “Reading The Enemy’s Mind: Inside Stargate, America’s Psychic Espionage Program ”, for an evening exploring how clairvoyants work with state and federal agencies to solve cases and the positives and negatives for both parties. We looked at these questions along with yours at the Cactus Cafe and you can listen back to a podcast of this show by clicking on the player at the top of this post.

V&B: Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and The Art of Invisibility

Billy Strayhorn, a long time muse and collaborator for the great bandleader Duke Ellington, brought depth and a languid power to the already sophisticated sound of Ellington’s orchestra. Aching for love and significance, Strayhorn was openly gay in a time of repression and bias, composing ballads filled with longing and disarming vulnerability, which demanded the full attention of both the listener and the performer.

How do we strive when circumstances are stacked against us? How do we make the best of our situation as we continue to dream? How do we continue to hold out hope for consequential love, as we smolder? Sometimes what we need most, is hidden, right in front of us, in plain sight.

During this evening, we engaged in both a spirited discussion about Strayhorn and his relationships to Ellington — discussing his music, and his legacy — and we enjoyed superlative live music with Ephraim Owens (trumpet), Brannen Temple (drums), Red Young (piano), Chris Maresh (bass), Andre Hayward (trombone) and Sam Lipman (Saxaphone).

V&B: The Power of Percussion with Glenn Kotche

In November of 2012 Texas Performing Arts presented the world premiere of I L I M A Q, a drum kit opera written by American composer John Luther Adams for percussionist Glenn Kotche, drummer for the alternative rock band Wilco. KUT’s Views and Brews couldn’t resist the opportunity to invite John, Glenn and bassist Darin Gray to the Cactus Cafe to discuss the creation process behind this exciting new work and talk with them about their musical philosophies and histories.

V&B: Tenessee Williams

In this Views and Brews Remix on Becoming Tenessee Williams professor Charlotte Canning , joins director Norman Blumensaadt and actress Jennifer Underwood for a discussion of the life and work of Tenessee Williams.

“When Thomas Lanier Williams found theater, he didn’t just become Tennessee Williams, he allowed us to imagine our lives differently, anew ,” writes Canning in her essay, Tennessee Williams Becomes Us .

“His goal as a writer was to ‘capture the constantly evanescent quality of existence,’ and the work he left behind continues to do this in ways that astonish us no matter who we are—students, professors, artists, audiences, writers, or critics. When he became Tennessee Williams he offered us a chance to transform as well. His becoming became us .”

Don’t miss this unique look at the life and work of a literary genius.

V&B: What is an American?

Do you define yourself as American? What does that mean to you? What kind of messages are we getting about patriotism, nationalism, and “foreigners” from the media and how does this affect our sense of self?

Listen back as KUT’s Rebecca McInroy talks about what it means to be “American” with UT Anthropology Professor John Hartigan , The Department Chair of Radio-Television-Film at UT and Documentarian Paul Stekler, UT History Professor Frank Guridy and writer and educator Sarah Rafael Garcia! We dive into a wide range of perspectives on the history of shaping an American identity in the political realm, in popular media and in the face to face interactions we have daily.

V&B: The New Pornography of Violence

It’s not an easy discussion, but rather a necessary one. Pornography of Violence refers to the depiction of violent behavior—as in pictures, still or video—in a sensational manner so as to arouse excitement, or a quick intense emotional reaction. During our conversation with NPR’s John Burnett and Pulitzer prize winning author and screenwriter Lawrence Wright , we discuss the exponential increase in the violent imagery of war, from Al Queda to Los Zetas, and what impact it has on our idea of war and peace.

V&B: Thelonious Monk and The Art of Hesitation

Thelonious Monk is an original and unique voice in the shaping and the sound of American music. Both his compositions and his inimitable piano playing continue to confound and resound decades after their inception, bringing us to ask questions — how far can one go when listening to your own muse? Does the artist have a responsibility to instruct while creating? Can art just be enjoyed or does it have to vex to be effective? When looking to swing, how important is rhythm? What is said in the silences? These are the questions we set out to explore during what proved to be an inspirational night of ideas and music at the Cactus Cafe.

Listen to some of the highlights from the event with KUT’s Views and Brews Remix featuring Rabbi Neil Blumofe in discussion with KUT’s Rebecca McInroy along with musicians Rich Harney (piano) Roscoe Beck (bass) Brannen Temple (drums) and Sam Lipman (Saxophone) and special guest Ephraim Owens (trumpet).

V&B: Smart Thinking with Art Markman and Bob Duke

Sometimes “thinking smarter” is less about learning and more about re-thinking the way we think and why. In this intimate discussion at the Cactus Cafe UT Psychology Professor and author of Smart Think along with UT Music Professor, Dr. Bob Duke explored modes of study and changing perspectives that can help all of us be more effective and efficient thinkers and teachers.

We hope you enjoy listening back to our conversation about smart thinking, and be sure to check out all the upcoming Views and Brews events at KUT.ORG.

V&B: Miles Davis and The Making of Kind of Blue Part I

It was an amazing evening at the Cactus Cafe September 20th, when KUT’s Views and Brews discussed Miles Davis and the Making of Kind of Blue: Jazz and the Art of Indirection.

Miles Davis was known as the master of understatement. In his seminal work, Kind of Blue (1959), he helped to define a concept of cool that remains relevant. What lurks behind an image? What music is expressed in the notes that are not played?

As part of KUT’s Views and Brews series we engaged in a spirited discussion about Miles, his music, his relationships with his musicians, and the good and evil expended in the art of creation — and we enjoyed the incredible live music inspired by his work.