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On average most policies are put in place to help people, protect people, or regulate dangerous behavior, so why don’t these policies work?
In the most recent episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the unintended consequences of policy, and how psychology can help us discover what policies work. And why. And why not.
“We have to do something to take us off this treadmill of ratcheting up land prices.” -Suzan Erem, The Sustainable Iowa Land Trust
On the latest edition of The Secret Ingredient Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy talk with Suzan Erem about the future of US farming.
Erum is the president and co-founder of the Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT), and author of Labor Pains: Inside America’s New Union Movement.
We spoke to her from the studios of Iowa Public Radio in Iowa City, Iowa.
Struggle has a way of defining us. But while we often use struggles to teach lessons and build resilience, a struggle without a purpose doesn’t always yield positive results.
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the difference between struggling and suffering, and why it matters.
Most people feel in over their heads when they first enter a challenging situation or even a new job. And, while conventional wisdom suggests those with trepidations about trying new things should “fake it ’til they make it,” it may not always be the best course of action.
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art Markman discuss what’s known as “imposter syndrome” — the practice of pretending to be the person you want people to see you as rather than who you truly are — and explain why it may just be better to just start working towards your goals instead of faking it.
Humiliation can make us feel small and insignificant, so why do humans humiliate one another?
In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of humiliation and how you can make choices in your life to prevent you from feeling humiliated when the bullies strike.
One of the reasons it’s so difficult to relate scientific findings to the general public is because the same words literally take on different meanings in those realms.
In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke deconstruct two such terms–significance and theory– and talk about why knowing how they’re used in a scientific context can help us better to understand the scientific process as well.
In our last episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talked about how to influence behavior using rewards first, then examples, and finally verbal direction. However, things aren’t that simple when it comes to building teams and motivating groups, especially in the workplace.
In this follow-up edition, they discuss how to structure rewards at work for the best long-term results.
We may think that we prefer something brand-new to something we’ve seen before, but the truth is we are more likely to enjoy things we are familiar with.
In this edition of Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology behind why we like sequels.
“Strawberries is kind of the quintessence of industrial agriculture in California. It’s the fifth highest value crop in the state. It also got the most heavy pesticide regime, by far, of any other crop in the state. And it kind of captures so much of the dynamics of what’s going on in California.“-Julie Guthman
In this edition of The Secret Ingredient Raj Patel, Tom Philpott and Rebecca McInroy talk with Dr. Julie Guthman about strawberry production, what’s happening with chemicals and fumigants in the strawberry fields today, and where she sees hope in the food movement.
There are many places to air your grievances online, and you might think that the rant itself makes you feel better, and you would be half right.
As Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, sharing your problems and interacting with problem solving strategies online can give you the tools you need to deal with issues more effectively in daily life, and helping others with their affairs can get our minds off our own.
We’ve done shows on the importance of being open to new opportunities; in short saying yes. And while saying yes is very important, we might be too prone toward saying yes to things when we should be saying no.
Why is hard to say no? Why don’t we take into account the opportunity cost when we’re considering our options?
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about how to practice saying no, and why it matters.
Dan Chaon is the author of three short story collections. His short fiction has received multiple awards including publication in the Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize stories.
Chaon’s first novel Await Your Reply was a national bestseller, and his second novel Among the Missing was a finalist for the National Book award. In his new novel, Ill Will, Chaon explores mystery, death, grief, and the personal narratives we cling to. Dan came by by KUT’s studios in Austin to talk to Owen about themes,
Dan came by by KUT’s studios in Austin to talk to Owen about themes, craft and shining a light into the dark corners of the human mind.
As Owen points out, many novels are called “haunting” but Ill Will can’t be fully described without using the word. Chaon tells the story of two crimes: the death of protagonist Dustin Tillman’s parents when he was a child and the current mysterious deaths of several college students around town. Dustin’s adopted brother Rusty was convicted of their parent’s murder, but new evidence has overturned this conviction, and Dustin must reassess his history with his brother as he also investigates the local deaths for a connection he is sure must exist. Ill Will is unsettling, unconventional, and unapologetically full of dark humor.
Talking about the genesis of this nuanced novel, Chaon recalls hearing a story about several college kids drowning in the river of a college campus and the surrounding urban legends that there must be some sort of connection between them. This idea becomes a central theme in this book: the oh-so-very-human determination to create meaning even or maybe especially in the face of tragedy. When our ideas of our story are challenged or contradicted, things can unravel quickly.
To explore these ideas Dan says he makes sure he has a touchstone to each character, and that this is especially important in a novel like Ill Will where there are so many voices and sometimes contradictions to articulate. “You hear authors say ‘the character took on a life of their own’ and it sounds silly but there’s truth to it”. Getting into the mental place to do that, he explained, is more like the imaginative play of childhood or musicians jamming together.
Dan also discusses what it was like to explore things that, while not completely biographical, had deep roots in his own life. His own experiences as a widower and as a parent to teenage boys both play a role in Ill Will. Just like with horror films, Dan and Owen discuss the power of shining a light into the dark corners of our minds and the relief and empathy that comes from imagining the worst that can happen:
“If I’m not shedding a few tears over something by the time I’m finished, I haven’t done my job”.
-by Felix Morgan
Data is great, but it can’t tell you everything you need to know. So why do we love it so much?
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the upsides and the downsides of metrics.
Many soon-to-be graduates might be asking themselves, “what do I do now?”
On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about how to deal with the lows that come after you complete a major goal.
“Life begins with the seed germinating…we depend on seed and most of the seed is the seed we will produce, have it, save and use in the next planting season. That’s what most of the farmers in Tanzania still do… It was inherited for generations and generations.” –Janet Maro
The seed exchange system that Maro speaks about is currently under threat in Tanzania. Assistance organizations in that country that are seeking to help small farms also supported regulations that banned seed-sharing – a generations-old practice among small-scale farmers. Tanzania passed legislation that made it illegal to share seeds as a condition for receiving development assistance through the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NAFSN). You can read more about the legislation in this article.
In this episode of The Secret Ingredient, we wanted to find out more about this new law, so Raj Patel, Tom Philpott, and Rebecca McInroy called up Janet Maro, head of Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania (SAT).
Since this show was recorded in December of last year, Maro said that SAT had a seed stakeholders platform, in which farmers met with Tanzanian officials to discuss the ramifications of the law. Although the small-scale farmers gained more clarity about the overall effects of seed-sharing, she says, they still want exemption from penalties as a result of seed-sharing.
There are a lot of metaphors that give us a picture of what anger is and how it affects our health. We may “bottle things up,” which causes us to get “hot” and need to “blow off steam.” However accurate they may feel to us at the time, they mask healthy ways to deal with anger and effectively influence behavior.
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke answer a listener question about suppressing anger.
What is the point of hate? It feels bad, it causes all kinds of problems, and it destroys relationships. So why did hate persist as we evolved?
In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of hate.
When we think of all the things we’re sold to reduce stress in our lives, the one that will actually work is free-breathing. So why don’t we utilize our ability to change our physiology through slowing down and taking deep breaths more often?
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about breathing and the brain.
Psychics have something going on, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why we think people can read our minds, why they can’t, and how we can have better interactions by recognizing what we need and asking for what we want.
In this episode of The Write Up, we talk with prizewinning journalist and nonfiction writer Juliana Barbassa about her book Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro on the Brink depicting the beauty, crime, pressures, and violent paradoxes shaping Brazil’s most vibrant city.
Juliana Barbassa has lived and written all over the world. Born in Brazil, she has lived in Iraq, Spain, Malta, Libya, France, and the United States. As a journalist, her ability to dive in and find the human face in the most desperate of stories won her acclaim including the Katie Journalism Award, the emerging journalist of the year by the U.S.-based National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the John L. Dougherty award by the Associated Press Managing Editors.
In 2003, Barbassa joined the Associated Press and returned to her home country of Brazil to be the Rio de Janeiro correspondent. There she found a city in the midst of massive growth and explosive change. Poverty and crime still plagued much of the city, but Rio was also enjoying an influx of new business and international attention. This attention increased when Rio won the hosting honors of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Rio now feels the pressure to grow into the ideal Brazilian city, at least in appearance, at an accelerated pace.
Barbassa’s book is not one of dry economics or global public relations. Instead Barbassa shares the narrative of a city and its people in the midst of radical transformation. She zooms in on the people and places that give Rio its complex character. We meet criminals and prostitutes, shopkeepers and mothers, police officers and children. Barbassa’s journalistic instincts drive her into heart of the story, often putting herself in mortal danger as police stand off with drug lords or raze impoverished neighborhoods to the ground.
Her own story of returning to Brazil and experiencing the tension pulling at Rio firsthand gives the book a memoiric thread. Her intense feelings for the city serve to enliven her excellent research.
On the Write Up we discuss her thirst for stories as a journalist, her willingness to investigate the darker narratives, and her struggle to care for herself, both physically and psychologically, while reporting on violence and brutality.
She also gives us insight as to how her life and career led her all over the world and eventually back to Brazil. And how her growing desire to explore the strange contradictions of Rio led to writing this book.
When talking with Barbassa, you sense the conflicting feelings she has for Rio. There’s a real love as she describes the smells and sights, and unflinching honesty as she chronicles the hardships of the disenfranchised city. She highlights the extremes of this incredible city where natural beauty and corruption both thrive. It is her ability to love the city as a local while also maintaining the critical distance of an investigator that gives this book such depth.