In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the way we influence, and are influenced by, people in our lives, and why it’s so powerful.
psychology
Laughter
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Psychology professors Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explore the meaning and purpose of laughter.
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was born in 1896 in Switzerland, and he died in 1980. His background was in biology and he became especially fascinated with studying the psychological development of children. Piaget was a transformational researcher in the field of child developmental psychology. In fact, he is still, to this day, the most cited psychologist in the field.
What exactly did Piaget do? How did he change our understanding of human brain development from infancy to adulthood? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about Jean Piaget and his impact on the field of cognitive psychology.
Senses and Perception
In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explore how our senses work together to perceive the world around us.
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.
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?
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: 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.
How to Navigate Road Rage
Oh, the woes of modern life in a metropolitan city center. What’s going on in our brains when we encounter that familiar feeling of intense frustration while driving in traffic that we comically refer to as ROAD RAGE? The Two Guys on Your Head will break it down in this week’s episode of the show.
Why Meetings Feel Like They Take Forever – and How to Fight That
Does size matter when it comes to meetings? Actually, yes. It’s not a myth. Contrary to popular belief, when it comes to meetings, it’s better to keep it on the small side. Short and sweet is best.
Efficiency of the shared time spent during a meeting is a primary determinant of its potential for effectiveness. The Two Guys, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, break down the best practices to ensure that the meetings you call will achieve their intended purpose.
What’s Happening Inside Your Head When You Sleep
We need to sleep for a host of reasons, but what exactly is happening in our brains while we’re unconscious? We’ve only scratched the surface of understanding all that happens during sleep, but we do know that while our bodies are resting, our brains are very busy.
Have you ever tried to commit some skill or knowledge to memory and you magically perform better after a night of sleep? It’s not magic. One of the most significant functions of sleep is the process of memory consolidation: experiences you’ve had during the day, things you’ve started to store in your memory, become consolidated and stabilized during sleep. Different stages of sleep function to consolidate different kinds of memory, so a full night of sleep (six to nine hours on average), helps your memory function more cohesively.
Take in what professors Bob Duke and Art Markman have to say in the players above. Then have a nap, to refresh and consolidate what you’ve learned. Sleep is a lot more than just rest; do yourself a favor and get the sleep that your brain and the rest of your body needs.
Originally aired June 9, 2013.
How Metaphors Transform Simple Words Into Complex Concepts
Do you ever have those moments when you just can’t find the right words to express your thought? They happen. Articulation isn’t always easy. Sometimes, words or language alone just don’t accurately express the complexity of the thought. At those times, it can be very helpful to use an analogy or a metaphor to illustrate the fullness of the concept being expressed. Analogies and metaphors allow us to communicate complex concepts or ideas that transcend simple words.
Why Personality Tests Don’t Tell What You Need To Know
When it comes to the Myers-Briggs personality type test, are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you focus on sensing, or do you use your intuition to interpret information that you absorb? Does it matter? Why is it so entertaining and satisfying for some people to answer these questions about themselves and others in their lives? Listen to the show and let the Two Guys, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, demystify the wiry world of personality tests for you.
What’s Going On Inside the Adolescent Brain?
There are endless questions we could ask about how the brain works. A particularly interesting one: what’s unique about the brain during adolescence? During adolescence our brains are wired differently than adult brains will be – and for good reason. In adolescence our brains are in a process of development – so we’re less inhibited, allowing us to take the risks we need to learn about the world. In addition, the difference in brain physiology has other ramifications on behavior and needs. Ignoring them can make life more difficult for kids and parents.
Debunking Myths Behind Different Learning Styles
Are you an auditory learner or a visual learner? If you answered “yes” you would be right. That’s because we use all our senses to learn and process information. In this edition of Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke dispel the myths behind learning styles preferences: they don’t really exist. Our reliance on the theories of learning styles to explain our success or failure of understanding certain information is actually serving our human need to put things into categories – combined with our need to explain things when they don’t work.