Opinion Science

#112: Thinking Categorically with Greg Murphy

Greg Murphy [https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/gregory-l-murphy.html] studies the psychology of concepts. How do we use language to understand things, and how do we sort the world into categories? In our conversation, we consider what makes a category, why we love them, and where they steer us wrong. Dr. Murphy released a book on this topic a few years ago: Categories We Live By How We Classify Everyone and Everything [https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547031/categories-we-live-by/] For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/] Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/] and follow @OpinionSciPod [https://twitter.com/OpinionSciPod] on Twitter.

#111: You Don't Know What You Like with Paul Eastwick & Eli Finkel

Paul Eastwick [https://pauleastwick.com/] and Eli Finkel [https://elifinkel.com/about-eli/] are two social psychologists who study the gears and levers of romantic relationships. What do people find attractive in a partner? How do relationships evolve over time? And critically, do romantic movies get any of this stuff right? Paul and Eli host the podcast, Love Factually [https://www.lovefactuallypod.com/], which dissects popular romantic films from the standpoint of behavioral science. What do they get wrong? What do they get right? On the show this month, we talk about the podcast, how scientists can study something like human love, and why people don't quite know what they find attractive until they stumble upon it. Also, at the end of the episode, I mention my print shop, Indispensable Letterpress [https://indispensableprints.etsy.com]. Check out the cards and posters I've been making using old technologies. Maybe even pick something up for a friend this holiday season? Be careful, though--your support will tell me that you approve of my obsession with the antiquated machines that fill my basement. For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/] Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/] and follow @OpinionSciPod [https://twitter.com/OpinionSciPod] on Twitter.

#110: The Value of Entertainment with Sara Grady

Sara Grady [https://sara-grady.com/] studies the function of entertainment—why we watch, play, and listen to the media that fill our lives. She's an assistant professor of Communication at Ohio State University. In our conversation, we explore what entertainment actually does for us, what it means to connect with fictional characters, and how storytelling shapes our relationships and well-being. Sara also shares her path from film production to media psychology and why understanding stories only deepens their magic.  For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/] Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/] and follow @OpinionSciPod [https://twitter.com/OpinionSciPod] on Twitter.

#109: The Realities of Political Persuasion with David Broockman

David Broockman [https://polisci.berkeley.edu/people/person/david-edward-broockman] is a political scientist at UC Berkeley who digs into one of democracy’s core questions: can political messages really change minds? He’s spent his career running careful studies of persuasion, from door-to-door conversations to the effects of cable news, and testing whether the confident claims of political consultants actually hold up. In our conversation, David shares the path that brought him into political science and the “credibility revolution” that reshaped how researchers study politics. We talk about what persuasion looks like in practice, why it’s so hard to predict which messages will work, and what his research reveals about the gap between political insiders’ instincts and what actually moves the needle. Source for intro to government shutdowns: * Politicians argue both sides of government shutdown | AP News [https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-congress-chuck-schumer-shutdown-6a420d356335f738c874381b6ade3c10] * A Brief History of U.S. Government Shutdowns [https://www.pgpf.org/article/a-brief-history-of-us-government-shutdowns-and-why-other-countries-do-not-have-them/] * That Time a Lawyer Invented the Government Shutdown - Government Executive [https://www.govexec.com/management/2022/10/time-lawyer-invented-government-shutdown/378935/] For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/] Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/] and follow @OpinionSciPod [https://twitter.com/OpinionSciPod] on Twitter.

SciComm Summer #26: Lulu Miller on Leading with Story

Lulu Miller has done a lot of things and done them very well. She is currently the co-host of Radiolab [https://radiolab.org/] and its family-friendly spinoff, Terrestrials [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids/projects/terrestrials]. She also co-created Invisibilia [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia] with Alix Spiegel and wrote the beautiful book, Why Fish Don't Exist [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Why-Fish-Dont-Exist/Lulu-Miller/9781501160349]. In our conversation, I try to learn Lulu's secrets when it comes it sharing science across media. I've been a fan of her work for a long time, so it was great to get to talk with her! (If you're here as a Radiolab fan, you should also check out my chat with Latif Nasser [https://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/scicomm-latif-nassar-on-making-radiolab/] a couple of years ago.) In the show, I mentioned a run of letterpress prints I did inspired by Lulu's book. You can get a print for yourself here [https://www.etsy.com/listing/1891626111/chaos-reigns-science-inspired-hand] and learn more about how they were made. Any sales feed back into the podcast. You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/hot-scicomm-summer/]. For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/] Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ [http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/] and follow @OpinionSciPod [https://twitter.com/OpinionSciPod] on Twitter.