Speaking of Psychology

Tara Behrend, industrial-organizational psychologist and NSF program director, studies the ethics and effects of workplace tech. She explores why employers monitor workers, how constant surveillance alters attention and raises stress, the growing role of AI in employee data, and the patchwork of laws and limits around collection and transparency.

Erin Smith, PhD, developmental psychologist and professor studying psychology of religion and education. She explores why myths like 10% brain use and fixed learning styles stick. She talks about how repetition, social media echo chambers, and emotions reinforce false beliefs. She outlines teaching strategies and tools to spot shaky claims and promote critical thinking.

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, longtime public health leader and physician, and Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, clinical and community psychologist focused on population behavioral health, discuss how chronic societal stress harms bodies and minds. They cover causes like economic precarity and crisis fatigue. They also explore clinician burnout, community-level protections, and simple daily habits to reduce stress.

Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, PhD, senior research scientist and director of the Creativity and Emotions Lab at Yale, author of The Creativity Choice. She explains creativity as a choice and a series of emotional decisions. She explores how social environments and psychological safety shape idea sharing. She weighs human originality against AI and offers ways to move past creative blocks.

James C. Jackson, PsyD, a psychologist and ICU recovery director who studies how serious illness affects the brain. He discusses what kinds of medical experiences can cause trauma and why it is often overlooked. He covers risks and prevalence, how families are impacted, signs that care-avoidance is harming health, and treatments and care models that help people recover.

Michael Lynn, PhD, social psychologist and Cornell professor who has studied tipping for 30+ years. He discusses how digital payment prompts and social norms reshape tipping, why tipping varies by place and time, how biases like attractiveness and race influence tips, and the trade-offs of eliminating tipping. The conversation highlights changing norms and ongoing experiments around QR and tablet prompts.

Abigail Sussman, PhD, behavioral researcher and marketing professor at Chicago Booth, explores why payment plans and retail tactics change how we feel about purchases. She discusses why installments make spending feel cheaper, why we miss irregular expenses, how social comparison drives conspicuous buying, and practical fixes like adding friction and realistic buffers.

Gina Mireault, PhD, developmental psychologist who runs the Infant Laughter Lab, studies how babies react to surprises and early humor. She describes what triggers baby laughter, how infants detect incongruity, when they begin trying to make others laugh, and how social and cultural context shape early giggles.

Nicholas Rule, professor of psychology and vice provost at the University of Toronto who studies snap judgments and person perception. He explains how impressions form in milliseconds. He covers accuracy limits, cues like eyebrows and gendered signals, debates around gaydar, the role of stereotypes and bias, and why first impressions persist and shape real-world outcomes.

John Piacentini, PhD, a UCLA clinical psychologist who directs a clinic for OCD, anxiety, and tic disorders, explains what tics are and how they start in childhood. He debunks myths like the idea that swearing is typical. He outlines brain mechanisms, discusses pandemic-related increases and social media links, and describes behavioral treatments like habit reversal and CBIT.