Very Bad Wizards

Josh Knobe, the Michael Corleone of experimental philosophy, joins us to talk about taking philosophy into the lab and the streets. We discuss how people moralize everyday concepts like intention, causation, and innateness. Dave wonders if X-phi people are just doing social psychology, and Tamler tries his best to get Josh mad with his critique of Josh's experimental work on free will. He might have succeeded but that argument had to be cut a little short this time. We'll have to have Josh back for the rematch! Links Experimental philosophy Anthem [youtube.com] Experimental Philosophy [fun 3 minute overview, youtube.com] The Experimental Philosophy webpage. Josh Knobe's webpage Person as Scientist, Person as Moralist by Joshua Knobe Philosophy meets the real world [slate.com] In Memoriam: The X-Phi Debate by Tamler Sommers [Philosophers Magazine] Experimental Philosophy and Free Will: An Intervention by Tamler Sommers Experimental Philosophy [wikipedia.org] Using the Knobe effect as an implicit measure of homophobia: Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D.A., Knobe, J., & Bloom, P. (2009). Disgust sensitivity predicts intuitive disapproval of gays, Emotion, 9, 435-439. Special Guest: Joshua Knobe. Support Very Bad Wizards

Paul Bloom joins us in the second segment for a lively discussion about the value of empathy as a guide our moral decisions. And in our first scoop, we talk about Paul's new book (coming in November) Just Babies: The Origin of Good and Evil , racist babies, and how 80s sitcoms changed the world. In the first segment, Dave and Tamler face the music and try to respond to a listener's criticisms of their episode on slurs and offensiveness (Episode 22) . Links The Baby in the Well: The Case Against Empathy by Paul Bloom [newyorker.com] Descartes' Baby by Paul Bloom [amazon.com] Jesse Prinz "Is empathy necessary for morality" [subcortex.com] Pizarro, Bloom, and Detweiler-Bedell on the empathy, disgust, and the moral circle [peezer.net] Pre-order Just babies: The origins of good and evil by Paul Bloom [amazon.com] Louis CK: My Life is Really Evil. Special Guest: Paul Bloom. Support Very Bad Wizards

Yoel Inbar, visiting Wharton professor and moral psychologist, joins to apply honor-culture ideas to Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. They probe the film’s notorious rape scene, the meaning of the climactic siege, and whether standing up to insults is rational today. Short debates touch on escalation risks, habit-forming boundary setting, and how law and honor shape violent responses.

In what might very well be the last episode before we're pulled off the air, Tamler outlines his data-free "theory" of what makes something offensive. What makes a joke about race, ethnicity, gender, disability funny sometimes, and deeply hurtful at other times? What makes Louis CK so goddamn funny and Andrew Dice Clay just...an asshole? Is Family Guy racist? Throughout the episode, David defends the victims of hatred and is a voice of empathy and reason, while Tamler drops the c-word multiple times, jumps to racist conclusions, and makes fun of David's partial Arab heritage. Links Louis CK and his friends discuss the word f@**%t Wikipedia on F**** and C*** [wikipedia.org] Bill Burr on the c-word [youtube.com] Andy Ihnatko's podcast on 5by5.tv, where he discusses why Family Guy is not funny The Troubling Viral Trend of the "Hilarious" Black Neighbor by Aisha Harris [slate.com] Support Very Bad Wizards

Dave and Tamler shrug off inside baseball concerns and argue whether to go to grad school, what to do when you get there, and share horror stories about the job market. Also, Tamler explains why the sorority sister who wrote the infamous email is a "civil rights visionary," Dave refuses to say "c*#t punt," and listener contributions from Boomer Trujillo, Yoel Inbar, Rachel Grazioplene, Dave Tucker, and Nina Strohminger. Links Michael Shannon Reads Sorority Letter [funnyordie.com] David Ortiz Pregame Speech [youtube.com] Twitter beef "Thesis Hatement" by Rebecca Schuman [slate.com] "Thesis Defense" by Katie Roiphie [slate.com] The Impossible Decision by Joshua Rothman [newyorker.com] VBW Bonus content: Dave and Yoel inbar on the "replicability crisis." Support Very Bad Wizards

Dave and Tamler begin with a brief, heartfelt discussion about the Boston Bombings. Tamler talks about why Patriots' Day and the Boston Marathon mean so much to a kid growing up in Boston. They speculate a bit about the motive behind the attack and ask why the perpetrators didn't come out and claim responsibility. In the second and third segments, Molly Crockett joins us to challenge Fiery Cushman for the prize of classiest episode ever. She tells us about her research on the effects of serotonin depletion on retributive behavior, and how it was reported as "Chocolate and Cheese help you make better decisions" in the popular media. We talk about the responsibility that scientists have to make sure that their studies are reported properly, and how brain research can (despite David's previous claims) help shed light on human nature and behavior. Also: Tamler mangles the pronunciation of roughly 14 brain regions, Dave yearns for the days when restrictions of human experimentation were non-existent, and both Dave and Tamler subtly and then not so subtly try to get Molly to hook them up with...molly. Enjoy! Links Dirty Water by the Standells [youtube.com] Patriots' Day [wikipedia.org] Molly Crockett [mollycrockett.com] Crockett, M. J., Clark, L., Tabibnia, G., Lieberman, M. D., & Robbins, T. W. (2008). Serotonin modulates behavioral reactions to unfairness. Science, 320, 1739. Serotonin [wikipedia.org] Striatum [wikipedia.org] DMT [wikipedia.org] Special Guests: Fiery Cushman and Molly Crockett. Support Very Bad Wizards

Re-recording a not-so-tragically lost episode (it kinda sucked), Dave and Tamler talk about the things they hate most about philosophy and psychology. But first they discuss a blog post by a Rochester professor that wonders why it's not OK to rape someone who's passed out. Also: same-sex marriage, telling dirty jokes to your daughter, Meredith Baxter Birney, Lifetime movies, how to eat crawfish, and Dave takes a bold, even heroic, stand by criticizing a Republican senator. Links In honor of our 19th episode, some Paul Hardcastle for you.. Opening clip: Bridge on the River Kwai [youtube.com] Economist: Rapists reaping rewards of passed out girls [gawker.com] Molly Crockett's TEDx Talk on Neuro-Bunk [TED.com] Friendship and Freedom (blog post, Flickers of Freedom--Tamler and Saul Smilanksy get into it about the "dubiousness" of gratitude in the comments ) The Ikea Effect [hbr.org] Paul Bloom and David talk about social psychology's dismissal of reason [bloggingheads.tv] Donate to Oxfam. It will feel good. And then afterwards... Support Very Bad Wizards

Joe Henrich joins the podcast to tell us that we know nothing about his work and that how we got to teach a class in anything is absolutely amazing. We continue our discussion from Episode 17 about his critique of the social and behavioral sciences in "The Weirdest People in the World" and his work in small scale societies on fairness norms. We also talk about the weird American obsession with happiness, monkeys throwing cucumbers, and why some people reject "hyper-fair" offers of more than the half the pot in the ultimatum games. Links "I happen to have Marshall Mcluhan right here." (From Woody Allen's Annie Hall.) Longer HD version here Joe Henrich UBC.ca | Wikipedia The Machiguenga [wikipedia.org] Henrich on Brosnan and DeWaal's capuchin inequity aversion study. Chicha [wikipedia.org] How much money would it take for you to kill a puppy? [liveleak.com] Relevant papers are listed in the notes for Episode 17: Learning About Bushmen from Studying Freshmen? Special Guest: Joe Henrich. Support Very Bad Wizards

Thousands of studies in psychology rely on data from North American undergraduates. Can we really conclude anything about the "human" mind from such a limited sample-- especially since Westerners are probably more different from the rest of the world's population than any other group? We talk about Joseph Henrich and colleagues' critique of the behavioral sciences in their paper "The WEIRDEST People in the World." David offers a defense of psychology, arguing that it's usually not the goal of lab studies to generalize findings to all humans in the first place. Also, Tamler gives a brief, heartfelt, completely non-awkward rant about monkey torturer Harry Harlow and David defends the practice of electrocuting baby monkeys for no reason. Links The Gods Must Be Crazy [IMDB.com] Bushmen [wikipedia.org] Homo Economicus [wikipedia.org] The Ultimatum Game [wikipedia.org] Müller-Lyer illusion [wikipedia.org] We aren't the world [psmag.com] Harlow studies [wikipedia.org] Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010).The weirdest people in the world. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61-83. Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., & McElreath, R. (2001). In search of homo economicus: behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies. American Economic Review, 73-78. Mook, D.G. (1983). In Defense of External Invalidity. American Psychologist, 38,379-387. Support Very Bad Wizards

For those who thought our most uncomfortable topics were behind us, on this episode we are joined by David's childhood friend Damani McDole [facebook.com] to discuss several potentially offensive topics surrounding race and justice in America, such as slavery, reparations, affirmative action, and the use of the N-word. When Damani mounts an economic and moral defense for reparations for the descendants of slaves, David prefers to point to the difficulties in deciding who gets paid ( someone who's 1/16th descended from slaves? Jamaican-Americans? African immigrants?) and who should be responsible for paying (only people whose descendants benefitted from slavery? all non-slave descended taxpayers?). Tamler proposes (taking a note from Lenny Bruce) that if we use the N-word often enough it will lose its sting, and decides to practice what he preaches. And Damani reveals a surprising theory about race and geography (surprising for a Black man, at least) that leaves Tamler awkwardly speechless. For those who are visually inclined: here's a one-minute set of behind-the-scenes clips from our Google+ Hangout: Links Nigger [wikipedia.org] Leonardo DiCaprio bleeds for his role in Django Unchained [cinemablend.com] Lenny Bruce- Are there any niggers here tonight? [youtube.com] 60-year old white man slaps Black baby [thesmokinggun.com] The truth about 40 Acres and a Mule [theroot.com] The "great migration" of American Blacks out of the South [inmotionaame.org] 1811 Louisiana Slave Rebellion [theroot.com] Maya Angelou and Dave Chappelle on Iconoclasts [sundancechannel.com] Bonus: Dave Chappelle imagines reparations [youtube.com] Special Guest: Joseph Damani McDole. Support Very Bad Wizards