All day, every day, we have to make decisions, from what to have for breakfast to how to spend our money to whether to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. Psychologists’ research is helping us understand why people make the decisions they do, from trivial choices to life-and-death ones. Decision scientists Lace Padilla, PhD, and Hannah Perfecto, PhD, discuss why ... Show More
Jun 17
Multisensory perception: How sight, sound and touch shape what we taste, with Charles Spence, PhD
Why does seafood taste better at the beach? Why are so many snacks crunchy? Can the color of a room or the music in the background change the way we experience what we eat and drink? Charles Spence, PhD, head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford, disc ... Show More
41m 17s
Jun 10
Why midlife may be your prime time, with Margie Lachman, PhD
For many adults, midlife is a time of competing responsibilities: raising children, helping parents and managing careers, all while confronting their own aging. Yet psychologists increasingly see these years not as a period of crisis or decline but one of growth and opportunity. ... Show More
31m 10s
Jun 3
How children learn culture — and create it, with Dorsa Amir, PhD
Which aspects of human cognition are universal and which are shaped by the culture we grow up in? Dorsa Amir, PhD, director of the Mind & Culture Lab at Duke University, talks about how children learn cultural norms around things like sharing, risk-taking and cooperation; what sh ... Show More
42m 47s
Dec 2023
Life Could Be Different ... And Maybe Better?
Are people ever satisfied? Two social psychologists, Ethan Ludwin-Peery and Adam Mastroianni, fell down a research rabbit hole accidentally answering a version of this very question. After conducting several studies, the pair found that when asked how things could be different, p ... Show More
12m 43s