Two Psychologists Four Beers

It's been a tumultuous time for DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts in higher education. Whether due to political pressure, internal arguments, or both, many prominent institutions are revamping their DEI offices (or even eliminating them altogether) and rethinking DEI policies that once seemed unquestionable. Amori Mikami from the University of British Columbia re-joins the show to talk about the changes and what she thinks universities ought to be doing (as well as what she thinks we can do better). Along the way, Yoel and Amori talk about the use of race and gender in hiring, diversity statements, October 7 and the Gaza war, and institutional neutrality (in short, this episode touches every third rail imaginable). There's some debate and some agreement, but most importantly we both finish our beers.Special Guest: Amori Mikami.Links:Amori Mikami - UBC Department of Psychology — Associate Head, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion The rise of citational justice: how scholars are making references fairer Los Macuanos - Pasado y Presente ft. Lucrecia Dalt (Official Music Video) - YouTube

On-again off-again co-host Mickey Inzlicht joins the show to debrief about the recent SPSP (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) conference. We then dissect a new paper purporting to show working memory deficits in heavy cannabis users, including a deep dive into the preregistration. Finally, we discuss a recent Op-Ed in the Guardian that argues that research on AI empathy is fatally flawed.Links:Brain Function Outcomes of Recent and Lifetime Cannabis Use | Child Development | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network OSF Registries | Verbal Memory and Language Processing in Young Adults who Use Cannabis: An Analysis of the Human Connectome Project AI is ‘beating’ humans at empathy and creativity. But these games are rigged | MJ Crockett | The Guardian Tunde Adebimpe - Magnetic (Official Video) - YouTube

Occasional co-host Mickey Inzlicht joins the show to talk about the 2024 election, Bluesky, and his crusade against yard signs. We discuss prediction markets, Democratic declines with non-college voters, and whether Bluesky is a political bubble (and if so, if there's anything wrong with that). Also, Mickey explains his problem with yard signs and defends his beer snobbery.Links:How the Trump Polymarket Whale Correctly Called the Election, and Made Nearly $50 Million - WSJ Yard Wars - by Michael Inzlicht - Speak Now Regret Later Melenas - Bang (Official Video) - YouTube

Researcher and writer Adam Mastroianni joins the podcast to talk about why he left academia, what conventional scientific research might be missing, and how he ended up writing a succesful science blog instead of more journal articles. Plus: what is a Science House? How do we know that psychology is making progress? And should scientific fraud be a crime?Special Guest: Adam Mastroianni.Links:Experimental History | Adam Mastroianni | Substack PsyArXiv Preprints | Things could be better The first transmissions from Science House Good ideas don't need bayonets - by Adam Mastroianni Is psychology going to Cincinnati? - by Adam Mastroianni The Order of Death - YouTube

Mickey joins Yoel for the first new episode in nearly a year. We talk what's been up with the show, plans for the future, and what it feels like to briefly be (almost) internet-famous. In the second half of the show, we talk about expertise and prediction. When social scientists make predictions about the future, should we listen? How much should failures of prediction make us distrust expert advice more generally, and if so, how skeptical should we be?Links:D.E.I. Statements Spark Debate at UCalifornia and Other Universities - The New York Times Americans harbor much less favorable explicit sentiments toward young adults than toward older adults | PNAS On the accuracy, media representation, and public perception of psychological scientists' judgments of societal change - PubMed When expert predictions fail - ScienceDirect Amyl and The Sniffers - "U Should Not Be Doing That" (Official Music Video) - YouTube

Playing devil's advocate, Yoel and Mickey mount a criticism against the scientific study of mindfulness. What is mindfulness? Can we measure it? Is mindfulness-based therapy effective? Can mindfulness improve the quality of attention beyond the meditation cushion? Are effects of mindfulness mostly placebo effects produced by motivated practitioners and adherents? Should we be impressed by mindfulness meditation’s supposed effects on conceptions of the self? Is mindfulness, in all its complexity, amenable to scientific study? Bonus: Is the value of diversity and inclusivity a core part of open science? This is a re-release of an episode first released on August 7, 2019.Links:Burdock Brewery Lunch Money | Collective Arts Brewing PsyArXiv Preprints | Will this time be different? Opinion | Can We End the Meditation Madness? - The New York Times The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being - PubMed Mind the Hype: A Critical Evaluation and Prescriptive Agenda for Research on Mindfulness and Meditation - PubMed Argentine tango dance compared to mindfulness meditation and a waiting-list control: a randomised trial for treating depression - PubMed Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis | Complementary and Alternative Medicine | JAMA Internal Medicine | JAMA Network Mindfulness training affects attention--or is it attentional effort? - PubMed Meditation, mindfulness and executive control: the importance of emotional acceptance and brain-based performance monitoring - PubMed Cognitive effects of MBSR/MBCT: A systematic review of neuropsychological outcomes - PubMed Mindfulness training as cognitive training in high-demand cohorts: An initial study in elite military servicemembers - PubMed A randomised active-controlled trial to examine the effects of an online mindfulness intervention on executive control, critical thinking and key thinking dispositions in a university student sample | BMC Psychology | Full Text

Jennifer Gutsell joins Alexa to discuss the controversy surrounding Yoel's experience interviewing at UCLA. They focus on a post, written by Alexa, in which she pushes back against defenses of "viewpoint diversity" and argues that the graduate petition advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) was a brave effort that should be taken seriously. Jennifer elaborates on these ideas, suggesting that there are some views that are not up for debate, and emphasizing the care that is required when having theoretical discussions without a personal stake in the matter. Alexa and Jennifer go on to connect these ideas to a paper written by Kevin Durrheim in which he proposes that psychology's emphasis on our progressive accomplishments silences the deeper reality of racism within our field. Special Guest: Jennifer Gutsell.Links:Two Psychologists Four Beers on Untappd Against Anti-DEI Rhetoric (Alexa's Post) Conversational Silencing of Racism in Psychological Science: Toward Decolonization in Practice - Kevin Durrheim, 2023 Episode 263: Free Yoel | Very Bad Wizards podcast A Political 'Dress' and Test - by Matthew Lieberman A review of White‐centering practices in multiracial research in social psychology - Garay - 2021 - Social and Personality Psychology Compass - Wiley Online Library