Sandra Matz is a computational social scientist at Columbia Business School. She uses big data to understand people and what motivates them to act. And she has a new book out! It's Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior , and it's an enjoyable, easy-to-read introduction to what your online data say about who you are and how communicators can use those insights to serve up compelling content--for better or worse. At the top of the show, I also men...
Mar 03, 2025•59 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Angelina Lippert is the Executive Director and Curator at Poster House in New York City. She is an expert when it comes to the use of posters as a tool for mass communication and persuasion. We talk about what a poster is, the history of posters as a medium, the social effects they have, and why we should still care about posters in the digital age. At the top of the show, we hear from Amos Paul Kennedy, Jr. He's a letterpress printer who puts ink to paper to spread messages about social ju...
Feb 03, 2025•1 hr•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Joe Siev studies extreme political behavior and its appeal. He's a postdoctoral fellow at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. In our conversation, we talk about his research linking people's sense of ambivalence with their willingness to take extreme action. For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPo...
Jan 06, 2025•45 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast *If you downloaded this episode early, the wrong file was uploaded. Sorry! We're all good now. Colin Wayne Leach is a social psychologist who also wears a bunch of other social science hats. He approaches the social world by appreciating its nature as a system of interconnected parts. He's made strides in a lot of research areas, including emotion, prejudice, and morality. In our conversation, we focus on his work on protest as a vehicle for social change. He shares how he thinks about...
Dec 02, 2024•53 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Richard Petty is a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. He's probably best known for co-developing the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion (but he's done a lot of other stuff, too). He was also my advisor in grad school. In the last episode of Opinion Science, Rich lent his voice to telling the story of the ELM. Go check that out if you haven't already. But my full conversation with Rich was also great and went in a few directions that just didn'...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1980s, two social psychologists--Rich Petty and John Cacioppo--devised a new way to make sense of persuasion: the Elaboration Likelihood Model . Their work came on the heels of an era in psychology when people were fed up with persuasion research. The old studies were a mess, and it wasn't clear if it was even possible to understand how persuasion works. In the course of studying for an exam in graduate school, Rich and John started sketching out some ways to make sense of things. Ov...
Oct 21, 2024•53 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Drs. Sarah Gaither and Analia Albuja study racial identity and how we can overcome racial biases. They just published an important new study on the effects of random roommate assignments on students’ ability to develop diverse social networks. Our conversation focuses on two key research papers: Gaither & Sommers ( 2013 ); Albuja et al. ( in press ). And if you haven’t listened to my episode on the Contact Hypothesis (Episode 44) , it pairs well with this one! For a transcript of this episod...
Jun 17, 2024•51 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Dave Fleischer is a political organizer who led the team that pioneered “deep canvassing,” which is a particularly effective form of face-to-face persuasion. It was developed on the ground, but when political scientists put it to a rigorous test, they found that these brief conversations with voters were having a lasting impact (Broockman & Kalla, 2016 ). On this episode, Dave shares his background in political campaigns and walks us through an actual example of deep canvassing that made a r...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Christian Wheeler studies the intersection of opinions, communication, and personal identity. He’s a professor of management and marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In our conversation, we talk about the quirks of teaching in a business school, the promise of improv exercises for learning life skills, and his new research on the reputational benefits (or not) of being good at self-control and willing to listen to people with diverse viewpoints (Hussein & Wheeler, 2024 ). F...
May 20, 2024•1 hr•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Aviva Philipp-Muller studies why people might pass on science. She’s an Assistant Professor of marketing at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. We talked about her research on people’s openness to science in consumer products and how they’re marketed. She also shared her perspective on how anti-science views are an issue of persuasion. Things that come up in this episode: The public science lecture circuit in 19th-century America (Finnegan, 2016 ; 2021 ) The use of science ...
May 06, 2024•58 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Aaron Barnes is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville College of Business. He studies how persuasion, branding, and consumer–brand relationships differ between cultures. In our conversation, we talk about Aaron's story and some of his research on how the influence of calling a product "top-rated" versus "best-selling" depends on culture (Barnes & Shavitt, 2024 ). For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http:/...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast David Halpern is the President & Founding Director of the Behavioral Insights Team . It started as a "nudge unit" in the British government but has gone on to become its own company with offices around the world. We talked to David in 2021 when we were gathering interviews for our podcast series, They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics . But he had a lot of great insight on the role of behavioral science in public policy, so I wanted to share our...
Apr 08, 2024•50 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast Daniel Kahneman was a titan in social science. He transformed our understanding of decision-making, he taught a generation about social psychology, he won a Nobel prize. It's hard to overstate his influence. He passed away last week, and the field is mourning the loss. Along with the hosts of the podcast Behavioral Grooves , I interviewed Kahneman back in 2021, and we used that interview as a foundation of our podcast series, " They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Beh...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Andy Guess studies how social media platforms shape people’s political views. He’s an assistant professor of politics and public affairs at Princeton University. Last summer, he was part of a big team that released four papers on their analyses and experiments in social media all at the same time. The research was in collaboration with Meta , the company responsible for Facebook and Instagram. Andy and the team were able to dissect how often people on these platforms are exposed to political opi...
Mar 25, 2024•1 hr•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Sendhil Mullainathan does a lot of things, and he does them well. He’s a professor of Computation and Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. I originally talked to Sendhil for our podcast series, They Thought We Were Ridiculous . He was well-positioned to give his perspective on a contentious, interdisciplinary field of social science called “behavioral economics.” But nowadays, behavioral economics is mainstream, but Sendhil has continued to study big questi...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast To look into the future of Behavioral Economics, we talked to three young researchers who are pushing the field further. A new generation of researchers is striving to understand decision-making in the developing world, how brains process economic decisions, and how bigger, more transparent scientific methods can shed light on basic principles of choice. This is the fifth episode of a special series called: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics." ...
Feb 26, 2024•38 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Eventually, Behavioral Economics emerged as an influential perspective. It’s become mainstream in Economics, and it’s helped inform programs and policies that affect real people every day. This is the fourth episode of a special series called: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics." For more information, check out the Opinion Science webpage for this series: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episode/they-thought-we-were-ridiculous/ For a transcript...
Feb 26, 2024•42 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Behavioral Economics was using psychology to understand economics, but what did economists and psychologists think about their unexpected marriage? Slowly, this fledgling field weathered a flurry of criticism from both sides as it doggedly held onto data-driven ideas about economic decision-making. This is the third episode of a special series called: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics." For more information, check out the Opinion Science webpa...
Feb 26, 2024•32 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky were two psychologists with big ideas about how people made decisions. Their careful research launched a brand new way of understanding people’s choices, and it helped fan the flames of Behavioral Economics. This is the second episode of a special series called: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics." For more information, check out the Opinion Science webpage for this series: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episo...
Feb 26, 2024•40 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast For years, neoclassical economists have made an unusual assumption—that people are rational decision-makers. But a few social scientists have dared to challenge that assumption. They’ve collected observations, analyzed data, and presented their perspective. Their work would usher in a new era of Economics. This is the first episode of a special series called: "They Thought We Were Ridiculous: The Unlikely Story of Behavioral Economics." For more information, check out the Opinion Scien...
Feb 26, 2024•38 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Coming February 26th! I team up with the guys at Behavioral Grooves to produce a 5-part podcast series on behavioral economics . We tell the story of how some young social scientists took issue with assumptions that economists were making about how people make decisions, and they ended up transforming the field. Their insights went on to shape governments and businesses around the world. The whole series will drop on the Opinion Science podcast feed on February 26th. See you then! For a transcri...
Feb 12, 2024•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jack Dovidio 's work is at the heart of how we currently understand the psychology of prejudice. He's spent his career considering where prejudice comes from, how people express it, how it biases people's judgments and behaviors, and what we could do to address it. He's an emeritus professor at Yale University, and he's also just a really pleasant guy to talk to. In our conversation, we cover his early days as a social psychologist studying when people will help each oth...
Jan 29, 2024•56 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Jim McNulty is a professor of psychology at Florida State University. He studies close relationships, and in this episode, we talk about his research on "automatic partner attitudes." When someone sees their romantic partner, their feelings about that person spring automatically to mind. And sometimes those feelings conflict with what they openly SAY they feel about their partner. Jim shares his findings from studies that measure people's feelings toward their partners. Things tha...
Jan 15, 2024•52 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Happy New Year! For the first time in the show's history, this episode's a day late. Sorry, dear listeners. So it's 2024, and what better way to kick off the new year than to dive into some nostalgia for 2023 already? As has become tradition around here, I compiled some clips of favorite moments on the podcast from the last year. As I say every year, it’s not truly a “best of” per se because I really am attached to every episode. Instead, I’ve chosen some clips that highlight the ...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Elizabeth Dunn studies the psychology of happiness. One of her major research areas has looked at generosity's effects on well-being. We're happier when we spend money on other people. But studying happiness has its challenges, especially if we want to build strategies that help people feel happier. So, she shared a snapshot of her research on happiness and a new paper with Dunigan Folk looking at how strong the evidence is for different happiness-boosting strategies. Things that come ...
Dec 18, 2023•53 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Mikaela Spruill studies juries and the legal system’s role in sustaining social inequalities. She’s a postdoctoral fellow in criminal justice with SPARQ at Stanford University. In our conversation, Mikaela shares the benefits and drawbacks of juries in the courtroom, how scientists study jury decision-making, and how jurors apply very specific legal standards to interpreting the facts of a case. Things that come up in this episode A very brief history of juries (Alschuler & Deiss, 1994 ; Car...
Dec 04, 2023•56 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast James Druckman studies how political messages can shape people's opinions. He is maybe best known for his work on framing issues as a strategic communication strategy. He also has a recent paper on " a framework for the study of persuasion ," which organizes the many variables that matter for persuasion. For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.co...
Nov 20, 2023•58 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Mónica Guzmán wants us to have better conversation with the people we disagree with. She's the Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels , and in 2022, she released her book, "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times." This year, she launched a brand new podcast called " A Braver Way ," which is about how we can disagree about politics without losing heart. We talk about how to have curious convers...
Nov 06, 2023•52 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Lindsay Hahn studies how entertainment media convey moral messages, especially among children. She's an assistant professor of communication at the University at Buffalo, where she leads the Media Psychology and Morality Lab . We talk about her background, how her team surveys media for the moral lessons they communicate, and how her new work is turning an eye to terrorist propaganda. Things that come up in this episode: Mr. Rogers' testimony before a Senate subcommittee. Content analy...
Oct 23, 2023•59 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Russ Fazio has spent his career getting to the bottom of how opinions work. From his first study as a college student in 1974 to a leading expert in basically everything, his work has had a deep impact on the field of social psychology (and communication and political science...) His research over the years has included game-changing work on cognitive dissonance, implicit bias, automatic cognition, negativity biases, and the relationship between attitudes and behavior. How to cover a whole caree...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 
