Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science

In this episode of Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science, we sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Redcay to explore how studying real‑time interaction is reshaping what we know about the social brain and autism. 

We dive into second‑person neuroscience, brain‑to‑brain synchrony, and why measuring social cognition in isolation can miss what actually matters in everyday life. The conversation also unpacks emerging research showing that autism is not a single spectrum, but may involve distinct subgroups with different behavioral, neural, and genetic profiles—raising important questions about how we study, diagnose, and support autistic individuals.

#Autism. #Social Neuroscience, #Psychology

Resources:

• Dr. Elizabeth Redcay lab site (Developmental Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab): https://dscn.umd.edu/index.html

• Nature Genetics (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z (four latent classes; genetics/developmental programs)

• Nature Neuroscience (2023): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01259-x (brain–behavior dimensions; four reproducible subgroups; molecular/network links)

Relationships are an important part of the human experience, and especially for kids. In this episode, we dive into the role of relationships in early childhood education with Dr. Jude Cassidy. Jude shares insights from her decades of research on parent-child relationships and how her newest research taking place in schools throughout three counties in Maryland aims to create a new approach to early childhood education.

Do violent video games turn people violent? After forty years of research, dozens of meta-analyses, and even a Supreme Court case, the debate still won’t die. In this episode of Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science, Mike and Joey trace the controversy from Mortal Kombat and the birth of the ESRB to today’s competing meta-analyses. They unpack key critiques—how “aggression” is measured, publication bias, and confounds—and explain why many findings are small but consistent. Finally, they ask the real-world question: if effects exist, do they matter for policy?

#VideoGames, #psychology, #mMentalHealth, #Aggression

• Anderson, C.A., et al. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151–173. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-136-2-151.pdf

• Ferguson, C.J. (2015). Do angry birds make for angry children? Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691615592234

• Mathur, M.B., & VanderWeele, T.J. (2019). Finding common ground in meta-analysis "wars" on violent video games. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691619850104

• Prescott, A.T., Sargent, J.D., & Hull, J.G. (2018). Meta-analysis of violent video game play and physical aggression over time. PNAS, 115(40). https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1611617114

• Miles-Novelo, A., & Anderson, C.A. (2025). The question of violent video games and aggression. Aggressive Behavior. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.70042

Nearly half of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide last year. In this episode, hosts Mike and Joey talk with Dr. Ethan Mereish, licensed psychologist and director of the Lavender Lab at the University of Maryland, about what the data say—and what can help. We explore minority stress, intersectionality, and how discrimination and chronic stigma shape mental health, substance use, and suicide risk. Dr. Mereish also highlights resilience, affirming care, and the protective power of supportive families, schools, and communities. Content note: suicide, self-harm, discrimination.

#LGBTQ, #MentalHealth, #MinorityStress,

Resources:

Mental Health Crisis hotline: call or text 988

Trevor project: 1-866-488-7386.

Dr. Mereish's laboratory: www.the-lavender-lab.com/

Trevor project website: www.thetrevorproject.org/

NAMI Helpline: ⁠1-800-950-NAMI (6264)⁠

Over 61 million adults in the US live with mental illness — nearly 1 in 4. For young people, the numbers are even starker: in Maryland alone, more than a third of middle schoolers and nearly 40% of high schoolers report persistent sadness or hopelessness. These aren't distant statistics. They're our neighbors, classmates, roommates, and friends.

In this special Podcasthon charity episode, we sit down with Michael Gray — a longtime mental health policy advocate and former deputy director of NAMI-Maryland — to explore how NAMI is working to make mental health care more accessible, equitable, and humane across the state. Michael draws on years of front-line experience listening to Maryland families, helping them navigate crises, and pushing for policy changes that actually move the needle.

If this conversation moves you, please consider supporting NAMI-Maryland's work at namimd.org/donate.

#NAMI, #NAMIMaryland, #MentalHealth, #Psychology

NAMI Helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

For decades, the Stanford Prison Experiment has been held up as proof that ordinary people can quickly become cruel when placed in the wrong situation. In this episode of Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science, hosts Joey Barnet and Mike Dougherty take a closer look at that famous study — and the story we’ve been told about it. Drawing on a deep archival investigation by historian Thibault Le Texier, they unpack how coaching, selective reporting, and powerful storytelling transformed a deeply flawed study into a cornerstone of psychology, and why that matters for how we understand power, responsibility, and human behavior today.

#Psychology, #Stanford, #Authority

How early do the experiences that shape who we become actually begin? In this episode of Cracking the Shell on Psychological Science, hosts Mike Dougherty and Joey Barnet talk with Dr. Tracy Riggins, a principal investigator on the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study—the largest long‑term study of early brain development in U.S. history. We explore how researchers are following more than 7,000 families from pregnancy through childhood to understand how biology, environment, and lived experience interact to shape the developing brain. Dr. Riggins explains why the study begins before birth, how infant MRI and EEG work, and what the team is learning about prenatal exposure, risk and resilience, and the protective factors that help children thrive.

What if I told you I had developed a new technology that could perceive parts of the color spectrum imperceptible to the human eye? That this technology, with some training, could outperform any known computer, make decisions with near-perfect accuracy, and integrate these exceptional capabilities with a high-fidelity spatial navigation system immune to all known electronic jamming devices—delivering bombs and missiles to designated targets with pinpoint precision? I'm not talking about some newfangled machine learning or artificial intelligence system. I'm talking about the lowly pigeon.

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on one of psychology's most bizarre and brilliant experiments: B.F. Skinner's audacious proposal to turn everyday pigeons into a missile guidance system. From the desperate innovation of World War II to the cutting-edge science of operant conditioning, discover how the birds we dismiss as urban nuisances became the stars of Project Pigeon.

Further Information

Brief Video of Project Pigeon on Military.com

Article in American Psychologist summarizing Project Pigeon

Perhaps one of the most widely studied topics in psychological science involves the study of heuristics and biases. Starting with the groundbreaking work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, the term "heuristic" became synonymous with decision making, and heuristic mechanisms such as "availability" and "representative" spread throughout psychology and even into popular science. Today, it's hard to imagine an area of cognitive science or economics that has had a greater effect on our understanding of human decision making. In this episode, Mike and Joey discuss some common decision heuristics and biases and the critiques of Tversky and Kahneman's work. Did Tversky and Kahneman have it right? Or, might it be better to recouch decision making in terms of an adaptive toolbox, as proposed by Gerd Gigerenzer?

When we talk about evil, we often imagine monsters, villains, or people fundamentally different from us. Psychology challenges that idea. Research on obedience, conformity, morality, and power suggests that evil isn’t always about who someone is, but about the situations they’re placed in and the choices they’re pushed to make. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Scott Roberts about explore the psychology of evil with Dr. Scott Roberts.