It's Hot in Here

Consumption is nec­es­sary for survival but also produces negative con­se­quences for human health, society, and the envi­ron­ment. Research across domains (addic­tion, obesity, debt, consumer behavior, material waste, hoarding) finds over­lap­ping bio­log­ical and psy­cho­log­ical bases for consumption-​​related phe­nomena, sug­gesting the benefits of an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach. Our guests Scott Rick and Stephanie Preston joined us  in the studio right before the holidays to unpack these themes of societal consumption.

Scott Rick is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at the University of Michigan, with a Ph.D. in Behavioral Decision Research from Carnegie Mellon. He has written papers with such provoca­tive themes as “Fatal (Fiscal) Attraction; Spendthrifts and Tightwads in Marriage.”

Stephanie Preston is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Michigan, with a focus on cog­ni­tion and cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science. Her lab­o­ra­tory uses an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary approach to study the inter­face between emotion and decision making.  They work to deter­mine the prox­i­mate (what the brain and body are doing) and ultimate (why they exist, how they evolved) bases of the complex behaviors.

Co-​​hosts Rebecca Hardin and Kat Superfisky take us through another great hour of envi­ron­mental radio — with some smashing tunes from Madonna to Erykah Badu!