Decoding the Gurus

Mind, Culture & Visual Illusions: Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone on Visual Illusions


Listen Later

In this academic-themed interview episode of Decoding the Gurus, Matt and Chris sit down to chat with Dorsa Amir and Chaz Firestone (@chazfirestone) about their recent paper 'Is Visual Perception WEIRD? The Müller-Lyer Illusion and the Cultural Byproduct Hypothesis.'

In a conversation that serves as a welcome tonic to the endless lamentations of the gurus about academic groupthink and closed-minded silos, Dorsa and Chaz discuss the interdisciplinary nature of their work, debates around universal vs. culturally specific psychology, and the strength of evidence that visual perception varies between cultures.

We also learn about the dangers of being STUPID: Studying Topics Uninformed by Prior Investigations in the Discipline, and attempt to uncover just how much Chaz enjoys popping balloons.

A fun one that might even leave you a little bit more optimistic than usual!

Links

  • Amir, D., & Firestone, C. (2025). Is visual perception WEIRD? The Müller-Lyer illusion and the cultural byproduct hypothesis. Psychological Review.
  • Dorsa's Homepage and Mind and Culture Lab.
  • Chaz's Perception & Mind Lab Homepage, his instagram, and his BJJ victory video.
  • Decoding Academia 33: The Great Müller-Lyer Debate from Fish Tanks to Eye Operations
  • Mickey Inzlicht's Substack on the Paper and the Debates around it.
  • Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world?. Behavioral and brain sciences33(2-3), 61-83.
  • Lucca, K., Yuen, F., Wang, Y., Alessandroni, N., Allison, O., Alvarez, M., ... & Hamlin, J. K. (2025). Infants’ Social Evaluation of Helpers and Hinderers: A Large‐Scale, Multi‐Lab, Coordinated Replication Study. Developmental Science28(1), e13581.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Decoding the GurusBy Christopher Kavanagh and Matthew Browne

  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2
  • 4.2

4.2

907 ratings


More shows like Decoding the Gurus

View all
Robert Wright's Nonzero by Nonzero

Robert Wright's Nonzero

584 Listeners

Very Bad Wizards by Tamler Sommers & David Pizarro

Very Bad Wizards

2,651 Listeners

Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,462 Listeners

Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Conversations with Tyler

2,389 Listeners

Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps by Josh Szeps

Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

834 Listeners

Knowledge Fight by Knowledge Fight

Knowledge Fight

4,503 Listeners

The Good Fight by Yascha Mounk

The Good Fight

893 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,136 Listeners

QAA Podcast by Julian Feeld, Travis View & Jake Rockatansky

QAA Podcast

4,245 Listeners

I Don't Speak German by IDSG

I Don't Speak German

985 Listeners

Within Reason by Alex J O'Connor

Within Reason

1,531 Listeners

Know Your Enemy by Matthew Sitman

Know Your Enemy

1,907 Listeners

Blocked and Reported by Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal

Blocked and Reported

3,759 Listeners

Conspirituality by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Conspirituality

1,970 Listeners

The Know Rogan Experience by Cross Pond Productions

The Know Rogan Experience

709 Listeners