There is a difference between being safe and thinking you are safe, and the bridge between those two things is built on trust. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the difference between psychological safety and the psychology of safety and how to develop environments where people feel safe.

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Compensation is about more than just a paycheck. It’s about feeling valued, secure, and supported, but we don’t always think about it that way. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of compensation.

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Why do things that once felt exciting, delicious, shocking, or even frightening start to feel… ordinary?
In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of desensitization and how motivation, memory, and context shape what we see, feel, and react to, often without us even realizing it.

Bruner, J. S., & Goodman, C. C. (1947). Value and Need as Organizing Factors in Perception. Harvard University. Reprinted at PsychClassics: https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bruner/Value/

Proffitt, D. R., Creem, S. H., & Zosh, W. D. (2001). Seeing mountains in mole hills: Geographical-slant perception. Psychological Science, 12(5), 418–423. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00377

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Working toward goals can give our lives direction and meaning. But psychology shows that when we focus too narrowly on outcomes, we can undermine both our well-being and our performance. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the importance of staying mentally well and enjoying what you do while pursuing greatness.

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If your child shows exceptional talent early, it may be tempting to cultivate it immediately. However, an overload of lessons and practice may not be the most effective approach. This episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the perils of specializing early.

Bloom, Benjamin S. Developing Talent in Young People.

Gullich, A., Barth, M., Hambrick, D.Z., & Macnamara, B.N. (2025). Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance. Science, 390, DOI: 10.1126/science.adt7790.

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Someone once said, “I like to do nothing if I can avoid doing something.” For many of us, doing nothing is surprisingly hard. It asks us to generate our own thoughts rather than constantly reacting to Instagram, email, and an ever-expanding stream of stimuli. But when we allow ourselves the space to be bored, to daydream, to think, we can emerge feeling restored rather than drained. And that kind of renewal is deeply valuable.

This episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about protecting your boredom.

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We often use the word stupidity to cover a wide range of mistakes. But on closer inspection, what makes something “stupid” may have less to do with what “stupid does” and more to do with what it ignores. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of stupidity.

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For many of us, the holidays bring us back to our families and the traditions we’ve carried through the years. And while that can come with its fair share of stress, it can also offer something unexpectedly beautiful: a chance to re-center ourselves and reconnect with the version of us we knew in childhood.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore how holiday gatherings can both challenge and ground us, and why revisiting our past selves can feel so meaningful this time of year.

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When we are grieving, having a supportive work environment can be helpful, but what about when we are working remotely or in a gig job? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about how to support your co-workers and the importance of building community for times of loss.

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Grief is difficult, exhausting, and slow, but our daily routines, including work, still continue during the grieving process. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about how we can show up with compassion for colleagues who are grieving, and how we can prepare ourselves, psychologically, for returning to work while carrying loss.

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