Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? Well, it turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those sweet white grains of sugar.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing dopamine. While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival. This might have been beneficial to us 150,000 years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station, and coffee shop, craving sugar has its consequences.

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Giving someone a compliment is more complicated than it might seem, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, the benefits of compliments are extensive.

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Because we know “how” things work sometimes we think we understand “why” these things work as they do, and that can be a problem.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the difference between “how” vs. “why” knowledge, and why it’s important to recognize what you really need to know.

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It doesn’t feel good when you can’t express your emotions, but the effect of repressing emotions can have reproductions far beyond just feeling bad.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of repressing emotions.

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One could ask, if we need anger management why don’t we also need management for other emotions? Turns out anger management isn’t a new thing at all and, as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, for good reason.

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We might not have the most positive associations with anger, and for good reason. Anger can be threatening and lead to destruction, but it can also move us to get off the dime and do something.

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about anger and motivation.

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There are some things that just feel like they’re true. For example, the idea that people who are gifted musicians are also good at learning math, or vice versa.

However, there isn’t any data that suggests that there are any links in the brain between these proclivities. As Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, we underestimate the role emotions play in what we believe to be true.

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We have a limited number of ways to experience the world psychologically, but many ways to interpret that experience. In that interpretation, the words we use are very important and perhaps in surprising ways.

In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the language we use to describe emotions and why we should be paying more attention to it.

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A listener wrote in: “Please take a moment to address why September 11, 2001, is still a cultural touchstone, but February 26, 1993, was so easily forgotten.”

Thank you for the question Bob M. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about remembering 9/11 and outcome bias.

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When we live through a profound and historic event we have a different understanding of it than if we just read about it. That has a complex and interesting significance on how we see the world.

In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of remembering 9/11.

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