Two Psychologists Four Beers

By Yoel Inbar, Michael Inzlicht, and Alexa Tullett

What's Two Psychologists Four Beers about?

Two psychologists endeavor to drink four beers while discussing news and controversies in science, academia, and beyond.

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Two Psychologists Four Beers episodes:

10.04.2023
Episode 110: RE-RELEASE: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf)
Andrew Devendorf joins Alexa and Yoel to discuss his work on "me-search" (or self-relevant research) within clinical psychology. He talks about the prevalence of mental health difficulties within the field, and the harmful taboos against speaking openly about them. And,...
09.27.2023
Episode 109: RE-RELEASE: Against Mindfulness
Playing devil's advocate, Yoel and Mickey mount a criticism against the scientific study of mindfulness. What is mindfulness? Can we measure it? Is mindfulness-based therapy effective? Can mindfulness improve the quality of attention beyond the meditation cushion? Are effects of...
09.20.2023
Episode 108: RE-RELEASE: We Need to Talk About Fraud
Yoel and Alexa are joined by Joe Simmons to talk about fraud. We go in-depth on a recent high-profile fraud case, but we also talk about scientific fraud more generally: how common is it, how do you detect it, and...
08.30.2023
Episode 107: Against Anti-DEI Rhetoric
Jennifer Gutsell joins Alexa to discuss the controversy surrounding Yoel's experience interviewing at UCLA. They focus on a post, written by Alexa, in which she pushes back against defenses of "viewpoint diversity" and argues that the graduate petition advocating...
06.23.2023
Episode 106: We Need to Talk About Fraud Again
Harkening back to episode 73, Alexa and Yoel discuss recent evidence of fraud documented in the Data Colada blog post "Clusterfake." The post is the first in a series of four, which will collectively detail evidence of fraud in four...
05.17.2023
Episode 105: Patchwork Politics
In heated political debates, people are often accused of being hypocrites, lacking consistent foundational values. Today, Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper by David Pinsof, David Sears, and Martie Haselton, that challenges the commonsense notion that political belief systems...
03.29.2023
Episode 104: Quantifying the Narrative of Replicable Science
Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper that takes a machine learning approach to estimating the replicability of psychology as a discipline. The researchers' investigation begins with a training process, in which an artificial intelligence model identifies ways that textual...
03.08.2023
Episode 103: Psych (with Paul Bloom)
Alexa and Yoel chat with Paul Bloom about his newest book, Psych: The Story of the Human Mind. The book, built from Paul's popular Introduction to Psychology course, is an opinionated overview of the field of psychology but also a...
02.08.2023
Episode 102: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf)
Andrew Devendorf joins Alexa and Yoel to discuss his work on "me-search" (or self-relevant research) within clinical psychology. He talks about the prevalence of mental health difficulties within the field, and the harmful taboos against speaking openly about them. And,...
01.18.2023
Episode 101: An Outside Perspective on Implicit Bias
Alexa and Yoel discuss the much trodden topic of implicit bias from a less trodden perspective: that of the general public. Offering insight into the public's views is a paper by Jeffrey Yen, Kevin Durrheim, and Romin Tafarodi, which explores...
12.23.2022
Episode 100: What Happened at Perspectives on Psychological Science?
Yoel and special guest Rachel Hartman discuss the recent ouster of Klaus Fiedler, the former Editor in Chief of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, over allegations of racism and abuse of power. They try to untangle a complicated story...
12.07.2022
Episode 99: Is MTurk Too Good To Be True?
In a recent article, psychologists Webb and Tangney document their experience collecting psychology data online using Amazon's crowdsourcing platform MTurk. Alarmingly, the authors conclude that ultimately only 2.6% of their sample was valid data from human beings. Yoel and Alexa...
11.23.2022
Episode 98: Inspired Science (with Spencer Greenberg)
Yoel and Alexa are joined by Spencer Greenberg, founder of the behavioral science startup incubator Spark Wave and host of the Clearer Thinking podcast. He describes how he became fascinated with psychology and behavior change, and how he's been working...
11.09.2022
Episode 97: Getting Into Grad School
With grad school application deadlines around the corner, Alexa and Yoel discuss how, exactly, that process works. Big picture, they talk about their goals in selecting graduate students to work on their labs, and whether they've gotten good at the...
10.26.2022
Episode 96: So, What Do You Do?
Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent paper, written by Hughes, Srivastava, Leszko, and Condon, that created and validated a new index of "occupational prestige." The index is intended to provide a tool to measure the third component of socioeconomic status,...
09.28.2022
Episode 95: What are Teachers Good For? (with Paul Bloom)
Paul Bloom joins Yoel and Alexa to talk about the glamour and humiliation of teaching psychology at the college level. They discuss how they've changed their approaches to teaching over the years, and whether they've become more skilled or more...
09.14.2022
Episode 94: Individualism, Interdependence, and Student Loans
Inspired by a recent Atlantic article ("The Myth of Independent American Families" by Stephanie H. Murray) Alexa and Yoel consider what it means to live in an indiviualistic society. At an abstract level, they discuss different visions for interdependence, from...
08.24.2022
Episode 93: Facing a Social Media Mob (with Stefan Uddenberg)
Yoel and Alexa are joined by Stefan Uddenberg, a social perception researcher and author of the paper "Deep Models of Superficial Face Judgments." This paper was the focus of a previous episde - "A Face for Podcasting" - in which...
08.03.2022
Episode 92: Should SPSP Stay Out of It?
As the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) starts gearing up for their 2023 conference, Alexa and Yoel debate some of the organization's recent efforts to be more anti-racist and politically engaged. First, the co-hosts discuss debate over moving...
07.20.2022
Episode 91: Decriminalizing Mental Illness
Yoel and Alexa chat with Jennifer Cox and Lauren Kois, co-directors of the Southern Behavioral Health and Law Initiative. Established in 2020, the initiative was created to address the dearth of mental health resources for people who become involved with...
07.06.2022
Episode 90: Freelance Kinkology (with Aella)
Independent researcher Aella joins Yoel and Alexa to talk about her experiences doing freelance social science. Their discussion touches on some far-ranging topics, from the upsides of Twitter microfame to the humbling experience of questioning one's faith. At one point,...
06.22.2022
Episode 89: What's Wrong with Social Media?
Mickey returns with the hot takes you know and love. He joins Yoel and Alexa to discuss Jonathan Haidt's recent Atlantic article, "Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid." Haidt claims the answer is social...
06.08.2022
Episode 88: Many Many Labs
Earlier this year, the last of five "Many Labs" projects was accepted for publication at Collabra: Psychology, representating the culmination of a nearly-decade long series of multi-lab replication efforts. In this episode, Alexa and Yoel consider what they've learned from...
05.18.2022
Episode 87: The Distracting Nature of Nudges
Originating within the behavioral sciences, "nudging" has received attention as a way to achieve broad societal change by promoting small, individual adjustments. We're told, for instance, that if we all do our part reduce our carbon footprints we can stave...
05.01.2022
Episode 86: A Face For Podcasting
Yoel and Alexa discuss a recent study that examines the facial features that people perceive as "smart," "dorky," "trustworthy," or a number of other traits. The study quickly captured a lot of attention, eliciting both fascination and anger. The cohosts...
04.20.2022
Episode 85: People Dealing With the Pandemic Pretty Well, Study Finds
Originally, Yoel and Alexa set out to discuss a study examining stress and decision-making during the pandemic. However, they get sidetracked by the ways that data are packaged - first by APA, and then by NPR - into a newsworthy...
04.06.2022
Episode 84: Check Your Values?
Alexa and Yoel fight some more, this time over whether or not science should be value free. They consider a position taken by W. E. B. Du Bois, who argued that social change was only possible if scientists focused solely...
03.23.2022
Episode 83: Grand Challenges
Yoel and Alexa discuss the "grand challenges" of psychological science, as identified in a recent survey of APS members. While usually nauseatingly agreeable, the two find many points of contention when it comes to psychology's shortcomings - from the kinds...
03.09.2022
Episode 82: Psychology Worth Knowing
Yoel and Alexa embrace their credulous sides and consider concepts from psychology that have importance for people in their private and public lives. Each of us lists the three social psychological ideas that we think are most relevant to people's...
02.23.2022
Episode 81: Against Retribution
Alexa moonlights as a guest and answers Yoel's questions about her recent paper, in which she argues that the criminal justice system should abandon retribution. Alexa claims that when we ask if someone is blameworthy, we are asking social scientific...
02.09.2022
Episode 80: The C-Word (with Julia Rohrer)
Personality psychologist and methodologist Julia Rohrer joins the show to talk about causal claims, strategic ambiguity, and how tough it is to tell what empirical claims many psychology papers are making. To illustrate, we subject Yoel's first paper, "Conservatives are...
01.26.2022
Episode 79: All About Authenticity
Alexa and Yoel talk authenticity. What is it? Is it good to have it? And why does Alexa score higher on it than Yoel? We talk about a draft paper examining how people infer authenticity in themselves and others, and...
01.12.2022
Episode 78: Meehl on Theory
Alexa and Yoel are back with more amateur philosophy of science. This time, we do a deep dive into a paper by the legendary Paul Meehl: "Appraising and Amending Theories: The Strategy of Lakatosian Defense and Two Principles that Warrant...
12.08.2021
Episode 77: Against Method?
Alexa and Yoel tackle Paul Feyerabend, the wild man of philosophy of science. What can we learn from his "anything goes" argument for methodological anarchy? We go deep on the first five chapters of Feyerabend's most famous work, "Against Method,"...
11.17.2021
Episode 76: Preregistration (What is it Good For)
Alexa and Yoel talk about objections to preregistration. Does preregistration imply that researchers can't be trusted? Does it mean that they can't use their best judgment? When might preregistration be unhelpful? We also discuss researcher degrees of freedom in a...
11.03.2021
Episode 75: Beyond Experiments
Alexa and Yoel talk about a paper purporting to show that winning the Nobel Prize increases your lifespan. In the process, they dip their toes into non-experimental causal inference and discuss whether there is a taboo in psychology about drawing...
10.13.2021
Episode 74: Pleasurable Suffering (with Paul Bloom)
Paul Bloom joins us to talk about why we want to suffer. Sometimes it's a means to an end, but sometimes we desire it for its own sake. Among other things, we talk about mountain-climbing, whether you'd want to run...
09.29.2021
Episode 73: We Need to Talk About Fraud (with Joe Simmons)
Yoel and Alexa are joined by Joe Simmons to talk about fraud. We go in-depth on a recent high-profile fraud case, but we also talk about scientific fraud more generally: how common is it, how do you detect it, and...
09.15.2021
Episode 72: The Climate Survey (with Danielle McDuffie)
Danielle McDuffie is a graduate student in psychology at the University of Alabama. This is the story of how she ran a graduate student climate survey, the explosive results, and the very contentious year that ensued. Special Guest: Danielle McDuffie....
09.01.2021
Episode 71: The Good Life
Alexa and Yoel discuss a new paper (Oishi & Westgate, 2021) arguing that psychological richness is an overlooked aspect of the good life. In the process, they compare psychologically-rich-life scores, plan hypothetical vacations, and compare major regrets. Also, Alexa...
08.11.2021
Episode 70: Older
Alexa and Yoel tackle the most dreaded subject: getting older. Have they become better researchers and people over the years? Are they happier and more connected? Or are they just more forgetful and less good at stats? Plus: some listener feedback...
07.21.2021
Episode 69: How to Self-Care
Alexa and Yoel go deep on self-care. What is it, how do you do it, and why does the term raise Yoel's hackles? How hard do we actually work, and should we be trying to work less? Also, Alexa shares...
07.07.2021
Episode 68: How (Not) to be a Hater
Alexa and Yoel discuss "The Anticreativity Letters," a satirical article by Richard Nisbett that advises young psychology researchers to (among other things) avoid being overly critical. How does the article's advice hold up today? How does one combine appropriate skepticism...
06.23.2021
Episode 67: Getting Drunk (with Ted Slingerland)
Mickey and Yoel welcome repeat guest Ted Slingerland to talk about his new book "Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization," in which he makes the case for alcohol. Also, why are Yoel's guns out, and what...
06.09.2021
Episode 66: How is Open Science Doing?
Yoel and Alexa discuss progress in open science over the past 10 years. Is the scientific reform glass half-full or half-empty? Where have we made progress, and what still needs work? We use two papers describing "Scientific Utopia" by Nosek...
05.26.2021
Episode 65: Our Social Media Prisms
Mickey, Alexa, and Yoel break down "Breaking the Social Media Prism," a new book arguing that social media reinforces our pre-existing political beliefs and polarizes us against the other side. Plus, HUGE NEWS about who's hosting the show. Also, Yoel gets...
04.28.2021
Episode 64: Quick Fixes (with Jesse Singal)
Journalist and podcaster Jesse Singal joins the show to talk about the enduring popularity of social-psychological quick fixes and how they go wrong. Plus: what is wrong with how the media covers science? Special Guest: Jesse Singal. Links:Shipping Out of...
03.24.2021
Episode 63: Legalize It (with Carl Hart)
Neuroscientist and addiction researcher Carl Hart joins the show to talk drug legalization. Why does he think all drugs should be legal? What are some common myths about drug use and addiction? And how has his personal experience as a...
02.24.2021
Episode 62: Actually Against Academia (with Lee Jussim)
Lee Jussim joins the show to argue that we have been too soft on academia. We discuss problems in psychology and the social sciences including ideological bias, politically-motivated retractions, and more. Have things gotten better or worse over the past...
01.27.2021
Episode 61: Bullshit, Misinformation, and What to Do About It (with Gord Pennycook)
Psychologist Gordon Pennycook joins the show to talk bullshit and misinformation. What is bullshit, and why do some people fall for it more than others? Why does misinformation spread so readily, and what can be done to stop it? Plus: Yoel...

What's Two Psychologists Four Beers about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Two Psychologists Four Beers episodes:

Episode 110: RE-RELEASE: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf)

Episode 109: RE-RELEASE: Against Mindfulness

Episode 108: RE-RELEASE: We Need to Talk About Fraud

Episode 107: Against Anti-DEI Rhetoric

Episode 106: We Need to Talk About Fraud Again

Episode 105: Patchwork Politics

Episode 104: Quantifying the Narrative of Replicable Science

Episode 103: Psych (with Paul Bloom)

Episode 102: Destigmatizing Mental Health (with Andrew Devendorf)

Episode 101: An Outside Perspective on Implicit Bias

Episode 100: What Happened at Perspectives on Psychological Science?

Episode 99: Is MTurk Too Good To Be True?

Episode 98: Inspired Science (with Spencer Greenberg)

Episode 97: Getting Into Grad School

Episode 96: So, What Do You Do?

Episode 95: What are Teachers Good For? (with Paul Bloom)

Episode 94: Individualism, Interdependence, and Student Loans

Episode 93: Facing a Social Media Mob (with Stefan Uddenberg)

Episode 92: Should SPSP Stay Out of It?

Episode 91: Decriminalizing Mental Illness

Episode 90: Freelance Kinkology (with Aella)

Episode 89: What's Wrong with Social Media?

Episode 88: Many Many Labs

Episode 87: The Distracting Nature of Nudges

Episode 86: A Face For Podcasting

Episode 85: People Dealing With the Pandemic Pretty Well, Study Finds

Episode 84: Check Your Values?

Episode 83: Grand Challenges

Episode 82: Psychology Worth Knowing

Episode 81: Against Retribution

Episode 80: The C-Word (with Julia Rohrer)

Episode 79: All About Authenticity

Episode 78: Meehl on Theory

Episode 77: Against Method?

Episode 76: Preregistration (What is it Good For)

Episode 75: Beyond Experiments

Episode 74: Pleasurable Suffering (with Paul Bloom)

Episode 73: We Need to Talk About Fraud (with Joe Simmons)

Episode 72: The Climate Survey (with Danielle McDuffie)

Episode 71: The Good Life

Episode 70: Older

Episode 69: How to Self-Care

Episode 68: How (Not) to be a Hater

Episode 67: Getting Drunk (with Ted Slingerland)

Episode 66: How is Open Science Doing?

Episode 65: Our Social Media Prisms

Episode 64: Quick Fixes (with Jesse Singal)

Episode 63: Legalize It (with Carl Hart)

Episode 62: Actually Against Academia (with Lee Jussim)

Episode 61: Bullshit, Misinformation, and What to Do About It (with Gord Pennycook)