Why We Do What We Do

Another quick review of a a logical fallacy. This time, we dive into the Middle of the Road logical fallacy, which many people inadvertently fall prey to. Of course, all you smart people already know this. But hopefully, this refresher will heighten everyone's sensitivity to it for a little while. 

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Links: 

1. https://youtu.be/VDGp04CfM4M
2. https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/middle-ground

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Many of us will blame our most instinctual behaviors, impulses, and drives on the vestigial, reptilian parts of our brains. My lizard brain made me do it! What is the science and evolution behind this impulsive little humunculous? 

Recommendations

• Abraham: Daich Coatings (https://daichcoatings.com/shop/luxrock-solid-surface-countertop/)
• Shane: Dope (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3850214/) 

Holidays:

• Disneyland’s Anniversary
• National Hot Dog Day
• National Peach Ice Cream Day
• National Tattoo Day
• Take your Poet to Work Day
• World Day for International Criminal Justice
• World Emoji Day
• Wrong Way Corrigan Day
• Yellow Pig Day
• Coral Reef Awareness Week
• Every Body Deserves a Massage Week
• Hemingway Look Alike Days
• National Baby Food Week
• National Ventriloquism Week
• Perseid Meteor Showers
• Sport Cliche Week
• National Hemp Month
• Bank Account Bonus Month
• Cell Phone Courtesy Month

Links and References: 

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/managing-your-memory/201712/don-t-listen-your-lizard-brain
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/where-addiction-meets-your-brain/201404/your-lizard-brain
3. https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-anatomy/limbic-system
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4406946/
5. https://www.earth.com/news/differences-in-the-mammalian-and-reptilian-brain-revealed/
6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/triune-brain
7. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/brain-the-inside-story/your-emotional-brain/beyond-our-lizard-brain
8. https://www.biotechniques.com/neuroscience/10x_sptl_so_no-we-dont-have-a-lizard-brain/
9. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/study-finds-classically-mammalian-brain-region-reptilian-brains/
10. https://brain.mpg.de/88758/research-labs
11. https://www.sciencealert.com/you-dont-actually-have-a-lizard-brain-evolutionary-study-reveals
12. https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/carl-sagan-reptile-brain/

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Employers should consider what they are incentivizing and de-incentivizing when they put certain policies in place. One such common policy is to make employees to use their PTO when taking sick days. This can seriously backfire. Psychology to the rescue!

Links: 

1. https://www.trinet.com/insights/if-an-employee-gets-sick-after-using-all-of-their-paid-time-off-pto-for-the-year-am-i-obligated-to-grant-them-additional-paid-time-for-sick-leave

Become a member! Support us at www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

People often invoke our impulses by referencing the lizard part of our brains. What is this vistigial reptillian cortex that weilds so much power over our most base instincts? We'll unpack what this term is supposed to mean. Further, we explore the evolutionary, psychological, and scientific history of this idea and the "evidence" for it. Join us for a romping good take down.

Recommendations

• Abraham: Orbital Sanders
• Shane: Fables comics series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/54296-fables)

Holidays:

• Don’t Step on a Bee Day
• International Nikola Tesla Day
• National Kitten Day
• National Pina Colada Day
• Pick Blueberries Day
• Teddy Bears’ Picnic Day
• U.S. Energy Independence Day
• Air Conditioning Appreciation Days
• Be Nice to New Jersey Week
• Creative Maladjustment Day
• Dog Days of Summer
• Freedom Week
• National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee Week
• National Farriers Week
• Nude Recreation Weekend
• Operation Safe Driver Week

Links: 

1. Schumann & Ross (2010). The benfits, cost, and paradox of revenge. Social and Psychology Personality Compass. https://www.pittcorelab.com/uploads/1/1/5/5/115561629/paradox_of_revenge_10.pdf
2. Uniacke, S. (2000). Why is revenge wrong? Journal of Value Inquiry, 34. 61-69). https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jrnlvi34&div=7&id=&page=
3. Jackson, J.C.,  et al. (2019). Revenge: A multi-level view and synthesis. Annual Review of Psychology, 70.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103305. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103305
4. Stillwell, A. M., et al. (2010). We’re all victims here: Toward a psychology of revenge. Basic and  Applied Social Psychology, 30(3). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973530802375094
5. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-complicated-psychology-of-revenge
6. https://tnsr.org/2017/11/blunt-not-heart-enrage-psychology-revenge-deterrence/
7. Price, M. (2009, June 1). Revenge and the people who seek it. Monitor on Psychology, 40(6). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/06/revenge
8. https://www.psychologs.com/the-psychology-behind-revenge/
9. https://www.scienceofpeople.com/the-psychology-of-revenge/

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We can broadly categorize our levels of confidence or purpose of scientific data based on the amount of and quality of the information we have about the phenomenon of interest. People hear these terms but don't fully understand what we mean when we call something a "theory," "law," or "hypothesis." We explain them here today.

Support us at Patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Links: 

1. https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Introductory_Chemistry/01%3A_The_Chemical_World/1.06%3A_Hypothesis_Theories_and_Laws#:~:text=A%20hypothesis%20is%20a%20tentative,summarizes%20the%20relationship%20between%20variables.
2. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/10/31/1209683893/how-the-u-s-gun-violence-death-rate-compares-with-the-rest-of-the-world
3. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/26/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

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Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we needed to release another nostalgia episode this week. This was our second most popular episode ever. Dr. Steven Hayes ("Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life") joins us to discuss the concept of "grit" as well as share several personal anecdotes. Enjoy this rerun of a popular classic. 

Support us at Patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

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Mood rings change color to inform the external world about our emotional states. How does this magical jewelry make our most private, inner experiences overtly observable? Most people know this is temperature-based reaction... and it is. But, we'll explain how and what it means, if anything. 

Links: 

1. https://thebannercsi.com/2020/03/22/the-science-and-history-behind-mood-rings/
2. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/was-the-mood-ring-a-gateway-drug-to-an-era-of-self-obsession
3. https://wholesalejewelrywebsite.com/products/mood-ring-color-chart-cfr7043
4. https://people.howstuffworks.com/mood-rings.htm

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

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Do pandas have thumbs? Kind of. We should periodically take the time to acknowledge and admire the significan role our biological morphology affects our psychology as a species. Aside from language, humans have a simple adaptation that wsa likely crucial to how we have evolved as a species.  This is our episode all about thumbs! 

Recommendations

• Abraham: No Hard Feelings (https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/nohardfeelings)
• Shane: The Cipher by Kathe Koja (https://www.centipedepress.com/horror/cipher.html)

Links: 

1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-dexterous-thumbs-may-have-helped-shape-evolution-two-million-years-ago-180976870/
2. https://www.npr.org/2010/07/26/128676181/a-handy-bunch-tools-thumbs-helped-us-thrive
3. https://www.postregister.com/outdoors/humans-opposable-thumbs-grant-us-huge-advantages/article_87f0ce8c-c739-11ed-a365-4fadeb3996f9.html
4. https://www.wral.com/story/thumbs-gave-human-ancestors-a-formidable-advantage/19497111/
5. https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/human-origins/understanding-our-past/living-primates/the-grasping-hand
6. https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Evol/opposablethumb.html
7. https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/2015/01/oldest-primates-lived-trees/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEarly%20primates%20were%20using%20this,ground%20couldn't%20reach.%E2%80%9D&text=The%20ability%20to%20live%20in,access%20to%20valuable%20food%20sources.
8. Almécija, S., Smaers, J. & Jungers, W. The evolution of human and ape hand proportions. Nat Commun 6, 7717 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8717
9. Flatt A. E. (2002). Our thumbs. Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), 15(4), 380–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2002.11927870
10. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/world/opposable-thumb-human-evolution-study-scn/index.html
11. https://www.thestar.com/life/2012/05/07/body_parts_pinky_finger.html
12. MacDermid, J. C., Lee, A., Richards, R. S., & Roth, J. H. (2004). Individual finger strength: are the ulnar digits "powerful"?. Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists, 17(3), 364–367. https://doi.org/10.1197/j.jht.2004.04.006
13. https://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/pdf/20090727114916_large.pdf

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Many people have taken a strong stance for a particular approach to reasoning: either inductive or deductive. However, we are going to try to argue that these approaches are not fundamentally different and any attempt to distinguish them is arbitrary. Did we succeed? You decide :) 

Support us at patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast

What does it take to put on a conference? We invite speical guests Jackie and Tyanna to talk about how and why they are a part of the team that organizes the Black Applied Behavior Analysts Conference (BABA). Special sale today for listeners who are interested in attending online or in-person. Learn more at https://babainfo.org/ or https://babainfo.org/conference/



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/why-we-do-what-we-do--3419521/support.

Support our podcast: www.patreon.com/wwdwwdpodcast