Opinion Science
157 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 33 ratingsA show about the psychology of opinions, where they come from, and how they change. Interviews with experts and deep dives into areas of research uncover the basic psychology of persuasion, communication, and public opinion. Hosted by social psychologist, Andy Luttrell.
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Episodes
#32: Moralizing and Attention with Ana Gantman
March 01, 2021 05:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MBDr. Ana Gantman studies how people process moral stuff. She’s an assistant professor at Brooklyn College, and she finds that our attention is often drawn more quickly to morally relevant stimuli in our environment. More recently, she’s been looking into how our moral judgments collide with bureaucracy and how we can use moral psychology to address issues surrounding consent and sexual assault. Things we mention in this episode: The “moral pop-out” effect where moral stuff grabs our att...
#31: The Language of Opinion with Matt Rocklage
February 15, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBDr. Matt Rocklage studies the words we use to express opinions. He’s an assistant professor of marketing the University of Massachusetts-Boston. In our conversation, Matt talks about the Evaluative Lexicon, which is a tool he developed to quantify the language of opinion. Take an online review, feed it into the Evaluative Lexicon, and it’ll tell you how much the person liked or disliked the product and how much their emotions played a role in their opinion. His research with this tool has sh...
#30: "Us vs. Them" with Jay Van Bavel
February 01, 2021 05:00 - 31 minutes - 21.4 MBJay Van Bavel studies how our social identities shape the way we see ourselves and the people around us. He’s an associate professor of psychology at New York University. In an upcoming book, he and his colleague, Dominic Packer, present social identity theory. It’s a classic theory in social psychology that has inspired tons of research and continues to give insight into the modern world. At its root, it’s the idea that people often adopt an “us vs. them” mindset, which fuels lots of confli...
#29: Hype with Michael F. Schein
January 18, 2021 05:00 - 54 minutes - 37.7 MBMichael F. Schein is a writer, speaker, and founder of the marketing agency, MicroFame Media. In his new book, The Hype Handbook, he explores the antics of historically successful “hype artists”—cult leaders, music promoters, propagandists, etc.—to extract 12 common strategies that get people excited about and committed to new ideas. In our conversation, we talk about how “hype” is or is not the same as “persuasion,” how much we’re able to learn from stories of historical hype artists, and ...
#28: When Money Buys Happiness with Lara Aknin
January 04, 2021 05:00 - 42 minutes - 29.5 MBLara Aknin studies what makes people happy. In particular, she’s spent a lot of time looking at how being generous can improve one’s well-being. She is an associate professor of social psychology at Simon Fraser University, and you heard her a couple weeks ago on Opinion Science. Her work was featured on our episode on gift-giving, but she has so much interesting work that it seemed setting aside a whole episode for our entire conversation. Things that come up in this episode: College stud...
BONUS: "Best" of Opinion Science (2020)
December 28, 2020 05:00 - 1 hour - 62.9 MBAlthough 2020 will be remembered mostly for annoyances and deeply tragic events, one thing that kept me going this year was starting this podcast. Being able to talk with friends, people I've long admired, and people I had only recently met was a real joy. I wanted to put together an episode with some notable moments in Opinion Science this year. It's not truly a "best of" per se because I really am attached to every episode! Although I was learning on the fly how to podcast, there's aspect...
#27: Giving and Getting Good Gifts
December 21, 2020 05:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBIt’s that time of year when winter holidays send people on a buying spree as they collect gifts to give to every friend, family member, and acquaintance. And you’d think that after so many years of giving gifts for all sorts of holidays, we’d be pretty good at it. Right? Well, not according to research in psychology. In this episode, we explore the psychology of why giving to others is such a good thing to do, and also where gift givers go wrong. Along the way, we’ll pick up some tips for ho...
#26: Intersectional Role Models in STEM with India Johnson and Eva Pietri
December 07, 2020 05:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBTwo guests! Drs. Eva Pietri and India Johnson stop by to share the important work they’re doing together on the power of role models for underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Things that come up in this episode: Women and racial and ethnic minorities are under-represented in STEM fields (National Science Board, 2020) Encouraging identity-safety in STEM among Black (Johnson, Pietri, Fullilove, & Mowrer, 2019; Pietri, Johnson, & Ozgumus, 2018) and Latina women (Pietri, Drawbaugh, Lewis, &...
#25: Geography of Bias with Eric Hehman
November 23, 2020 05:00 - 46 minutes - 32 MBDr. Eric Hehman studies the geography of bias. Lots of research has looked at the prejudice that lives in an individual person’s head, but Eric looks at the average amount of bias in particular location. On average, some counties have more implicit bias than others, and some states have more bias than others. But what does it mean? That’s what Eric and I talk about this week! Things we mention in this episode: Zippia’s collection of fun maps, including Thanksgiving sides, pickle fandom, an...
#24: Persuasion via Story-Telling with Melanie Green
November 09, 2020 05:00 - 47 minutes - 33 MBMelanie Green studies stories. She’s a professor of Communication at University of Buffalo, and for years she’s been looking into whether stories can serve to persuade people. Are stories just entertainment or can they change our minds? In this episode, we talk about stories, her research on persuasion, and the experience of being transported by a story. Topics that come up in this episode: People differ in their “transportability,” which is associated with their receptiveness to narrative...
#23: Polling Young Voters with Kristen Soltis Anderson
October 26, 2020 04:00 - 49 minutes - 34.1 MBKristen Soltis Anderson is a pollster and co-founder of Echelon Insights. For five years, she co-hosted the podcast, The Pollsters, she hosts the SiriusXM show, The Trendline, and the Fox Nation show What Are the Odds? She also regularly appears on television to discuss the latest polls. She’s spent a lot of time looking at polls of Millennials in particular. In 2015, she published her first book, The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials Are Leading America (And How Republicans Can Keep Up), in w...
#22: Political Persuasion with Alex Coppock
October 12, 2020 04:00 - 41 minutes - 28.2 MBAlex Coppock is an assistant professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research considers what affects people's political beliefs, especially the kinds of messages people regularly encounter--TV ads, lawn signs, Op-Eds, etc. In this episode, he shares the findings of a big, new study that just came out as well as what it means for how persuasion works. Things that came up in this episode: A new study testing dozens the efficacy of dozens of political ads (Coppock, Hill, & Va...
More Influence Than You Realize with Vanessa Bohns
September 28, 2020 04:00 - 46 minutes - 32.2 MBVanessa Bohns studies the difference between how much influence people have and how influence they think they have. On the podcast, we talk about her studies, why people underestimate their influence, and whether this means we should try asking for more than we do now. If you sit tight until next year, Dr. Bohns has a book coming out called You Have More Influence than You Think. A few things that come up in our conversation: For a general overview of Dr. Bohns’ research on this topic, yo...
#21: More Influence Than You Realize with Vanessa Bohns
September 28, 2020 04:00 - 46 minutes - 32.2 MBVanessa Bohns studies the difference between how much influence people have and how influence they think they have. On the podcast, we talk about her studies, why people underestimate their influence, and whether this means we should try asking for more than we do now. If you sit tight until next year, Dr. Bohns has a book coming out called You Have More Influence than You Think. A few things that come up in our conversation: For a general overview of Dr. Bohns’ research on this topic, yo...
New Episodes on the Way!
September 21, 2020 04:00 - 2 minutes - 1.7 MBJust a quick word about new episodes on the way and a switch to biweekly shows. Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter. For a transcript of this episode, visit this episode's page at: http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/episodes/ Learn more about Opinion Science at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/ and follow @OpinionSciPod on Twitter.
BONUS: Good Accidents with Elliot Aronson
September 07, 2020 04:00 - 53 minutes - 36.9 MBElliot Aronson has seen a long and influential career in social psychology. Aronson got his PhD in 1959 from Stanford University, working with Leon Festinger on some of the first experiments testing dissonance theory. He authored a celebrated social psychology textbook, now in its twelfth edition, and he pioneered the research on the jigsaw classroom--"a cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict among school children, promotes better learning, improves student motivation, a...
BONUS: Dissonance and the New Look with Joel Cooper
August 31, 2020 04:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBLast week's special episode on cognitive dissonance pulled together interviews with several people who are experts in the field. Joel Cooper is one of those experts! When I first started getting interested in the social psychology of cognitive dissonance, Joel's book (Cognitive Dissonance: 50 Years of a Classic Theory) was so useful. You heard snippets of this interview in last week's episode, but I want to share it all on its own for anyone interested in more about Joel's story. We get in...
#20: The Cognitive Dissonance Episode
August 24, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 41.7 MBIn 1957, Leon Festinger published A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Along with a collection of compelling experiments, Festinger changed the landscape of social psychology. The theory, now referenced constantly both in and outside of academic circles, has taken on a life of its own. And it’s still informing new research and analysis more than 60 years later. For the grand 20th episode of Opinion Science, I want to give you an insider’s look at the theory–its inspiration, the people involved...
#19: Political Humor as Persuasion with Danna Young
August 17, 2020 04:00 - 58 minutes - 39.9 MBDr. Dannagal Young studies political humor. She pulls together psychology, communications, and political science, to understand how political satire works to change minds and expand political knowledge. She also has a new book: Irony and Outrage: The Polarized Landscape of Rage, Fear, and Laughter in the United States, which explores how satire became a tool of political left and outrage media because a tool of the political right. Some things that come up on this episode: Daily Show viewe...
#18: Health Communication with Allison Earl
August 10, 2020 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBAllison Earl studies the challenges of getting health information to people who need it. Her research looks at how people react defensively to information about their health and how to improve it. In this episode, she shares her research on people's tendency to avoid threatening health information and how simple meditation exercises can make people more open to these kinds of messages. Some things that come up in this episode: Targeting health information to specific groups makes people f...
#17: How We Think About Animals with Kristof Dhont
August 03, 2020 04:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBKristof Dhont studies the psychology behind humans’ complicated feelings about animals. In particular, his research looks at how the existence of “speciesism” can stem from the same psychological factors that also produce other social prejudices. In this episode, Kristof and I talk about how people avoid connecting meat to the animals it comes from, how a social dominance worldview gives rise to speciesism, and what psychology can (and can’t) tell us about effective advocacy. Check out Dr. ...
Implicit Bias with Mahzarin Banaji
July 27, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 51.4 MBMahzarin Banaji is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. In the 90s, she and her colleagues pioneered the research in social psychology on implicit bias. They are perhaps best known for creating the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which purports to measure the preferences that people are unable or unwilling to say they have. Using this tool, psychologists have arrived at fascinating findings about bias, which have spawned a productive (and sometimes contentious) field of research...
#16: Implicit Bias with Mahzarin Banaji
July 27, 2020 04:00 - 1 hour - 51.4 MBMahzarin Banaji is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. In the 90s, she and her colleagues pioneered the research in social psychology on implicit bias. They are perhaps best known for creating the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which purports to measure the preferences that people are unable or unwilling to say they have. Using this tool, psychologists have arrived at fascinating findings about bias, which have spawned a productive (and sometimes contentious) field of research...
Political Campaigning with Joe Fuld
July 20, 2020 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBJoe Fuld founded the political consulting firm, The Campaign Workshop, and he also co-hosts the podcast, "How to Win a Campaign." In this episode, he shares his background in political and advocacy campaigns and what you need to consider if you're thinking of running for office yourself. At the top of the show, I also talked to Pavan Parikh. He's currently running for Probate Court Judge in Hamilton County, Ohio. You can learn more about Pavan at https://www.pavanforjudge.com/ or follow his...
#15: Political Campaigning with Joe Fuld
July 20, 2020 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBJoe Fuld founded the political consulting firm, The Campaign Workshop, and he also co-hosts the podcast, "How to Win a Campaign." In this episode, he shares his background in political and advocacy campaigns and what you need to consider if you're thinking of running for office yourself. At the top of the show, I also talked to Pavan Parikh. He's currently running for Probate Court Judge in Hamilton County, Ohio. You can learn more about Pavan at https://www.pavanforjudge.com/ or follow his...
#15: Political Campaigning with Joe Fuld (ft. Pavan Parikh)
July 20, 2020 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBJoe Fuld founded the political consulting firm, The Campaign Workshop, and he also co-hosts the podcast, "How to Win a Campaign." In this episode, he shares his background in political and advocacy campaigns and what you need to consider if you're thinking of running for office yourself. At the top of the show, I also talked to Pavan Parikh. He's currently running for Probate Court Judge in Hamilton County, Ohio. You can learn more about Pavan at https://www.pavanforjudge.com/ or follow his...
#14: Certainty with Zakary Tormala
July 13, 2020 02:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBDr. Zakary Tormala is a professor of behavioral science and marketing at Stanford University’s business school. He studies how people can become certain of an opinion and what that means for their willingness to share their views. We talk about what certainty is, how it affects people's choices and resistance to change, and how the research about certainty can inform best practices in persuasion. Some of the things that come up in this episode: Robert Burton's article, "The Certainty Epide...
Certainty with Zakary Tormala
July 13, 2020 02:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBDr. Zakary Tormala is a professor of behavioral science and marketing at Stanford University’s business school. He studies how people can become certain of an opinion and what that means for their willingness to share their views. We talk about what certainty is, how it affects people's choices and resistance to change, and how the research about certainty can inform best practices in persuasion. Some of the things that come up in this episode: Robert Burton's article, "The Certainty Epide...
Fake News with Gordon Pennycook
July 06, 2020 02:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBDr. Gordon Pennycook studies why people share misinformation. His research has used many techniques to understand people’s ability to judge the accuracy of information, their willingness to share that information, and what we can do to encourage people to only spread true information. Some of the things that come up in this episode: There’s lots of coronavirus misinformation out there Seeing fake news repeatedly makes it feel more true (Pennycook, Cannon, & Rand, 2018) Believing fake ...
#13: Fake News with Gordon Pennycook
July 06, 2020 02:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MBDr. Gordon Pennycook studies why people share misinformation. His research has used many techniques to understand people’s ability to judge the accuracy of information, their willingness to share that information, and what we can do to encourage people to only spread true information. Some of the things that come up in this episode: There’s lots of coronavirus misinformation out there Seeing fake news repeatedly makes it feel more true (Pennycook, Cannon, & Rand, 2018) Believing fake ...
Comedy + Science with Shannon Odell
June 29, 2020 01:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBShannon Odell is a comedian and neuroscientist, and she uses comedy as a tool to teach people about science. She’s done this through hosting live shows, a YouTube series, a podcast, and other ways of getting the word out about how cool neuroscience is. In this episode, we talk about how she got into science, how she got into comedy, and how she thought to combine those two worlds. Be sure to check out some of Shannon’s work: “Your Brain on Blank”: a YouTube series about how your brain p...
#12: Comedy + Science with Shannon Odell
June 29, 2020 01:00 - 43 minutes - 30.2 MBShannon Odell is a comedian and neuroscientist, and she uses comedy as a tool to teach people about science. She’s done this through hosting live shows, a YouTube series, a podcast, and other ways of getting the word out about how cool neuroscience is. In this episode, we talk about how she got into science, how she got into comedy, and how she thought to combine those two worlds. Be sure to check out some of Shannon’s work: “Your Brain on Blank”: a YouTube series about how your brain p...
Opinions Across Cultures with Sharon Shavitt
June 22, 2020 01:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBDr. Sharon Shavitt is a professor of marketing at the University of Illinois. Her research has looked at consumer behavior from lots of angles, and she has been a pioneer in thinking about the role of culture in the persuasion process. In this episode, we talk about how she started to consider how the success of an advertisement depends on the audience’s cultural values and other effects of culture. She also shares her experience connecting social psychology with the world of marketing, whic...
#11: Opinions Across Cultures with Sharon Shavitt
June 22, 2020 01:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBDr. Sharon Shavitt is a professor of marketing at the University of Illinois. Her research has looked at consumer behavior from lots of angles, and she has been a pioneer in thinking about the role of culture in the persuasion process. In this episode, we talk about how she started to consider how the success of an advertisement depends on the audience’s cultural values and other effects of culture. She also shares her experience connecting social psychology with the world of marketing, whic...
Policing, Race, and Advocacy with Deion Hawkins
June 14, 2020 23:00 - 50 minutes - 34.9 MBDeion Hawkins is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Emerson College. He uses in-depth interviews with members of a community to understand health communication and the effects of police brutality. In this episode, he shares his dissertation work about where members of Black community get information about police brutality and the psychological toll that information takes. We also talk more generally about the recent Black Lives Matter protests and the role of race in academic...
#10: Policing, Race, and Advocacy with Deion Hawkins
June 14, 2020 23:00 - 50 minutes - 34.9 MBDeion Hawkins is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Emerson College. He uses in-depth interviews with members of a community to understand health communication and the effects of police brutality. In this episode, he shares his dissertation work about where members of Black community get information about police brutality and the psychological toll that information takes. We also talk more generally about the recent Black Lives Matter protests and the role of race in academic...
Systemic Racism with Phia Salter
June 08, 2020 06:00 - 49 minutes - 33.7 MBPhia Salter takes a cultural psychology approach to studying racism. She’s an associate professor of Psychology at Davidson College, and in this episode she draws a contrast between thinking of racism as an individual bias versus thinking of it as systemic. She talks about her research on the “Marley hypothesis” and the ways in which our environments’ discussion of racial issues shapes our own views. For more resources on understanding racism in the U.S., you can start by checking out Smith...
#9: Systemic Racism with Phia Salter
June 08, 2020 06:00 - 49 minutes - 33.7 MBPhia Salter takes a cultural psychology approach to studying racism. She’s an associate professor of Psychology at Davidson College, and in this episode she draws a contrast between thinking of racism as an individual bias versus thinking of it as systemic. She talks about her research on the “Marley hypothesis” and the ways in which our environments’ discussion of racial issues shapes our own views. For more resources on understanding racism in the U.S., you can start by checking out Smith...
#8: Opinions Online with William Brady
June 01, 2020 06:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MBWilliam Brady studies how messages spread online--especially on social media sites. By mixing psychology experiments with analyses of millions of messages on social media websites, he's learned what kinds of language cuts through the clutter. Specifically, he finds that moral emotional language plays a hefty role in online communication. In this episode, Billy talks about this research and his other work on moral outrage to give us an idea of how opinions spread online. Things we mention in...
Opinions Online with William Brady
June 01, 2020 06:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MBWilliam Brady studies how messages spread online--especially on social media sites. By mixing psychology experiments with analyses of millions of messages on social media websites, he's learned what kinds of language cuts through the clutter. Specifically, he finds that moral emotional language plays a hefty role in online communication. In this episode, Billy talks about this research and his other work on moral outrage to give us an idea of how opinions spread online. Things we mention in...
Neither Liberal nor Conservative with Nathan Kalmoe
May 25, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MBNathan Kalmoe is a political scientist at Louisiana State University. He studies public opinion and mass political behavior. In 2017 he co-authored the book, Neither Liberal nor Conservative: Ideological Innocence in the American Public. In this episode, we talk about his research on how political ideology means different things to political leaders than to the general public, how lots of people tend to avoid describing themselves and liberal or conservative, but how they nevertheless seem p...
#7: Neither Liberal nor Conservative with Nathan Kalmoe
May 25, 2020 09:00 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MBNathan Kalmoe is a political scientist at Louisiana State University. He studies public opinion and mass political behavior. In 2017 he co-authored the book, Neither Liberal nor Conservative: Ideological Innocence in the American Public. In this episode, we talk about his research on how political ideology means different things to political leaders than to the general public, how lots of people tend to avoid describing themselves and liberal or conservative, but how they nevertheless seem p...
#6: Film Criticism with Alissa Wilkinson (ft. Cody Duckworth)
May 18, 2020 09:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBAlissa Wilkinson is a film critic and culture reporter for Vox and an associate professor of English and Humanities and The King's College in New York City. We talk about how she translates her own thoughts and feelings about a film into a written piece of criticism and the role that criticism plays in society. She shares thoughts about the job of a film critic and the delicate art of rating, reviewing, and recommending movies. This episode also features snippets from a conversation with Co...
#6: Film Criticism with Alissa Wilkinson
May 18, 2020 09:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBAlissa Wilkinson is a film critic and culture reporter for Vox and an associate professor of English and Humanities and The King's College in New York City. We talk about how she translates her own thoughts and feelings about a film into a written piece of criticism and the role that criticism plays in society. She shares thoughts about the job of a film critic and the delicate art of rating, reviewing, and recommending movies. This episode also features snippets from a conversation with Co...
Film Criticism with Alissa Wilkinson
May 18, 2020 09:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBAlissa Wilkinson is a film critic and culture reporter for Vox and an associate professor of English and Humanities and The King's College in New York City. We talk about how she translates her own thoughts and feelings about a film into a written piece of criticism and the role that criticism plays in society. She shares thoughts about the job of a film critic and the delicate art of rating, reviewing, and recommending movies. This episode also features snippets from a conversation with Co...
#5: Perceived Bias with Laura Wallace
May 11, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBLaura Wallace studies what happens when people perceive a communicator as biased. In this episode, we talk about why bias is different from trustworthiness, how perceived bias affects a person's ability to be persuasive, and how we think about biased communicators in general. Things we mention in the episode: Gallup poll on Americans' perceptions of media bias NPR's complaints that they have both pro-conservative and pro-liberal biases Bias and trustworthiness are separate cues to credib...
Perceived Bias with Laura Wallace
May 11, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBLaura Wallace studies what happens when people perceive a communicator as biased. In this episode, we talk about why bias is different from trustworthiness, how perceived bias affects a person's ability to be persuasive, and how we think about biased communicators in general. Things we mention in the episode: Gallup poll on Americans' perceptions of media bias NPR's complaints that they have both pro-conservative and pro-liberal biases Bias and trustworthiness are separate cues to credib...
#4: Climate Change Communication with Matt Goldberg
May 04, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBMatt Goldberg is a soon-to-be associate research scientist at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. He uses established research from the psychology of persuasion to understand how the public thinks about climate change and how to convince people to adopt new beliefs and behaviors to stave off the threats of global warming. We talk about the differences between theoretical and applied research and what leaders can do to guide the world through this difficult time. Things we ment...
Climate Change Communication with Matt Goldberg
May 04, 2020 09:00 - 36 minutes - 25 MBMatt Goldberg is a soon-to-be associate research scientist at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. He uses established research from the psychology of persuasion to understand how the public thinks about climate change and how to convince people to adopt new beliefs and behaviors to stave off the threats of global warming. We talk about the differences between theoretical and applied research and what leaders can do to guide the world through this difficult time. Things we ment...
#3: "Disgusted" with Yoel Inbar
April 27, 2020 10:00 - 40 minutes - 27.8 MBYoel Inbar is a social psychologist at University of Toronto. He studies the feeling of disgust and how it shapes people's moral judgments. We talk about how disgust is associated with certain opinions, and why moral emotions can make people hold onto negative beliefs about genetically modified crops (even when the science supports their safety and usefulness). Yoel is also co-host of another psychology podcast, Two Psychologists, Four Beers. Things we mention in the episode: The relation...