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Professor Dan Cable and comedian Akin Omobitan unearth social science’s hidden gems by “funpacking” peer-reviewed articles and sharing their choice findings!
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Dan and Akin take on the age-old debate of talent vs. hard work, but from the perspective of how each is perceived, and therefore appreciated. When armed with insights uncovered by science, can individual better sell their skills to the world?
- Research Paper: 'Naturals and Strivers: Preferences and Beliefs about Sources of Achievement' by Chia-Jung Tsay and Mahzarin Banji
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
Ever tried to improve your life? We would hope so! Dan and Akin offer a little motivation as the duo talk the science of habits and what's going on psychologically when we try to form new ones.
- Research Paper: 'How are Habits Formed: Modelling Habit Formation in the Real World' by Phillipa Lally, Cornelia van Jaarsveld, Henry Potts and Jane Wardle
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
Looking to buy someone the perfect gift? Science backs the well-aged saying, "It's the thought that counts." However, the problem is that we it comes to buying gifts, the thought is that the more we spend, the more it counts. Akin and Dan break down a study that finds givers and receivers are just as happy when less money is spent.
- Research Paper: 'Money Can't Buy Love: Asymmetric Beliefs about Gift Price and Feelings of Appreciation' by Francis Flynn and Gabrielle Adams
Wednesday Dec 11, 2019
Wednesday Dec 11, 2019
Is it exploitation if you love it? Dan and Akin sit down to discuss research that scientifically exposes the dark side of believing your work is your calling.
- Research Paper: 'The Call of the Wild: Zookeepers, Callings and the Double-edged Sword of Deeply Meaningful Work' by J. Stuart Bunderson and Jeffery A. Thompson
Wednesday Dec 04, 2019
Wednesday Dec 04, 2019
The Dunning-Kruger Effect exposes a common yet surprising flaw of the human mind: the less we know about something, the less capable we are of knowing how little we know, which causes us to think we know more than we do. Confused? That's a good thing! Dan and Akin explain.
- Research Paper: 'Unskilled and Unaware of it: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments' by Justin Kruger and David Dunning
Wednesday Nov 27, 2019
Wednesday Nov 27, 2019
The Spotlight Effect is the psychological phenomenon that finds people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others. Everything is illuminated in the episode.
- Research Paper: 'The Spotlight Effect in Social Judgment: An Egocentric Bias in Estimates of the Salience of One's Own Actions and Appearance'
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
Wednesday Nov 20, 2019
How much are you worth per hour? If you need a calculator to figure that out, then stop, you might be one of fortunate ones, and not for reasons you might think. Dan and Akin squeeze the orange of a social science paper that finds people who know their hourly wage are less likely to engage in volunteer work. Tune in, it's all about to make sense.
- Research Paper: 'When Time is Money: The Effect of Hourly Payment on the Evaluation of Time' by Sanford DeVoe and Jeffrey Pfeffer
Wednesday Nov 13, 2019
Wednesday Nov 13, 2019
Socioemotional selectivity theory? Don't worry, we'll explain! We take a different approach this week by looking at an article by Laura Carstensen titled, 'The Influence of a Sense of Time on Human Development'. Goals, preferences and even cognitive processes change as our perception of time remaining shrinks or grows.
Wednesday Nov 06, 2019
Wednesday Nov 06, 2019
Want to come across as more likeable? Social science has an answer for you, and it's simpler than you might think: ask more questions. This week, Dan and Akin discuss a study that finds we humans underestimate the value of asking questions.
- Research Paper: 'It doesn’t hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking.' by Huang, Karen, Michael Yeomans, Alison Wood Brooks, Julia Minson, and Francesca Gino
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Wednesday Oct 30, 2019
Akin and Dan are joined by a guest in this episode to discuss the IKEA effect - the phenomena that causes individuals to overvalue self-made products. Their guest is Bruce Daisley, author of 'The Joy of Work: And 25 Ways to Find It' and host of 'Eat Sleep Work Repeat', a Apple #1 Business Podcast on happiness and work culture. We hope you enjoy!
- Research Paper: 'The IKEA effect: When labor leads to love' by Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon & Dan Ariely