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This month at The Psychology Podcast we discussed moral outrage in the digital age with Molly Crockett, the evolutionary origins of a good society with Nicholas Christakis, everyday creativity with Ruth Richards, and restoring the playground with Gwen Gordon.
Moral Outrage in the Digital Age with Molly Crockett
Molly Crockett is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale University and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics. Prior to joining Yale, Dr. Crockett was a faculty member at the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology and a Fellow of Jesus College. Dr. Crockett holds a BSc in Neuroscience from UCLA and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge, and completed a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship with economists and neuroscientists at the University of Zürich and University College London.
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In this episode we discuss:
The discrepancy between outrage in real life vs. online outrage
Cultural evolution and the selection and amplification of online content
How basic reinforcement learning principles drive the design of online systems to maximize the amount of time we spend on the platforms
Is the “habitual online shamer” addicted to outrage?
Habitual behavior vs. addiction
Is “outrage fatigue” happening en masse?
Should we be thinking about rationing our outrage (reserving it for issues we find most important)?
The costs and benefits of outrage
Why people punish and the discrepancy between the actual reasons why we punish (inferred from behavior) vs. self-reported motives
The difficulty doing science on topics that are incredibly heated in public social discourse
The intractably intertwined nature of science and social justice
What technologies might be doing to the way that young people construe the social world
The human capacity for forgiveness
Twitter Q & A
The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society
Nicholas Christakis is a physician and sociologist who explores the ancient origins and modern implications of human nature. He directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science in the departments of Sociology, Medicine, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics and Data Science, and Biomedical Engineering. He is also the codirector of the Yale institute for Network Science, the coauthor of Connected, and most recently, author of the book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, which on its first week became a NY Times bestseller.
In this episode we discuss:
Why breadth of knowledge across fields is important
The evolutionary forces that have shaped our capacity for living socially
Can you love your own group without hating everyone else?
How can crowds be a force for good?
How the capacity for friendship is connected to the evolution of cooperation
Can you love your own group and evenloveother groups as well?
Framing group dynamics in terms of collective narcissism
The “social suite” of human nature
The “forbidden experiment”
Experiments on artificial societies
How long will Homo Sapiens last?
The importance of elephant friendships
How evolution has shaped our societies
The importance of recognizing our common humanity
Everyday Creativity with Ruth Richards
Ruth Richards is a psychologist, psychiatrist, professor at Saybrook University, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Richards has published numerous articles, edited/written three previous books on everyday creativity, and received the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement (Division 10, American Psychological Association). Dr. Richards sees dynamic creative living as central to individuals and cultures, and a new worldview. Her latest book is called “Everyday Creativity and the Healthy Mind: Dynamic New Paths for Self and Society”, which recently won the won a Nautilus Silver Award.
In this episode we discuss:
What is “everyday creativity”?
What is “universal creative potential”?
All the ways people can do things differently
The four P’s of creativity
Openness and creativity
Chaos and complexity in creativity
The role of the unconscious mind in creativity
The link between mental illness and creativity
The controlled chaos of creativity
The healing function of creativity
Can consciousness get in the way of creativity?
Can creativity heal the world?
Restoring the Playground with Gwen Gordon
Gwen Gordon began her career building Muppets for Sesame Street. Since leaving Sesame Street, Gwen developed Awakened Play, a play-based approach to making behavior change irresistible and transformation delightful. She has applied her insights in organizations ranging from San Quentin Prison to the MIT Media Lab and from IDEO to PepsiCo. Along the way, Gwen has collected a master’s degree in philosophy and an Emmy award in children’s programming. Her latest book is The Wonderful W, which is the first picture book for grownups.
In this episode we discuss:
What is play?
How everything is really “fear of the void”
The doorway to the sense of wholeness
Gwen’s experience working at Sesame Street
Correcting the record about how Gwen created the Rockheads on Sesame Street
Scott’s crush on Miss Piggy
The shadow side to play
How the playground is our true habitat
The incredible importance of adult play
The inherent paradoxes of play
How play relates to attachment theory
How play is a healthy stepping stone to healthy childhood development