Opinion Science

#121: Cultural Evolution with Joshua Conrad Jackson

Dr. Joshua Conrad Jackson uses a bunch of creative research tools to tackle big questions about psychology, culture, and history. By examining historical records, modern writing, and global surveys (among other things), he and his colleagues can trace the trajectory of cultures over time. In our conversation, he helps me understand what "cultural evolution" means, how cultures have gotten more different (not more similar), and how historical records can shed light on the psychology of prejudice. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#120: Supporting versus Opposing with Rhia Catapano

Rhia Catapano studies what happens when people think of an opinion in terms of what they support versus what they oppose. It turns out that this simple difference carries important implications. Even if we're talking about the same basic opinion, something shifts when it's about support than opposition. In our conversation, Rhia shares her findings and what it means for people who want to communicate more effectively. At the top of the show, I discuss Issue 1 in Ohio from 2023. Most of the background details for that were drawn from this NYT article. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#119: The Power of Confident Uncertainty with Demi Oba

Demi Oba is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Harvard Business School. He studies the nature of communication. In our conversation, Demi shares some recent research on the different types of "hedges" people make when expressing uncertainty in a claim. These types of uncertainty matter for how persuasive a person can be. In fact, sometimes, being the right kind of uncertain can be more influential than expressing confidence. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#118: Making Moral Arguments with Jae-Hee Jung

Jae-Hee Jung is an assistant professor at Rice University, where she studies party politics, political behavior, and political psychology in Western democracies. Her research focuses on the strategic use of moral rhetoric (i.e., appeals to fundamental notions of right and wrong) and how it shapes political competition and voter psychology. We talk about her work analyzing political manifestos, the psychological mechanisms like pride that mobilize a party's base, and the surprising finding that inclusive moral messaging can actually build sympathy across the aisle without causing a partisan backlash. Along the way, we see how framing policies around core principles rather than simple costs and benefits changes the way voters connect with political parties over the long haul. Dr. Jung's new book is Shared Morals: The Role of Moral Rhetoric in Party Politics. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#117: Happiness As a Tool for Behavior Change with Liz Dunn & Jiaying Zhao

Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying Zhao are professors at the University of British Columbia, where they study social psychology and climate behavioral science, respectively. Together, they explore the intersection of human happiness and environmental action, challenging the traditional "guilt and shame" narratives that dominate climate communication. We talk about their new book: Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species, which explores how you can address climate change by taking actions that make you feel happy. We see how reframing environmental choices around joy can create a more effective, contagious movement for behavior change. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#116: Change Beliefs, Change Opinions? with Yamil Velez

Yamil Velez is an assistant professor of political science at Columbia University, where he studies what makes political opinions hard to shift. He’s been using innovative new methods to test important ideas about how people arrive at their views and what it takes to change them. We talk about the relationship between beliefs and opinions, why correcting misinformation doesn’t necessarily move opinions, and what happens when persuasive messages are tailored to the specific reasons people hold their views. Yamil shares his work using large language models to generate personalized arguments, showing that people will update their beliefs pretty readily—but only some of those belief changes actually translate into attitude change. Along the way, we explore what this means for persuasion, polarization, and the future of using AI to study (and maybe influence) public opinion. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#115: Raising Color-Conscious Kids with Sylvia Perry

Sylvia Perry is a social psychologist and Associate Professor at Northwestern University, where she directs the Social Cognition and Social Identity Lab. She studies the psychological mechanisms that shape how people recognize and confront their own biases, as well as how those biases are transmitted across generations. We talk about her research on racial socialization, specifically focusing on how white parents navigate—or frequently avoid—conversations about race with their children. Sylvia shares insights from her research on facilitating parent-child discussions about race and racism. We discuss why color-conscious messaging is more effective than "colorblind" approaches at reducing children’s implicit biases and how addressing subtle microaggressions can be more impactful for a child’s development than discussing overt prejudice alone. Along the way, we explore the privilege underlying the freedom to opt out of these difficult conversations and offer practical takeaways for parents looking to foster empathy and a sense of fairness in their own homes. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#114: Making Immigration Popular with Alex Kustov

Alex Kustov studies public opinion about immigration—why it’s so durable, why it becomes so politically explosive, and what (if anything) can make it more popular. We talk about the surprisingly stable foundations of immigration attitudes, why only a small fraction of people are categorically opposed, and how partisanship shapes the debate. Alex also explains what he calls the “altruist’s dilemma”: why people who are genuinely altruistic can still be skeptical of immigration, and how policies that are demonstrably beneficial to receiving communities can shift that skepticism. Along the way, we explore what it would mean to design immigration policy not just to be good, but to be visibly and intuitively good to the public. Dr. Kustov's recent book is In Our Interest: How Democracies Can Make Immigration Popular. He also writes the Substack Popular By Design. The episode's introduction is from Episode 57: Media, Norms, and Social Change with Sohad Murrar. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

Introducing Mind Games

I'm excited to share a preview of a new podcast I think you’d enjoy: Mind Games. What if you could hypnotize yourself into a better you? Or.... secretly hypnotize others into giving you anything you want? That’s the promise of NLP. Mind Games is an investigation into the world of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, a blend of hypnosis, linguistics, and psychology that has quietly shaped industries, institutions, and belief systems around the world. Part science experiment, part investigation, part true crime thriller, Mind Games tells the story of NLP and its crazy cast of disciples, including the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune, took it to Fortune 500 boardrooms, and whose gruesome murder trial did little to stop its rise. Find Mind Games on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. New episodes out Tuesdays. Listen here: swap.fm/l/listen-to-mind-games Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#113: Psychology in the Age of AI with Steve Rathje

Steven Rathje is a postdoc at New York University and an incoming assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He studies the psychology of technology, which includes how people engage with a variety of digital tools, especially those with social implications. We talk about his work on what makes content go viral online and the consequences of AI chatbots that are more agreeable than maybe they ought to be. Along the way, we see how basic principles of psychology govern social life in these digital spaces, too. A few things that come up: Lack of change in conspiracy beliefs over time (Uscinski et al., 2022) The psychology of virality (Rathje & Van Bavel, 2025) Testing the effects of AI sycophancy (Rathje et al., 2025) Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#112: Thinking Categorically with Greg Murphy

Greg Murphy studies the psychology of concepts. How do we use language to understand things, and how do we sort the world into categories? In our conversation, we consider what makes a category, why we love them, and where they steer us wrong. Dr. Murphy released a book on this topic a few years ago: Categories We Live By How We Classify Everyone and Everything Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#111: You Don't Know What You Like with Paul Eastwick & Eli Finkel

Paul Eastwick and Eli Finkel are two social psychologists who study the gears and levers of romantic relationships. What do people find attractive in a partner? How do relationships evolve over time? And critically, do romantic movies get any of this stuff right? Paul and Eli host the podcast, Love Factually, which dissects popular romantic films from the standpoint of behavioral science. What do they get wrong? What do they get right? On the show this month, we talk about the podcast, how scientists can study something like human love, and why people don't quite know what they find attractive until they stumble upon it. Also, at the end of the episode, I mention my print shop, Indispensable Letterpress. Check out the cards and posters I've been making using old technologies. Maybe even pick something up for a friend this holiday season? Be careful, though--your support will tell me that you approve of my obsession with the antiquated machines that fill my basement. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#110: The Value of Entertainment with Sara Grady

Sara Grady studies the function of entertainment—why we watch, play, and listen to the media that fill our lives. She's an assistant professor of Communication at Ohio State University. In our conversation, we explore what entertainment actually does for us, what it means to connect with fictional characters, and how storytelling shapes our relationships and well-being. Sara also shares her path from film production to media psychology and why understanding stories only deepens their magic. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

#109: The Realities of Political Persuasion with David Broockman

David Broockman is a political scientist at UC Berkeley who digs into one of democracy’s core questions: can political messages really change minds? He’s spent his career running careful studies of persuasion, from door-to-door conversations to the effects of cable news, and testing whether the confident claims of political consultants actually hold up. In our conversation, David shares the path that brought him into political science and the “credibility revolution” that reshaped how researchers study politics. We talk about what persuasion looks like in practice, why it’s so hard to predict which messages will work, and what his research reveals about the gap between political insiders’ instincts and what actually moves the needle. Source for intro to government shutdowns: Politicians argue both sides of government shutdown | AP News A Brief History of U.S. Government Shutdowns That Time a Lawyer Invented the Government Shutdown - Government Executive Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

SciComm Summer #26: Lulu Miller on Leading with Story

Lulu Miller has done a lot of things and done them very well. She is currently the co-host of Radiolab and its family-friendly spinoff, Terrestrials. She also co-created Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel and wrote the beautiful book, Why Fish Don't Exist. In our conversation, I try to learn Lulu's secrets when it comes it sharing science across media. I've been a fan of her work for a long time, so it was great to get to talk with her! (If you're here as a Radiolab fan, you should also check out my chat with Latif Nasser a couple of years ago.) In the show, I mentioned a run of letterpress prints I did inspired by Lulu's book. You can get a print for yourself here and learn more about how they were made. Any sales feed back into the podcast. You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

SciComm Summer #25: Sarah McAnulty on Art and Community in Science Communication

Sarah McAnulty is a squid biologist and a science communicator. She's come up with all sorts of creative ways to bring science to the people, especially through local community engagement initiatives. Learn more about Skype a Scientist: https://www.skypeascientist.com/ You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

SciComm Summer #24: Joe Palca on NPR Science Reporting

Joe Palca reported on science for NPR for years. He found his sweet spot, capturing people's interest and filling them in on curious new findings in just a few minutes. His path to this job wasn't all that direct, and in our conversation, he shares how he got there and what he's learned along the way. Listen to his 2019 story on the "electric dipole moment": Scientists Studying EDM To Find Why Everything In The Universe Exists : NPR You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

SciComm Summer #23: Alison Fragale on Giving Keynote Talks

Alison Fragale is an organizational psychologist who gives keynote talks and leads workshops outside academia. She talks frankly about what it takes to book speaking engagements, design powerful talks that make a difference, and juggle a speaking schedule with other commitments. She also just released a book -- Likable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve. You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

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SciComm Summer #22: Alex Dainis on Producing Online Videos

Alex Dainis is a freelance science communicator and video producer. She's been making science videos on YouTube for years, including recent work for the American Chemical Society. In 2024, she was received an Award for Excellence in Science Communications from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the Schmidt Foundation. We talk about how she started down this road and decided to make it her full-time work after graduate school, including the challenges of freelancing while staying committed to high-quality content. "Science is About How You Know" prints available here. You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

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SciComm Summer #21: Joel Bervell on Short Form Video

Joel Bervell recently graduated from medical school, which is when he gained fame as an influencer helping the public navigate good medical science. He’s out there breaking down myths about medicine, particularly shining a light on racial disparities in health and treatment. He recently won a Peabody award, consults with the White House, has given interviews on various media platforms, and has given talks all over. He hosts the podcast, The Dose. And he developed an animated children’s show for YouTube ("The Doctor is In"). So, I think it’s safe to say Joel knows a thing or two about reaching people with solid science content. I was happy I could catch him in between the 30 things he’s working on to learn more about his story and how he pulls all of this off. So let’s jump right into my chat with Joel Bervell. You can find the rest of this summer's science communication podcast series here. Join me over at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OpinionScience Learn more about Opinion Science and catch up on all the episodes at http://opinionsciencepodcast.com/.

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