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Two Guys on Your Head

KUT & KUTX Studios, Dr. Art Markman & Dr. Bob Duke

Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explain how our brain works.

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20 episodes
Updated Friday

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Episodes20

Friday · 7 min
Growth Mindset and Its Discontents
A growth mindset about intelligence, the belief that you can get smarter with effort, is supposed to push you to keep trying when things get hard. And often it does. But what happens when you try and still fail? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about a new study that found something counterintuitive: emphasizing a growth mindset about intelligence can actually increase how much blame we assign when someone struggles with intellectual tasks. The catch is that a message meant to be encouraging can carry a hidden cost, turning “you can improve” into “you should have already.” The post Growth Mindset and Its Discontents appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
July 25 · 7 min
Navigating Uncertainty: Gratitude and The Swartz Value System
No one can control everything that happens, but we can adapt to a changing environment, even when that means shifting our perspective. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy discuss the value of gratitude and how a better understanding of where our values come from can shape the way we perceive and navigate uncertainty. The post Navigating Uncertainty: Gratitude and The Swartz Value System appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
July 19 · 7 min
Managing Discontinuous Predictions
Most people, most days, deal with variation pretty well, but how do we psychologically prepare for the times when big things happen that change the course of our lives, our livelihoods, or our sense of self? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about what we can do now to help prepare for uncertainty and why it’s so important. The post Managing Discontinuous Predictions appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
July 10 · 7 min
How to Disconnect and Why It’s Important (Rebroadcast)
It’s summertime, and for some, that means it’s time for a vacation. But how do you get the most out of your time off and truly vacate? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about how to disconnect and why it’s important. The post How to Disconnect and Why It’s Important (Rebroadcast) appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
July 3 · 8 min
Personality Traits, Moderation, and Longevity
A new study confirms that personality traits are associated with longevity, or lack thereof, but while behavior matters, there’s more to the story. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy look at why “everything in moderation, including moderation,” is still good advice. McGeehan et al. (2026). “Personality and mortality risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal data.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41359557/ The post Personality Traits, Moderation, and Longevity appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
June 26 · 8 min
Protect Your Boredom (Rebroadcast)
It seems that people today carry with them the constant mantra, “I’m so busy.” And as it can be tough to juggle work, kids, and life in general, a lot of that feeling of being overwhelmed may be our own fault. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markaman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the value of boredom and how to get the most out of your downtime to feel more in control and less stressed. The post Protect Your Boredom (Rebroadcast) appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
June 19 · 7 min
How Old Do You Feel? (Rebroadcast)
Why is it that we can feel a lot younger or older than we are? What does it mean to feel our age? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore the psychology of how we perceive age. The post How Old Do You Feel? (Rebroadcast) appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
June 12 · 7 min
Fighting Back
When someone attacks your character, the urge to fire back is almost irresistible. But defending yourself in the heat of the moment often does more harm than good, so why do we do it? In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of fighting back. The post Fighting Back appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
June 5 · 7 min
Oration Part III: The Conversation
Any form of oration is communication, and that communication is often not just a one-way street. In our third episode in our Two Guys on Your Head series on oration, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy look at how oration can be a conversation, albeit a fraught one. The post Oration Part III: The Conversation appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
May 31 · 8 min
Oration Part II: Some Tips
Graduation season brings a flood of commencement speeches, but most fall flat. In this episode of our Two Guys on Your Head series on oration, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy offer some practical tips on how to be an effective orator. The post Oration Part II: Some Tips appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
May 22 · 8 min
Oration Part I: On Slowing Down
Graduation season brings a flood of commencement speeches, but most fall flat. In this first episode in our Two Guys on Your Head series on oration, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy break down the psychology behind effective public speaking and explore the specific techniques that separate forgettable speeches from memorable ones. The post Oration Part I: On Slowing Down appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
May 15 · 7 min
How We Learn Language
If we can learn a language in our infancy, why is it so difficult to learn a second language later in life? On this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore how we learn language. The post How We Learn Language appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
May 8 · 7 min
Déjà vu
Have you ever traveled to a new place and suddenly, randomly, you experience this overwhelming sense of familiarity with what you’re seeing, like you’ve already seen it, even though you know you haven’t because you’ve never been there before? We call this phenomenon Déjà vu. On this episode of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore the psychology behind why it happens. The post Déjà vu appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
May 1 · 7 min
Graduation
It’s graduation season, and that comes with a lot of joy, tears, expectations, and relief. But it turns out, as Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore in this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, graduation is about a lot more than a diploma. The post Graduation appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
April 24 · 1 min
Art Explains his Easter Egg
Art explains the intro clip in the Easter Egg episode. The post Art Explains his Easter Egg appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
April 24 · 8 min
Easter Eggs
When we discover a hidden secret in a song, a movie, or a book, we can feel a sense of joy and connection. Those little gems are referred to as “easter eggs,” and we look for them because we’re curious. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy talk about the psychology of nurturing that sense of discovery and why it’s important. The post Easter Eggs appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
April 17 · 7 min
Schadenfreude
We’ve all felt a little spark of satisfaction when someone who wronged us stumbles, or when a rival fails. That feeling has a name: schadenfreude, a German word for the pleasure derived from witnessing the troubles or humiliation of others. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore why we experience an emotion most of us would rather not admit to. The surprising answer? Despite our discomfort with it, schadenfreude actually serves a useful purpose. The post Schadenfreude appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
April 10 · 8 min
The Failure Gap & Its Discontents
In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Eskreis-Winkler and colleagues describe what they call “the failure gap” — the consistent finding that outside observers dramatically overestimate how often people succeed after failing. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy discuss the takeaways from learning more about failure. Reference: Eskreis-Winkler, L., Woolley, K., Kim, M., & Polimeni, E. (in press). The failure gap. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Preprint available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=5407064 The post The Failure Gap & Its Discontents appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
April 3 · 7 min
The Failure Gap
In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Eskreis-Winkler and colleagues describe what they call “the failure gap” — the consistent finding that outside observers dramatically overestimate how often people succeed after failing. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, describes the study and implications of the results with Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy. Reference: Eskreis-Winkler, L., Woolley, K., Kim, M., & Polimeni, E. (in press). The failure gap. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Preprint available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=5407064 The post The Failure Gap appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
March 27 · 7 min
The Psychology of Memory
One of the greatest features of our brains is that we can forget things, but why is it so difficult to forget some things but not others? It turns out, our brains absorb information before we ever get a chance to evaluate it — and once something is in there, there’s no delete key. In the episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman, Dr. Bob Duke, and Rebecca McInroy explore the psychology of memory. The post The Psychology of Memory appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.