Fitness tracking devices are getting smarter. They’re going to have to get a lot smarter if they are going to be powerful tools in your quest to be fit. But how much more “smart” do we really want them to get? Today they keep track of your steps and heart rate, but if your fitness tracker “knew” how you were … Read More
Ep 232: Psychologists Involved in Torture: What To Do About It?
You may have heard from the US Senate report on terrorism and the “enhanced interrogations” that a small group of psychologists were involved in the interrogations of detainees from the 9/11 incident. How could psychologists, who have a long tradition of concern and adherence to ethical standards in the treatment of others, become involved in such activities? Is it justified? … Read More
Ep 230: Questionable Research – With A Famous Psychologist Involved
Might you be able to rid yourself of an illness by “turning back the clock”? That is, by immersing yourself in a time in your life when you were not ill? We know that thinking about things in a positive way – which we sometimes call “reframing” can make us feel and act differently, and we know that the “placebo … Read More
Ep 221: The Facebook Study on Your Emotions: Ethical or Not?
You may have heard that Facebook manipulated the content of user’s New Feeds during January of 2012 so that some users saw more positive posts than others, while other Facebook users saw more negative posts. They interpret this as an indication of Social Contagion on a massive scale (almost 700,000 Facebook users were part of the study). How did this … Read More
Ep 211: Is a Little Deception Okay? Paid Crowds and Native Advertising
We face more moral “dilemmas” in everyday life than maybe we don’t realize. How do we resolve them? In this episode I discuss two interesting moral dilemmas: a) should you employ for-hire crowds of actors to attend your event in order to make it look like you’re more popular than you really are? and b) should you place your advertisements … Read More
Episode 119: Are You Lying in that Email?
Have you ever been less than truthful in an email? Or perhaps a little more blunt or emotional than you might have been if you delivered your message in person? Why is it that people can sometimes be so mean in their online comments?
Episode 97: Stanley Milgram Obedience Study Finally Replicated
The obedience studies originally conducted by Stanley Milgram (sometimes referred to as the Milgram Shock studies) have finally been replicated in a university setting. Will people obey an authority figure and give a stranger a dangerous shock? Or have things changed in the last 40 years such that people will be more willing to be disobedient to authority?
Episode 69: Personal Space Invasions – Ethical Implications of one of Psychology’s Strangest Studies
Remember the psychological study conducted in a men’s room? Think it was silly? Unethical? Let’s revisit this study and take a close look at what the critics say and what the authors themselves have to say in response. A fascinating look at the ethics and history of research in psychology.
Episode 50: Psychological Study Ripped Straight from….the Bible?
How many scientific studies find their inspiration from a parable in the bible? I’ll go over a very interesting study based on the Good Samaritan parable. Are people more likely to help someone if they are thinking “pious” thoughts at the time?
Episode 20: The Robber’s Cave Study – Exactly What Happened?
What do street gangs and little boys at a summer camp in Robber’s Cave State Park in 1954 have in common? Find out this week as we take a look at a study which taught us a great deal about intergroup conflict and resolution.
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