Best Matthew Tompkins Podcasts (2025)

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327 - The Trolley Solution - Joshua Greene 1:19:19

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1h ago1:19:19

1:19:19

Philosopher, neuroscientist, and psychologist, Joshua Greene tells us how the brain generates morality and how his research may have solved the infamous trolley problem, and in so doing created a way to encourage people to contribute to charities that do the most good, and, in addition, play quiz games that can reduce polarization and possibly save…

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326 - The Origin of Language - Madeleine Beekman 46:11

9d ago46:11

46:11

We sit down with Dr. Madeleine Beekman, a professor emerita of evolutionary biology and behavioral ecology at the University of Sydney, Australia, whose new book, The Origin of Language, presents a completely new and fascinating theory for how language emerged in homo sapiens, in human beings, in you and me and the rest of us. Madeleine Beekman How…

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325 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two (rebroadcast) 57:58

1M ago57:58

57:58

In this episode we welcome Dr. Sarah Stein Lubrano, a political scientist who studies how cognitive dissonance affects all sorts of political behavior. She’s also the co-host of a podcast about activism called "What Do We Want?" and she wrote a book titled Don’t Talk About Politics which is about how to discuss politics without necessarily talking …

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324 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One (rebroadcast) 57:57

28d ago57:57

57:57

In this episode, the story of a doomsday cult who predicted the exact date and circumstances of the end of the world, and what happened when that date passed and the world did not end. Also, we explore our drive to remain consistent via our desire to reduce cognitive dissonance. When you notice you’ve done something you believe is wrong, then you w…

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323 - Job Therapy - Tessa West (rebroadcast) 55:06

1M ago55:06

55:06

Are you unhappy at your job? Are you starting to consider a change of career because of how your current work makes you feel? Do you know why? According to our guest in this episode, Dr. Tessa West, a psychologist at NYU, if you are currently contemplating whether you want to do the work that you do everyday you should know that although this feeli…

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322 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter 1:07:44

2M ago1:07:44

1:07:44

Can intellectual humility be measured? What influences it and affects it, limits it and enhances it? What even is it, scientifically speaking? We explore all of this and then play an episode of How to Be A Better Human featuring psychologist Tenelle Porter telling comedian Chris Duffy how she is researching how to conduct better research into intel…

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321 - Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown (rebroadcast) 1:18:08

3M ago1:18:08

1:18:08

This episode is about suicide prevention and awareness. Author Kelly Williams Brown tells us about her book, Easy Crafts for the Insane, in which she recounts how, after she gained fame and success as a NYT bestselling author, her world came apart. Then an anti-anxiety-drug-induced manic state nearly ended her life. 988 Suicide Prevention Month Kel…

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320 - Misguided - Matthew Facciani 1:08:55

3M ago1:08:55

1:08:55

What is misinformation? How does it differ from disinformation or just plain ‘ole propaganda? How do we protect ourselves from people with nefarious intentions using all of these things to affect our thoughts, feelings, and behavior? That’s what we discuss in this episode with Matthew Facciani, social scientist and author of Misguided: Where Misinf…

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319 - Love Factually - Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick 1:06:08

4M ago1:06:08

1:06:08

Two psychologists who study love, relationships, and human mating behavior pick apart the movie "The Notebook" and tell us what it gets right and what it gets wrong when it comes to portraying how humans actually, truly think, feel, and behave. Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick are the cohosts of the Love Factually podcast, a show that discusses the rom…

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318 - The Intention Action Gap - Britt Frank (rebroadcast) 1:10:01

4M ago1:10:01

1:10:01

In this episode, we sit down with therapist Britt Frank to discuss the intention action gap, the psychological term for the chasm between what you very much intend to do and what you tend to do instead. It turns out, there's a well-researched psychological framework that includes a term for when you have a stated, known goal – a change you'd like t…

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317 - Don't Talk About Politics - Sarah Stein Lubrano 1:10:11

4M ago1:10:11

1:10:11

Sarah Stein Lubrano tells us about her new book, Don't Talk About Politics, which urges us not to lose hope or become frozen in frustration when it comes to polarization and faulty discourse because the good news is that we don't just know, scientifically, why the marketplace of ideas is currently failing us, we know how, scientifically, we can do …

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316 - Cultures of Growth - Mary C. Murphy (rebroadcast) 1:08:13

5M ago1:08:13

1:08:13

In this episode we welcome psychologist Mary C. Murphy, author of Cultures of Growth, who tells us how to create institutions, businesses, and other groups of humans that can better support collaboration, innovation, performance, and wellbeing. We also learn how, even if you know all about the growth mindset, the latest research suggests you not ma…

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315 - May Contain Lies - Alex Edmans 39:43

5M ago39:43

39:43

Alex Edmans, a professor of finance at London Business School, tells us how to avoid the Ladder of Misinference by examining how narratives, statistics, and articles can mislead, especially when they align with our preconceived notions and confirm what we believe is true, assume is true, and wish were true. Alex Edmans May Contain Lies What to Test…

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314 - Fluke - Brian Klaas (rebroadcast) 54:19

6M ago54:19

54:19

In this episode we sit down with Brian Klaas, author of Fluke, and get into the existential lessons and grander meaning for a life well-lived (once one finally accepts the power and influence of randomness, chaos, and chance). In addition, we learn not to fall prey to proportionality bias - the tendency for human brains to assume big, historical, o…

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313 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth 59:25

6M ago59:25

59:25

If you want to overthrow a dictator, resist an authoritarian regime, or create a movement that can change the national status quo, you don't need half the country, you only need 3.5 percent of the population to join – but there are some caveats, and Erica Chenoweth whose research led to the discovery of the 3.5 Percent Rule, explains them to us in …

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312 - Chaos and Complexity - Neil Theise (rebroadcast) 59:34

7M ago59:34

59:34

Professor Neil Theise, the author of Notes on Complexity, provides an introduction to the science of how complex systems behave – from cells to human beings, to ecosystems, the known universe, and beyond – and we explore if Ian Malcolm was right when he told us in Jurassic Park that "Life, um, finds a way." Previous Episodes Neil Theise's Website N…

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311 - Cascades of Change - Greg Satell (rebroadcast) 1:06:52

8M ago1:06:52

1:06:52

In this episode we sit down with Greg Satell, a communication expert whose book, Cascades, details how rapid, widespread change can sweep across groups of people big and small, and how understanding the psychological mechanisms at play in such moments can help anyone looking to create change in a family, institution, or even nation, prepare for the…

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310 - Align Your Mind - Britt Frank 1:12:55

8M ago1:12:55

1:12:55

Therapist, teacher, speaker, and trauma specialist Britt Frank tells us all about her new book, Align Your Mind, an all-access pass to understanding, befriending, and leading the multiple voices within yourself. Grounded in the latest research on Parts Work and Internal Family Systems, and offering proven techniques from Frank’s clinical practice a…

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309 - They Thought We Were Ridiculous - Andy Luttrell (rebroadcast) 1:12:38

9M ago1:12:38

1:12:38

In 1974, two psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, as the New Yorker once put it, "changed the way we think about the way we think." The prevailing wisdom, before their landmark research went viral (in the way things went viral in the 1970s), was that human beings were, for the most part, rational optimizers always making the kinds of ju…

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308 - Magical Thinking - Matt Tompkins 1:19:14

9M ago1:19:14

1:19:14

In this episode, the story of Clever Hans, the horse who changed psychology for the better. We also sit down with psychologist and magician Matt Tompkins. Matt is the author of The Spectacle of Illusion, a book about the long history of the manipulation of our own magical thinking and how studying deception can help us better understand perception,…

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307 - Concordance Over Truth Bias 1:09:09

9M ago1:09:09

1:09:09

In this episode, we sit down with three disinformation researchers whose new paper found something surprising about both our resistance and our susceptibility to both true news we wish was fake and fake news we wish was true. Our guests are three of the scientists exploring a newly named cognitive distortion, one that every human being is prone to …

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306 - I Never Thought of it That Way - Mónica Guzmán (rebroadcast) 52:11

10M ago52:11

52:11

This episode’s guest is Mónica Guzmán, the author of I Never Thought of It That Way – a book with very practical advice on how to have productive conversations in a polarized political environment via authentic curiosity about where people’s beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and values come from. It's also about how to learn from those with whom we dis…

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305 - Supercommunicators - Charles Duhigg (rebroadcast) 1:16:54

10M ago1:16:54

1:16:54

Our guest in this episode is Charles Duhigg, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer for the New Yorker Magazine who is also the New York Times Bestselling author of The Power of Habit and Smarter Faster Better. His new book is Supercommunicators, a practical and approachable guide to what makes great conversations work. In the episode we di…

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304 - Nobody's Fool - Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris (rebroadcast) 51:01

11M ago51:01

51:01

In an era in which we have more information available to us than ever before, when claims of “fake news” might themselves be, in fact, fake news, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris, authors of The Invisible Gorilla, are back to offer us a vital tool to not only inoculate ourselves against getting infected by misinformation but prevent us from sp…

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303 - The Dress - Decoder Ring 43:38

11M ago43:38

43:38

In this episode we return to The Dress and the psychological lessons offered by one of the most viral moments in the history of the internet via an episode of Decoder Ring in which David McRaney shares some insights from his book, How Minds Change, with Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring. Decoder Ring Decoder Ring's The Dress Page Willa Paskin'…

Matthew Tompkins Podcasts

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You Are Not So Smart

You Are Not So Smart

1
327 - The Trolley Solution - Joshua Greene 1:19:19

1
326 - The Origin of Language - Madeleine Beekman 46:11

1
325 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part Two (rebroadcast) 57:58

1
324 - Cognitive Dissonance - Part One (rebroadcast) 57:57

1
323 - Job Therapy - Tessa West (rebroadcast) 55:06

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322 - Intellectual Humility - Tenelle Porter 1:07:44

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321 - Easy Crafts for the Insane - Kelly Williams Brown (rebroadcast) 1:18:08

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320 - Misguided - Matthew Facciani 1:08:55

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319 - Love Factually - Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick 1:06:08

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318 - The Intention Action Gap - Britt Frank (rebroadcast) 1:10:01

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317 - Don't Talk About Politics - Sarah Stein Lubrano 1:10:11

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316 - Cultures of Growth - Mary C. Murphy (rebroadcast) 1:08:13

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315 - May Contain Lies - Alex Edmans 39:43

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314 - Fluke - Brian Klaas (rebroadcast) 54:19

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313 - The 3.5 Percent Rule - Erica Chenoweth 59:25

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312 - Chaos and Complexity - Neil Theise (rebroadcast) 59:34

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311 - Cascades of Change - Greg Satell (rebroadcast) 1:06:52

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310 - Align Your Mind - Britt Frank 1:12:55

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309 - They Thought We Were Ridiculous - Andy Luttrell (rebroadcast) 1:12:38

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308 - Magical Thinking - Matt Tompkins 1:19:14

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307 - Concordance Over Truth Bias 1:09:09

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306 - I Never Thought of it That Way - Mónica Guzmán (rebroadcast) 52:11

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305 - Supercommunicators - Charles Duhigg (rebroadcast) 1:16:54

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304 - Nobody's Fool - Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris (rebroadcast) 51:01

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303 - The Dress - Decoder Ring 43:38