At the end of the day the brain wants what it wants, but you might not know that the brain also wants things associated with what it wants, it notices more things that can get it what it wants, and it doesn't really like things that are not aligned with its goals.In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of desire.

At the end of the day the brain wants what it wants, but you might not know that the brain also wants things associated with what it wants, it notices more things that can get it what it wants, and it doesn't really like things that are not aligned with its goals. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of desire.

Desire

Tales of bloody tears, looming sharks, and possessed children can be terrifying — that's why we love them!It's just one of the many things that make the human experience truly remarkable: We can tell stories and scare ourselves. Moreover, being scared can teach us how to overcome other things we fear day to day.In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why we like scary stories, and what we can learn about life from being "safely" frightened.

Tales of bloody tears, looming sharks, and possessed children can be terrifying — that's why we love them! It's just one of the many things that make the human experience truly remarkable: We can tell stories and scare ourselves. Moreover, being scared can teach us how to overcome other things we fear day to day. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why we like scary stories, and what we can learn about life from being "safely" frightened.

Why We Tell Ghost Stories

In this episode, KUT's Rebecca McInroy is joined by Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke (of Two Guys On Your Head) in a discussion about the definition of Human Nature.  Deep Down, is it better to know that people are all the same or to think they’re all different? How does this understanding influence our perspective on crisis, forgiveness, control, and so much more?

V&B – Two Guys On Your Head Live: Human Nature

Why isn't information enough? Facts. Dates. Names. Why do we as humans need more in order to understand our world?

Why We Tell Stories

As Americans, we spend a lot of time working. Sometimes we even think if we put in only 40 hours a week we're slacking. No judgment here, but if we are going to work that much, we should like what we're doing at work — right?

Rethinking Work For a Happier Life

Thank god it's Friday! Right? What's so wrong with working hard all week and wanting to go out and let loose Friday night? Nothing really — except that when you look at the work week through this lens, you are more likely to set yourself up for unhappiness.

Days Of The Week

It's no surprise that reading aloud to your kids is good for them. But why is it so important? What's going on in a child's brain when they're hearing stories of giant fruit carrying orphans across the ocean? On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the child's brain on books.

It's no surprise that reading aloud to your kids is good for them. But why is it so important? What's going on in a child's brain when they're hearing stories of giant fruit carrying orphans across the ocean? On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the child's brain on books.

Reading and Child’s Brain

Kids these days typically get a trophy for participation in most events. Some argue that the practice ultimately serves as a disincentive for a child to compete. Others ask, if your kid is smiling, what more do you want?In this week's edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke look into the system of reward and evaluate what we are rewarding and why.

Kids these days typically get a trophy for participation in most events. Some argue that the practice ultimately serves as a disincentive for a child to compete. Others ask, if your kid is smiling, what more do you want? In this week's edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke look into the system of reward and evaluate what we are rewarding and why.

Rewarding Mediocrity

So you just got that raise you've been working toward, and a new project starts tomorrow, and you're making great money, but — you don't really like the work. You're moving up, but you're not happy. It might be time to re-evaluate your situation, and maybe get on a different proverbial treadmill.In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the concept of The Hedonic Treadmill, and what we can do to set ourselves up for a happier life.

So you just got that raise you've been working toward, and a new project starts tomorrow, and you're making great money, but — you don't really like the work. You're moving up, but you're not happy. It might be time to re-evaluate your situation, and maybe get on a different proverbial treadmill. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the concept of The Hedonic Treadmill, and what we can do to set ourselves up for a happier life.

Expectations, Goals, and Happiness

Failure is a word that carries a lot of baggage, arousing emotional responses that we’d usually rather avoid. What about success? Why does the thought of success conjure images and feelings of comfort and satisfaction. This week, "Two Guys on Your Head" examine how the heights of success and the "training wheels" of failure impact our everyday lives.

Failure is a word that carries a lot of baggage, arousing emotional responses that we’d usually rather avoid. What about success? Why does the thought of success conjure images and feelings of comfort and satisfaction. This week, "Two Guys on Your Head" examine how the heights of success and the "training wheels" of failure impact our everyday lives.

The Value of Failure (Rebroadcast)

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Never stop learning

Two smart people talking about ordinary stuff. If you like to ask, &#34;Why...?&#34; then this is the short podcast for you.

Fascinating information bites

Two Guys On Your Head

Defiance is an impassioned refusal to conform to some form of expectation, typically a social one. This point is well illustrated by John Bender in The Breakfast Club, who, among other feats, earns himself eight more detentions by arguing with the principal during detention.Many great historical moments also provide beautiful examples — take Rosa Parks sitting in a banned bus seat or Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. It’s hard to get more straightforward than that.These acts of rebellion — large or small — may be considered disruptive, shocking, reprehensible, inappropriate, or even heroic. The commonality across contexts is that they are essentially guaranteed to evoke an equally intense response. But intense doesn’t necessarily mean counterproductive. In fact, sometimes it’s necessary.Defiance can possess a great degree of social utility. It allows us to protect our rights and what we value most. But to use it in a purposeful manner, we must first see the problem and then decide how to achieve its solution.For example, as detention progresses, we learn Mr. Bender comes from a violent home where self-assertion only provokes more violence. He also lives in a society that largely turns a blind eye to his experiences or calls him a degenerate for them. His behavior, as do most acts of defiance, screams, “things must change now!”When the school authorities meet his act of defiance with a discipline that focuses on changing his behavior, instead of looking at what is motivating him to act out, they miss the opportunity to address the larger system of disenfranchisement that is at the root of his defiant behavior.So next time you witness defiant behavior, in your 15-year-old or on the news, asking yourself, “What is the motivation here?” might be productive. Changing behavior is one thing, but changing minds and systems is quite another.

Defiance is an impassioned refusal to conform to some form of expectation, typically a social one. This point is well illustrated by John Bender in The Breakfast Club, who, among other feats, earns himself eight more detentions by arguing with the principal during detention. Many great historical moments also provide beautiful examples — take Rosa Parks sitting in a banned bus seat or Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. It’s hard to get more straightforward than that. These acts of rebellion — large or small — may be considered disruptive, shocking, reprehensible, inappropriate, or even heroic. The commonality across contexts is that they are essentially guaranteed to evoke an equally intense response. But intense doesn’t necessarily mean counterproductive. In fact, sometimes it’s necessary. Defiance can possess a great degree of social utility. It allows us to protect our rights and what we value most. But to use it in a purposeful manner, we must first see the problem and then decide how to achieve its solution. For example, as detention progresses, we learn Mr. Bender comes from a violent home where self-assertion only provokes more violence. He also lives in a society that largely turns a blind eye to his experiences or calls him a degenerate for them. His behavior, as do most acts of defiance, screams, “things must change now!” When the school authorities meet his act of defiance with a discipline that focuses on changing his behavior, instead of looking at what is motivating him to act out, they miss the opportunity to address the larger system of disenfranchisement that is at the root of his defiant behavior. So next time you witness defiant behavior, in your 15-year-old or on the news, asking yourself, “What is the motivation here?” might be productive. Changing behavior is one thing, but changing minds and systems is quite another.

Defiance

Don’t we all hate having to deal with jerks? Everyone has some unpleasant person that they encounter frequently in life and would rather not. Fact is, we constantly encounter an endless variety of people with an endless variety of attitudes, perspectives and beliefs that – in all realistic possibility – will differ from the attitudes that we carry for the moment. This week, the Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, will toss around the topic of jerks – and provide some insightful, doctor prescribed strategies for handling difficult people in our lives.

Don’t we all hate having to deal with jerks? Everyone has some unpleasant person that they encounter frequently in life and would rather not. Fact is, we constantly encounter an endless variety of people with an endless variety of attitudes, perspectives and beliefs that – in all realistic possibility – will differ from the attitudes that we carry for the moment. This week, the Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, will toss around the topic of jerks – and provide some insightful, doctor prescribed strategies for handling difficult people in our lives.

How To Deal With Difficult People

In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the history and development of intelligence tests; as well as what these tests can actually tell us about ones ability to achieve.

Why A High IQ Isn't All That

After age 80, many bodily functions – including brain function – seem to have reached the average limit of their operation. So what can we do to preserve our brains for as long as possible?

Protecting Your Brain As You Age

Who knows what? Essentially, this question is the basis of the complex concept called Theory of Mind – which is very misleadingly labeled. No, it’s not a theory that explains how mind works, as you might assume. It’s a process within our minds that allows us to separate and distinguish between what we know ourselves and what we know that other people know – or don’t know.  It’s a skill that is critical for accomplishing effective social interaction in the world. A better term might be Theory of Other People's Minds.

Theory of Mind

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the development of Artificial Intelligence and what it might mean for humans in the near future.

Artificial Intelligence

Do you take pride in your ability to divide your focus and energy into more than one task at a time?  Do you think you’re a good multitasker?  Chances are, you’re probably not.We sat down with two experts, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Robert Duke, to take a closer look at the topic of multitasking. Their take offers a perspective into some of the unique issues associated with multitasking.

Do you take pride in your ability to divide your focus and energy into more than one task at a time? Do you think you’re a good multitasker? Chances are, you’re probably not. We sat down with two experts, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Robert Duke, to take a closer look at the topic of multitasking. Their take offers a perspective into some of the unique issues associated with multitasking.

Multitasking

Everybody knows somebody who's familiar with the online dating service experience. It's a fairly common way for people to meet and become romantically involved these days. But how is it different from more traditional dating and courtship?

Online Dating

When it comes to what humans find attractive, many factors play a role.Evolutionarily speaking, we tend to be attracted to symmetry and markers that indicate health and wellness. In social terms it has more to do with what’s in fashion at a given moment. But it's when we begin to react to attractiveness that things get tricky.Our brains tend to make a lot of judgments that our rational selves would think absurd. One of them has to do with opportunities we afford to attractive people that we may not give to those with less appealing features. In this same vein, some studies show that women are considered less competent when compared to men just because they’re women.     How can we correct for our unconscious biases? It takes more then just being aware they’re there.In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke take us through some of these quandaries.

When it comes to what humans find attractive, many factors play a role. Evolutionarily speaking, we tend to be attracted to symmetry and markers that indicate health and wellness. In social terms it has more to do with what’s in fashion at a given moment. But it's when we begin to react to attractiveness that things get tricky. Our brains tend to make a lot of judgments that our rational selves would think absurd. One of them has to do with opportunities we afford to attractive people that we may not give to those with less appealing features. In this same vein, some studies show that women are considered less competent when compared to men just because they’re women. How can we correct for our unconscious biases? It takes more then just being aware they’re there. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke take us through some of these quandaries.

Why Attractive People Get More Opportunities

Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? Well, it turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those sweet white grains of sugar.In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing dopamine.While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival.This might have been beneficial to us 150,000 years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station and coffee shop, craving sugar has its consequences.

Why is it hard to have just one of those delicious slices of pound cake over the holidays? Well, it turns out it has less to do with the creamy butter and more to do with the way our brains react to those sweet white grains of sugar. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss the ways our brains respond to sugar by releasing dopamine. While we may think this dopamine is supposed to make us feel good, what the chemicals in our brains are trying to do is to teach us that this sugar is a good thing and that we want more of it for our survival. This might have been beneficial to us 150,000 years ago, but with sweets in every candy dish, gas station and coffee shop, craving sugar has its consequences.

Why We Crave Sugar

Whether we like it or not, time marches on. And as it does, we age. One of the most challenging realities for everyone to face in life is that we are all, inevitably, destined to grow old (if we’re lucky, that is).Aging correlates to a steady decline of functional abilities, both physical and mental. Memory and cognition peak in our early twenties, and we begin a very slow, steady decline of those functions as we near our senior years.  After age 80, many bodily functions – including brain function – seem to have reached the average limit of their operation. So what can we do to preserve our brains for as long as possible?

Whether we like it or not, time marches on. And as it does, we age. One of the most challenging realities for everyone to face in life is that we are all, inevitably, destined to grow old (if we’re lucky, that is). Aging correlates to a steady decline of functional abilities, both physical and mental. Memory and cognition peak in our early twenties, and we begin a very slow, steady decline of those functions as we near our senior years. After age 80, many bodily functions – including brain function – seem to have reached the average limit of their operation. So what can we do to preserve our brains for as long as possible?

Protecting Your Brain as You Age

Amnesia

When you think of science, what comes to mind? Maybe you think about launching rockets into space, or antibiotics, or the electric car?Maybe not. But let's say you do. If that is the case, it's more accurate to say you love what scientific developments have brought us, but not necessarily science itself.In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about what science is, why the scientific process is important to understand and why it's so difficult to communicate science to the general public.

When you think of science, what comes to mind? Maybe you think about launching rockets into space, or antibiotics, or the electric car? Maybe not. But let's say you do. If that is the case, it's more accurate to say you love what scientific developments have brought us, but not necessarily science itself. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about what science is, why the scientific process is important to understand and why it's so difficult to communicate science to the general public.

Communicating Science

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explore the psychological benefits of forgiveness. What we may think of as something trite or overrated has deep roots in our psychological well-being. It benefits us as a species to let things go.

Forgiveness

The part of our brains that is responsible for generating creativity evolved throughout human existence to serve a problem-solving function. If you lived in the great, wild, open world as a primitive human, and your problems were things like predators, or food security sources, or a need for shelter, what would your brain do? Your brain would concoct creative strategies to solve those problems, and that’s what our minds have built a capacity to do as we’ve evolved – create solutions. Drs. Art Markman and Bob Duke give you more of the details.

The part of our brains that is responsible for generating creativity evolved throughout human existence to serve a problem-solving function. If you lived in the great, wild, open world as a primitive human, and your problems were things like predators, or food security sources, or a need for shelter, what would your brain do? Your brain would concoct creative strategies to solve those problems, and that’s what our minds have built a capacity to do as we’ve evolved – create solutions. Drs. Art Markman and Bob Duke give you more of the details.

Why Creative Minds Think Alike

Most people feel in over their heads when they first enter a challenging situation or even a new job. And, while conventional wisdom suggests those with trepidations about trying new things should "fake it 'til they make it," it may not always be the best course of action.In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art Markman discuss what's known as "imposter syndrome" — the practice of pretending to be the person you want people to see you as rather than who you truly are — and explain why it may just be better to just start working towards your goals instead of faking it.

Most people feel in over their heads when they first enter a challenging situation or even a new job. And, while conventional wisdom suggests those with trepidations about trying new things should "fake it 'til they make it," it may not always be the best course of action. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art Markman discuss what's known as "imposter syndrome" — the practice of pretending to be the person you want people to see you as rather than who you truly are — and explain why it may just be better to just start working towards your goals instead of faking it.

The Imposter Syndrome

It’s that time of the year when we resolve to drink less, exercise more, save money, etc.It may feel really good to intend to do “better” in the new year, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explain in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, real change takes planning and hard work.Why is that? It turns out we have no idea why we do most of the things we do on a daily basis. And as long as our behaviors are driven by factors that operate below our conscious awareness, we may not know how to change.As the Two Guys point out, effective change can happen when we start from the outside in. When we look at our environments first we can make space and cultivate relationships that help us become best selves.

It’s that time of the year when we resolve to drink less, exercise more, save money, etc. It may feel really good to intend to do “better” in the new year, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke explain in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, real change takes planning and hard work. Why is that? It turns out we have no idea why we do most of the things we do on a daily basis. And as long as our behaviors are driven by factors that operate below our conscious awareness, we may not know how to change. As the Two Guys point out, effective change can happen when we start from the outside in. When we look at our environments first we can make space and cultivate relationships that help us become best selves.

How To Make Effective Changes in The New Year

How We Learn Language

The best self improvement podcast episodes. From improving productivity, to finding purpose in your life to what constitutes freedom, this topic is on anything and everything that can help people to improve their lives. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best Episodes on Self Improvement, Growth & Development

The best podcast episodes on physical health. Episodes talk about your diet, sleep, exercise and all the things that people do to improve their physical health and live a healthier life. This topic is for everyone, with applications in all of our everyday lives. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!