Stanford Psychology Podcast

• 155 - Julian Jara Ettinger: How we understand other minds

  This week, Misha chats with Julian Jara-Ettinger, Associate Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at Yale University. Julian directs the Computational Social Cognition Lab, which aims to reveal the fundamental representations and computations that make complex human social behavior possible. His work combines computational modeling, developmental studies, and cross-cultural research to build a blueprint for more human-like social intelligence.In this episode, we discuss his recent paper, "Tracking minds in communication," which challenges the classical view of language and social reasoning as separate systems. They explore how our brains constantly run social "micro-processes" in real-time to track other minds, a fundamental ability that guides our communication. They also dive into Julian's academic journey, his vision for the future of computational social cognition, and how he successfully navigates the interdisciplinary landscape of cognitive science.If you found this episode interesting, subscribe to our Substack and consider leaving us a good rating! It just takes a second, but it will allow us to reach more people and excite them about psychology.Links: Julian's paper "Tracking minds in communication": https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613(24)00312-7Julian's Lab Website: https://compdevlab.yale.edu/Julian's Faculty Page: https://psychology.yale.edu/people/julian-jara-ettingerMisha's website: https://www.mishaokeeffe.com/Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Bluesky: @stanfordpsypod.bsky.social Podcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) [email protected]

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• 154 - Judith Fan: The wonders of playing with blocks (REAIR)

  In this re-air episode from summer 2021 (one of our first!), Anjie chats with Judy Fan, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. Judy’s research is at the intersection of computational neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence. In this episode, she discusses a new line of research in her lab exploring how people learn about objects by trying to build them from scratch. She and her team recruited people online to play a game where they aimed to reconstruct various block towers and analyzed the types of mistakes they made, as well as how they got better at the game over time. Insights from experiments like these may help reveal the cognitive principles that govern how people "reverse-engineer" how things are made — from how an unfamiliar dish was prepared to how a song was composed.You can learn more about this project by visiting this site: https://github.com/cogtoolslab/block_construction and read their paper here: https://cogtoolslab.github.io/pdf/mccarthy_cogsci_2020.pdfTo learn more about Judy Fan's research, check out her lab's website: https://cogtoolslab.github.io/.You can also follow her on Twitter (@judyefan).

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• 153 - Mike North: Too old, too young—Is ageism the last acceptable bias?

  This week, Enna chats with Dr. Mike North, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations, at NYU Stern School of Business and founding director of the AGE Initiative. Mike’s research focuses on the challenges and opportunities of today’s multigenerational workforce. His work has shaped public conversations on aging and has been featured in major media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, TIME, and so on.In our conversation, Mike shares stories from his early days as a researcher, and we dive into two of his recent papers on ageism—one investigating bias against older adults, even among equality advocates, and another unpacking stereotypes about younger generations.Mike’s Website: https://www.mike-north.com/ Mie’s Twitter: @MichaelSNorthMike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-north-7aa39b50/ Mike’s Papers: (1) https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000262 (2) https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001064 Enna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ennayuxuanchen/ Enna’s Twitter: @EnnaYuxuanChenPodcast Contact: [email protected] Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Podcast Contact: [email protected] 

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• 152 - Laura Schulz: The journey of becoming a cognitive scientist and what babies and children have taught us about their cognition (REAIR)

  Bella chats with professor Laura Schulz.Laura is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT. She is also the director and principal investigator of the Early Childhood Cognition Lab. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the infrastructure of human cognition and how it’s constructed during early childhood. For example, Laura and her lab study children’s causal reasoning, social cognition, emotion understanding, and the connection between play and learning. Laura has also received numerous scientific awards, such as the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology and the National Academy of Sciences Troland Award.In this episode, Laura shares personal stories about her journey in science and fascinating research projects that she and her students conducted with infants and children over the years. We also discussed the open science online platform for developmental research called Lookit, first developed by Kim Scott, who was one of Laura’s PhD students. Laura also shared her vision for gearing the field towards a more open, accessible, and collaborative environment where data sharing is made possible among institutions across continents.If you find this episode interesting, please leave us a good review on your podcast platform! It only takes a few minutes, but it will allow our podcast to reach more people and hopefully get them excited about psychology and brain sciences.Links:Laura’s lab: https://eccl.mit.edu/Lookit: https://lookit.mit.edu/Bella's website: https://bellafascendini.github.io/Bella's Twitter: @BellaFascendiniPodcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPodPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) [email protected]

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• 151 - Robert Hawkins: Language, Collaboration, and Social Reasoning

  This week, Misha chats with Robert Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. Robert directs the Social Interaction Lab where he studies the cognitive mechanisms that enable human communication and collaboration. His interdisciplinary work combines interactive experiments with computational models to uncover how people flexibly coordinate with one another.In this episode, we discuss his recent paper on communication in reference games, exploring how lexical search and social reasoning work together when we try to help others understand what we're talking about. They also dive into Robert's academic journey, his vision for the Social Interaction Lab, and how he successfully navigates the interdisciplinary landscape of cognitive science.If you found this episode interesting, subscribe to our Substack and consider leaving us a good rating! It just takes a second, but it will allow us to reach more people and excite them about psychology.Links: Robert's paper on lexical search and social reasoning: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-03739-001.html Robert's website: https://rdhawkins.com/ Robert's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rdhawkins.bsky.social Misha's website: https://www.mishaokeeffe.com/ Podcast Twitter: @StanfordPsyPod Podcast Bluesky: @stanfordpsypod.bsky.socialPodcast Substack: https://stanfordpsypod.substack.com/ Let us know what you think of this episode or the podcast! :) [email protected]

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