The Elements of Being Podcast

Today, I’d like to share the 3rd part of a series on the psychology behind the 2020 US presidential election and the political issues that pervade the campaign airwaves. A few episodes ago, my interview with Dr. Madva dissected the role of implicit biases as an undercurrent of many social injustices, including incidents related to racism and classism. And then, my conversation with Dr. Baron was an examination of the moral judgments surrounding political issues and our decision-making process. In this interview with Dr. Leonie Huddy, we discussed the roles and trends of partisanship in politics as well as the topics of nationalism, individualism, and voting behavior.*Dr. Huddy is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University. She is co-editor of the 2nd edition of the Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, served as co-editor of the journal Political Psychology from 2005 till 2010, is past-president of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP), serves on the American National Election Studies Board of Overseers, often appears on CBS Radio as an exit poll analyst, and serves on numerous editorial boards in political science. Dr. Huddy has written extensively on social and political identities, emotions, reactions to terrorism, gender and politics, and race relations. She is the co-author (with Stanley Feldman and George Marcus) of Going to War in Iraq: When Citizens and the Press Matter published by the University of Chicago Press. Dr. Huddy was born in Australia and shared an incredible global perspective on the current US political landscape.*During our interview, we discussed:-The difference between print and television journalism during the war in Iraq.-How individualism affects the regulation of empathetic ability.-Nationalist appeals and the connection to future elections worldwide.-The difference between nationalism and patriotism.-The social nature of partisanship and how it’s a form of tribal self-expression.-The positive and negative consequences of political partisanship.-What contributes to affective partisanship, and how we can diminish it.-The role of partisan politics in our democracy.-The underlying influences of voting behavior.-The difference in voting behaviors between the US and other democracies.***To learn more about Dr. Leonie Huddy and her research, check out https://you.stonybrook.edu/leonie/!***Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please complete our podcast sponsorship form.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and other listeners and guests definitely appreciate them!

Welcome to “The Elements of Being” podcast, where I dissect and explore the minds and habits of psychologists, filmmakers, writers, and industry icons. Essentially, we learn what makes them flip the switch to achieve great feats, goals, and milestones…and a chance to geek out over the psychology behind human behavior.So, what is this podcast specifically about? I examine the mental and emotional narratives and processes that have steered writers, filmmakers, psychologists, and industry icons down their paths in life. Each episode is also a glimpse into the trends and patterns of human behavior and the underlying influences that navigate us into different directions. Whether we primarily focus on nutrition or the unconscious, guests share insights, thought-provoking lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the elements of being….us.Today, I explore the relationship between racism and implicit biases with Dr. Alex Madva, an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the California Center for Ethics & Policy at Cal Poly Pomona. He recently co-edited the volume, An Introduction to Implicit Bias: Knowledge, Justice, and the Social Mind with his colleague Erin Beeghly, and took the time break down systemic racism and the implicit biases that not only pervade the recent cases involving George Floyd and Kyle Rittenhouse but also steer our perception of such matters. Essentially, we are digging into the unconscious and examining how simple labels of racism may not account for the underlying complexity of these situations.Dr. Madva’s research and teaching explore how developments in social psychology inform the philosophy of mind, philosophy of race and feminism, and applied ethics, especially prejudice and discrimination. He has written on these topics for journals including Ethics, The Journal of Applied Philosophy, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews (WIREs): Cognitive Science, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Ergo, Mind and Language, and several more. Dr. Madva is currently co-editing another, The Movement for Black Lives: Philosophical Perspectives.Dr. Madva has taught numerous classes on Race and Racism, Social and Political Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Feminist Philosophy of Science, Contemporary Moral Problems, Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, and upper-division undergraduate and graduate seminars on social psychology and philosophy, including a new course he developed at CPP, The Philosophy & Science of Implicit Bias.Dr. Madva is also actively engaged in collaborative empirical research. One ongoing project, funded by the NSF, is testing interventions to reduce achievement gaps and increase belonging for underrepresented groups at Cal Poly Pomona, in disciplines such as physics, economics, mathematics, biology, and philosophy. His published empirical research has appeared in journals, including Ratio and the International Journal of STEM Education. He is also collaborating with computer scientists, engineers, and social scientists to study the spread of misinformation and prejudice across social media, ultimately to counteract these trends. Folks, Dr. Madva, has literally written the textbook on implicit bias.In our interview, here’s what we specifically discussed:-The intersection of Dr. Madva’s philosophy, psychology, and sociology studies and the evolution of his interest in implicit biases.-Epistemic humility and the connection to the recent cases regarding police officers in the media.-The evolutionary function of implicit biases.-The reasons why unconscious prejudices still exist despite conscious commitments to be fair and unprejudiced.-How to determine when implicit biases are serving our personal needs and honoring individuals outside of us appropriately.-How to test our hidden biases.-How to use debiasing tools, like “If-Then” Plans and the “Common-Ground Mindsets” Tool, to bridge the gap between intention and action.-The relationship between “trusting our gut” and implicit biases.-How ingroup-outgroup distinctions and status preferences contribute to our sets of unconscious beliefs.-How to create structural reform with a cross-experiential approach.***To learn more about Dr. Alex Madva and implicit biases, visit http://www.alexmadva.com/.***Interested in sponsoring the podcast or being a guest? Please visit https://www.theelementsofbeing.com/psychology-podcast-contact-us.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and other listeners and guests definitely appreciate them!

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Dave Evans, the Codirector of the Stanford Life Design Lab and a co-founder of Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest interactive entertainment companies. He also led the design of Apple's first mouse and laser printer and has a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford.*Recently, Dave and his colleague, Bill Burnett, coauthored the #1 New York Times bestseller Designing Your New Work Life....and it served as the foundation of our conversation. It's a job-changing, outlook-changing, life-changing book that shows us how to transform our new uncharted work lives and create a meaningful dream job. With new insights on making our way through disruption-large and small, personal or global-the book helps us navigate during these times of fear and anxiety about the unknown and through our post-COVID work lives and beyond.*Specifically, we discuss their Disruption Design with a focus on curiosity, reframing, radical collaboration, awareness, bias to action, and storytelling. We also learn how to make possibilities available even when our lives have been disrupted, examine the tools to enjoy the moment, and begin to prototype our future.*In this episode, we specifically discussed: -How to redesign our professional lives with unknown disruptions in mind when we've already invested in a specific path.-How to break the chain of working endlessly without satisfaction and "doing whatever it takes" modeled by our parents and society.-How to approach the dilemma of serving life of purpose for less pay or settling for a higher wage at a less satisfying job.-Design thinking and the benefit of applying this mode of thinking to our professional lives.-The importance of curiosity in our professional lives.-Prototyping new positions and experiences while serving a current position.-How we can reframe our current position to change our work experience or career trajectory.-A distinction between reframing and renaming our work experiences.-The benefits of radical collaboration.-The foundation of great storytelling.-The best exit strategies.***To learn more about Dave Evans and his book, visit https://designingyour.life..*** Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please complete our podcast sponsorship form: https://www.theelementsofbeing.com/psychology-podcast-contact-us***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and other listeners and guests definitely appreciate them! You can also make a monetary contribution to help us with our mental health and environmental advocacy on www.theelementsofbeing.com.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Itai Ivtzan, a positive psychologist, a Professor at Naropa University, and the School of Positive Transformation Director. Over the past 20 years, he has run seminars, lectures, workshops, and retreats in the USA, UK, and worldwide at various educational institutions and private events. In addition, Dr. Itzvan is a regular keynote speaker at conferences and has published five books and more than 50 journal papers and book chapters. His main areas of research and teaching are positive psychology, mindfulness, and spirituality.*Accordingly, Dr. Itzvan has invested much time in studying mindfulness academically, writing books about it, teaching it, and training mindfulness teachers. As part of his work, he established the School of Positive Transformation, offering practical well-being courses for practitioners, teaching them how to transform themselves and their clients and students.*In our interview, we examine the lens of a positive psychologist during a period of crisis. Dr. Ivtzan shared his personal struggles during the onset of the pandemic, and we discussed how to practice empathy when in conflict with family and friends and compassion for loved ones who hurt us. We also dive into the meaning we assign to such disruptions like the recent pandemic and destructive wildfires in Colorado, as well as the role of meditation and mindfulness in our well-being.*In this episode, we discussed:-The lens of a positive psychologist during a crisis.-Making sense of crisis.-Sitting with ourselves when our physical states are threatened.-The dialogue regarding collective trauma in the positive psychology community.-Feeling compassion for others when we've been hurt by even those who love us.-Practicing empathy when experiencing fiery divisions between family, friends, and people we don't know.-The role of mindfulness in building resiliency.-The reasons why solitude is vital to our mindfulness.***To learn more about Dr. Itai Ivtzan, visit https://schoolofpositivetransformation.com.*** Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please complete our podcast sponsorship form: https://www.theelementsofbeing.com/psychology-podcast-contact-us***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and other listeners and guests definitely appreciate them! You can also make a monetary contribution to help us with our mental health and environmental advocacy on www.theelementsofbeing.com.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, the Executive Director of The Alliance Center. She is a pragmatic visionary with over 15 years of leadership experience, including a decade in corporate social responsibility. During the pandemic, Brenna launched the Regenerative Recovery Coalition-a coalition with over 335 members working together to build Colorado towards a regenerative future. Through large public-private partnerships, Brenna is leading the Coalition to create equitable social structures that will foster shared prosperity on a healthy planet. As a dynamic change agent, Brenna leads with a nonprofit heart and a business mind leveraging holistic approaches to implement and scale solutions to some of the largest issues humanity faces.*In our interview, we break down the concept of a regenerative future and the individual and social efforts required for systems-level change, as well as the gap between idealism and pragmatism. We also examine how to secure the attention of policymakers and corporations and how they should rethink and measure success and growth within a capitalist system.***To learn more about Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, visit https://www.thealliancecenter.org/.*** Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please complete our podcast sponsorship form: https://www.theelementsofbeing.com/psychology-podcast-contact-us***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/Itunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and other listeners and guests definitely appreciate them! You can also make a monetary contribution to help us with our mental health and environmental advocacy on www.theelementsofbeing.com.