Change, Technically

Ashley, Cat, and Danilo reflect on the major themes after one year of Change, Technically. For more information on consulting with Cat, please visit https://www.catharsisinsight.com/ --- SHOW NOTES: On women’s loss of status in gender incongruent professions: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797610384744 On links between self-compassion and prosocial behavior: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4026714/ On psychological essentialism: https://www.cell.co...

SHOW NOTES Dominic Packer’s Normative Conflict Model of Dissent is described in this paper as well as his other work: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088868307309606 Cat also mentions Mina Cikara’s work on coalitional cognition. This is a good representation of that: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065260121000137 Cat also mentions The Power of Us, which is by Dominic Packer and Jay Van Bavel, and a book she enjoyed! https://www.powerofus.on...

SHOW NOTES: For an example of a consideration of learning with information searching, a paper by Saskia Giebl and co-authors explored students learning basic programming concepts aided with a search engine and how active problem-solving before the search helps encourage stronger learning. This paper draws from a lot of the classic learning science/memory effects that Cat references: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1475725720961593 “Cognitive offloading” is a concept with ...

More reading & sources: Fantastic article which echos many of our arguments here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/18/wildlife-extinction-dire-wolf-endangered-species/Science article which summarizes dire wolves news & science: https://www.science.org/content/article/what-s-deal-dire-wolves-iconic-predators-may-have-been-neanderthals-wolf-worldArticle which leaked an internal memo from US interior secretary which said, “Pick your favorite species and call up Colossal.”: https://...

SHOW NOTES: Cat wants you to know she read a *lot* of research for this episode. Major highlights we specifically drew from, and quote sources, were aross three reviews: Cat found this one especially helpful and refers to it the most, and this review also proposes the Interpretation Account of math anxiety: Ramirez, G., Shaw, S. T., & Maloney, E. A. (2018). Math anxiety: Past research, promising interventions, and a new interpretation framework. Educational psychologis...

How do human beings work together and learn to be, well, human? Stepping out of our comfortable and cozy silos and learning to communicate our value in new contexts might just be the key to unlocking shared innovation. In this episode, we explore this question with Cristine Legare, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin interested in the interplay of the universal human mind and the variations of culture, who studies cognitive and cultural evolution and the design of soc...

In a special edition of Change, Technically, Ashley and Cat get into the facts of the NIH: what it does, how it works, and the consequences of disrupting its essential work. The NIH creates enormous economic impact, 400,000 jobs across the US, and sets science in motion that touches all of us. How to contact your representatives: Dial (202) 224-3121Tell autoresponder your representative name or zip code when promptedSpeak directly to staffer or leave voicemail: “My name is ___, I’m a constit...

In this special 'Change, Technically: Holidays On The Couch' edition of the podcast, Ashley & Cat discuss their philosophies of measurement and goal tracking, debate the value of data, and ponder the behavioral science of doing the stuff we resolve to do. Notes: Cat & Ashley mention this essay: https://issues.org/limits-of-data-nguyen/ Show correction: Ashley wrongly said the Nguyen essay above had reminded her about Goodhart’s Law (the idea that as soon as we measure something, it ...

Much like open source software, open science is a path to distributed collaboration. By sharing the data from experiments and investigations open and available, scientists can multiply impact and discovery for teams they've never even met. Our guest, Saskia de Vries, talks to us about her work at the Allen Institute, including accelerating the pace of discovery by making scientific data available to everyone who wants it. Credits Saskia de Vries, guest Ashley Juavinett, host + producer Cat ...

Can creativity mean more for software than productivity? Do we need to let go of “hardcore developer stuff”? Will getting more people to major in computer science fix everything? Ashley and Cat chat with Change, Technically’s first guest star SUE SMITH about developer learning and the future of software teams as technology changes. Credits Sue Smith, guest Ashley Juavinett, host + producer Cat Hicks, host + producer Danilo Campos, producer + editor While not mentioned in the episode, we wo...

Neuroscience is the hottest STEM field. Why? What does a neuroscientist actually do? Is the brain some mechanically deterministic box configured at birth? Cat knows Ashley has the answers, and now you will, too. Credits Ashley Juavinett, host + producer Cat Hicks, host + producer Danilo Campos, producer + editor For an incisive breakdown of “the crimes against dopamine” please read the piece of that title by Mark Humphries. The myth of mental illness book that Ashley mentioned was written ...

What makes someone technical? What are our preconceptions about "technical" skills? How do those beliefs influence outcomes, and the success of who we include? Ashley and Cat dig in. Credits Ashley Juavinett, host + producer Cat Hicks, host + producer Danilo Campos, producer + editor On Communities of Practice, Ashley has published a paper on the impact of the program she co-directs: Zuckerman, A. L., Juavinett, A. L., Macagno, E. R., Bloodgood, B. L., Gaasterland, T., Artis, D., & Lo, ...

What does it take to make STEM work more accessible and effective? Ashley and Cat introduce their work and their values by answering this question. Credits Ashley Juavinett, host + producer Cat Hicks, host + producer Danilo Campos, producer + editor Ashley on teaching coding to neuroscientists: Juavinett, A. L. (2022). The next generation of neuroscientists needs to learn how to code, and we need new ways to teach them. Neuron, 110(4), 576-578. Zuckerman, A. L., & Juavinett, A. L. (2024...