Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

Human Centered

A Social Sciences , Science and Arts podcast

#121 in Social Sciences · 🇺🇸 #125 in Social Sciences · 🇨🇦

About the show

Conversations about projects and research undertaken by scholars & affiliates of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University; interviews with renowned fellows from CASBS history; and audio versions of occasional CASBS live events. CASBS is a scholarly community like no other for collaborative, cross-disciplinary, generative research. It brings together deep thinkers to address wicked problems and significant societal challenges. It empowers them to challenge boundaries and assumptions in order to advance our understanding of the full range of human beliefs, behaviors, interactions, and institutions. As a leading incubator of human-centered knowledge, CASBS is a place that is, well…human centered. Producer: Mike Gaetani | Engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel Learn more about CASBS> website: casbs.stanford.edu | Bluesky: @casbsstanford.bsky.social | LinkedIn: CASBS at Stanford |

Newest episodes

Psychological Dimensions of Political Leaders' Decision Making

Nov 9, 2026 56 min

Having a hard time comprehending seemingly irrational, narcissistic, or risky behaviors and judgements of certain political leaders? We’re gradually catching up to the insights that have been generated by the political psychology field and prominent scholars within it like two-time CASBS fellow Rose McDermott (2008-09, 2015-16). In conversation with 2025-26 fellow Seanon Wong, McDermott discusses some of her pioneering work on the psychological and biological underpinnings of political behavior, including the influence of genetics and the role of physical and emotional states in shaping political leaders’ decision making. ROSE MCDERMOTT: Brown University faculty page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page | AAAS bio | SEANON WONG: CUHK faculty page | CASBS page | Personal website | Google Scholar page | Rose McDermott books referenced in this episode: Bar-Joseph, Uri and McDermott, Rose (2017). Intelligence Successes and Failure: The Human Factor. Oxford University Press.Hatemi, Peter and McDermott, Rose, eds. (2011). Man is By Nature a Political Animal: Evolution, Biology and Politics. University of Chicago Press.McDermott, Rose. (2007). Presidential Leadership, Illness and Decision Making. Cambridge University Press.McDermott, Rose. (2004). Political Psychology in International Relations. University of Michigan Press.McDermott, Rose. (1998). Risk-Taking in International Relations: Prospect Theory in Post-War American Foreign Policy. University of Michigan Press.Rose McDermott articles referenced or related in this episode: Rose McDermott, "Mind Over Paradigm: Political Psychology in International Relations, International Security 51(2), 2026.Rose McDermott, "Robert Jervis on Political Psychology," Texas National Security Review, 2022.Rose McDermott, "The Influence of Psychological Factors in the Search for Strategic Stability," Texas National Security Review 9(2), 2026.Rose McDermott, "Psychological Underpinnings of Post-truth in Political Beliefs," PS: Political Scie...

The Cultural Dynamics of Political Order and Disorder

Sep 25, 2026 58 min

Renowned comparative political scientist and former CASBS fellow (1999-2000) David Laitin has influenced generations of scholars through his investigations of the intricate interplay of cultural phenomena – such as language, religion, and ethnicity – with politics and political life across societies. The complex dynamics he reveals get to the roots of conflict, cooperation, identity formation as well as nation- and state-building. Laitin takes us on a sweeping tour of some of his career’s principal works, findings, and collaborations in conversation with 2025-26 CASBS fellow Olukunle Owolabi. DAVID LAITIN: Stanford faculty page | Google Scholar page | National Academy of Sciences bio | Wikipedia page | Johan Skytte Foundation article | OLUKUNLE OWOLABI: Villanova faculty page | CASBS bio | Villanova article on six awards won by Kunle's 2023 book | David Laitin books:D. Laitin. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1977).D. Laitin. Hegemony and Culture: The Politics of Religious Change among the Yoruba (Univ. Chicago Press, 1986).D. Laitin and S. Samatar, Somalia: Nation in Search of a State (Westview Press, 1987).D. Laitin. Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992).D. Laitin. Identity in Formation: The Russian-speaking Populations in the Near Abroad (Cornell Univ. Press, 1998).D. Laitin. Nations, States and Violence (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007).D. Laitin, C. Adida and M. Valfort. Why Mulsim Integration Fails in Christian-heritage Societies (Harvard Univ. Press, 2016).D. Laitin and D. Christensen. African Politics since Independence: Order, Development and Democracy (Yale Univ. Press, 2019).David Laitin articles referenced in this episode:D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "The Historical Sources of Language Policy," Journal of Politics (2014).D. Laitin and R. Ramachandran, "Language Policy and Socioeconomic Outcomes," Palgrave Handbook of Economics and Language (2026).D. Laitin and R. Rama...

Confronting Climate Migration Crises

Jul 29, 2026 54 min

Political conflicts related to immigration are thorny enough on their own. The issues and challenges intensify once we add to the mix our warming planet and its relationship to migration, immigration, and human displacement. Two 2024-25 CASBS fellows – Maureen Eger, a sociologist of immigration, and Alice Farmer, a refugee lawyer specializing in climate change and displacement – discuss scholarly and policy dimensions of the climate migration landscape in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18). Maureen Eger: USC faculty page | personal website | Google Scholar page | Alice Farmer: LinkedIn page | Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022). John's next book, expected in 2027, will be published by MIT Press. Referenced in the episode or related works L. Yang, M. Eger, and Link, eds. Migration Stigma: Understanding Prejudice, Discrimination, and Exclusion (MIT Press, 2024) M. Eger and S Valdez, "From Radical Right to Neo-nationalist," European Political Scientist (2019) M. Eger, M. Hjerm, and P. Velasquez, "What is the Liberalizing Potential of Higher Education? An Analysis of Academic Fields and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Across 32 Countries," The British Journal of Sociology (2025) M. O'Brien and M. Eger, "Suppression, Spikes, and Stigma: How COVID-19 Will Shape International Migration and Hostilities toward It," International Migration Review (2020) L. Yang, M. Eger, and B. Link, "The Human Cost of Politicizing Immigration: Migration Stigma, US Politics, and Health," JAMA (2024) A. Farmer and K. Linos, "Tools to Finance Climate Mobility: An Introduction to the Symposium," American Journal of International Law (2025) A. Farmer, "Disasters in Slow Motion: Why Climate Displacement Tests International Legal Frameworks, and What to Do about it," University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law (2026) J. Bittle, The Great Displacement: Clima...

Similar podcasts

Hidden Brain Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Boring History for Sleep Velvet

Something You Should Know Mike Carruthers | OmniCast Media

That UFO Podcast That UFO Podcast

Suspicious Minds: AI and the Apocalypse Agoric Media

Skeptoid Brian Dunning

Somewhere in the Skies SpectreVision Radio

Mysterious Universe 8th Kind

All episodes

Psychological Dimensions of Political Leaders' Decision Making

Nov 9, 2026 56 min

The Cultural Dynamics of Political Order and Disorder

Sep 25, 2026 58 min

Confronting Climate Migration Crises

Jul 29, 2026 54 min

Immigrant Cities and Democracy's Future

Jun 23, 2026 1 hr 3 min

Urban settings are the grounds upon which immigration stress-tests the strength of democratic values, institutions, and practices. In this audio version of a live event hosted by CASBS on May 6, 2026, CASBS board member and Stanford sociologist Tomás Jiménez, Oxford economist and 2025-26 CASBS fellow Ian Goldin, and Welcoming America executive director Rachel Perić discuss what we can learn from the experience of immigrant cities, especially those that intentionally decide to enable newcomers and long-time residents to flourish together. Hosted in partnership with Stanford's Institute for Advancing Just Societies. Watch the event video and read an article about the event: https://casbs.stanford.edu/news/immigrant-cities-and-democracys-future View a photo gallery from the event: https://casbs.stanford.edu/photo-gallery-what-can-immigrant-cities-teach-us-about-democracy View the promotional flyer for this event: https://mailchi.mp/df7b0f4c4589/casbs-event-immigrant-cities-democracy?e=c2d0812d02Learn more about: event moderator Tomás Jiménez: https://sociology.stanford.edu/people/tomas-r-jimenez panelist Ian Goldin: https://iangoldin.org/ panelist Rachel Perić: https://welcomingamerica.org/bio/rachel-peric/ The Institute for Advancing Just Societies: https://justsocieties.stanford.edu/ the Robert A. Scott Lecture: https://casbs.stanford.edu/news/new-lectureship-fund-honors-bob-scott Bob Scott was featured on the Human Centered podcast in December 2022 (ep. 57), "Bob Scott is Trending": https://human-centered.simplecast.com/episodes/robertscott Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Network Science's Chief Economist

May 22, 2026 57 min

Matthew O. Jackson is perhaps the world’s most renowned scholar of the economics of networks; as a 2005-06 CASBS fellow, he wrote most of his still-influential book Social and Economic Networks. In this wide-ranging conversation with 2025-26 CASBS fellow Rajiv Sethi, Jackson discusses his foundational work on strategic modeling of networks, empirical applications on the role of economic connectedness in influencing people’s life trajectories in the U.S., related multi-disciplinary and cross-national work he is undertaking at the Santa Fe Institute, and recent cutting-edge work using large language models to gain insights into human motivations and behaviors. Matthew O. Jackson: Stanford faculty page | Personal website | CASBS page | Wikipedia page | Google Scholar page | National Academy of Sciences bio | Stanford profile | SFI page | NBER working papers | Jackson CV | Rajiv Sethi: Barnard faculty page | Columbia page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page | SFI page | Rajiv's Substack newsletter, Imperfect Information | Matt Jackson works referenced in this episode: Matthew Jackson and Asher Wolinsky, "A Strategic Model of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory (1996) Matthew Jackson and Alison Watts, "The Evolution of Social and Economic Networks," Journal of Economic Theory (2002) Raj Chetty, Matthew Jackson, et al., "Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobiliity," Nature (2022) Raj Chetty, Matthew Jackson, et al., "Social Capital II: Determinants of Economic Connectedness," Nature (2022) Chetty, Jackson, et al., Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas (website)Dynamics of Wealth Inequality project (Santa Fe Institute) Matthew Jackson, Social and Economic Networks, Princeton University Press (2008) Matthew Jackson, The Human Network, Penguin Random House (2020) Mei, Yuan, and Jackson, "A Turing Test of Whether AI Chatbots are Behaviorally Similar to Humans," PNAS (2024) Xie, Mei, Yuan, and Jackson, "Using Lar...

The Micro-mechanisms Influencing Social Interactions

Apr 30, 2026 45 min

Human interactions occur in a variety of contexts. When interactions are marked by conflict, misunderstanding, bias, or aggression, 2024-25 CASBS fellow Katy DeCelles illuminates the micro-sociological and social-psychological dynamics that contribute to the sub-optimal interaction outcomes, enabling the formulation of corrective solutions and better organizational design. DeCelles discusses a sampling of her innovative work in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18). Katherine (Katy) DeCelles: Univ. of Toronto faculty page | Google Scholar page | Poets & Quants profile | DeCelles work discussed & relevant resources: "Scale Dichotomization Reduces Customer Racial Discrimination and Income Inequality," Nature 639, 19 February 2025 "Racial Bias Eliminated When Ratings Switch from Five Stars to Thumbs Up or Down," Nature, 19 February 2025"How Gig Platforms Can Mitigate Racial Bias in Ratings," Harvard Business Review, 14 March 2025"Different or Impartial? Actor-Observer Asymmetries in Expressing and Evaluating Sociopolitical Neutrality," Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 154(11), 2025"Understanding the Dynamics of Workplace Violence Can Improve Employee Health and Safety," Rotman School of Management, Univ. of Toronto, 2022 John Markoff: website | John's latest book is Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022). His next book (forthcoming, 2027), will be published by MIT Press. Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

David Card: Behind the Nobel

Feb 26, 2026 56 min

In his first visit since to CASBS since his 1996-97 fellowship, UC Berkeley economist David Card lifts the veil behind the innovative empirical work on the labor market effects of immigration, minimum wages, and education that earned him the Nobel Prize in 2021. In conversation with 2024-25 CASBS fellow Dylan Connor, Card also explores issues and questions involving the relationships among geography, social and labor mobility, and wealth inequalities. DAVID CARD: UC Berkeley page | Berkeley economics page | Wikipedia page | Nobel Prize page | Google Scholar page | Berkeley Nobel Prize article | DYLAN CONNOR: ASU page | Google Scholar page | Work emerging from David Card's CASBS year "Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration," Journal of Labor Economics (2001)"Would Financial Incentives for Leaving Welfare Lead Some People to Stay on Welfare Longer?" NBER Working Paper (1997)"Adapting to Circumstances: The Evolution of Work, School, and Living Arrangements among North American Youth," in Youth Employment and Joblessness in Advanced Countries (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000)"School Finance Reform, the Distribution of School Spending, and the Distribution of Student Test Scores," Journal of Public Economics (2002)"The More Things Change: Immigrants and the Children of Immigrants in the 1940s, the 1970s, and the 1990s," in Issues in the Economics of Immigration (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000) Other CASBS fellows mentioned in this episode Orley Ashenfelter (1989-90) Alan B. Krueger (1999-2000) Roberto M. Fernandez (1996-97) Robert D. Putnam (1974-75, 1988-89) Min Zhou (2005-06) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Your Field Guide for Creating Social Change

Jan 13, 2026 1 hr 6 min

Philosophers Michael Brownstein (CASBS fellow 2019-20) and Dan Kelly (2018-19), two of the coauthors of "Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Create Social Change," discuss their book's framing and key concepts with Damon Centola (2014-15), an expert in social network dynamics. The book offers a pragmatic guide for connecting individuals to their role as change agents, illuminating the social feedback processes through which structures, individuals, and social movements interact, unlocking the potential for systemic change. The book is Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change (MIT Press, 2025) Explore the book's website, containing related research, media, more about the authors, and an appendix that provides "A Deeper Dive into Individuals, Structures, and Other Key Concepts" Michael Brownstein: CUNY Graduate Center webpage | personal webpage | Google Scholar page | CASBS page | Dan Kelly: Purdue Univ. webpage | personal webpage | Google Scholar page | CASBS page | Damon Centola: Penn webpage | Network Dynamics Group webpage | Wikipedia page | Google Scholar page | CASBS page | Other works referenced in this episode: Alex Madva, Daniel Kelly, Michael Brownstein, "Change the People or Change the Policy? On the Moral Education of Antiracists," Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2023) Michael Brownstein, Daniel Kelly, Alex Madva, "Individualism, Structuralism, and Climate Change," Environmental Communication (2021) C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (1956) (Wikipedia) James S. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966), known as The Coleman Report (Wikipedia) Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (1979 [1984]) (Wikipedia) Other 2018-19 CASBS fellows who Dan Kelly mentions in this episode: Christopher Bryan, Jennifer Freyd, Ying-hi Hong, Elizabeth Lonsdorf, Ruth Milkman Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bl...

Paul Milgrom: Beyond the Nobel

Dec 9, 2025 47 min

Economist Paul Milgrom is celebrated for his Nobel Prize-winning work on auction theory and design. But he has published a wide range of other innovative, influential research throughout his career – including a book and articles emerging from his 1991-92 CASBS fellowship. Gani Aldashev (CASBS fellow, 2024-25) engages Milgrom on highlights of this often-collaborative or cross-disciplinary work on organizational behavior, the institutional roots of trust and cooperation, social choice for environmental policy, and more. PAUL MILGROM: Stanford faculty page | Personal website | Nobel Prize page | Nobel bio | Wikipedia page| CASBS page | Gani Aldashev: Georgetown faculty page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page | PAUL MILGROM WORKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE: Economics, Organization, and Management (Prentice Hall, 1992), coauthored with John Roberts (CASBS fellow, 1991-92) "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (1991), coauthored with Bengt Holmstrom "Complementarities and Fit Strategy, Structure, and Organizational Change in Manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics (1995), coauthored with John Roberts "Complementarities, Momentum, and the Evolution of Modern Manufacturing," The American Economic Review (1991), coauthored with Yingyi Qian, John Roberts "Complementarities and Systems: Understanding Japanese Economic Organization," Estudios Economicos (1994), coauthored with John Roberts "The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs," Economics & Politics (1990), coauthored with Douglass North (CASBS fellow, 1987-88) and Barry Weingast (CASBS fellow, 1993-94) Learn about the Champagne Fairs on Wikipedia "Coordination, Commitment and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild," Journal of Political Economy (1994), coauthored with Avner Greif (CASBS fellow, 1993-94), Barry Weingast "Is Sympathy an E...

In Edward Said's Shadow

Oct 28, 2025 1 hr 8 min

Edward Said famously wrote most of "Orientalism" during his 1975-76 CASBS fellowship. The book criticized Western worldviews and representations of the East (or 'Orient') and their perpetuation of romanticized or colonial mindsets. A half-century later, "Orientalism" continues to shape scholarship, frame debates, and resonate in disparate regions and contexts. Four 2024-25 CASBS fellows representing different disciplines – A. Shane Dillingham, Thomas Blom Hansen, Camilla Hawthorne, and Shirin Sinnar – discuss the enduring influence and impact of Said and his landmark book. EDWARD SAID WORKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE Orientalism (Pantheon, 1978) "The One State Solution," New York Times, 10 January 1999 Representations of the Intellectual (Penguin Random House, 1996) Other works emerging from Edward Said's CASBS fellowship EPISODE GUESTS A. Shane Dillingham: ASU faculty page | Personal website | CASBS page Camilla Hawthorne: UCSC faculty page | Personal website | CASBS page Thomas Blom Hansen: Stanford faculty page | CASBS page Shirin Sinnar: Stanford faculty page | CASBS page Edward Said on CASBS In evaluating his CASBS fellowship in 1976, Edward Said noted that "...the Center does not pay enough attention (in its selection of Fellows) to revisionist and/or radical scholars in the humanities and social sciences. There are a great many intellectual developments taking place, many of them because of thinkers whose work departs from (if does not explicitly reject) the conventions of Establishment scholarship." In addition to this constructive criticism, Said remarked in general that "...the quiet and the absence of immediate pressures were, for me, a very welcome change from past years, when deadlines, a thousand daily commitments, and the mad pressures of teaching in a large university (in a large city) made continuity of work and reflection almost impossible." Said further reported that Orientialism was "exactly four-fifths complete." In accounting for his "extre...

Colin Camerer: Econ's Neurovisionary

Oct 2, 2025 45 min

An absorbing conversation featuring Colin Camerer (CASBS fellow, 1997-98), among the world's most accomplished scholars in both behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, with economist Stephanie Wang (2024-25). Camerer discusses his groundbreaking work on the neuroeconomics of self-control and habit formation; offers insights on generating ideas for, building, then scaling behavioral models; and explains why neuroscience remains a wide-open field awaiting the contributions of so-far mostly reluctant economists and other social scientists. COLIN CAMERER: Caltech faculty page | Camerer research group | on Google Scholar | Wikipedia page | bio at the Decision Lab | bio at MacArthur Foundation | STEPHANIE WANG: Pitt faculty page | Personal website | on Google Scholar | CASBS bio | Works discussed or mentioned in this episode: C. Camerer, Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction. Princeton University Press, 2003. C. Camerer, "Can Asset Markets Be Manipulated? A Field Experiment with Racetrack Betting," Journal of Political Economy, 1998. C. Camerer, et al., "The Golden Age of Social Science," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021. C. Camerer, et al., "A Neural Autopilot Theory of Habit: Evidence from Consumer Purchases and Social Media Use," Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2024. S. Wang, C. Camerer, et al., "Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Toward Losses in a Representative Sample," Review of Economic Studies, 2025. F. Ramsey, "Truth and Probability" (1926), published in F. Ramsey, The Foundations of Mathematics and Other Logical Essays (1931) U. Malmendier, S. Nagel, "Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?" Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2011. M. Cobb, The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience, Basic Books, 2020. M. Gaetani, "CASBS in the History of Behavioral Economics," CASBS website, 2018. Also of interest: S. Wang, et al., eds., "Mindful Economi...

Grand Master of the Sociology of Immigration & Assimilation

Jul 21, 2025 54 min

For decades, Alejandro Portes (CASBS fellow 1980-81) has been among our most distinguished scholars elucidating the causes and consequences of immigration and assimilation. René D. Flores (CASBS fellow 2023-24) engages Portes in a conversation spanning large swaths of Portes's formidable intellectual biography, including his personal journey from Cuba and its influence on his academic trajectory, as well as his approach to social science inquiry and its delivery of insights leading to some of his most celebrated and consequential works. ALEJANDRO PORTES: Princeton faculty page | CV | Univ. of Miami faculty page | Wikipedia page | on Google Scholar | Biographical sketches of Portes: American Sociological Association | National Academy of Education | Princeton | National Institutes of Health | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | Robert K. Merton's full quote about Alejandro Portes is contained in the September/October 1998 issue of Footnotes, a publication of the American Sociological Association. Access the full text. Works referenced in this episode Alejandro Portes, "Rationality in the Slum: An Essay on Interpretive Sociology," Comparative Studies in Society and History, v13 n3, June 1972. Alejandro Portes, "Dilemmas of a Golden Exile: Integration of Cuban Refugee Families in Milwaukee," American Sociological Review, v34 n4, August 1969. Alejandro Portes and Robert Bach, Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States. Univ. of California Press, 1985. Alejandro Portes and Min Zhou, "The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and its Variants," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, November 1993. Alejandro Portes and Ruben Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait, Univ. of California Press, 2024 (fifth ed.) Alejandro Portes and Ruben Rumbaut, Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation, Univ. of California Press, 2001. Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou, The Asian American Achievement Paradox,...

Can AI Take Common Sense from a Baby?

Apr 30, 2025 37 min

Generative AI tools built on large language models are increasingly "intelligent" yet lack a baby's common sense – the ability to non-verbally generalize to novel situations without additional training. What can developmental science contribute to AI? Tech journalist and former CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow David Moore, a developmental scientist with expertise in infant cognition, on evaluating the efforts of DARPA's Machine Common Sense program as well as prospects and concerns associated with creating AIs with common sense. DAVID MOORE: Personal website | Claremont Infant Study Center | Wikipedia page | DARPA Machine Common Sense program Related resource: David Moore, et al. "Leveraging Developmental Psychology to Evaluate Artificial Intelligence," 2022 IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL), Nov. 2022. DOI: 10.1109/ICDL53763.2022.9962183 Recommended by David Moore: Esther Thelen and Linda B. Smith. A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action. MIT Press, 1994. Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Make the Atmosphere Great Again

Mar 24, 2025 57 min

Given deeply polarized domestic politics and insufficient international commitment to the Paris Accord, can we reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avert some of the worst effects of climate change before it's too late? It's an elemental question that warrants despair, yes, but plenty of hope too. Political scientist Leigh Raymond, a 2021-22 CASBS fellow, explores the implicated issues through a conversation about "Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere" with its author, sustainability scientist Rob Jackson. Jackson launched the book project as a 2019-20 CASBS fellow. ROB JACKSON: Faculty page | Stanford profile | CASBS profile | Jackson on Google Scholar | Global Carbon Project | Publisher page for Into the Clear Blue Sky: The Path to Restoring Our Atmosphere (Simon & Schuster, 2024) Media related to Into the Clear Blue Sky: KQED Forum | The Times | Scientific American | Aeon | Wired | Times Literary Supplement | The Conversation | Chemical & Engineering News | Civil Eats | more Scientific American | Literary Hub | Heatmap | Environmental Health News | Orion | Fast Company | Inside Climate News | The Wall Street Journal | Atmos | ACS Publications | LEIGH RAYMOND: Faculty page | on Google Scholar | Publisher page for Reclaiming the Atmospheric Commons: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and a New Model of Emissions Trading (MIT Press, 2016) | 2017 book award announcement | "What Climate Policies do Americans Want from Their Legislatures?" Good Authority (July 5, 2022) "Building Support for Carbon Pricing - Lessons from Cap-and-trade Policies," Energy Policy 134 (2019) "Framing Market-Based Versus Regulatory Climate Policies: A Comparative Analysis," Review of Policy Research (2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-prod...

Anthropology at the Borderlands of Experience

Feb 27, 2025 57 min

Two-time CASBS fellow and renowned anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann discusses her past and current work as an anthropologist of the mind, both in religious and psychological contexts, in conversation with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Erica Robles-Anderson. Luhrmann's award-winning work investigates visions, voices, psychosis, the supernatural, and other unusual sensory experiences and phenomena, found often at the borderlands of spirit, culture, and the mind. TANYA LUHRMANN: Stanford faculty page | Stanford profile page | Personal website | Wikipedia page | on Google Scholar | CV | Luhrmann, Of Two Minds. Winner of: the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, the Bryce Boyer Prize for Psychological Anthropology, the Gradiva Award from the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis Luhrmann, When God Talks Back. Winner of the Grawemeyer Prize in Religion and the Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. Luhrmann, "A life in books," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (2020) Luhrmann, et al. "Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021) ERICA ROBLES-ANDERSON: NYU faculty page | CASBS page | on Google Scholar | Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Demystifying the Disinformation Marketplace

Jan 28, 2025 46 min

There never will be enough independent fact checking of online political advertising and their ecosystems. Can we develop methods and tools to demonetize or at least disincentivize the behaviors of disinformation producers as well as the ad firms and content providers in business with them? 2023-24 CASBS fellow Ceren Budak navigates the disinformation marketplace and illuminates pathways for better design of online communities and platforms in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist and former CASBS fellow John Markoff. CEREN BUDAK: Faculty webpage | Personal website | Referenced in this episode: "Misunderstanding the harms of online misinformation." Nature 630, 45–53 (2024) The Prosocial Ranking Challenge (Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence) "Intermedia agenda setting during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections." Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, 18(1), 254-275. Lawrence Lessig's Pathetic Dot Theory (Wikipedia) ---- Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

The Humanity of Connective Labor

Oct 15, 2024 51 min

Are jobs requiring high levels of human interaction worth preserving in the age of automation? Can we design machines to achieve something profound – the mutual recognition that occurs when human beings truly "see" each other? CASBS faculty fellow Mitchell Stevens explores these questions with Allison Pugh, author of the 2024 book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World. Pugh launched work on the book as a 2016-17 CASBS fellow. ALLISON PUGH website | Google Scholar page | Interview with Allison Pugh on building a society of connection (CASBS in partnership with Public Books) | Princeton University Press page for The Last Human Job MITCHELL STEVENS Stanford GSE faculty page | Stanford profile | CASBS page | Google Scholar page | Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Organized Civic Benevolence and Nationhood

Aug 2, 2024 51 min

Santi Furnari (CASBS fellow, 2023-24) engages renowned political sociologist & 2015-16 fellow Elisabeth Clemens on the role of private civic volunteer organizations in co-constructing national identity and state capacity as well as serving as tools of governance, solidarity, and inclusion for much of American history. In what form does civic benevolence and philanthropy operate in the contemporary landscape? This absorbing conversation draws inspiration from the multi-award-winning book "Civic Gifts," much of which Clemens wrote during her CASBS year. ELISABETH CLEMENS: Univ. of Chicago faculty page | Clemens wins 2023 Gordon J. Laing Award | on Wikipedia | The book is Civic Gifts: Voluntarism and the Making of the American Nation-State (Univ. of Chicago Press), winner of the Barrington Moore Book Award, Comparative and Historical Sociology section, American Sociological Association; the University of Chicago Press Gordon J. Laing Award; the Outstanding Published Book Award, ASA Section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity; and the Peter Dobkin Hall History of Philanthropy Prize, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). SANTI FURNARI: CASBS page | City University of London, Bayes School of Business faculty page | on Google Scholar | Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Exposing Sources and Impacts of Election Disinformation Campaigns

Jul 8, 2024 42 min

Legendary tech journalist John Markoff (CASBS fellow, 2017-18) chats with 2023-24 CASBS fellow Young Mie Kim on her groundbreaking efforts to identify how shadowy groups use algorithms and targeted disinformation campaigns during presidential election cycles; measure their real-world distorting effects on voter mobilization or suppression; and illuminate our understanding of resulting political inequalities and their implications for American democracy. YOUNG MIE KIM: CASBS bio | Univ. of Wisconsin faculty page | "The Disinformation Detective" (On Wisconsin magazine) | Kim leads Project DATA (Digital Ad Tracking & Analysis) at UW. | Project DATA on X | Kim is lead author of the article "The Stealth Media? Groups and Targets Behind Divisive Issue Campaigns on Facebook," Political Communication, v35 n4 (2018). The article won the Kaid-Sanders Award for the Best Political Communication Article of the Year by the International Communication Association. Coverage of findings: The New York Times here and here | Wired | Kim's testimony delivered to the Federal Election Commission | Kim is a founding member of the International Panel on the Information Environment. Coverage of IPIE in The New York Times | Kim among the authors of "The effects of Facebook and Instagram on the 2020 election: A deactivation experiment," Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, v121 n2 (2024) | Kim a coauthor of several articles appearing in a special issue of Science on Social Media and Elections (2023) | At the beginning of the episode, Kim discusses the influence of Phil Converse. Converse was a CASBS fellow in 1979-80 and later served as CASBS director (1989-94). Learn more about Converse's work. --------- Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast |...

The Gold Standard of Economic Historians

May 31, 2024 1 hr 12 min

Stefan Link, a 2023-24 CASBS fellow, chats with Barry Eichengreen, a 1996-97 CASBS fellow and world renowned for his expertise at the nexus of international economics and economic history. They discuss some of Eichengreen's most prominent works — including "The European Economy Since 1945," which emerged from his CASBS experience, and "Golden Fetters," his most cited book — interrogating their durability and applicability to contemporary industrial, financial, and monetary policy challenges and governance. BARRY EICHENGREEN: UC Berkeley faculty page | Homepage & CV | on Wikipedia | STEFAN LINK: CASBS bio | Dartmouth faculty page | Mentioned in the episode: Eichengreen's talk on "Steering Structural Change" (session 2) at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (16 April 2024) Eichengreen & Temin NBER paper on "The Gold Standard and the Great Depression" (June 1997) Select Eichengreen books Elusive Stability: Essays in the History of International Finance 1919-1939 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990) Golden Fetters: The Gold Standard and the Great Depression 1919-1939 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1992) International Monetary Arrangements for the 21st Century (Brookings Institution, 1994) Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System (Princeton Univ. Press, 1994) European Monetary Unification: Theory, Practice, and Analysis (MIT Press, 1997) Toward a New International Financial Architecture: A Practical Post-Asia Agenda (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 1999) Financial Crises and What to Do About Them (Oxford Univ. Press, 2002) Capital Flows and Crises (MIT Press, 2004) Global Imbalances and the Lessons of Bretton Woods (MIT Press, 2006) The European Economy Since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond (Princeton Univ. Press, 2006) Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012) Hall of Mirrors: The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and t...

A Scholar's Commitment to Workers' Economic Justice

Apr 30, 2024 50 min

Labor historian & 2023-24 CASBS fellow Gabriel Winant in conversation with 2018-19 CASBS fellow Ruth Milkman, among the nation's most renowned sociologists of labor. In addition to interrogating divisions within and segmentation across labor markets in recent decades, Milkman also has remained attuned to the complexity of the overall working class experience, essential for illuminating ways in which workers can unite and organize. RUTH MILKMAN: CUNY faculty page | personal website | ASA bio | Milkman's book Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat (2020) | Polity Press Q&A | GABRIEL WINANT: CASBS bio | Univ. of Chicago faculty page | faculty Q&A | Winant's book The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America (2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Bridging Adaptive Algorithms and the Public Good

Mar 25, 2024 42 min

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Nathan Matias about often-overlooked public interest questions and concerns regarding the deployment of tech platform algorithms and AI models. Specifically, Matias is a player in filling the two-way knowledge gaps between civil society and tech firms with an eye on governance, safety, accountability, and advancing the science — including the social science — of human-algorithm behavior. Nathan Matias: Cornell University faculty page | CASBS bio | Personal website | Citizens & Technology Lab Coalition for Independent Technology Research Select Matias publications "Humans and Algorithms Work Together — So Study Them Together" Nature (2023) "Impact Assessment of Human-Algorithm Feedback Loops" Just Tech, SSRC (2022) "The Tragedy of the Digital Commons" The Atlantic (2015) "To Hold Tech Accountable, Look to Public Health" Wired (2023) Link to more Nathan Matias public writing | Matias on Medium | on LinkedIn | ------ Read John Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

A Social Science of Caregiving

Feb 26, 2024 1 hr 4 min

Recorded before a live audience, Margaret Levi, Alison Gopnik, & Anne-Marie Slaughter discuss a CASBS project, "The Social Science of Caregiving," which is reimagining the philosophical, psychological, biological, political, & economic foundations of care and caregiving. The goal is a coherent empirical and theoretical account or synthesis of care that advances understandings and policy discussions. [The episode notes provide links for further exploration.] Article on CASBS's project on The Social Science of Caregiving Web page for the project on The Social Science of Caregiving Related: Human Centered episode #61, "Developing AI Like Raising Kids" (Alison Gopnik & Ted Chiang) Alison Gopnik: CASBS bio | UC Berkeley Bio | Gopnik article, "Caregiving in Philosophy, Biology & Political Economy" (Dædalus) Margaret Levi: CASBS bio | CASBS program on Creating a New Moral Political Economy | Anne-Marie Slaughter: New America bio | Slaughter articles, "Care is a Relationship" (Dædalus) | "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" (The Atlantic) Slaughter book, Unfinished Business (Penguin Random House) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

The Shadow of Cybersecurity Expertise

Jan 17, 2024 39 min

Pulitzer Prize-winning tech journalist & 2017-18 CASBS fellow John Markoff chats with 2022-23 CASBS fellow Rebecca Slayton on how the field of computing expertise evolved, eventually giving rise to the niche of professionals who protect systems from cyber-attacks. Slayton's forthcoming book explores the governance & risk implications emerging from the fact that cybersecurity experts must establish their authority by paradoxically revealing vulnerabilities and insecurities of that which they seek to protect. REBECCA SLAYTON Cornell University faculty page | | CASBS page | Slayton's book Arguments that Count: Physics, Computing, and Missile Defense, 1949-2012 (MIT Press) Slayton's article "What is the Cyber Offense-Defense Balance?," International Security Video: Talk on "Shadowing Cybersecurity: Expertise, Transnationalism, and the Politics of Uncertainty" at Stanford Univ. JOHN MARKOFF New York Times page Markoff's latest book, Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Steward Brand (Penguin Random House, 2022) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University 75 Alta Road | Stanford, CA 94305 | CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach View the Fall 2023 CASBS Newsletter Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Challenging History Erasures to Expand Possible Futures

Dec 13, 2023 1 hr 5 min

Two-time CASBS fellow Fred Turner engages CASBS board of directors chair Abby Smith Rumsey before a live audience to discuss her new book "Memory, Edited: Taking Liberties with History." When the erasure or distortion of collective memory through storytelling hijacks fact, truth, and history itself, what kind of information infrastructures can effectively confront those false narratives? Turner and Rumsey explore the tensions between history and storytelling and resulting implications for political beliefs, actions, and our collective sense of reality. ABBY SMITH RUMSEY CASBS website bio | Personal website | Talk at Long Now Foundation in partnership with CASBS MIT Press web page for Memory, Edited: Taking Liberties with History CASBS Q&A with Rumsey (2022) FRED TURNER Stanford University profile | Fred Turner's books | on Google Scholar | "Machine Politics: The Rise of the Internet and a New Age of Authoritarianism," Harper's Magazine (2019) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Toward a Society of Shared Recognition

Nov 28, 2023 46 min

Renowned sociologist Michèle Lamont (CASBS fellow, 2002-03) discusses her new book, Seeing Others, with former CASBS director Woody Powell. The book assembles decades of Lamont’s scholarship, engaging some of contemporary society’s most elemental challenges and advancing key building blocks toward a shared human experience marked by greater inclusion, belonging, dignity, empathy, and equality. MICHÈLE LAMONT: Harvard University faculty page | Harvard sociology page Personal website | Simon & Schuster page for Seeing Others The Successful Societies project, which held its first convening at CASBS in 2003 WALTER "WOODY" POWELL Stanford University faculty page | CASBS page Personal website | PACS page Announcement of Powell as CASBS director CASBS summer institute on Organizations and Their Effectiveness (2016-present) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Toward Cross-disciplinary Consensus About Our (Mis)Information Environment

Nov 2, 2023 49 min

Fully understanding and regulating our complex information ecosystems will require creating new cultures and modes of collaborating, new organizational frameworks and, yes, working with generative AI models in service of aggregating actionable scientific knowledge. Angela Aristidou (CASBS fellow, 2022-23) navigates the crucial questions and challenges with Phil Howard (CASBS fellow, 2008-09), a renowned scholar of tech innovation and public policy as well as co-founder and chair of the new International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE). PHIL HOWARD: University of Oxford page | Wikipedia page | Personal website | INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON THE INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT: Website | Oxford article on IPIE | New York Times article on IPIE | ANGELA ARISTIDOU UCL School of Management page | CASBS page | UCL article on AA | on ResearchGate | Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(CASBS)at Stanford University 75 Alta Road | Stanford, CA 94305 | CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis NOV. 16, 2023 Event: 2023 Sage-CASBS Award Lecture | Elizabeth Anderson & Alondra Nelson Meet the 2023-24 CASBS class Announcing a new fellowship partnership CASBS Program Curates Issue of Dædalus Previous podcast episode: The Memory Science Disruptor Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

The Memory Science Disruptor

Sep 11, 2023 51 min

Dan Simon, a 2022-23 CASBS fellow and USC law professor, joins in conversation with Elizabeth Loftus, a 1978-79 CASBS fellow and Distinguished Professor at UC Irvine. Loftus is known in the public sphere through her decades-long study of memory – specifically, its malleability and fallibility – as well as her application of findings as an expert witness or consultant in hundreds of legal cases. Loftus's book "Eyewitness Testimony," completed at the Center, charted the course of her career that followed and serves as this episode's launching point. ELIZABETH LOFTUS UC Irvine faculty page Wikipedia page TED Talk (2013), "How reliable is your memory?" Nobel Prize Summit (2023), "The misinformation effect" The New Yorker (2021), "How Elizabeth Loftus Changed the Meaning of Memory" DAN SIMON USC Gould School of Law faculty page CASBS bio "In Doubt: The Psychology of the Criminal Justice Process" (Harvard Univ. Press, 2012) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(CASBS)at Stanford University CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series, Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Jonathan Jansen's Power of Craft

Aug 28, 2023 53 min

While you're listening to this episode, 2016-17 CASBS fellow Jonathan Jansen likely will write another few thousand words. As a scholar of education & leader of education institutions, Jansen is South Africa's most towering figure. To call him prolific is a gross understatement. He writes a steady stream of books & more books. As a public intellectual he writes a separate steady stream of columns & essays. And he's written a family memoir too. We bring 2022-23 CASBS fellow Zimitri Erasmus, a social anthropologist who is working on a book on writing praxis, in conversation with Jansen to unlock some secrets & insights into his most powerful & liberating weapon for engaging the world – writing. JONATHAN JANSEN on Google Scholar Jansen website Mentioned in the episode Corrupted: A Study of Chronic Dysfunction in South African Universities (2023) Song for Sarah: Lessons from my Mother (2017) Jansen and CASBS "Loving and Blacking" (symposium, 2017) "Higher Ed at the Crossroads" (webcast, 2020) ZIMITRI ERASMUS CASBS page on Google Scholar at University of Witswatersrand Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences(CASBS) at Stanford University CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series, Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Deploying Behavioral Science on the Front Lines of Social Protest

Aug 1, 2023 1 hr 37 min

What are the most effective collective actions that social protest movements can or should undertake in the context of deep societal conflict and polarization? CASBS fellows Eran Halperin (2022-23) & Robb Willer (2012-13, 2020-21) compare their cross-national research findings and explore Halperin's real-time applied work with the dramatic, ongoing protests in Israel. ERAN HALPERIN links: Psychology of Intergroup Conflict and Reconciliation Lab (PCIL) Halperin on Google Scholar aChord: Social Psychology for Social Change ROBB WILLER links: Willer's Stanford faculty page Willer's personal web page Polarization and Social Change Lab Willer on Google Scholar Article in JPSP, "The Activist's Dilemma" (2020) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University CASBS:website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Frederick Cooper's Illumination of History

Jul 10, 2023 45 min

Drawing upon a career of scholarship extending from studies of labor, citizenship, and the state in Africa to explorations of global empire, colonialism, and globalization, three-time CASBS fellow Frederick Cooper – in conversation with 2022-23 fellows Jean Beaman and Martin Williams – gives a master class on how critical and relational thinking serve historical inquiries that advance our understandings. Frederick Cooper, CASBS fellow 1990-91, 1995-96, 2002-03 NYU faculty page Wikipedia page Fred Cooper books Citizenship, Inequality, and Difference: Historical Perspectives (2018) Citizenship Between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945-1960 (2014) Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (2010) Cooper Books in CASBS's Ralph W. Tyler Collection: Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History (2005) Decolonization and African Society: The Labor Question in French and British Africa (1996) Confronting Historical Paradigms: Peasants, Labor, and the Capitalist World System in Africa and Latin America (1993) Fred Cooper article referenced in the episode "What is the Concept of Globalization Good for? An African Historian's Perspective" (2001) Jean Beaman faculty page Martin Williams faculty page Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University CASBS:website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Developing AI Like Raising Kids - Alison Gopnik & Ted Chiang

Jun 1, 2023 55 min

This episode is produced in association with the CASBS project "The Social Science of Caregiving," and draws further inspiration from the CASBS project "Imagining Adaptive Societies." Learn more about both: https://casbs.stanford.edu/programs/projects/social-science-caregiving https://casbs.stanford.edu/programs/projects/imagining-adaptive-societies CASBS program director Zachary Ugolnik served as co-producer of this episode. Ted Chiang on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Chiang Ted Chiang in The New Yorker "Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter" https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/why-computers-wont-make-themselves-smarter "ChatGPT is a Blurry JPEG of the Web" https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-web "Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?" https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/will-ai-become-the-new-mckinsey "Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction" https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/ted-chiangs-soulful-science-fiction Explore the work of Alison Gopnik http://alisongopnik.com/ http://www.gopniklab.berkeley.edu/alison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Gopnik https://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/podcasts/ezra-klein-podcast-alison-gopnik-transcript.html Learn about CASBS website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

New Visions for Effective Worker Influence

May 22, 2023 1 hr 26 min

This is a podcast version of a live CASBS webcast event. View video of the event here. The event was produced in association with CASBS's program on Creating a New Moral Political Economy. Learn about the program here. CASBS's moral political economy program guest-curated the Winter 2023 issue of Dædalus, a publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The entire issue is open access here. Panelist John Ahlquist's essay in the issue provided impetus for the organization of the event this podcast episode draws from. CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

A Different Glenn Loury

Apr 27, 2023 1 hr 11 min

Glenn Loury on Google Scholar Coate & Loury (1993), "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?" Loury, The Anatomy of Racial Inequality (The Du Bois Lectures) The Tanner Lectures at Stanford (2007) Lecture 1 | Lecture 2 Loury (2008), Race, Incarceration, and American Values Loury (2019), "Why Does Racial Inequality Persist?" Somanathan and Allen, eds. (2020) Difference without Domination: Pursuing Justice in Diverse Democracies Loury public symposium at CASBS (2016), "Racial Inequality in 21st Century America" (video) CASBS webcast (2020), "The Persistence of Racial Inequality" (video); panel featuring Glenn Loury, Joshua Cohen, Francis Fukuyama, Alondra Nelso, & Margaret Levi The Glenn Show (YouTube) The Glenn Show (Manhattan Institute) CASBS: website|Twitter|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreach Follow the CASBS webcast series,Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Interdependence & Climate Change - Robert Keohane

Mar 27, 2023 1 hr 7 min

Bob Scott is Trending

Dec 6, 2022 53 min

Emerging Trends in The Social and Behavioral Sciences Bob’s Introduction to the project About the Robert A. Scott Lectureship Fund The classic mud volleyball photo (click then scroll to the bottom of the article) Human Centered episode featuring Richard Wrangham CASBS in the History of Behavioral Economics CASBS Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Toward Better Evidence-Based Policymaking

Dec 2, 2022 1 hr 23 min

Creating A New Political Economy Framework

Sep 1, 2022 1 hr 27 min

Moderator Debra Satz Panelists Elizabeth Anderson University of Michigan Samuel Bowles Santa Fe Institute Nobel laureate Sir Angus Deaton Princeton Amy Kapczynski Yale Law CASBS @CasbsStanford Creating a New Moral Political Economy program at CASBS Social Science for a World in Crisis Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Movements & Contentious Politics - Sid Tarrow

Jul 26, 2022 49 min

Better AI Through Social Science

Jul 5, 2022 1 hr 8 min

Don Norman: By Design

Jun 6, 2022 38 min

Understanding Gen Z

Apr 7, 2022 1 hr 23 min

"Gen Z Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age" Roberta Katz Sarah Ogilvie Jane Shaw Linda Woodhead Kat Tenbarge CASBS CASBS project: Understanding the iGeneration Social Science for a World in Crisis @CASBSStanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel

Psychology of Political Beliefs - David O. Sears

Feb 28, 2022 56 min

Dreaming a New Academy - Gloria Ladson-Billings

Dec 15, 2021 56 min

High-tech Modernism

Dec 1, 2021 1 hr 30 min

dana boyd Henry Farrell Marion Fourcade William Janeway Charlton McIlwain Zeynep Tufekci Suggested Reading "The Moral Economy of High Tech Modernism" "Making Space for Black Software" "Learning Like a State: Statecraft in the Digital Age" "Isomorphism through algorithms: Institutional dependencies in the case of Facebook" "The Ecology of Innovation" CASBS @CasbsStanford Social Science for a World in Crisis Creating a New Moral Political Economy Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University Explore CASBS: website | Bluesky | X | YouTube |LinkedIn | podcast | latest newsletter | signup | outreach Human Centered Producer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel