Tagged: psychology

Coming up on Speakers Forum, May 23 at 8:00 p.m.

Pepto-Bismol pink is a color sometimes used in prisons to calm inmates. People with names that start with K are more likely to donate to victims of Hurricane Katrina than Hurricane Rita. Professional cyclists pedal faster when people are watching.

A variety of external factors influence our thoughts, feelings, and decisions, says Adam Alter, a professor of psychology at NYU and the author of “Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave.”

He spoke about the degree to which our environment shapes who we are at Seattle’s Town Hall on April 2, 2013.

Our spring membership drive rolls along with two of our favorite interviews: two-time Grammy winning musician Taj Mahal joined us late last year to celebrate 40 years in music and a new retrospective album, "Maestro." Plus, we listen back to a conversation with Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker about his book, "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature."

It sounds shocking, but earworms are an epidemic that affect at least 90 percent of people as often as once a week. That’s according to a Goldsmiths University study. But before you go logging onto WebMD, fear not! These earworms are more commonly referred to as songs, regular old songs — often radio hits or catchy grooves that burrow deep within the human brain. For instance, maybe you've been visited by this hungry earworm:

What are our hidden biases or blind spots, and how can they divert us from doing what we think is right? Ross Reynolds interviews University of Washington psychology professor Anthony Greenwald, co-author of the new book "Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People."