Have you heard of doomscrolling? It was coined during the COVID-19 pandemic to describe the phenomenon of the rise in negative feelings after viewing pandemic-related media. In this episode Professor Matthew Prices discusses his research on the negative association between daily social media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. His study found that regularly viewing pandemic-related social media was associated with an increase in psychopathology, p...

Most young adults use Instagram and Facebook frequently. Social media use is associated with increased negative social comparisons. Negative social comparisons on social media are related to suicidal ideation. In this episode Professor Elizabeth Spitzer discusses her research on the negative social comparison, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness and social media use. In her survey of 456 college students she found a positive relationship between negative social comparison on social me...

Performing random acts of kindness increases the happiness in both the givers and receivers. However, people underestimate the positive value performing a random act of kindness may have. In this episode Professor Kumar discusses his recent paper "A Little Good Goes an Unexpectedly Long Way: Underestimating the Positive Impact of Kindness on Recipients" published in August of 2022 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology Professor Amit Kumar is currently an Asst. Professor of Marketi...

Understanding patient sociodemographic factors is necessary to quantify equity and inclusion in healthcare. The World Health Organization recommends all countries integrate health inequality monitoring into their information systems and develop practices that promote health equity. Dr. Murdoch Leeies explains the findings of his recent publication on collecting sociodemographic data in Emergency Departments. This conversation includes recommendations for Emergency Departments to impleme...

Drug checking is a harm reduction response to help prevent people who use drugs from consuming substances they did not intend to purchase and to provide the opportunity to make informed decisions about drug use. Substance use stigma prevents people from engaging in harm reduction practices. In this podcast episode, Samantha Davis discusses her recent paper “Substance Use Stigma and Community Drug Checking: A Qualitative Study Examining Barriers and Possible Responses” ...

William K. Black is a professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) and the Distinguished Scholar in Residence for Financial Regulation at the University of Minnesota Law School. He is a white-collar criminologist. He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He was a senior financial regulator instrumental in ‘reregulating’ the savings and loan industry to counter the debacle and aiding the successfu...

Julie Segal is Senior Manager, Climate Finance at Environmental Defence, where she advances climate-related financial policy and regulation. In this episode, Julie discusses her paper, "Justice and Sustainability: Pricing in Physical Climate Risks" which won First Prize Paper in the Ethics & Trust in Finance Global Prize. The paper discusses how pricing in physical climate risk is inconsistent with environmental justice. Why are countries vulnerable to climate change having to pay higher ...

Professor June Carbone Professor holds the Robina Chair in Law, Science and Technology at the University of Minnesota Law School. Prior to beginning this position in 2013, she was the Edward A. Smith/Missouri Chair of Law, the Constitution and Society at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC). She is an expert in family law, assisted reproduction, property, medicine and bioethics, and also has taught contracts, remedies, financial institutions, civil procedure, and feminist jurispru...

In this episode, Aleah Fontaine and Katherine Starzyk discuss their paper, "Attitudes Toward Reconciliation in Canada: Relationships With Connectedness to Nature, Animal–Human Continuity, and Moral Expansiveness" published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science in 2021. In this paper they surveyed 233 non-Indigenous undergraduate students in Canada to investigate the relationships among connectedness to nature, animal–human continuity, moral expansiveness, and support fo...

Dr. Anna Sheftel is internationally recognized for many of her publications, including the article she discusses in this episode: “Talking and Not Talking about Violence: Challenges in Interviewing Survivors of Atrocity as Whole People,” which won the Oral History Association’s 2019 Article Award. Dr. Sheftel is Principal and Associate Professor in the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia. Her field of expertise is oral history of genocide and atrocity, and she has done ...