Episode 149: Art Markman

Psychology
Written By Michael LaBlanc

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Behavioral Change Isn't Always Easy

Cognitive science is kind of like the new philosophy. These days, the cognitive scientists are the ones that we look to figure out what the heck is going on.

And people like Art Markman are not just simply academically studying things, but they are actually offering up a lot of tools, advice and wisdom too. 

Art Markman is the Vice Provost for Continuing and Professional Education and New Education Ventures at the University of Texas at Austin. Before this role, he was a professor of psychology and marketing at the university. 

Beyond the UT Austin campus, he is probably best known as the co-host of KUT’s “Two Guys on Your Head” radio show and podcast, where he and Butler School of Music professor Bob Duke explore the human mind with a unique mix of research, humor and everyday relevance. 

Art & Greg talk in this episode about explore vs exploit tradeoffs, consciously choosing our habits, motivation and reward systems.

Episode Quotes:

The value of trying new things, like learning a new instrument:

“No matter what age you start, you sound terrible at first. But realizing you can sound terrible to make those mistakes and the world doesn't end is also valuable, right? Because you realize actually you can make mistakes in all sorts of environments and the world doesn't end, you just do better the next time. And so practicing that even after you become really proficient at one thing is helpful because it reminds you: I can actually take on a new thing and yes, I'll screw it up, but it's okay.”

Structuring work environments

“As we begin to transition back to hybrid work environments and other things, this is a chance to think about how do I want to structure both my home and my work environments to be better able to achieve some set of goals.”

On failure:

“One of the things I do is when people think about changing behavior, one of the first things you have to do is to ask yourself, where are my sources of failure? And in particular, where are the sources of failure that are a signal that something has to change? Because there are really three kinds of failures and only one of them is bad.”

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Michael LaBlanc
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Episode 150: Charlan Nemeth
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Episode 148: Eyal Winter