At the end of the day the brain wants what it wants, but you might not know that the brain also wants things associated with what it wants, it notices more things that can get it what it wants, and it doesn't really like things that are not aligned with its goals. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of desire.

Tales of bloody tears, looming sharks, and possessed children can be terrifying — that's why we love them! It's just one of the many things that make the human experience truly remarkable: We can tell stories and scare ourselves. Moreover, being scared can teach us how to overcome other things we fear day to day. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about why we like scary stories, and what we can learn about life from being "safely" frightened.

In this episode, KUT's Rebecca McInroy is joined by Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke (of Two Guys On Your Head) in a discussion about the definition of Human Nature. Deep Down, is it better to know that people are all the same or to think they’re all different? How does this understanding influence our perspective on crisis, forgiveness, control, and so much more?

Why isn't information enough? Facts. Dates. Names. Why do we as humans need more in order to understand our world?

As Americans, we spend a lot of time working. Sometimes we even think if we put in only 40 hours a week we're slacking. No judgment here, but if we are going to work that much, we should like what we're doing at work — right?

Thank god it's Friday! Right? What's so wrong with working hard all week and wanting to go out and let loose Friday night? Nothing really — except that when you look at the work week through this lens, you are more likely to set yourself up for unhappiness.

It's no surprise that reading aloud to your kids is good for them. But why is it so important? What's going on in a child's brain when they're hearing stories of giant fruit carrying orphans across the ocean? On this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the child's brain on books.

Kids these days typically get a trophy for participation in most events. Some argue that the practice ultimately serves as a disincentive for a child to compete. Others ask, if your kid is smiling, what more do you want? In this week's edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke look into the system of reward and evaluate what we are rewarding and why.

So you just got that raise you've been working toward, and a new project starts tomorrow, and you're making great money, but — you don't really like the work. You're moving up, but you're not happy. It might be time to re-evaluate your situation, and maybe get on a different proverbial treadmill. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the concept of The Hedonic Treadmill, and what we can do to set ourselves up for a happier life.

Failure is a word that carries a lot of baggage, arousing emotional responses that we’d usually rather avoid. What about success? Why does the thought of success conjure images and feelings of comfort and satisfaction. This week, "Two Guys on Your Head" examine how the heights of success and the "training wheels" of failure impact our everyday lives.

Our sensory systems are pretty smart. Typically we like things that are going to be good for us to ingest, and dislike things that are going to be bad for us to ingest. Pretty simple right? Not so much! In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about benefit of the disgust reaction, and how we as human beings co-opt that system and use it more conceptually than it what it’s meant for. Therefore disgust has come to have a moral dimension to it.

In this episode, KUT's Rebecca McInroy joins Two Guys On Your Head's Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke to talk about the psychology of living the good life, and planning for death. We’ll discuss why it’s so difficult to confront end-of-life concerns with your loved ones and your doctor, and we’ll offer some strategies that might help ease the pain of these difficult conversations.

Food can be delicious, heart-warming and life-sustaining. So, how did eating become a constant battle with the refrigerator? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Arthur Markman discuss the challenges in maintaining a healthy diet and how changing our perspectives on food may be a vital approach to solving these problems.

Therapy can be life-changing. However, anyone who’s ever seen a bad therapist likely agrees, on at least some level, that virtual therapy may be a step in the right direction. But is it actually effective? Virtual therapy offers a true judgment-free zone. It also removes much of the shame and fear associated with telling even (or perhaps especially) the kindest of therapist one’s deepest and darkest secrets. It’s also much more convenient and, likely, inexpensive. However, a good therapist...

Most people feel in over their heads when they first enter a challenging situation or even a new job. And, while conventional wisdom suggests those with trepidations about trying new things should "fake it 'til they make it," it may not always be the best course of action. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art Markman discuss what's known as "imposter syndrome" — the practice of pretending to be the person you want people to see you as rather than who you truly...

Painkillers: Our societal views on pain are right there in the name of its cure — or, rather, primary form of treatment. The high reliance on painkillers by the medical community has become an increasingly controversial topic. And for patients, that reliance can easily transform a treatment to an addiction or recreational drug use.

Pain can range from barely noticeable to excruciating. Yet pain, in all its forms, is important. It is how the body communicates there is a problem. Physical pain in the ankle may ask us to stop walking so fast or demand a pair of crutches immediately. Likewise, emotional pain may indicate that we need to talk about a problem with our partner or severe the relationship entirely. In this episode of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, add to the series on pain and the...

Understanding how our brains interpret pain is an ongoing investigation. Some think pain can be as much a physical phenomenon as it is a cultural one. While in the West pain management seems to be just part of life. We wanted to investigate what psychology can tell us about pain and the brain. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, kick off our three-part series on "Pain and The Brain" with a discussion of "Phantom Pain." What it is, and how psychologists...

Even though is seems like a neverending April day in Austin, it's technically summertime. For some of us that means we take a break, with the intention of tackling all those projects we never had time to get to during the harsh Austin winter. So why, when the summer comes to an end, do we feel disappointed when we haven't written that novel or cleaned out the closets? In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the many elements of summer that can...

Nuclear energy. Penicillin. Lasers. Science produces some pretty groundbreaking discoveries, but when we focus on the products, as opposed to the process, we miss a huge part of what makes science one of the most valuable resources we have as humans. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about some of the aspects of science education that could be improved upon, in order to ensure we have a public that's well-informed.

When you think of science, what comes to mind? Maybe you think about launching rockets into space, or antibiotics, or the electric car? Maybe not. But let's say you do. If that is the case, it's more accurate to say you love what scientific developments have brought us, but not necessarily science itself. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about what science is, why the scientific process is important to understand and why it's so difficult to...

Philosophers have long proposed that there is no objective reality. And now science agrees — at least as far as our personal experiences are concerned. Perception is the process of interpreting our present environment through the lens of our past experiences. Everything we sense, think, feel, and even remember, actually arises in response to a combination of what is currently happening and our stored long-term memories. In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Bob Duke and Dr. Art...

Defiance is an impassioned refusal to conform to some form of expectation, typically a social one. This point is well illustrated by John Bender in The Breakfast Club, who, among other feats, earns himself eight more detentions by arguing with the principal during detention. Many great historical moments also provide beautiful examples — take Rosa Parks sitting in a banned bus seat or Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. It’s hard to get more straightforward...

In this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about the psychology of egocentric bias. It can be pretty destructive, but not necessarily in ways we predict.

Are you an auditory learner or a visual learner? If you answered "yes" you would be right. That's because we use all our senses to learn and process information. In this edition of Two Guys On Your Head, Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke dispel the myths behind learning styles preferences: they don’t really exist. Our reliance on the theories of learning styles to explain our success or failure of understanding certain information is actually serving our human need to put things into...