Kelly gets courageous with former Google executive Jenny Wood to talk about her new book, “Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It.”     So much of this book zigs when other’s zag and you talk about getting comfortable with discomfort which is such an improv thing.  “The vast majority of us struggle with …

Kelly talks with Dr. Sandy Jo MacArthur and Dr. Luann Pannell from the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Second City’s Tyler Dean Kempf about the work we’re doing together bringing improvisation into the Policing Leadership Academy.     Can you quickly tell us what the University of Chicago Crime Lab is?  “What is really interesting …

Kelly connects with The Atlantic journalist Olga Khazan whose new book, “Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change,” follows her as she attempts to change her own personality including taking improv classes in order to boost her extroversion.     Personality researchers talk about the big 5 personality traits and one of those …

Kelly welcomes Martha Jones back to the podcast. She is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. We spoke to her last about her book “Vanguard.” Her new book is called “The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir.”     You write in the book: “I …

Kelly connects with Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Delaware. Her research interests include political media effects, public opinion, political satire and the psychology of political humor. Her books include “Irony and Outrage” and “Wrong.” She’s also an improviser.     You talk in your book about the right/left schism being …

Kelly talks to University of Michigan Professor Ethan Cross about his new book: “Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You.”    One of the key ideas in your book is that we are looking for single solutions to emotional regulation and there just isn’t one way to do this correctly.  “There are …

Kelly goes behind the scenes of Alzheimer’s research with science writer Charles Piller whose new book is called “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s.”     How did this investigation into fraudulent Alzheimer’s research begin?  “Back in December 2021, I was talking with this guy, Matthew Schrag, who’s an investigator and …

Kelly hosts a special Valentine’s Day Bonus Pod with professors Eli Finkel and Paul Eastwick who host the “Love Factually” podcast. Eli and Paul are relationship scientists at Northwestern and University of California, Davis respectfully. Their podcast looks at a modern romantic comedy each week through the lens of the science of relationships.     Explain …

Kelly connects with Dr. Steven J. Heine, Professor of Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of British Columbia. They discuss his new book, “Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times.”    One of the big issues today is social comparison – which has always been around – but …