Episode 89: Robert Epstein reflects on his career and the threat big tech poses to privacy and democracy

Our guest today is Dr. Robert Epstein, a psychologist, professor and journalist who is the former editor of Psychology Today. Robert is currently a co-founder and the senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in Vista, California. He has had a distinguished career as a scientist and journalist researching and writing about advances in mental health, the behavioral sciences, and, most recently, the invisible influence that technology companies have on consumer and political behavior. Robert is the author of 15 books and has written more than 300 scientific and popular articles. He is the founder of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He became well known early in his career for his work on creativity. Since then, he has conducted research on a diverse range of topics such as adolescent-and-adult competency, arranged marriages, sexual orientation, self-control and voter manipulation. He also has also developed a number of unique online competency tests which are annually taken by more than a million people. Show notes: [00:03:38] Dawn begins the interview asking Robert about growing up in Connecticut. [00:04:57] Dawn asks if Robert skipped a grade in school, given that he graduated from high school at 16. [00:06:16] Robert talks about his interest in computers in the 60’s, and how his high school was one of the first in the country to even have a computer. [00:07:27] Ken asks about what lead Robert to attend Trinity. [00:08:23] Dawn inquires as to whether Robert knew he was going to major in psychology when he first showed up at Trinity, or if he simply ended up gravitating toward the field. [00:10:14] Robert talks about collecting and analyzing the first ever campus-wide sex survey conducted at Trinity. [00:11:40] Robert explains what he did in the two years between obtaining his bachelor’s degree in 1976 and pursing graduate school. [00:13:07] Dawn asks about Robert’s experience at the University of Maryland Baltimore. [00:13:48] Robert tells the interesting story of how he ended up at Harvard, in part, thanks to the behaviorist B.F. Skinner. [00:15:40] Ken asks how Robert managed to be one of the few people who never had to write a dissertation while at Harvard to obtain his doctorate. [00:20:29] Dawn mentions how, at the time, Robert was becoming well known for his work with Skinner.  She points out that many behaviorists at the time were working with chimpanzees and asks why Robert and Skinner were working with pigeons instead. [00:23:49] Dawn mentions that after his work with pigeons, Robert began to study creativity. He explains why he concluded that creativity is an orderly and predictable process that can be learned, rather than something one is simply born with. [00:27:34] Robert talks about how he founded the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies after his time at Harvard, and how he took on the role of executive director despite Skinner’s warning to never go into administrative work. [00:29:56] Ken asks about Robert’s time at the Cambridge Center and if all the papers he wrote during that time had a theme, or if they were just in general social-science communication. [00:31:28] Robert discusses his book “Cognition, Creativity and Behavior” which is a book of selected essays that he published in 1996. He discusses the various topics in the collection, ranging from creativity to parenting to artificial intelligence. [00:33:09] Ken asks why, after ten years at the Cambridge Center, Robert moved to the west coast. [00:35:40] Dawn asks about Robert’s research into arranged marriages and his finding that couples in arranged marriages developed a greater affection for each other than those who married for love. She asks him about his view that people can deliberately learn to love each other. [00:40:02] Robert discusses his time at the University of California San Diego where he gave students extr...