C.V.

Random

A note from a comedian

I occasionally receive emails from (real) people commenting on the benign violation theory. Sometimes the message is critical. And sometimes complimentary. I received this message from a comedian (who asked to remain anonymous). It’s a thoughtful take connecting the theory to comedy: Dear Dr. McGraw — What interests me most

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Creative PhD students

I am teaching a PhD seminar on consumer and managerial decision making. I have a schedule conflict with an upcoming class. So, I asked the students to come up with a useful way to spend that time (until I can get the class rescheduled). Their first suggestion was to engage

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Life in a simulation.

Last week, I invited you to consider if you are living in a simulation.  I finished the post by asking: If you were living in a simulation, would you live your life differently? For me, that is a tough question to answer. My first reaction is that a simulated life

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Are you living in a simulation?

Philosopher Nick Bostrom wrote a paper that makes a fascinating suggestion: You could be living in a simulation. ABSTRACT. This paper argues that at least one of the following propositions is true: (1) the human species is very likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage; (2) any posthuman civilization

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Dads, please keep telling dad jokes (NPR story)

Happy Father’s Day. One of the nice things about doing humor research is that I get to do fun interviews with fancy media outlets, such as NPR. They called this week to talk about dad jokes. FULL ARTICLE. There is a tendency to make fun of dads and their jokes.

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Which of these talks do you prefer?

I am developing more applied professional talks that translate humor research into actionable takeaways for a business audience. Which of you these two talks would you be more interested in hearing? What’s so Funny about Business: Six Ways that Humor Benefits Your Career. Work does not have to be the

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Random gratitude

I recently celebrated a birthday. Anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t care about my birthday. This one was quite nice, however. I happened to be in Jordan with friends. I just found myself thinking how lucky I am to have good health, good friends, and the ability

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T-hacking comes up in a Twitter conversation.

I have written about T-hacking (here and here). What is T-hacking? T-hacking — short for “theory hacking” — is the practice of excluding or mischaracterizing relevant theory or findings from the conceptual development of a paper. T-hacking benefits the t-hacker by boosting the theoretical contribution of the research and thus

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SOLO | Sarah Stinson and Lawrence Williams | Value Yourself
Podcast - Solo

Valuing Yourself (Again)

  How do you value yourself? This fan-favorite episode is being re-released for new listeners (or a reminder for seasoned listeners)! Peter McGraw welcomes Sarah

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Podcast - I'm Not Joking

Curtain Call

  Welcome to the final episode of I’M NOT JOKING. Comedian JD Lopez returns from Episode 1 to debrief and reflect on Peter’s experience building

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