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  • S3E10: Avoiding Demotivational Traps When Consuming Educational Diversity Media

    S3E10: Avoiding Demotivational Traps When Consuming Educational Diversity Media
    Jul 1 2026

    We start this July episode discussing joy, including: Will’s is a trip he took with Roman and friends to Skywalker Ranch! Amber’s is “dopamine dressing,” in which you dress to bring yourself, and others, joy - usually through mixing patterns and colors (it’s kind of maximalist). This episode’s discussion topic is Avoiding Demotivational Traps — there are many ways people try to face problems like racism and disparities that end up resulting in less motivation, rather than more motivation, to solve the problems. Many involve misusing “educational media” to achieve catharsis or avoid seeing or facing real problems (”entertainment” and “educational media” can certainly mix and overlap, when we say “educational media” in this capacity, we mean the kind of movies or books where even the marketing is trying to make sure you “know” this is some kind of “inspirational” piece that you “should get something out of,” even though many pieces of “entertainment” can also accomplish the same thing - they just tend to be more subtle about it). Amber shares the idea of Sankofa (a word from Akan, one of the many languages spoken in Ghana), which involves having your feet firmly facing forward, to make positive progress to the future, but also looking back to remember the past, both to learn from it and to bring forward what was good. During Story Time, Will shares a story about someone who got censored by her work place, with them saying she could not be a guest on Diverse Joy, because they were afraid of federal backlash for the show focusing on DEI. The more positive story was about another popular podcast, Stop Podcasting Yourself, doing a very nice job with diversity among its guests (having women, people of color, and folks with disabilities make up a large portion of its guest list). This episode’s Question is “Why are ‘checklist’ approaches to DEI bad?” Checklist approaches can give a “catharsis” effect–you’ve finished a thing, check it off–that demotivates people, making diversity and inclusion efforts something that you “get over with” rather than an approach that is about maintaining inclusion over time with ongoing effort. Our Bias Habit-Breaking Skill is Broadening Your Input via Increasing Representation in your Social, Physical, and Digital Environments. This takes many forms, such as increasing diversity of speakers you invite to your organizations (Social), in whose pictures or art is displayed in your work or home (Physical), or the picture on your website (Digital). The skills segment leads to an excellent chat about Amber’s church and how her pastor does a great job of Increasing Representation in invited speakers and even in different representations of Jesus found throughout the church. Amber’s joyful recommendation is KPop Demon Hunters, a movie that became a cultural sensation over the year. It’s a fun, goofy, musical action movie set in a reality centered around (generations of) K-Pop musical group(s) that must stop demons from entering reality through music! (Amber got Will and Eric Roman watch it soon after we recorded this episode, and they agree that it is fantastic!)

    Dr. Cox’s book is available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World.

    Check your small local bookstores!

    From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM

    From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428

    We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store

    Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    54 Min.
  • S3E09: What a Drag! Queens Past and Present! With Guest Cynthia Mooseknuckle

    S3E09: What a Drag! Queens Past and Present! With Guest Cynthia Mooseknuckle
    Jun 3 2026
    It’s June, which means it is Pride Month, so we invited a special guest–drag queen Cynthia Mooseknuckle, a Madison legend–to talk drag and the LGBTQ+ community! For “What’s bringing us joy?” Cynthia’s is hot beverages in the morning, to help awaken the senses! Amber’s is attending Vogue Balls in Portland. And for Will, it‘s his recent trend of discovering new (and old) music albums every morning. This episode’s discussion topic is the history and contemporary use of drag performance as both an art form and a form of community and protest. Cynthia shares how drag has been a way to bolster her self-confidence, both in and out of drag. The conversation touches on acceptance and self-acceptance, authenticity, the influx of competitiveness into drag, and related topics and tangents (it’s a great conversation)! In Story Time, Cynthia shares a negative story about drag is–sometimes–more exploitative and exclusionary as it has become more mainstream, competitive, commodified, and profit-motivated. For her more positive story, she shares about going back to her small Midwestern hometown to be celebrated and honored in drag! This episode’s question is about whether it is difficult to remain sober within the drag community. Cynthia shares her personal journey with sobriety. This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill is to Broaden Your Input via Genuine Connections. Making friendships with people different from you can help push back against biases in your mind. While talking about genuine connections and friendships, the discussion taps into recent tragic experiences with persecution of immigrant communities in the United States. As always, we close out the episode with a joyful recommendation. Whenever we have a guest, we let them give theirs, and Cynthia’s is “retro gaming,” or playing classic video games, which can bring in good feelings of nostalgia and comfort that can bolster your mental health! She recommends classic Pokémon games, in particular. (Cynthia Mooseknuckle’s name actually comes from the character of Cynthia, introduced in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.) Dr. Cox’s book is available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    1 Std. und 1 Min.
  • S3E08: Neurospicy and Thriving: ADHD and Neurodiversity

    S3E08: Neurospicy and Thriving: ADHD and Neurodiversity
    May 6 2026
    For this late-spring episode, Amber and Will dressed up to express their love of the Netflix series Bridgerton. Will’s shares that his joy is his recent ADHD diagnosis (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). While Amber’s joy is her job as a full-time pediatric clinical psychologist and the lives she can impact through that work, which includes doing ADHD testing and being able to tell people, “yes, that’s what this is,” or, “no, it’s this other thing” and helping folks get the treatment they need. The main discussion topic of this episode is learning about ADHD and, more broadly, neurodiversity. Amber discusses what ADHD is (including how ADD, attention deficit disorder, which you’ve probably also heard of, is now classified as one of three types of ADHD rather than being its own thing), some of how it is diagnosed, how it shows up in people’s lives, and some coping mechanisms–including another Amber Acronym: BOOST. As people with ADHD diagnoses themselves, Will and Amber both pull on their own life experiences as well as the research and clinical literature to discuss all of the above. During Story Time, there are stories related to testing for ADHD, and how an early diagnosis can be helpful for avoiding addiction issues later in life (because proper treatment will help with how the brain’s reward system handles an ADHD person’s dopamine requirements). This episode’s Question is, “What is neurodiversity?” (Hint: It’s an umbrella term for conditions that are neurodevelopmental and neurological in their etiology.) Will shares two Bias Habit-Breaking Skills this month: Considering Situational Explanations for Behavior and Doing Perspective-Taking. Both of which are handy tools for helping to reduce bias and create inclusion. Amber and Will close out the episode with the joyful recommendation of the hilarious and musical TV show that touches on many great diversity and mental health topics, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend! (It acknowledges that its title is a bit problematic.) (If you were expecting the recommendation to be Bridgerton, and are confused about why it isn’t - go give season 1, episode 5 a listen.) Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    59 Min.
  • S3E07: Reclaiming Native American Heritage! With Guest Jack Pepple

    S3E07: Reclaiming Native American Heritage! With Guest Jack Pepple
    Apr 1 2026
    In this episode, we invite special guest Jack Pepple, a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, to share some of his experiences and perspectives related to his Native American heritage. Jack’s joy is that April is National Poetry Month, and he shares with us a delightful, uplifting, spiritual poem by Joy Harjo called, “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet“. Joy Harjo is an award-winning poet and was the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. Amber’s joy is Pitch Black, a Black entrepreneurship organization that lifts up Black businesses and nonprofits across the U.S.! Will’s is a train trip he took with producer Eric Roman, Jack, and other friends, in which they crossed the country and collectively wrote their own murder mystery. In a combined Story Time–Discussion Topic segment, Jack shares his personal story related to people around him trying to erase or deny his Native American heritage, how that affected him and how he reconnected with his identity over time. It provides an excellent framework to also discuss some of the historical context related to Native heritage erasure and redemption, and many related topics like reservations, media portrayals of native folks, alcoholism and substance abuse stereotypes and realities, assimilation and mandatory religious conversion to Christianity, two-spirit people, and more! Our connections to our identities provide a sense of stability and strength that buffers our well-being, and when an identity is erased or stigmatized, we can lose those beneficial effects. We also discuss land acknowledgments (e.g., we record the podcast in Madison, WI, which is situated on unceded land from the Ho Chunk nation). This episodes question is “Is it okay to say ‘Indian,’ versus ‘Native American’ or ‘Indigenous’?” The answer: It depends, and you should ask the person it impacts. This episode’s bias habit-breaking skills are two tools to help overcome bias habits, to Detect/Reflect/Reject Bias and to Rehearse Replacements. Jack’s joyful recommendation is the novels of award-winning Blackfeet Native American horror author Stephen Graham Jones. One book Jack particularly recommends is My Heart is a Chainsaw, in which a young Indigenous girl who loves horror movies finds herself in a horror movie-like scenario when a slasher attacks people in her community! It is a fast-paced, intriguing offering for any horror fans out there! Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    51 Min.
  • S3E06: Understanding Gender Bias and Gender Similarities

    S3E06: Understanding Gender Bias and Gender Similarities
    Mar 4 2026
    Amber and Will are dressed up as Daisy and Donald Duck for Disney Bounding month! Will’s joy this month is his new routine of charging his phone in his kitchen at night, which has significantly transformed his sleep and his mental health all day long by not having his phone in the bedroom with him at night. Amber’s joy is the book “Romanticize Your Life,” which gives her daily recommendations to make her life more whimsical and fun! This month’s discussion topic is gender bias, which taps into how we treat kids differently based on gender and teach them gender, how women get taken less seriously in several domains, including science, and how people often devalue femininity or things associated with it (a problem some researchers call “femmephobia”). We also talk about the “man vs bear” scenario that went viral last year and the “pink tax,” in which products marketed at women often cost more. They also discuss the gender similarities hypothesis, which argues (with LOTS of data) that men and women tend to be more similar than different on most psychological variables. During story time, the first story involves an instance of people teaching gender norms, and the more positive story involves women’s sports being given more prominence and respect. This episode’s listener question is “What is the Bechdel test?” The Bechdel test is a litmus test related to movie/TV portrayals of women. This episode’s habit-breaking skill is to favor mindfulness over blunt, ineffective tools. Sometimes people try to bluntly shove away bias in their minds, which backfires. Rather than that, it is better to be mindful of bias and accept the reality that bias sometimes comes to mind, then you can work on making sure it does not affect your behavior. Mindfulness is a powerful tool in changing bias. Amber’s joyful recommendation is the play, “& Juliet!” It’s a diverse, nostalgic, empowering jukebox musical, exploring what would have happened if Juliet of “Romeo and Juliet” had lived on after the play. Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    55 Min.
  • S3E05: Why Belonging Matters As a Multi-Cultural Immigrant With Guest Xizhou Xie

    S3E05: Why Belonging Matters As a Multi-Cultural Immigrant With Guest Xizhou Xie
    Feb 4 2026
    This episode, we invite special guest Xizhou Xie (pronounced “She-Joe She-uh”), an artist, statistician, and Chinese-American immigrant. Xizhou’s joy this episode is her wonderful cats, Shadow and Kit-Kat! Amber’s joy is a local BIPOC community group, and Will’s joy is his and producer Eric Roman’s annual “Soup-er Bowl” party. For the main discussion topic on belonging, Xizhou shares some of her story of how she came to the U.S., how she thinks of belonging (or lack thereof) as an immigrant in the U.S., and that in recent times it’s been especially difficult for immigrants in the United States. The hosts discuss related concepts like racial battle fatigue and how to address ambiguous bias. During Story Time, Xizhou shares a negative story about anti-Asian racism, especially highlighting how overt hate can happen anywhere, even in places we hope are more safe or accepting. Her positive story relates to having a booth at an LGBTQ+ Pride event, where she felt amazing community, safety, and belonging, even without identifying as a member of LGBTQ+ community. The positive story leads to great discussion about cross-group solidarity across stigmatized identities. Xizhou’s statistical expertise was wonderful to have as we discussed the answer to our question, “What are some challenges when working with data comparing identity groups?” Even if you are not a scientist or mathematician, this is an excellent primer on how to understand statistics that compare racial, LGBTQ+, or other groups, which can more easily be overblown or misrepresented. The Bias Habit-Breaking Skill is Cognitive Inertia, which perpetuates our preexisting ideas in a number of ways. These include Attentional Spotlight, in which our attention is biased such that we notice more confirmatory evidence, Confirmation Bias, in which we give more weight to confirmatory than disconfirmatory evidence, and Untested Assumptions, when there is no evidence at all, but our own assumptions are a mental rehearsal that can strengthen stereotypes. Xizhou was an author with Will on one of the big research papers providing evidence for some of these phenomena! Xizhou and Amber share additional examples of Untested Assumptions, specifically related to assumptions that Asian folks don’t speak English well. Xizhou’s joyful recommendation is the whimsical Icelandic-Chinese musician Laufey (Loy-vey), who is “making jazz music cool again.” Her music gives you “main character energy” and fills you with joy! Check out Xizhou's art! https://xizhouxie.com/ https://www.facebook.com/xizhouxieart Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    54 Min.
  • S3E04: Learning About Bias in Kids

    S3E04: Learning About Bias in Kids
    Jan 7 2026
    It’s our New Year’s episode (happy 2026 everybody)! For this mid-winter episode, Will shares the joy of going to the Lake Geneva Winterfest America’s Snow Sculpting Invitational™ and the delightful sights of artfully crafted snow sculptures there, and Amber’s joy is discovering new-to-her music and musicians like Doechii, Panic Shack, and Olivia Dean! The discussion topic is Learning About Bias in Kids, including how kids learn bias from their environments and peers, and how they often display bias, even when their parents don’t think they will, due to not having learned to filter their thoughts yet. Kids learn especially strongly from modeling the behavior of their peers. They also pick up on subtle cues from their parents’ and other adults’ behaviors, even subtle, unintentional biases. Amber gives some great advice about how to react when kids point out differences they see in other people (spoiler: avoiding it because it is uncomfortable is not the answer!). In story time, we share a listener story about a kid who thought romantic couples had to be same-race (since those types of couples are much more prominent than mixed-race couples), and a story about a time a kid was thoughtful about gender identity and pronouns–and even corrected an authority figure. This episode’s question was “Can dogs be racist?” (Which is more accurately, “Can dogs be racially biased?” since “racist” and “racism” are about systems of oppression, which dogs are not active participants of.) We discuss some of the ways dogs can learn racial biases from their owners–which actually ties back to the ways that kids learn the same things from their parents. This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill involves understanding and undermining Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, which happens when our expectations about someone else lead us to behave in ways that bring out the behavior we expected. Will discusses this concept using examples from a group of probation officers he worked with, who had a policy that might create self-fulfilling prophecies with recidivism rates. The joyful recommendation this time comes from Will, who recommends the diverse, intriguing, hilarious, genre-bending television show, The Afterparty (2022-2023), starring the amazing Tiffany Haddish (an Apple TV+ exclusive that ran for two seasons). Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    57 Min.
  • S3E03: Mind-Body Connection: The Body Keeps the Joy

    S3E03: Mind-Body Connection: The Body Keeps the Joy
    Dec 3 2025
    Will and Amber’s joys this holiday season relate to holiday traditions: Amber’s recalls how her mom would give her and her brother gift every day of the month leading up to Christmas as kids, and then segueing that into gifting board games as adults, and getting to spend time together playing them; and Will talks the current tradition of he and Eric Roman getting Lego Star Wars Advent Calendars from past guest (and friend) Sandy Eichel and their wife! For this episode’s main discussion, the hosts draw on Amber’s clinical expertise in discussing wellness and the mind–body connection. This can be especially relevant around the holidays because of the stress and pressures to create joyful holiday memories, or just how the holidays can lead to spending time with extended family that might be trying. They discuss how the amygdala and prefrontal cortex influence our moods and behavior, as well as methods to bring ourselves back to a state of calm after emotions strongly impact us: One such regulatory skill uses the acronym SHINE, including your Senses, Humming, Inner Joy, Notice Color, and Exhale. This episode is also the official introduction of the Wellness Skill segment, something we’ve occasionally had but never labeled. In story time, both the positive and negative stories expand on the mind–body connection, with Amber sharing how she recognized the ways in which an unpleasant colleague was causing negative reactions in her body, and Will sharing about recognizing when aroused states (including learning another acronym, HALTS - Hungry, Angry, Late/Lonely, Tired, or Surprised) can lead to more bias. This month’s audience question asks how mind–body connection may bring in special concerns for members of stigmatized groups, with Will and Amber addressing that topic, and tying the response back to previous discussions of racial battle fatigue. This episode’s bias habit-breaking skill involves Norm Enforcement, where people act in ways to enforce norms, including norms that arise from stereotypes, because our brains “like” when people conform to norms and “dislike” when people violate them. Amber’s joyful recommendation this episode is Jingle Jangle, a lovely musical Afro-Futuristic Christmas movie with a Black-centered cast. She also shouted out additional Black-centered Christmas movies including This Christmas, Last Holiday, and The Preacher’s Wife. Happy holidays, everyone! Now, go find your joy. Dr. Cox’s book becomes available for preorder! The publisher is University of California Press, and the full title is Overcoming Bias Habits: An Evidence-Based Guide to Creating a Joyfully Inclusive World. Check your small local bookstores! From Amazon: https://a.co/d/iwnakbM From Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/overcoming-bias-habits-william-t-l-cox-phd/1148276458?ean=9780520410428 We now have merch! Buy some to support the show at https://www.biashabit.com/store Follow Diverse Joy on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, and Bluesky.
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    57 Min.