Having spent the first two episodes of our new Pandemics and the Liberal Arts podcast on history and philosophy, Amy Poppinga and I wanted to get beyond the humanities and into the sciences. (Which, I’ve lamented before, are not always treated as full participants in the liberal arts.) So this week we talked to our Bethel colleague Joel Frederickson, a social psychologist who has been talking about COVID-19 with students in our Intro to Psychology course.
Joel was an ideal guest, both because he could so well explain what an behavioral science like psychology has to do with the liberal arts and because he could make so many connections to our current situation, discussing research on psychological factors that influence susceptibility to coronaviruses, sharing suggestions for cognitive behavior and self-talk in a time of uncertainty and fear, and explaining why a pandemic can exacerbate mental health problems and traumatize those on its front lines.
You can download or stream this episode of Pandemics and the Liberal Arts from Podbean, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else that carries Channel 3900.
The Pietist Schoolman 