Michael Pettit, professor in the Faculty of Health, picked up two major awards in one day for a book and podcast that dig into how psychology influences the way we think, feel and make decisions.
Pettit, a critical historian of psychology at York University, has received awards before - but never quite like this.
Within a 24-hour period this May, Pettit learned he had received two major honours. The first was the 2025 Cheiron Book Prize - which recognizes exceptional work in the history of social, behavioural or human sciences - for Governed by Affect: Hot Cognition and the End of Cold War Psychology. The second recognition was the 2025 Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for the podcast mini-series The (ir)Rational Alaskans and its outstanding contribution to fostering public understanding of law and the legal system.
Michael Pettit
Though the projects differ in medium, they share a deep connection. Both emerged from Pettit's focus on the recent history of psychology, a research interest supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant. That support enabled the work behind Governed by Affect, which examines a major shift in psychology beginning in the 1970s, when the field moved away from logic-based thinking to a stronger emphasis on emotion, desire and willpower.
The book traces three key changes: the redefinition of psychology as a health science, its expanding role in public life and advice giving, and its growing prioritization of feelings over thoughts.
While working on the book, Pettit connected with Canadian podcast producer Gordon Katic of Cited Media. Launched in 2013, the company uses a co-production model that brings together scholars, journalists and community members to create peer-reviewed, research-based audio storytelling.
Katic was familiar with Pettit's SSHRC-funded project and saw its potential to support a season of Cited, the podcast he oversees. He envisioned a series - later titled The Rationality Wars - that would explore moments when intellectual and political struggles shaped definitions of rationality and irrationality.
Pettit was intrigued. What drew him in was Cited Media's collaborative model, which integrates faculty members as research advisors and graduate students as research support.
"That's what appealed to me about this podcast," says Pettit. "It wasn't slotting me into a half-hour interview in a story they were already telling. We were going to collaborate on developing the stories together."
The pair applied for and received a SSHRC Connection Grant for a project titled "Encoding/Decoding Psychology: A Podcast Series on Public Psychology and its Discontents," which helped fund The Rationality Wars. Pettit played a key role.
"I would suggest ideas. They would develop them," he says. "I gave suggestions for stories and people to talk to, and they used their journalistic skill to build a more narrative-style podcast."
Pettit's interest in the history of behavioural economics helped inspire a three-part series within the season: The (ir)Rational Alaskans. It explores how the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill - one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history - led to a major shift in legal reasoning. After a jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages against Exxon, the company challenged the verdict using psychological research that portrayed jury behaviour as irrational.
The episodes trace how this tactic helped usher in a new era of legal thought informed by behavioural economics, with far-reaching implications for jury trials and corporate accountability. In that way, they aligned closely with what Pettit aims to accomplish with his work - including his book, Governed by Affect.
"I want to improve public understanding of the history of psychology," he says. "I wanted to create public-facing documents that do that."
What he's particularly proud of, when it comes to the podcast, is the balance of accuracy and accessibility. "That kind of balance is never easy," he says. "But I do think it is a pleasurable, immersive journalism story that tells a good and accurate history of psychology stories."
As Pettit worked on the podcast, he continued developing his book, further highlighting how deeply intertwined the two projects are. Both were published in August 2024, sharing not just a timeline but a shared intellectual core. "Even a year out, I can definitely see the strong family resemblance between them," Pettit says. "Although none of the podcast episodes overlap with the book's chapters, their structure and argument feel similar - using different cases to tell their own stories."
Pettit sees both projects as part of a larger mission: to improve public understanding of the history of psychology by creating accessible, engaging works grounded in rigorous research. "What I'm particularly proud of with the podcast is how it strikes a balance between accuracy and accessibility," he says. "That balance is never easy, but The Rationality Wars offers immersive journalism that tells a compelling and accurate history of psychology."
This approach extends to Pettit's teaching at York, where he has integrated episodes of The Rationality Wars as course materials to enrich students' learning with real-world examples of psychology's public impact.
Receiving two prestigious awards within 24 hours was a thrilling moment for Pettit - a recognition that underscores the impact public-facing scholarship can have beyond academia. "To have that kind of acknowledgment in my field is very touching," he reflects.
Together, the book and podcast exemplify how rigorous historical research, when combined with creative collaboration and a commitment to public engagement, can deepen understanding of psychology's role in shaping society.
This story was originally featured in YFile, York University's community newsletter.
