PSYCHOLOGY OUTSIDE THE BOX

Merging minds and machines has become a reality. You can watch Pager the monkey playing ping pong with his mind by following the link below. It's quite impressive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rXrGH52aoM The image below shows a Utah array which is currently the most popular chip used in brain computer interfaces. It is implanted using neurosurgery, often being placed near the mo t or cortex of...

Great news everybody. I just found out that my IQ test results came back negative! I guess I've been worried all week for nothing. Unfortunately, IQ test results are often misunderstood, misinterpreted, over-interpreted, and over-hyped by many people. So yes, IQ and intelligence are really, really complicated. Do IQ tests accurately measure intelligence? Can IQ tests tell you if you're a genius? W...

People probably warned you that marriage is tough, but you thought that yours would be different, that it wouldn't be so challenging. Although marriage can be an amazing part of life, it's not always an easy one. Apparently, marriage is the number one cause of divorce. Does that even make sense? Whether you've been married for 30 days or 30 years, even the best marriages can reach the point of no...

Sleep is still a mysterious yet very important part of our lives. Are you unconscious when you sleep? Can you learn new languages or prepare for exams while asleep? Can you sleep with half of your brain while the other half is awake and alert? Do all of us have have an internal biological clock? Why is sleeping through the night like riding a roller coaster? Does the brain stop working while we sl...

It's absolutely true that women tend to have fewer and less satisfying orgasms than men. As shown in the 1989 romantic comedy  When Harry Met Sally , m ost women at one time or another have faked it. Follow the link below to watch this famous scene.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEX0fbGePg Most women have orgasms regularly from masturbation, but not so much from penis-vagina intercourse.  Paul...

Do you know anyone who has ADHD, autism, severe anxiety disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, or schizophrenia? The answer is almost certainly YES, that you have encountered one or likely more of these individuals. In some cases you may not have been aware of their underlying condition, but it was there. Perhaps you've wondered if these people were born with...

First the good news. I checked Google and there are 1000 sites that will tell you how to lose weight fast and easy. So, do you want the BAD news now or later? Maybe you too have had this experience when looking in a full length mirror. Mirror mirror glistening glass...tell me this is not my ass. If you think it's hard to lose weight and keep it off, you are not alone — and you are also 100% correc...

Have you ever tried high-risk activities such as skydiving, rock climbing, big wave surfing, bungee jumping, or cliff diving? If you have tried any extreme sports, they don't even come close to the most dangerous experience of your life.  We have to travel back in time to  the few weeks just before mom found out for sure that she was pregnant. It turns out these two weeks are, by far, the most haz...

I have used temper tantrums several times, but not when I was a kid. It was just a few years ago when my wife and I were waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store. I was bored and so very hungry. Low blood sugar makes me do crazy things. Temper tantrums range from whining and crying to screaming, kicking, hitting, and breath holding. They're equally common in boys and girls. Some kids may...

The world reputation rankings for 2023 were announced in February 2024. The  most respected universities in the world are Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge. Harvard University has been at the very top for quite a few years. The  U.S. News & World Report published in September 2023 identified the top ranking school...

How good are you at recognizing when someone is lying?  Do you recall the TV show called  Lie to Me that was popular a few years ago? The show followed the work of Dr. Cal Lightman (played by Tim Roth) and his colleagues. Apparently they had devised ways to detect when someone was lying or telling the truth by analyzing facial expressions, body movements, and changes in voice and speech. In other...

If you had a hidden talent just waiting to be released, what would you want it to be (only one choice)?  Usually, a genius is born that way so most of us already missed that opportunity. But sometimes a person who isn't born with special abilities, can develop them later in life following brain trauma, an illness, or head injury.  Could you imagine being hit in the head and waking up to find yours...

W hat is the difference between a dream, a hallucination, and the real world? Sometimes there is no difference at all. They may be exactly the same as far as your brain is concerned. The nature of reality has been debated by philosophers and scientists for thousands of years. I am not trying to settle the nature of reality issue today. My goal is to expand your ideas and thinking in this area just...

Since the 1950s, California's Disneyland has been known as "The Happiest Place On Earth". It's the only place where everyone can feel that childhood happiness. There is just one problem with Disneyland. You can't apply for citizenship to live there forever. If you could, it would quickly become the most crowded place on Earth.  But if you are looking for a place to live where you can stay longer t...

Movies tell us that there are many threats to humanity's existence. And just as we know that EVERYTHING on the internet is TRUE, we can also be pretty sure that movies know exactly what they're talking about. It could be an alien invasion from outer space, a zombie apocalypse, or destruction by artificial intelligence that we have created.  I can't solve all of these problems in one podcast, so to...

You would probably be offended if someone said your pain was all in your head. But guess what - that is actually true. Pain is constructed entirely in the brain. Just because pain is in your head does'nt make it less real. In fact it's your brain that literally creates what your body feels.  For example, if you accidentally hit your finger with a hammer, it might seem that you feel the pain immedi...

You can live with just one kidney or a single lung, but whoever thought you could live a normal life with only half a brain? Most of us can't even live without our cellphone for more than a few hours.   A human brain contains about 86 billion neurons or brain cells. A single brain cell isn't very smart by itself. But when they are connected in vast networks they produce intelligence, personality,...

I might as well give you the bad news right now. Referring to people as INTROVERTS or EXTROVERTS is wrong. It is a false dichotomy. Ambiverts who combine elements of both personality styles are far more common. If you read something that mentions introverts and extroverts, but not ambiverts, you are missing approximately 70% of people in the middle category. So anyone who refers to introversion an...

Almost all North American adults, adolescents, and many children own a cellphone of some kind. The widespread use of cellphones makes it very important to identify any harmful effects. Several years ago, there was a viral video claiming that cellphone radiation can cook popcorn. OMG that's nuts! We are cooking our brains! We are all in danger! Run away...run for your lives, but leave your phone be...

They are certainly bundles of joy but so much more. No moment is more life altering than when your first child is born. Gone are the days of thinking only of yourself. Or a semblance of free time. And forget about having a neat and tidy house. Ask any parent, and they'll acknowledge that having kids is expensive and exhausting.  Sixty or 70 years ago all couples were expected to have children and...

Mi siento muy … excited about this topic. I was born in a galaxy far, far away. I WISH…but actually it was Italy. My family moved to North America when I was five. M y name is FIORE which means "flower" in Italian, but I am a MALE . In many parts of the world, being bilingual is common-place and not something unusual. Any young child can become bilingual as long as she receives plenty of exposure...

Love at first sight can happen any day, anywhere, and any time. It's the feeling you get when you don't want the moment to end because you feel a connection with another person that you haven't felt before. TV, movies, magazines, music—like to promote the notion of love at first sight. We've been trained to expect love to strike like lightning quick and hot.  A 2017 survey of over 5,000 single adu...

Sharks represent an example of a common fear that is wildly exaggerated. More people are killed by cows or horses each year than by sharks.  The availability bias is when we believe examples of things that come easily to mind are far more likely to occur than is actually the case. Media coverage on the Internet or TV makes a big difference. Even movies such as "Jaws" can change our perceptions. Wh...

Sometimes even the parents of identical twins can't tell the difference. In 2023, a mother of identical twins in Argentina confessed she felt forced to take her 6-week old infants to the local police station for fingerprint comparison because she couldn't tell them apart.  Mom had placed a blue ribbon around the wrist of one of the twins but cut it off — and then lost track of their identities whe...