Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Looking for a self-help book with some meat?  One that won't insult your intelligence with flowery words and hyped up promises and pseudoscience?  Take a look at the book Redirect by psychologist and author Tim Wilson.  Redirect will give you a lot to think about and some new insights into human nature.

Why aren't rich people happier than those of us with less money?  We think that money will bring happiness, but research in the area of positive psychology has consistently found that having more money does NOT make us happier. Find out how to spend your money the right way.

What's Wrong With a Little Gossip? While some research points out that gossipers are in general disliked, there is an upside: sharing negative gossip can actually help two people like each other better. In this episode we'll find out the benefits of sharing a tasty piece of negative gossip. The Licensing Effect If you take supplements you need to hear this news about how you might be using your ta...

But I studied!!  Don't be frustrated with low grades.  If you study RIGHT you will get good grades.  What what does that mean to study right?  I've got 5 techniques that will help you get better grades and one very important warning about something you may be doing that you have to stop! Find out how to study right in this episode of The Psych Files.

You hear a lot these days about how pets make us happy.  This is called the "pet effect".  But is it so?  The answer appears to be a qualified yes.  But in what ways do pets make us happy?  How strong is their effect on our lives?  Also, how about religion?  We also hear that religious people are happier, but is this true everywhere in the US or everywhere in the world?  Why does religion make us...

What do you have to do to get into grad school in Psychology? A lot of people apply.  Who ARE these people and how are you going to stand out among them?  Meet one future grad student - Erin Breedlove - who is a college junior and she's already positioned herself very well for grad school.  How did she do it?  What is she doing that you ought to do?  And how, of all things, is she using Twitter to...

Is cuddling good - especially for men - in marriage? Do baths make you feel less lonely, is Google really making you stupid, how does your body language affect your feelings, and....is that your cell phone vibrating?  In this 2nd Psych Files brief I take a look at some of the more interesting psychological research circling around the web this past month. 

The trial of accused child murdered Casey Anthony is over and Casey was found not guilty.  Most people are extremely upset because she appeared to be guilty for many reasons.  I give you 5 reasons why Casey Anthony might not be guilty.  None of these are based on evidence, but instead on what might be going on inside your mind that made you think she was guilty.  Caution: open mindedness required!

What is the REAL reason why you either support or oppose gay marriage?  We may give logical reasons for our opinions, but the roots behind your opinion lies - where else? - in your past.  So let's dive into your mind as we always do here in the Psych Files and learn how our attitudes develop over time and how strong attitudes especially come to be held.

How does Behavior Modification work? Find out in this episode as I interview Scott Milford, author of the Behavior and Motivation website.  If you're about how to apply Psychology to everyday life then this is the guy to show you how he does it.  In this episode we talk about how to get kids to practice the piano, but you'll quickly see how this approach could be applied to all kinds of other life...

We all take shortcuts when we are making decisions.  And in those shortcuts often lie our mistakes.  In this episode find out the difference between the availability and representativeness heuristics, as well as the "Take the Best", Hindsight, and the Base Rate Neglect (Fallacy) heuristics.  Lots of examples of these heuristics at work are included.  Let's face it - we all have lazy minds!  Either...

Piaget's concept of object permanence is essential to understand.  But how did they study this idea among 1 year olds?  Obviously children can't tell you that they believe that something no longer exists when they can't see it, so how do we know what is going on inside a child's mind?  How about this challenge: do animals also understand object permanence?  If you've ever seen your cat or dog look...

Piaget's concept of object permanence is essential to understand.  But how did they study this idea among 1 year olds?  Obviously children can't tell you that they believe that something no longer exists when they can't see it, so how do we know what is going on inside a child's mind?  How about this challenge: do animals also understand object permanence?  If you've ever seen your cat or dog look...

You've probably heard of many times when people knew that someone was hurt or might be hurt and they did not help.  How can we prevent that from happening?  You may have learned about bystander apathy and the concept of diffusion of responsibility.  But now what do we DO with what we know?  How can we put that knowledge into action?  Meet Vicky Banyard and see what she and her colleagues at the Un...

What can we do to end bullying against gays?  There is a shocking increase in the number of young homosexuals who are commit suicide.  Many anti-bullying programs don't work and in this episode I talk to Dr. Elizabeth J. Meyer of Concordia University about what can be done.  No one should be bullied and we all need to care about those who are bullied to the point of considering suicide.  Find out...

In this first "Psych Files Brief" episode, we look at whether swearing actually reduces your sensation of pain (ever stub your toe?), whether or not vertical stripes actually do make you look thinner (no surprise - the answer is no), whether you're more likely to run up that credit card when you're feeling low, and why is it (and when is it) that yawns become contagious?

Borderline Personality Disorder is a difficult disorder to understand and treat.  Briefly, people who suffer from BPD tend to have a heightened sensitivity to rejection.  When they feel that they are being rejected they can react with strong feelings of anger.  Their emotions can be very intense and vary widely during the day.  This can also make their relationships very unstable.  They can also b...

Feeling guilty about not being a "Tiger Mom" (or Dad)?  Let me give you 3 reasons why you don't have to feel that way.  Get yourself ready for the next time that someone says that you (or parents in general) have to be tougher on our kids.  You've probably heard about the authoritarian parenting style advocated by Amy Chua in her Tiger Mom book.  Lots of Americans think she has good point that the...

Americans spend billions of dollars on self-help products each year, but does someone else hold the answers to your questions about what your life is all about?  Join me as I discuss a fascinating book called If You Meet The Buddha On The Road, Kill Him!.  We also see how a wonderful recent broadway musical, The Drowsy Chaperone has some very intriguing things to say about life.  Could it be that...

In this video you’ll learn exactly how the phonetic alphabet system works. In the last episode you saw me memorize – almost perfectly – a list of 20 top sci-fi movies. How did I do it? I’ll show you how each number becomes a letter, each letter becomes a word and each word becomes an image that will help you memorize just about any size list. Skeptical? You won’t be after seeing exactly how the ph...

Curious about EMDR? Listen to this interview with the founder of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, Dr. Francine Shapiro talk about EMDR and how it is different from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  This is an intriguing and unique type of therapy and if you want to learn more about it you've come to the right place.   EMRD Institute EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs   Rewrite...

Do you have a dull job?  Wonder how it can be made more motivating?  That's the challenge - how can we make jobs that are typically not much fun (like an assembly line job) more interesting to do?  This is one of the challenges facing I/O psychologists and in this episode I discuss the Job Characteristics theory by Hackman and Oldham and apply it to assembly line jobs in China where your iPhone is...

You've probably heard that the so called "Lie Detector" test (the polygraph)doesn't actually detect when you've lied, but rather just takes some physiological measures from your body and these have to be interpreted by experts.  Sometimes those experts make mistakes.  Join me as I describe a psychological study that tested a new kind of "Lie Detector" - drawings.  This study involved Agents, Missi...

In this episode I put Jack Lalanne "on the couch".  I take selections from several of his vidoes and see what they reveal about his personality.  He was clearly passionate about exercise, but what drove this passion?  What was his underlying motivation?  I suggest that his relationship with his father was crucial to his passion for exercise and fitness.  Join me as I do a little armchair p...