Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Ep 244: Analyze This - Does the Movie Show What Therapy is Really Like? 07.08.2015 32:17 ↓

If you have not seen the movie Analyze This with Robert DeNiro and Billy Krystal, then you really should. It's not just a funny movie, bit also gets a lot of things about therapy right. So many movies portray psychotherapy so unrealistically but this movie, while it takes a lot of liberties with the therapeutic process, gets some things right and gives you a pretty good idea of how therapy progres...

Ep 235: Want to Swap Bodies? 28.01.2015 23:34 ↓

What if you could swap bodies with someone else? What would it be like to be someone of the opposite sex? A different race?  We're getting darn close to being able to do that with new techniques like the Rubber Hand Illusion, the Enfacement illusion, and now the Full body illusion.  You can now virtually switch bodies with someone else and thanks to our mirror neurons and other brain systems, you...

Ep 234: Tansvestism - Is It Normal? What Is Normal Anyway? 08.01.2015 32:00 ↓

A small number of men cross dress and many movies and broadway shows feature cross dressers (transvestites), so obviously many people find it fascinating and those who cross dress typically enjoy it. Why?  What does it mean about the people who do it?  I was recently cast as Albin/ZaZa in the musical version of the movie "La Cage Aux Folles" so I've been doing a lot it recently.  I decided to take...

Ep 227: I Remember How I Felt (Or Do You)? 06.10.2014 30:44 ↓

Do "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" or are we actually pretty happy most of the time?  As it turns out humans are far more resilient than you think.  Ever heard of the term "affective forecasting"?  It's something we do every day and very often we make mistakes doing it.  In this episode you'll learn more about positive psychology from the authors of a new book called Pollyanna's Revenge...

Ep 226 (video): The Psychology of Dance Part 2 - Importance of Marking Video 27.09.2014 12:06 ↓

Most performers "mark" when they're tired during rehearsals.  Are they "not giving it their all" or are they getting quite a benefit from doing this?  You'd be surprised at how beneficial marking can be.     If you're not familiar with marking, here's a definition from the authors of a recent study on how marking benefits dancers: "Marking involves enacting the sequence of movements with curtailed...

Ep 225: What's Best for Memory - Coffee or a Nap - or Both? 16.09.2014 17:09 ↓

  You may have been heard that taking a nap or going to sleep after you learn something helps you to retain it (which is true), but you may also have heard that drinking coffee helps your memory. So which is it? How can you drink coffee AND take a nap? Well, apparently you can get the benefit of both - if you do it right. In this episode we not only learn about the so-called "students' coffee" but...