The Psychology Undergrad Podcast

Why changing behavior changes attitudes: cognitive dissonance, persuasion routes (central vs peripheral), the elaboration likelihood model, and foot-in-the-door. The psychology of attitude change. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #socialpsychology #cognitivedissonance #persuasion

How we form impressions and explain behavior: the fundamental attribution error, attribution theory, actor-observer bias, and self-fulfilling prophecy. Person perception in social psychology. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #socialpsychology #attribution #socialperception

Why we go along with the group: conformity (Asch), obedience (Milgram), normative vs informational social influence, and the power of authority. Social influence essentials. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #socialpsychology #conformity #milgram

What draws people together: the mere exposure effect, proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness, and how liking grows into close relationships. The psychology of attraction. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #socialpsychology #attraction #relationships

Why people fail to help in a crowd: the bystander effect, diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and the psychology of altruism and prosocial behavior. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #socialpsychology #bystandereffect #altruism

From trephination and asylums to moral treatment and deinstitutionalization: how society has understood and treated mental disorders across history. #psychology #psychologyundergrad #psychstudent #mentalhealth #deinstitutionalization

How mental illness and crime intersect: the path from mental disorders into the criminal justice system, jails, and courts.

Crisis intervention team (CIT) models and law enforcement: how police, 988, and mobile crisis units respond to people in a mental health crisis.

How diversion programs, mental health courts, and the Sequential Intercept Model reduce the criminalization of mental disorders and keep people out of jail.

How the insanity defense (NGRI, M'Naghten) and competency to stand trial work: mental disorders in the criminal courts explained.

How solitary confinement harms people with mental disorders, and why mass incarceration of the mentally ill is being rethought through prison reform.

How recidivism and reentry programs work: helping people with mental disorders successfully return to the community and avoid reoffending after prison.

What a neuron is and how it works: the structure and function of the brain's basic cell, including dendrites, axons, and the cell body.

How the resting membrane potential works: ion movement, the sodium-potassium pump, and why neurons sit at -70mV at rest.

How the synapse works: synapse structure, neurotransmitter synthesis, storage, and release at the synaptic terminal.

How the action potential works: depolarization, repolarization, voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels, and the all-or-none nerve impulse.

How epigenetics works in the brain: the way drugs, toxins, and experience switch genes on and off to change neural function.

How neurotransmitters act on the postsynaptic neuron: ionotropic and G-protein-coupled (GPCR) receptors, and how neurotransmitters are cleared by reuptake.

A tour of brain anatomy: the cerebral cortex, internal structures and limbic system, the brainstem, and the spinal cord.

How vision works: the eye and retina, phototransduction, and how the brain processes visual information from light into sight.

How the brain controls movement: the motor cortex, basal ganglia, planning and execution of movement, and spinal control of motor output.

How the body senses work: the somatosensory system, touch and the skin, how pain signals reach the brain, and the sense of taste.

How the brain controls stress at the hormonal level: the HPA axis, cortisol release, and the neural control of the stress response.

How hormones shape the brain: the HPG axis, sexual differentiation, and the organizing effects of estrogen and testosterone on neural development.

How dopamine drives the brain's reward system: the neuroscience of motivation, reward, and social bonding.