Podcasts · Education · Health & Fitness

Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Michael Britt

300 episodes

Learn how theories in psychology affect you in everyday life. Upbeat and interesting podcasts from experienced psychology teacher Michael Britt give you a bit more insight into you and your life.

Episodes page 2 of 6

  1. Testosterone Doesn't Necessarily Cause Men to be Aggressive

    · 17 min

    Most of us assume that one of the reasons men tend to act aggressively is that men have higher levels of testosterone. Let's take a look at this "testosterone myth" because this isn't always the case. In fact, in some…

  2. The Secret Life of Pronouns - an Interview with James Pennebaker

    · 26 min

    What do you reveal about yourself in the way you use the smallest and seemingly most insignificant words you use every minute? That's the focus of Dr. James Pennebaker's fascinating book and one of the most interesting…

  3. In the Movies, Why Does the Woman Always Have to Die? And Other Gender Stereotypes

    · 24 min

    What can we learn from an old, dusty book I found in the basement? Well, if that book is about gender role stereotypes then there's a lot of things to uncover that explain why boys and girls act the way they do. In…

  4. Owning Bipolar: A Conversation with Michael Pipich - Part 2

    · 14 min

    This is part 2 of my interview with Michael Pipich, author of the book, Owning Bipolar. In this part of the interview Michael discusses his therapeutic approach to treating Bipolar Disorder. If you have been diagnosed…

  5. An Example of How Psychoanalysts Really Interpret Dreams

    · 21 min

    What do psychologists really think about your dreams – do they have meaning? In this episode I talk about what psychologists think today about dreams. You probably know that Freud thought that dreams had a manifest…

  6. Owning Bipolar: A Conversation with Michael Pipich - Part 1

    · 21 min

    Bipolar (previously known as "manic depression") is often a difficult disorder to diagnose, much less to live with. If you have been diagnosed with bipolar or know someone who has, this episode is for you. Michael…

  7. Why Do You Talk To Your Dog Like That? And Does It Understand You?

    · 20 min

    Alright, let's all admit it – we talk to our pets in that funny pet voice. "Who's a good dog?" Well, there's been a lot of research on your use of this voice to talk to your dog as well how you talk to babies. What…

  8. Trauma Recovery with Dr. Matt Jaremko

    · 35 min

    If you're suffering from the effects of a trauma in your life or know someone who is, then listen to Dr. Matt Jaremko talk about his new book with Beth Fehlbaum called Trauma Recovery: Sessions With Dr. Matt. Dr.…

  9. The Psychology of A Quiet Place and Mission Impossible

    · 25 min

    Did you see the movie A Quiet Place? How about Mission Impossible? It's always fun to analyze movies from a psychological perspective and that's what I do in this episode. A Quiet Place has a lot of family dynamics…

  10. Motivational Interviewing and the TV Show Columbo

    · 21 min

    Hopefully you've watched the TV show Columbo. Curious about what this character has to do with psychology? You'd be surprised. In this episode I analyze Columbo in terms of the psychological technique called…

  11. It's So Fluffy!

    · 14 min

    Have you ever seen something so cute you just want to squeeze it - to death? Or a child so cute you want to pinch it's cheeks really hard? Why do we have these odd, powerful, opposite feelings? It's called "cute…

  12. Personal Space Invasion: What Happens When Someone Invades Your Personal Space?

    · 32 min

    Do feel slightly uncomfortable in the bathroom? How does the presence of others in the bathroom affect you? What about places other than the bathroom? How close is too close? A psychological study was done in 1976 in…

  13. Computer Programmers: Obsessed With Efficiency

    · 34 min

    Do you have your own little "tricks" ? That is, ways of doing things that are faster than how you used to do them? Well, congratulations, you're something of an efficiency expert. And if you can picture an assembly…

  14. Giving Voice To Our Digital Assistants

    · 20 min

    Why do our digital assistants such as Alexa, Google Home, Siri and Cortana have "feminized" voices and what are the effects of this trend? That's what I explore in this episode. Are there negative effects of using…

  15. The Team Behind Q – World's First Genderless Digital Voice

    · 18 min

    Here's my interview with Emil Rasmussen, who will give you the background behind the genderless voice called Q and his hopes for the future of Q.

  16. Ep 276: "Because I Said So" Doesn't Work for Teens

    · 21 min

    How many times when a parent is arguing with a teen has the parent either said - or wish they could say - "Do it because I said so!". As a parent myself, I've had more than a few of those times. But it just doesn't…

  17. Ep 334: The Psychology of the Fantasticks

    · 8:29

    Have you seen the musical The Fantasticks? Not only does it have wonderful music but it also has pearls of wisdom. Oh yea, and gender issues. In this episode I talk about the psychology inside this wonderful musical

  18. Ep 170: Is the Web Making You More Narrow-Minded?

    · 25 min

    You probably know that sites like Facebook are using the information they have about you - like your age, gender and interests - to serve up ads that are most likely to appeal to you. That's a little bit harmless and…

  19. Ep 338: What Role Are Women Really Playing? The Bechdel Test

    · 31 min

    In movies and TV, women are understandably tired of playing roles like the "Wife" or the "Girlfriend" . Nowadays we're seeing more women in film and TV but has their role in the production really changed all that much?…

  20. Ep 191: What Was B. F. Skinner Really Like?

    · 34 min

    Would you be surprised to learn that B.F. Skinner was a very likable guy and that you may actually be very much in agreement with his ideas? Many people who study psychology have a negative impression of Skinner. Well,…

  21. Episode 99: Animal Emotions - Does Your Pet Really Have Feelings?

    · 24 min

    Does your dog have thoughts and feelings? How about your cat? In this episode we find out what scientists have to say about how we should study this question. I also review a fascinating new study by Dr. Alexandra…

  22. Ep 190: Why Do You Get So Absorbed in that Book (or Movie)?

    · 36 min

    Have you ever gotten to immersed in a book or movie that you actually felt like the character? Or you felt the character's pain or joy? Why does this happen? When does this happen? What is it about the book or the…

  23. Ep 185: The Dynamics of Therapy: Transference and Counter Transference: An Interview with Kerry Malawista

    · 33 min

    Transference and countertransference are two key concepts in psychoanalysis and they are fascinating. If you're interested in the therapy side of psychology - particularly psychoanalysis - this is the episode for you.…

  24. How to Change the Mind of a Conservative

    · 35 min

    How do you get someone is is conservative to support climate change? Or stricter controls on guns? There is a way. Research confirms that conservatives tend to be focused on how good the past was, while liberals are…

  25. Ep 324: Put Your Love Life on Automatic

    · 30 min

    In this episode I cover a few interesting topics. First, have you ever "blanked out" in front of an audience? I recently did and I was determined to find out why this happened. I found some answers in a great book…

  26. Ep 229: What Makes a Song Popular? Psychology of Music: How We Detect Melody

    · 29 min

    What makes some songs so popular? Guess what - psychologists actually know a lot of the answers. In this episode we'll listen to excerpts from Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah, as well as Noisestorm's Ignite, Adele's…

  27. Ep 243: Did Your Therapy Really Work?

    · 31 min

    If you have been in therapy you want to believe it "worked". We all do. And hopefully it did have a positive effect on you. But how do you know? How do therapists know if what they're doing really has resulted in…

  28. Episode 108: More Harm Than Good? Kubler-Ross' Five Stages of Grief

    · 28 min

    Almost everyone has heard of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, her book On Death and Dying, and her five stages of grief. But are these stages accurate? Could the five stages of grief actually be doing more harm than good? Are…

  29. Episode 122: DSM-V and On Being Sane - Are Psychiatric Labels Really Harmful?

    · 30 min

    What does the movie Shrek have to do with labeling, the DSM-V and the self-fulfilling prophecy? In this episode I take a close look at the well-known Rosenhan study. This was the study in which "pseudopatients" pretend…

  30. Ep 221: Facebook Study: A Brief Summary and Did They Use Informed Consent?

    · 33 min

    You may have heard that Facebook manipulated the content of user's New Feeds during January of 2012 so that some users saw more positive posts than others, which other Facebook users saw more negative posts. How did…

  31. Ep 335: Conspiracy Theories - Why So Easy To Believe?

    · 15 min

    Why do some conspiracy theories seem to have so much evidence to support them? Well, that's because if you look hard enough at any event, and you don't have any particular theory before you start looking, you're…

  32. Episode 75: Science Proves Subliminal Tapes Work! Well….not really

    · 19 min

    Do subliminal messages in self-help tapes really work? There actually is some evidence that people can be influenced by subliminal messages. Can your self-esteem be raised with subliminal tapes? Can subliminal…

  33. Ep 278: How to Memorize Your Lines or Lyrics - Techniques You Never Heard Of

    · 21 min

    Have to memorize lines for a play or musical? There are a lot of techniques. Let me tell you about a few that are backed by science. I've been involved in the theatre for many years and I've done a lot of memorizing of…

  34. Episode 50: Psychological Study Ripped Straight from….the Bible?

    · 28 min

    How many scientific studies find their inspiration from a parable in the bible? Well, this one does and for my 50th episode I'll go over a very interesting study based on the Good Samaritan parable. We'll take another…

  35. Episode 125: False Memories - How Can Your Memory Be So Bad?

    · 31 min

    We tend to believe our memories are accurate, but they are far from it. The Supreme Court is finally beginning to realize this, now we even may have A physiological marker for false memories. What we remember is a…

  36. Episode 36: Kitty Genovese: What Really Happened?

    · 20 min

    Kitty Genovese: what you know about what happened to her is wrong. Kitty Genovese was repeatedly attacked while others watched and did nothing - right? Wrong. While the story lead to a long and successful line of…

  37. Ep 246: Why Replications Sometimes Don't Agree with the Original Study

    · 13 min

    What's the connection between life on Mars and the need to properly replicate scientific studies? Well, replicating a study one time and not finding the results the original researchers find is NOT proof that the…

  38. Episode 106: Your Sexual Orientation - How Did It Develop?

    · 29 min

    How did you get to be heterosexual? Homosexual? Bisexual? Was it nature or nurture (or both?). Were you born with a sexual orientation or did it develop as you grew? What role did your parents play? In this episode I…

  39. Episode 25: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 3

    · 21 min

    We finish off this series looking at your brain as you develop by examining what is happening in your brain as you age from adolescence to older adulthood. Also: an impersonated celebrity endorsement…

  40. Episode 24: The Brains Behind Erikson Part 2

    · 22 min

    What is happening in your brain as you progress through life? In this episode we take a look at some of the changes that occur in your brain from birth to age 12. Be sure to listen to part 3 of this series, which is…

  41. Episode 103: Raising Children - Interview with Author Jamie Raser

    · 31 min

    Having trouble raising your children? Join the crowd. There are lots of parenting books, but here's one you should know about: "Raising Children You Can Live With" by Jamie Raser. He has an approach to parenting that…

  42. Episode 57: Expectancy Theory, Goal Setting and Getting in Shape

    · 18 min

    Confused about expectancy theory? I'll clear things up in this episode. It can be a little complicated but I'll use the familiar example of losing weight to nail this idea down. I'll also talk about goal setting.…

  43. Episode 94: How Do You Learn to Act Like a Woman or like a Man?

    · 24 min

    How do we learn to act in what are called gender appropriate ways? How did you learn to act like a girl and then a woman? Or like a boy and then like a man? Did you experience either penis envy or womb envy? Did this…

  44. Episode 107: Freud, Projective Tests and .... Poetry

    · 27 min

    How do the Rorschach, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the House, Tree Person tests work? Do you reveal something about yourself when you tell stories about pictures or tell what you see in an inkblot or even…

  45. How To Make Learning Fun Again Part 1 – Piaget

    · 30 min

    Can we make learning as fun as it was when you were a child? We can. Listen to Dr. Eugene Geist as he explains the cognitive development theories of Jean Piaget and you'll understand why we are all geared to learn. We…

  46. Beauty and the Beast: Psychological Themes

    · 15 min

  47. Ep 309: College Teaching Needs To Change

    · 34 min

    College teaching needs to change. This doesn't mean using a new fad technique. It doesn't mean dumbing anything down to get "today's students". It does mean that professors need to adopt more of the approaches to…

  48. Episode 90: The Learning Styles Myth: An Interview with Daniel Willingham

    · 41 min

    Guess what? There's no such thing as "learning style" (the theory that each of us has a preferred way to learn new ideas. There are many supposed kinds of learning styles, such as a visual learning style, an auditory…

  49. What Was Life Like in an Asylum?

    · 47 min

    Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a patient in an "insane asylum"? "Asylums" changed names over the years (including "State Hospital" and "Psychiatric Center") and so did the treatment of the mentally ill.…

  50. Do Those i-Statements Actually Work and Did Koko the Gorilla Really Use Language as We Do?

    · 34 min

    Remember those "i-statements" you're supposed to use when you get mad at someone? "I feel ____ when you ____ because ____". Does that actually work? Does talking in this way resolve problems better and not get the…

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