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?
10 Comments
Leave a comment
You may also like
Cognition, Intelligence and Language
Emotion
Therapy
Episode 6: The Negative Side of Positive Thinking
What could possibly be wrong with thinking positively? As it turns out, there could be a lot wrong with it.
Cognition, Intelligence and Language
Social Psychology
Episode 7: Blaming the Victim and other Attribution Biases
Blaming the victim - why do we do it? Are rape victims responsible for what happens to them? Are victims
Michael
May 18, 2011AJ: funny comment. You should have a blog of your own. Glad you enjoyed the episode (even though you yawned through part of it).
AJ Jack
May 18, 2011I like the brief format as a way of getting through a number of studies that don’t deserve an episode on their own.
I was alert and listening with interest until you started talking about yawning and then I yawned through the whole section. Even just typing the word just then made me yawn. It seems contagious yawning is not limited to seeing someone yawn, even thinking about it can bring it on. (A good thing thinking about sex doesn’t have similar consequences)
Scott Milford
May 18, 2011…or a psychopath. 😉
Michael
May 18, 2011Jade: yes indeed an excellent question! I don’t know the answer, but a great question. You must be a Psychology major…..
Scott Milford
May 18, 2011Wow, that’s a great question, Jade. You’ve got me curious about this too, now. 🙂
jade
May 18, 2011Hi
I’m just wondering, if yawning is something to do with empathy, would that mean that psychopaths do not yawn after seeing someone else yawn, because of their inability to feel such emotion?
Jade
Scott Milford
May 18, 2011Hey, Michael…I love your briefs! 😉
Seriously, I vote for keeping the briefs in your lineup. It adds something different to the mix and I love getting the overview of interesting psych-related stories of interest. Keep up the great work.
Scott
Mike
May 18, 2011Michael,
I’m a big fan of the “brief”–interesting and informative. Keep choosing interesting articles and you can’t lose. It should be a fixture of your podcast (one that requires much less prep time, too…bonus!).
On another note, I purchased the psych files app from itunes and had to restore my phone. I forgot to sync the app to my computer and now I can’t find it anywhere on Itunes…did it go away? Why?
Thanks for the podcast–love it!
Michael
May 18, 2011Khamael: I agree – the myth about men thinking more about sex came about probably a lot because men are less timid about saying they think about sex than women are (and men like to brag).
No kidding about the cat yawning right after you did. Good critical thinking on your point – could be coincidence – but still, this would be a fun area of research.
Khamael Al Safi
May 18, 2011This is a great initiative! So much learning in a few minutes!
Great choice of topics as well. I would agree that it is very likely that the number of times men think about sex was shown to be higher because of them being aware of their physical state at a given time and being more comfortable in reporting these thoughts as well.
This might be a complete coincidence but I have witnessed contagious yawning across species. A cat did yawn right after I did a few months ago! Again, could be a coincidence but definitely something interesting to look through.