In a previous episode I talked about the kinds of dynamics that can occur in groups (social loafing, diffusion of responsibility) that can make them ineffective learning experiences as well as just not fun. In this episode I interview Dr. Karen Christian who has watched how many study groups in action and she has uncovered […]
How do you “apply a little psychology” to tough jobs like building an online community and to creating a product that people will want to use frequently? In part 2 of my interview with author and Feverbee founder Richard Millington we talk about two key theories from psychology: self-determination theory and Robert Cialdini’s persuasion […]
What do you do with a background in psychology? A lot of things. How about running an online community? I found Richard Millington, founder of Feverbee, talking about how he applies psychology to his business of helping organizations build strong, active online communities. As you’ve probably seen in your travels about the web, there are […]
Is it possible that some people who we think are mentally ill are actually victims of demonic possession? One psychiatrist says yes. Another psychiatrist says no – believing this is true is a matter of not carefully thinking about what you see and hear from others. In this episode I break down the claims made […]
Do you think you’re using the words “control group” correctly? You’re probably not. In fact, you’re probably also getting these terms wrong as well: “truth serum”, “lie detector”, “bystander apathy”, “personality type”, Oxytocin, “closure” and even the “scientific method”! In this episode I review some of the points made by Scott Lilienfeld and his colleagues […]
Cell phones: they’re here and they’re not going away. So now it’s time to “stop worrying and learn to love them”. If you’re upset about how attracted teens are to their phones I’ll give you a few ideas that, hopefully, will make you feel better. After all, cellphones aren’t going away. Quite the opposite. They’re […]
A conversation is a conversation whether it happens in person or in a car, right? Well, wrong. You can only attend to so many things at a time. We’ll find out how a passenger in your car gives you subtle cues to what you need to attend to while you’re driving – something a person […]
Why do we find it so hard to put down our phones? I’ll give you 5 reasons drawn directly from psychological research on how we learn, how teenagers are strongly affected by reward, and how we are all drawn in by mystery. There is of course no easy answer for how to get teens to […]
I grew up eating baloney without ever giving a thought to where it came from. But psychology is all about reflecting on who you are, why you think the way you do and why you do what you do. So let’s explore our eating behavior: why do we think it’s weird or wrong when we […]
London needs help and only a person trained in psychology can fix this. There are just too many Londoners using their subway (the “tube”) and instead of standing side by side as they go up the escalator, people are doing what they always do – they stand single file on the right of the escalator […]
