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 original study was a fraud. Let’s be clear about what replication really means. Here’s a bunch of examples. This topic […]
Have you heard that about 100 Psychology studies were replicated and only about 1/3 confirmed the original findings? Why did this happen? Well, one reason has to do with incentives that are out of whack. The “real world” of scientific research is far from the lone researcher looking for the truth. And the other reason […]
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 […]
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 improvements in their clients? Yes, we have controlled studies for many treatments which […]
One of the most popular topics in Psychology is attraction: why are we romantically attracted (or not) to each other? Whenever anyone asks me about this topic, or they ask me for other psychology podcasts in addition to The Psych Files. I send them over to the Psychology of Attractiveness podcast, hosted by Rob Burriss. […]
How can technology be used to help people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s? Here are a few examples. You may have heard of the “Internet of Things” – this is the idea that we can place small Internet-connected devices onto everyday household objects in order to get information from them about what you are doing – […]
We all want to help others – especially those in the “helping professions” – but what’s the best way to do that? Therapy? Medication? How about setting up an entire fake village set up to look like the ’50s with helping professionals dressed up to look like grocers? Sound bizarre? Well, they’re doing it in […]
Scientists discovered a way to get the lowly pigeon to play ping-pong. Psychologist Burrhus Skinner (called “B.F.” by his BFF’s) says the remarkable feat was accomplished in just 3 steps: He rewarded the pigeons when they were near the ball rewarded them when they pecked the ball rewarded them when they pecked the ball to […]
Does it matter if a robot looks male or female? You might not think so, but are we perpetuating stereotypes if if we create a robot that looks “feminine” to help the elderly aren’t we continuing the stereotype that these types of jobs are “women’s” jobs? If we create “masculine” looking robots to work outside […]
Does the sound of other people’s mouth noises really drive you crazy? Honestly, it does to me. Things like lip smacking, swallowing, cracking and crunching really annoys me. If it annoys you too then you’re not alone. Learn about misophonia in this episode. Also, a little more about my experiences playing Albin/Zaza in the musical […]
