Do you need to memorize Piaget’s stages for a test? You’ve found what you’re looking for. I’ll use some familiar mnemonics (“1 is a bun”, etc.) and some wacky images to get those stages – and what happens during them – into your mind. You’ll be able to remember when object permanence occurs, when children […]
What do I/0 psychologists do anyway? Are you interested in this subfield of psychology? Well, here are a few things they DON’T do: they don’t do “therapy in the workplace” and they don’t do “motivational speaking“. It’s not what you think. Industrial/Organizational psychology is practiced by professionals who’s goal is to make sure that employees […]
There is a lot of talk about mindfulness among psychologists today. Find out what mindfulness is and how it differs from meditation in this episode of The Psych Files. What might you use mindfulness for? Well, in addition to what you might expect – reducing stress – mindfulness training is also being used to improve […]
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 content (the people and things that happened in the dream that you remember) and a latent content (the unconscious […]
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, I’m about to challenge those impressions by presenting a side of Skinner you probably haven’t […]
Have you ever become so 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 movie and its characters that draws us in like this? It’s amazing […]
We have some great articles covered in this episode so I hope you find them thought-provoking and leave your comments below! We cover four topics, all of which can be relevant to your everyday life. Â Join me and my intern Madison for a fascinating discussion on some new research in psychology. First, a throwback to […]
Didn’t get the flu this past winter? Thank a psychologist. What? Well, it could be that a psychologist was involved in helping health care professionals to do what they know they need to do (but sometimes don’t): wash their hands. The issue here is persuasion and motivation: how to we get people to do something […]
How would you like to have an argument? Turns out that learning how to have a good argument might just be the best way to learn to think critically. In this episode I discuss a neat piece of research in which 7 and 8 year olds are taught how to effectively argue. And they do […]