Functional Fixedness When people have trouble coming up with alternative uses for everyday objects – or trouble thinking of everyday objects in new ways – we refer to that in psychology as “functional fixedness“. Creative people don’t tend to have this problem. Creative folks allow their minds to be “unbound” and to see things in […]
Don’t be frustrated with low grades. If you want to know how to study for exams and get good grades then this is the episode for you. I’ve got 5 techniques that will help you get better grades, develop effective study skills, and I’ll give you one very important warning about something you may be […]
You hear a lot these days about how pets make us happy. This is called the “pet effect“. But is it so? The answer appears to be a qualified yes. But in what ways do pets make us happy? How strong is their effect on our lives? Also, how about religion? We also hear that […]
What do you have to do to get into grad school in Psychology? A lot of people apply. Who ARE these people and how are you going to stand out among them? Meet one future grad student – Erin Breedlove – who is a college junior and she’s already positioned herself very well for grad […]
Is cuddling good – especially for men – in marriage? Do baths make you feel less lonely, is Google really making you stupid, how does your body language affect your feelings, and….is that your cell phone vibrating? In this 2nd Psych Files brief I take a look at some of the more interesting psychological research […]
I give you 5 reasons why your brain is telling you that Casey Anthony is guilty. These are 5 reasons why we tend to think that a lot of people are guilty even before they’ve been tried. The trial of accused child murdered Casey Anthony is over and Casey was found not guilty. Most people are extremely upset because she appeared to be guilty for many reasons. None of these are based on evidence, but instead on what might be going on inside your mind that made you think she was guilty. Caution: open mindedness required!
What is the REAL reason why you either support or oppose gay marriage? We may give logical reasons for our opinions, but the roots behind your opinion lies – where else? – in your past. So let’s dive into your mind as we always do here in the Psych Files. Resource on Attitudes and Gay […]
How does Behavior Modification work? Find out in this episode as I interview Scott Milford, author of the Behavior and Motivation website. If you’re about how to apply Psychology to everyday life then this is the guy to show you how he does it.
We all take shortcuts when we are making decisions. And in those shortcuts often lie our mistakes. In this episode find out the difference between the availability and representativeness heuristics, as well as the “Take the Best“, Hindsight, and the Base Rate Neglect (Fallacy) heuristics. Lots of examples of these heuristics at work are […]
Piaget’s concept of object permanence is essential to understand. But how did they study this idea among 1 year olds? Obviously children can’t tell you that they believe that something no longer exists when they can’t see it, so how do we know what is going on inside a child’s mind? How about this challenge: do animals also understand object permanence? If you’ve ever seen your cat or dog look under or around objects for a lost toy then yes – you’ve seen that they do understand object permanence.