Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files
Learn how theories in psychology affect you in everyday life. Upbeat and interesting podcasts from experienced psychology teacher Michael Britt give you a bit more insight into you and your life.
- Update frequency
- every 8 days
- Average duration
- 25 minutes
- Episodes
- 321
- Years Active
- 2007 - 2025
Episode 90: The Learning Styles Myth: An Interview with Daniel Willingham
Guess what? There's no such thing as "learning style" (the theory that each of us has a preferred way to learn new ideas. There are many supposed kinds of learning styles, such as a visual learning s…
What Was Life Like in an Asylum?
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a patient in an "insane asylum"? "Asylums" changed names over the years (including "State Hospital" and "Psychiatric Center") and so did the treatment of…
Do Those i-Statements Actually Work and Did Koko the Gorilla Really Use Language as We Do?
Remember those "i-statements" you're supposed to use when you get mad at someone? "I feel ____ when you ____ because ____". Does that actually work? Does talking in this way resolve problems better a…
Erikson's Eight Stages of Life
This week on The Psych Files we take a stroll through the various phases of life: from childhood, to adolescence, into mid-life and then we listen to two interesting voices of men nearing the end of …
Why Do Certain Songs Become Popular?
Music researchers analyzed over 700 top Billboard songs (which included examining over 80,000 chords) and they determined that the "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da" is the most appealing song ever written. How in…
Ep 269: How To Get People To Be Creative
Do "Blue Sky" brainstorming sessions actually produce anything creative? If you've ever sat around with a group of people and tried to "just come up with something creative" you probably found that i…
Ep 336: Why is it Usually Men Who Commit Violent Acts?
Another violent act in America. Another man who committed it. Why do men in our society seem to always be the ones who carry out violent acts? Is it how we bring up boys? Or is there another influenc…
Ep 267: Applying an Established Memory Strategy Literacy (and possibly click through on your blog post...)
The printed word has been around for a long time. Bet you thought there was nothing new in how we put words together in a book or website. Well, guess again. Researchers at Asymmetrica have drawn up…
Ep 266: Productive Confusion with Jeremiah Sullins
We often like it when things are explained to us clearly, but would you believe that sometimes it's better if you're just down-right confused? You could actually learn more if at some point in the le…
Ep: 265: Why Do You REALLY Support That Candidate? The Psychology of Voting Behavior
Why do you vote the way you do? Have you read through all the various candidates position statements, or do you just kinda go with your "gut"? Jeremiah Sullins, Assistant Professor of Psychology at H…
Ep 264: How To Make Study Groups Effective
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 n…
Ep 263: Using Psychology in Your Work: Part 2 of My Interview with Richard Millington
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 Fev…
Ep 262: Using Psychology to Build Active Online Communities: Interview with Richard Millington
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…
Ep 261: Demonic Possession or A Lack of Skeptical Thinking?
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 matte…