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The Psych Files is for anyone who is:
- interested in human behavior presented in an informal and fun way.
- taking or teaching a class in psychology.
- taking or teaching a class in social work.
- a critical thinker or skeptic.
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Episode 118: Are You REALLY Listening? Sanford Meisner, Acting and Psychology
A lot of people get into psychology because they think they have good listening skills, but are you really a good listener? What does it mean to be a good listener? In this episode I look at a fascinating acting exercise created by Sanford Meisner called the “repetition exercise” which trains actors how to truly listen. Are you as good a listener as these trained actors?
Resources on Sanford Meisner and Carl Rogers
 
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Psychology Twitterers
- mbritt (me!)
- psych101
- psyprof
- PsychNews
- NewPsychologist
- Want me to add to the list? Leave a comment below
Episode 117: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – An Interview with Bobbi
Listen to this interview with Bobbi, a young woman who deals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder every day and you’ll get a much better understanding of what OCD is like. You have probably heard of the term OCD and perhaps you’ve seen shows like Monk or you’ve seen characters on TV and in the movies who show symptoms of obsessional thoughts or compulsive behaviors and perhaps you’ve wondered yourself about some of your own thoughts and behaviors. Learn more about OCD in this episode of The Psych Files.
Episode 116: Social Loafing – Don’t Be a Sucker or a Free Loader!
Do you like working in a group? Most people don’t because they’re afraid that they’ll have to do most of the work (wind up being a sucker) and that other group members won’t do their share of the work (free loaders). Want to find out how to avoid this and make your group work productive? Learn how the Agile software development technique can be adapted to your help your next group project be a success.
Social Loafing (free riding) occurs when…
- …group members don’t value the group goal
- …individual contributions to the group effort cannot be measured
- …a group member’s effort is duplicated (or even surpassed) by someone else
- …a group member feels that he or she doesn’t have a unique skill to devote to the group effort
- …when a group member feels that what he or she has been asked to do is harder than what others have been asked to do
- …a group member doesn’t think (or doesn’t know) whether or that others in the group are working on the task (or how hard they are working on the task)
Solutions:
- Make sure that each group member has a different set of skills
- Everybody has to believe that the task is important
- Assign roles to group members (note taker, time keeper, questioner, reporter, etc.)
- The group has to know exactly what is expected, i.e., how will you know when the task is “done”?
- make sure that the groups break down the larger goal (write a paper, do a project) into smaller “phases”
- Ask each person in the group to “grade” themselves and everyone else in the group
- Make sure that the group meets as often as possible – if not every day then every other day. Once a week is probably not often enough
- use some Agile methods in these meetings: a) what have you done since the last meeting?, b) what are you planning to do before the next meeting?, c) is anything blocking you?
Articles on Social Loafing
- Social loafing: A meta-analytic review and theoretical integration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 681-706
- Shepperd, A. (1993). Productivity loss in performance groups: A motivation analysis, Psychological Bulletin, 113, 67-81.
Resources on the Agile Software Development process
- The New Methodology by Martin Fowler
- The Agile Journal – a discussion site for those interested in Agile
- The Agile For All site. "Agile Bob" is the person who provided the training that I received in Agile. He’s an excellent trainer.
Episode 115 (Video): Violent Video Games – What Does the Research Say?
Recent research on violent video games is pretty conclusive and you’re not going to like it: there’s good evidence that people if you play violent video games you might be less likely to a) notice aggressive events, b) perceive fewer or less severe injuries, c) feel less sympathy for violence victims, and d) have less negative attitudes towards violence. In this video I take a close look at this research.
Episode 114 (video): Finding Little Albert
Little Albert – one of the most famous subjects in the history of psychology – has finally been identified. Researchers spent 7 years tracking down every possible lead in order to discover who John Watson’s “Albert B” really was. In this video episode I take you through each step of the extensive detective work to uncover his identity. It’s a fascinating, creative, and in the end touching journey. Some never seen before pictures are included. Join me in this episode of The Psych Files.
