Archive for 2009

Episode 103: Raising Children – Interview with Author Jamie Raser

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Having trouble raising your children? Join the crowd. There are lots of parenting books, but here’s one you should know about: “Raising Children You Can Live With” by Jamie Raser. He has an approach to parenting that is not about “picking your battles”, but about staying out of battles altogether and talking with your child in a way that doesn’t lead to shouting, screaming and anger. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Episode 101: The Psychology of Music: The Role of Expectations and Minor Chords

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How does music affect us emotionally? Why do minor chords so sad? In this episode of The Psych Files I explore ideas from Daniel Leviton‘s fascinating book, Your Brain on Music, especially those ideas concerned with what composers do to draw you into their music by first conforming to your musical expectations and then carefully confounding them in order to surprise and delight.

Episode 100: Reflections on 100 Episodes of The Psych Files

Well, it’s here – episode 100. I take this time to reflect on which episodes have made the most impact on the podcast and the episodes and listeners that have taught me the most. Also, I provide a little background on how the podcast is produced, along with what programs and equipment are used.

Episode 99: Animal Emotions – Does Your Pet Really Have Feelings?

Does your dog have thoughts and feelings? How about your cat? In this episode we find out what scientists have to say about how we should study this question. I also review a fascinating new study by Dr. Alexandra Horowitz of Barnard College who studied whether or not dogs who have that guilty look actually do feel guilty.

Episode 97: Stanley Milgram Obedience Study Finally Replicated

The obedience studies originally conducted by Stanley Milgram (sometimes referred to as the Milgram Shock studies) have finally been replicated in a university setting. Will people obey an authority figure and give a stranger a dangerous shock? Or have things changed in the last 40 years such that people will be more willing to be disobedient to authority?

Episode 96 (video): The Phonetic Alphabet Part 2

In the episode 95 you saw me memorize – almost perfectly – a list of 20 top sci-fi movies. How did I do it? In this video learn exactly how the advanced pegword system works which will enable you to memorize almost any size list.

Episode 95 (video): Advanced Mnemonics: The Phonetic Alphabet Part 1

Did you know there’s a mnemonic device that is more powerful than the "One is a bun" pegword mnemonic? In this video I show you the advanced pegword mnemonic system in which every number becomes a letter and a concrete word that you can visualize to help you remember a list of any length.

Episode 94: How Do You Learn to Act Like a Man/Woman? Gender Identity and Gender Scripts

How do we learn to act in what are called "gender appropriate" ways? How did you learn to act like a girl and then a woman? Or like a boy and then like a man? Did you experience either penis envy or womb envy? Or did you learn to act like you do by watching males and females on TV? In this episode of The Psych Files we look at the interesting and complex issue of gender identity.


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