Ep 191: What Was B. F. Skinner Really Like?

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 been exposed to. In these sound bytes you’ll hear his ideas about learning to play music, about discovery, having fun and becoming the most that you can be.
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Ep 190: Why Do You Get So Absorbed in that Book (or Movie)?

Experience TakingHave 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 isn’t it? To be so moved like this. Psychologists have studied this experience and we have some ideas regarding what factors have to be present in order for this to happen. And would you believe that this understand might help us to combat racism and bullying? Pretty amazing stuff. Join me as I explore what psychologists call “experience taking“.

Experience Taking

  • Kaufman, G. F., & Libby, L. K. (2012, March 26). Changing Beliefs and Behavior Through
    Experience-Taking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication.
    doi: 10.1037/a0027525
  • Kill These Characters at Your Own Risk


Ep 189: The Psych Files Brief #6 – Facebook Untagging, Money and Happiness, and Memory and Aging

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.  Join me and my intern Madison for a fascinating discussion on some new research in psychology. First, a throwback to a previous episode on how to spend your money; experiences only beat out material possessions if they are spent with others. Social settings beat solitary settings every time.

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Ep 188: Psychologists Are Keeping You From Getting the Flu

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 – and keep doing it? Health care workers like doctors and nurses can fall prey to the availability heuristic: they can easily remember times when they didn’t wash their hands and they didn’t get sick so they might develop an “illusion of invulnerability“. How do psychologists get involved to solve this problem? Listen to this episode and find out.

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Most Popular Episodes from 2012!

Check these out and feel free to vote:
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