The Psych Files - Michael Britt

Latest Episodes:

Ep 205: Secondhand Autism: What is it Like to Grow Up with an Autistic Sibling? Oct 06, 2013

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In this interview with Paul Brodie, author of Secondhand Autism, we talk about what it is like to grow up in a family with an autistic individual. As you can imagine, there are challenges, but ultimately there lessons to be learned about life. Listen to what Paul has to say about his brother Scott and to what it was like for Paul, his siblings and his parents - what they sacrificed and how they grew from it.

Ep 204: The Psychology of Fundraising Sep 27, 2013

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How do you use psychology persuasion techniques to get people to contribute to your cause? That's what I discuss in this episode of The Psych Files. I'm trying to help my friend raise money and in doing so I employed a number of persuasion strategies to get people to help him out and I'm sure these ideas will be helpful to you as well. We'll look at how Cialdini's ideas can be applied to fundraising and we'll look at other topics you may have studied in a psychology class: goal setting, bystander apathy, and the need to generate excitement in order to persuade people to part with their money. I'll also look at the ethics of all this. Is it okay to use these strategies on people? When is it not okay? Hopefully an interesting an useful episode up ahead.

Ep 203: Psychology of Dance & Growth Mindset Sep 13, 2013

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Ep 202 (audio): How To Memorize Freud's Stages of Psychosexual Development Sep 13, 2013

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Need to memorize Freud's stages for a test? Here's a mnemonic that should do the trick. This is the audio version of video episode 202 in which the founder of psychoanalysis gives you a mnemonic and explains the 5 stages for you. Make sure to check out these other Psych Files episodes for psychology mnemonics: How to Memorize the Parts of the Brain, How to Memorize Erikson's Eight Stages, and How to Memorize Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development. I love mnemonics here on The Psych Files so if you need to memorize anything else let me know!

Ep 201: Mother Nature and Blaming the Victim Aug 29, 2013

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We know that many people have a tendency to blame victims even when something tragic and unexplainable happens to them. But did you know how easily this blaming can be triggered? If I were to describe a natural disaster and tell you about "mother nature's wrath" would you be more or less willing to help the victims? I'll also talk about two common occurrences in adolescence: the imaginary audience and the personal fable. Find out them in this episode of The Psych Files.

Ep 200: Reflections on the 200 Show Aug 16, 2013

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Ep 198: What's it Like to Work in Psychology? Jul 11, 2013

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A lot of people find psychology interesting. But what is it really like to work in the field? A tough question to answer because the field is so broad. In this episode of The Psych Files podcast I'll share my thoughts on the difference between learning about psychology and actually doing psychology as a career. It's a tough thing to capture because psychologists could spend their day doing psychotherapy, or working with inmates in prison, conducting research with children or doing complex statistical analyses. Some careers in psychology pay well while others pay poorly. A job in psychology can also cause burnout because of the heavy demands. I hope to give you some valuable things to think about it you're thinking about a career in psychology.

Ep 197: Using the Word Guys for Women, Robots Helping the Elderly and Supernormal Foods Jun 27, 2013

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Should we stop using "Guys" to refer to groups of women and mixed sex groups? Why do we (particularly men) refer to many objects - like cars and boats - as "she"? Are everyday foods actually "SuperNormal" foods - created to be absolutely irresistible and therefore causing us to be overweight? Is it okay to employ robot to care for our elderly? And finally, how come the ending of a movie can "ruin the whole thing" if it's not a good ending? After all, you enjoyed most of the movie. In this episode I try to address these questions. We'll talk about all these things in this episode of The Psych Files.

Ep 196: What Men Need to Do to End Violence Against Others Jun 03, 2013

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Are jail time and new laws the only answers to men's violence against women, children, and other men? Or is there something every man can do to end these tragedies? In an earlier episode of The Psych Files in which I discussed Blaming the Victim, I talked about why there's a tendency to blame victims and to overlook the Optimism Bias that we all share (particularly younger folks). But podcast listener and psychotherapist Jackie Henry felt that I didn't go far enough in that episode, and she was right. We - especially men - need to think carefully about the way we talk about women in our everyday lives. Was that joke really funny? Or was it one of the small ingredients that eventually adds up to - or contributes to - the ongoing violence and lack of empathy that those with power express toward those without it. We take up this important issue in this episode of The Psych files.

Ep 194: What Do I/0 Psychologists Really Do? Testing and Evaluation Apr 17, 2013

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What do I/0 psychologists do anyway? Are you interested in this subfield of psychology? Well, here are a few things they DON'T do: they don't do "therapy in the workplace" and they don't do "motivational speaking". It's not what you think. Industrial/Organizational psychology is practiced by professionals who's goal is to make sure that employees are productive and - and here's what I'll focus on in this episode - that job applicants are chosen based upon the skills and personality characteristics that are relevant to the jobs they are applying for. Find out more in this episode of The Psych Files.

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