The Psych Files - Michael Britt

Latest Episodes:

Ep 271: Great Psych Apps - NovoPsych Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

There are a lot of mobile apps that include the term "psychology" but many of them are just for fun. Are there any really good apps for psychotherapists? Yes there are and one of them is called NovoPsych. In this episode I interview Dr. Ben Buchanan who is the creator of NovoPsych and he tells us how the app would be used in a clinical setting. The first in a series of interview highlighting solid, credible apps that people seriosly interesting in psychology will want to check out.

Ep 270: We Are Polarized. Here's What We Can Do About It Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

The US just had a very contentious election which showed us, if nothing else, that we are a divided nation. How did we become this way? In this episode I talk about group polarization - how it happens and what we can do about it. Along the way, I'll talk about Moral Reframing - and idea researched by Robb Willer and the idea of "emotional correctness" that Sally Kohn suggests is the way that she, a gay woman, is able to get along in a very conservative workplace. The wonderful You Are Not So Smart blog has a great article on how we can better argue when we know we're talking with someone who is on the "opposite side of the fence" politically. #psychology

Ep 269: How To Get People To Be Creative Nov 29, 2016

Show notes

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 it's pretty hard. We actually don't think that creatively when we're told to just "throw things out there" and "nothing will be judged". It's often more productive to give people a certain constraint on what they can say. See how researcher Catrinel Haupt-Tromp used as her inspiration the famous children's book "Green Eggs and Ham" to come up with a pretty neat research study on creativity.

Ep 267: Applying an Established Memory Strategy Literacy (and possibly click through on your blog post...) Nov 15, 2016

Show notes

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 upon a tried and true memory strategy called "chunking" and applied it to - get this - the amount of white space between words. Would we be able to improve literacy if we ever so slightly adjusted the amount of space between words so that it better reflected our everyday speech patters? Psychologist Chris Nicolas has been tinkering with these word spaces and I think you'll be surprised at what he's doing.

Ep 266: Productive Confusion with Jeremiah Sullins Oct 20, 2016

Show notes

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 learning process you feel like you don't know what's going on. In part 2 of my interview with researcher and professor Jeremiah Sullins, we talk about much more you could learn if you spend a little time being absolutely perplexed at what's going on. You may have heard of this as "desirable difficulties", well here we dig in and find out when it's good for teachers (and students) when everything is not completely clear.

Ep: 265: Why Do You REALLY Support That Candidate? The Psychology of Voting Behavior Oct 16, 2016

Show notes

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 Harding University has looked at this question in great depth and he's found some really interesting answers to this question. I think you'll really enjoy hearing about his research into your voting behavior.

Ep 264: How To Make Study Groups Effective Oct 01, 2016

Show notes

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 not fun. In this episode I interview Dr. Karen Christian who has watched how many study groups in action and she has uncovered quite a few things that study groups need to do differently so that everybody actually learns and gets ready for an upcoming test. She's got some very useful suggestions for teachers and students.

Ep 263: Using Psychology in Your Work: Part 2 of My Interview with Richard Millington Sep 12, 2016

Show notes

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 Feverbee founder Richard Millington we talk about two key theories from psychology: self-determination theory and Robert Cialdini's persuasion techniques. I think you'll find these real world examples very practical.

Ep 262: Using Psychology to Build Active Online Communities: Interview with Richard Millington Sep 06, 2016

Show notes

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 business of helping organizations build strong, active online communities. As you've probably seen in your travels about the web, there are a lot of communities (such as those on Facebook) and sometimes you join them because you're interested in the person or the product the company sells. Then what happens? A lot to times nothing because that "community" isn't really a community. It's just a Facebook page that an employee created because he/she felt they "had to" because everyone else is doing it, but there's no actual discussion going on.

What's an online community supposed to do? It's supposed to be interesting and helpful to its members. A community is supposed to "connect like minded people" and maybe even get them excited about a product and perhaps even, in the best case scenario, communities get their members to be so excited about the cause or the product that some of them become "evangelists" - real fans who spread the word.

But how do you make this happen? What can you do to make a community active? Let's hear how Richard Millington effectively uses a little psychology in his work as a community builder.

Ep 261: Demonic Possession or A Lack of Skeptical Thinking? Aug 19, 2016

Show notes

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 matter of not carefully thinking about what you see and hear from others. In this episode I break down the claims made by Richard Gallagher and a counterpoint to Gallagher which was written by Steven Novella. Along the way we'll learn about logical fallacies such as the "argument for incredulity" and the "argument of ignorance". I think you'll find this fascinating and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Psych Files – Michael Britt

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected