Playtime isn’t just for fun -- psychologists who study children’s learning have found that kids learn best through play. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, of Temple University, talks about why kids need playtime, what playful learning looks like in a classroom, how technology is changing children’s play, why adults need recess, too, and what parents can do to encourage more play in their kids’ lives. For transcripts, links and more information, please visit the Speaking of Psychology Homepage. Learn more ...
Dec 13, 2023•40 min•Ep 266•Transcript available on Metacast When the news is filled with war and climate change and other disasters, remaining hopeful about the future can feel impossible. But psychologists’ research has found that hope is not an unrealistic luxury, but a necessity. Jacqueline Mattis, PhD, of Rutgers University, and Chan Hellman, PhD, of the University of Oklahoma, discuss the difference between hope and optimism, why cultivating hope can help people facing adversity and trauma, and what all of us can do to find hope in trying and uncert...
Dec 06, 2023•37 min•Ep 265•Transcript available on Metacast Misleading news stories. Propaganda. Conspiracy theories. Misinformation has always been with us, but with the rise of social media it can spread farther and faster than ever. Sander van der Linden, PhD, of Cambridge University, talks about why we’re so vulnerable to misinformation, how much we’re really all exposed to, why misinformation spreads like a virus and how we can “inoculate” people against it, and how AI is changing the landscape of misinformation. For transcripts, links and more info...
Nov 29, 2023•41 min•Ep 264•Transcript available on Metacast Among the many challenges people with serious mental illness face is the stigma surrounding illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Kim Mueser, PhD, of the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation at Boston University, talks about the progress psychology has made in treating serious mental illness; the role of both medication and psychosocial interventions; why meaningful work can play a critical role in recovery; and the truth about the connection between violence and mental illness....
Nov 22, 2023•37 min•Ep 263•Transcript available on Metacast Conversational chemistry might seem intangible, but psychologists are beginning figure out what makes some conversations work while others fall apart. Charles Duhigg, author of the upcoming book “Supercommunicators,” and conversation researcher Michael Yeomans, PhD, talk about how anyone can learn to communicate better, the best way to build rapport with someone you just met, why it’s important to think about your goals in a conversation, how to have a productive conversation about a disagreemen...
Nov 15, 2023•49 min•Ep 262•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of people in the U.S. are caregivers for their family members and other loved ones, providing billions of dollars worth of unpaid care to loved ones with dementia, cancer, and other long-term illnesses. William Haley, PhD, of the University of South Florida, discusses the mental and physical health effects of caregiving, interventions that can help buffer caregivers against stress, how society could better support caregivers, and how caregiving can be a source of strength as well as str...
Nov 08, 2023•37 min•Ep 261•Transcript available on Metacast Have you heard people say, “I’m so OCD”? There are a lot of myths around obsessive compulsive disorder. In reality, it’s a multi-faceted mental health disorder that seriously affects people’s lives – but is also treatable with evidence-based therapies. Psychologist Dean McKay, PhD, and OCD advocate Uma Chatterjee talk about what obsessive compulsive disorder is, how it differs from the stereotypes, why it is so often misunderstood and misdiagnosed, and what effective treatments are available. Fo...
Nov 01, 2023•50 min•Ep 260•Transcript available on Metacast October may be the month that our fascination with all things ghoulish and grisly reaches its peak, but for many people, a fascination with the darker side of life isn’t limited to Halloween. Coltan Scrivner, PhD, talks about why people are drawn to horror, true crime and other scary genres; and whether terrifying entertainment can actually be good for some people’s mental health and leave them better equipped to handle real-life challenges. For transcripts, links and more information, please vi...
Oct 25, 2023•33 min•Ep 259•Transcript available on Metacast Whatever your dreams consist of, you’ve probably wondered where they come from and what they might be trying to tell you. Psychologists, too, have long studied the origin and purpose of dreams. Mark Blagrove, PhD, of Swansea University, talks about what we know – and don’t know – about why we dream; the relationship between our dreams and what’s happening in our waking life; why some dreams seem so common – like being unprepared for class or flying; why some people have particularly vivid and me...
Oct 18, 2023•49 min•Ep 258•Transcript available on Metacast Parasocial relationships -- the relationships that people have with media figures such as actors, celebrity influencers, or even television characters -- sometimes get a bad rap. But psychologists who study parasocial relationships say that they can be good for us: They can help us expand our world view and can have positive effects on our mental health and well-being. Researchers Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, PhD, and Karen Dill-Shackleford, PhD, talk about how a parasocial relationship is diffe...
Oct 11, 2023•44 min•Ep 257•Transcript available on Metacast Math is essential to our everyday lives, from household budgeting to buying the right size rug for your room. But for people with math anxiety, any tasks involving math can cause dread and fear. Molly Jameson, PhD, of the University of Northern Colorado, talks about where math anxiety comes from, whether you can be good at math but still suffer from math anxiety, how it affects people’s lives, and what parents and teachers can do to help math-anxious kids overcome their fears and excel in math. ...
Oct 04, 2023•35 min•Ep 256•Transcript available on Metacast People often use the words “guilt” and “shame” interchangeably, but the two emotions affect us in different ways. June Tangney, PhD, of George Mason University, talks about the difference between shame and guilt, what role these emotions play in our mental health and how they affect our behavior, why some people are especially prone to shame or guilt, and what you can do when guilt or shame is harming your mental health – especially when you feel guilty over something that isn’t your fault or th...
Sep 27, 2023•35 min•Ep 255•Transcript available on Metacast For most of us, the idea of jumping off a bridge with a parachute or surfing a wave 70 feet tall seems to defy comprehension. Psychologists, too, have wondered what drives people to participate in extreme sports. Eric Brymer, PhD, talks about why many of our preconceived notions about adventurers are wrong, what draws people to extreme adventure, the role fear plays in how adventurers approach what they do, and what lessons less adventurous people can learn from research on extreme adventure spo...
Sep 20, 2023•39 min•Ep 254•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve all heard the advice: Save for retirement, start saving early, don’t spend more than you earn. But rules like these are far easier said than followed, especially when you’re short on time, or money, or both. Wendy De La Rosa, PhD, of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about why it’s so hard to take financial action, how financial stress affects us and our relationships, and why we need to get rid of ‘financial shame’ and talk more openly about money. For transcript...
Sep 13, 2023•35 min•Ep 253•Transcript available on Metacast Despite the sexist jokes, the menstrual cycle doesn’t cause significant changes in mood or behavior for most people. But a small percentage do suffer severe premenstrual symptoms, or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, PhD, of the University of Illinois Chicago, talks about how hormones and the menstrual cycle interact with mental health, why premenstrual symptoms are not caused by a “hormone imbalance,” and what treatments are available for severe premenstrual symptoms....
Sep 06, 2023•30 min•Ep 252•Transcript available on Metacast Microaggressions, the indirect, subtle, sometimes unintentional incidents of racism and bias that members of marginalized groups experience every day, can take a large toll on people’s mental and physical health. Dr. Derald Wing Sue, PhD, of Teacher’s College Columbia University, discusses what makes something a microaggression, why microaggressions are so harmful, and what you can do to disarm and neutralize these everyday instances of racism and bias. For transcripts, links and more informatio...
Aug 30, 2023•44 min•Ep 251•Transcript available on Metacast When you’re sad, do you say that you’re feeling blue? Have you ever felt green with envy? Domicele Jonauskaite, PhD, of the University of Vienna, discusses why language so often links color with emotion, whether those links are universal or differ by culture, whether colors can actually make us feel calm or sad or angry, why people’s favorite colors don’t really tell us anything about their personality, and more. This episode is supported by Babbel, get 55% off at babbel.com/apa. And, Rocket Mon...
Aug 23, 2023•31 min•Ep 250•Transcript available on Metacast Almost everyone lies occasionally, but for a small percentage of people, lying isn't something that they do every once in a while -- it's a way of life. Drew Curtis, PhD, of Angelo State University, and Christian L. Hart, PhD, of Texas Woman’s University, authors of a new book on pathological lying, talk about what drives “big liars” to lie, why they believe pathological lying should be classified as a mental health disorder, whether liars really are more prevalent in some professions, such as p...
Aug 16, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast There’s a common stereotype is that teenagers’ brains are immature and underdeveloped, and that teens are “hard-wired” to take unwise risks and cave to peer pressure. But psychologists’ research suggests these negative stereotypes are unfounded and that the teen years are a time opportunity and growth as well as risk. Eva Telzer, PhD, explains why teens take more risks and why that risk-taking is sometimes beneficial, why parents have more influence than they think, and how social media and othe...
Aug 09, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is there anything more agonizing than being in limbo? Time may seem to slow to a crawl when you’re waiting for high-stakes news like a hiring decision, a biopsy result – or the end of a pandemic. Kate Sweeny, PhD, of the University of California, Riverside, discusses what makes waiting so stressful, how the stress of waiting differs from other types of stress, the relationship between waiting and worrying, and strategies people can use to lessen anxiety and make waiting easier. For transcripts, ...
Aug 02, 2023•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast It used to be that if you wanted to gamble, you had to go to a casino or a racetrack to do it. But the expansion of online gambling and newly loosened laws around sports betting mean that people can now place bets from just about anywhere. Shane Kraus, PhD, of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Lia Nower, PhD, JD, of the Rutgers University Center for Gambling Studies, talk about whether that increased access could lead to an increase in gambling addiction, who is at risk, stigma around gam...
Jul 26, 2023•37 min•Ep 249•Transcript available on Metacast From Ponzi schemes to e-mail phishing identity thieves, the world can seem full of people who want to deceive us. Daniel Simons, PhD, and Christopher Chabris, PhD, co-authors of the “Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It,” talk about the cognitive habits that put us at risk of believing lies; famous frauds and cons from the worlds of business, science and competitive chess; and what you can do to protect yourself, and your wallet, by spotting scammers before it’s too lat...
Jul 19, 2023•33 min•Ep 248•Transcript available on Metacast When someone hurts you, it can feel justifiable or even satisfying to nurse a grudge. But psychologists have found that forgiveness, when done right, can lead to better mental, emotional and even physical health for the forgiver. Robert Enright, PhD, of the International Forgiveness Institute and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses how you know if you’re ready to forgive, the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, whether any harms are truly unforgivable, and how to forgiv...
Jul 12, 2023•29 min•Ep 247•Transcript available on Metacast From ChatGPT to self-driving cars, AI is everywhere these days – but its rollout hasn’t always been entirely smooth. Tom Griffiths, PhD, a professor of psychology and computer science at Princeton University, talks about how artificial intelligence works, how AI differs from human cognition, how it’s changing the way science is done, and how studying human cognition can help researchers improve AI systems. For transcripts, links and more information, please visit the Speaking of Psychology Homep...
Jul 05, 2023•32 min•Ep 246•Transcript available on Metacast Religion and spirituality can be a source of comfort and strength but can also cause stress and conflict in people’s lives, when for example they wonder why God has allowed something terrible to happen or feel rejected by their religious community. Julie Exline, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University, talks about how spirituality and spiritual struggle affect mental health and well-being; what spiritual struggle looks like for religious believers, atheists and agnostics; how should psychologist...
Jun 28, 2023•35 min•Ep 245•Transcript available on Metacast Whether your idea of the perfect vacation involves the beach, exploring a city or just relaxing at home, you probably look forward to your time off all year. Sarah Pressman, PhD, of the University of California Irvine, and Jessica de Bloom, PhD, of Groningen University in the Netherlands, talk about why taking a break from work is important for physical and mental health, what you can do to make the most of your vacation time, and differences in work and vacation culture around the world. For tr...
Jun 21, 2023•37 min•Ep 244•Transcript available on Metacast Everyone gets stuck sometimes: in a creative pursuit that stalls, in a job or a relationship that isn’t working out, or even just at an exercise plateau. NYU psychologist Adam Alter, PhD, author of “Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most,” talks about why getting stuck is such a universal experience, what you can do to get stuck less often, how you know when it’s time to quit versus push ahead, and the practical steps you can take to get past the mental or emotional h...
Jun 14, 2023•35 min•Ep 243•Transcript available on Metacast As the U.S. struggles with a shortage of mental health providers, advocates say that digital therapeutics – evidence-based mental health treatments delivered via app -- could provide an important tool to expand access to mental health care. Vaile Wright, PhD, a clinical psychologist and senior director of healthcare innovation at the American Psychological Association, talks about how digital therapeutics work, how they’re regulated, how they differ from other mental health and wellness apps, th...
Jun 07, 2023•25 min•Ep 242•Transcript available on Metacast What happens when people gather in crowds – whether for political rallies, protests, football games or religious pilgrimages? Stephen Reicher, PhD, of St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, discusses why “mob mentality” is a myth; other misconceptions about crowd behavior; the role of leaders in groups and what can we learn from re-examining some classic psychology studies on obedience to authority; and what we’ve learned about leaders, followers, group identity and collective behavior from the CO...
May 31, 2023•48 min•Ep 241•Transcript available on Metacast Factitious disorder, more commonly known as Munchausen syndrome, is a mental health disorder in which people fake serious illness to gain sympathy, attention and support. A related disorder, Munchausen by proxy, or factitious disorder imposed on another, is a form of abuse in which caregivers make up or induce illness in their children. Psychiatrist Marc Feldman, MD, and psychologist Janet Cahill, PhD, discuss researchers’ evolving understanding of these disorders, how common they are, the pheno...
May 24, 2023•37 min•Ep 240•Transcript available on Metacast 
