Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Michael Britt

Learn how theories in psychology affect you in everyday life. Upbeat and interesting podcasts from experienced psychology teacher Michael Britt give you a bit more insight into you and your life.

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390 episodes
Updated Thursday

Episodes390

Newest first

Jan 3, 2012 · 15 min
Ep: 167: The Fat Trap - How Not to Get Discouraged About Difficulty Losing Weight
Guess What? Bad news: if you've ever been overweight and you're trying to lose weight it's even harder than you think. Yikes. Pretty de-motivating. However, let's see what motivational psychologists would have to say about...
Dec 31, 2011 · 27 min
Ep: 166: The Secret Life of Pronouns - an Interview with James Pennebaker
What do you reveal about yourself in the way you use the smallest and seemingly most insignificant words you use every minute? That's the focus of Dr. James Pennebaker's fascinating book and one of the most interesting psychology books of 2011:...
Nov 16, 2011 · 16 min
Ep 165 (video): Psychological Research Under Fire - What Can We Do About It?
What's going on with Psychology? There have been a number of reports about poorly conducted or completely fraudulent research in the field. Well, there's bad research in all fields, but psychology, which has through its history struggled...
Nov 5, 2011 · 30 min
Ep 164: What's So Disgusting About Poop?
Just about everyone finds poop disgusting right? So who finds it not so disgusting? Would you believe women in their 20s who are in the middle of their menstrual cycle, and who have motherhood as one of their goals in life? Disgust...
Oct 22, 2011 · 30 min
Ep 163: Psych Files Brief #4: Animals Smiling, Yogurt De-Stressing, and the Psychology of Success
Do animals smile? Do they feel emotions and if so how many kinds of feelings do they share with us? In this episode we also take a look at the probiotics in yogurt - how do they affect your thinking and do they might help protect you from...
Oct 11, 2011 · 21 min
Ep 162: How to Spend Your Money and Truly Make Yourself Happy
In episode 160 I discussed the first 2 ideas on how to spend your money wisely. In this episode I'll talk about 4 more great ideas on how to get the most from your money and 2 things you have to be careful about. Get the latest findings...
Oct 3, 2011 · 34 min
EP 161: Self Help You Can Believe In: Interview with Dr. Tim Wilson, Author of Redirect
Looking for a self-help book with some meat? One that won't insult your intelligence with flowery words and hyped up promises and pseudoscience? Take a look at the book Redirect by psychologist and author Tim Wilson. Redirect will...
Sep 19, 2011 · 16 min
Ep 160: How to Spend Your Money and Truly Make Yourself Happy
Why aren't rich people happier than those of us with less money? We think that money will bring happiness, but research in the area of positive psychology has consistently found that having more money does NOT make us happier. Find out how to...
Sep 6, 2011 · 31 min
EP 159 Psych Files Brief #3: Evidence in Favor of Affirmations? The Licensing Effect and the Power of Gossip
What's Wrong With a Little Gossip?While some research points out that gossipers are in general disliked, there is an upside: sharing negative gossip can actually help two people like each other better. In this episode we'll find out the benefits of...
Aug 19, 2011 · 28 min
Ep 158: Tired of Low Grades? 5 Ways to Raise Your Test Scores (and 1 Warning!)
But I studied!! Don't be frustrated with low grades. If you study RIGHT you will get good grades. What what does that mean to study right? I've got 5 techniques that will help you get better grades and one very important...
Aug 10, 2011 · 34 min
Ep 157: Do Pets and Religion Make You Happier?
You hear a lot these days about how pets make us happy. This is called the "pet effect". But is it so? The answer appears to be a qualified yes. But in what ways do pets make us happy? How strong is their effect on our...
Jul 29, 2011 · 28 min
Ep 156: Grad School in Psychology: What's It Like and How To Get In?
What do you have to do to get into grad school in Psychology? A lot of people apply. Who ARE these people and how are you going to stand out among them? Meet one future grad student - Erin Breedlove - who is a college junior and she's...
Jul 19, 2011 · 30 min
Ep 155: On Cuddling, Baths, Google, Body Language and Phantom Cell Phone Vibration - Psych Files Brief #2
Is cuddling good - especially for men - in marriage? Do baths make you feel less lonely, is Google really making you stupid, how does your body language affect your feelings, and....is that your cell phone vibrating? In this 2nd Psych Files...
Jul 8, 2011 · 27 min
Ep 154: 5 Reasons Why Casey Anthony MIGHT Be Innocent
The trial of accused child murdered Casey Anthony is over and Casey was found not guilty. Most people are extremely upset because she appeared to be guilty for many reasons. I give you 5 reasons why Casey Anthony might not be guilty. ...
Jun 28, 2011 · 23 min
The REAL Truth About Why You Support (or Oppose) Gay Marriage - Episode 153
What is the REAL reason why you either support or oppose gay marriage? We may give logical reasons for our opinions, but the roots behind your opinion lies - where else? - in your past. So let's dive into your mind as we always do here in...
Jun 21, 2011 · 24 min
How Do You Change Your Behavior? Interview with Scott Milford Episode 152
How does Behavior Modification work? Find out in this episode as I interview Scott Milford, author of the Behavior and Motivation website. If you're about how to apply Psychology to everyday life then this is the guy to show you how he does...
Jun 18, 2011 · 15 min
Heuristics (Video): Rules of Thumb Explained - Episode 151
We all take shortcuts when we are making decisions. And in those shortcuts often lie our mistakes. In this episode find out the difference between the availability and representativeness heuristics, as well as the "Take the Best",...
Jun 7, 2011 · 15 min
Audio: Object Permanence - Does Your Dog Have It? Episode 150
Piaget's concept of object permanence is essential to understand. But how did they study this idea among 1 year olds? Obviously children can't tell you that they believe that something no longer exists when they can't see it, so how do we...
Jun 7, 2011 · 15 min
Video: Object Permanence - Does Your Dog Have It? Episode 150
Piaget's concept of object permanence is essential to understand. But how did they study this idea among 1 year olds? Obviously children can't tell you that they believe that something no longer exists when they can't see it, so how do we...
May 31, 2011 · 30 min
Date Rape: How Can We Prevent It? Episode 149
You've probably heard of many times when people knew that someone was hurt or might be hurt and they did not help. How can we prevent that from happening? You may have learned about bystander apathy and the concept of diffusion of...

Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Ep: 167: The Fat Trap - How Not to Get Discouraged About Difficulty Losing Weight

Ep: 166: The Secret Life of Pronouns - an Interview with James Pennebaker

Ep 165 (video): Psychological Research Under Fire - What Can We Do About It?

Ep 164: What's So Disgusting About Poop?

Ep 163: Psych Files Brief #4: Animals Smiling, Yogurt De-Stressing, and the Psychology of Success

Ep 162: How to Spend Your Money and Truly Make Yourself Happy

EP 161: Self Help You Can Believe In: Interview with Dr. Tim Wilson, Author of Redirect

Ep 160: How to Spend Your Money and Truly Make Yourself Happy

EP 159 Psych Files Brief #3: Evidence in Favor of Affirmations? The Licensing Effect and the Power of Gossip

Ep 158: Tired of Low Grades? 5 Ways to Raise Your Test Scores (and 1 Warning!)

Ep 157: Do Pets and Religion Make You Happier?

Ep 156: Grad School in Psychology: What's It Like and How To Get In?

Ep 155: On Cuddling, Baths, Google, Body Language and Phantom Cell Phone Vibration - Psych Files Brief #2

Ep 154: 5 Reasons Why Casey Anthony MIGHT Be Innocent

The REAL Truth About Why You Support (or Oppose) Gay Marriage - Episode 153

How Do You Change Your Behavior? Interview with Scott Milford Episode 152

Heuristics (Video): Rules of Thumb Explained - Episode 151

Audio: Object Permanence - Does Your Dog Have It? Episode 150

Video: Object Permanence - Does Your Dog Have It? Episode 150

Date Rape: How Can We Prevent It? Episode 149