Speaking of Psychology

What makes us feel secure, safe and supported in our relationships with partners, friends and family? Ximena Arriaga, PhD, talks about how early and ongoing life experiences shape our bonds with others, why our “attachment style” isn’t fixed but can always change, and how partners can help each other thrive in their close relationships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does time fly when you’re having fun – and slow to a crawl when you’re not? Ruth Ogden, PhD, talks about how our experiences and emotions influence our sense of time, why time seems to go by faster as we get older, why changing to daylight saving time feels so disruptive and why the COVID-19 pandemic did strange things to many people’s sense of time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one gets through life without encountering adversity. But many people survive terrible things without lasting trauma. George Bonanno, PhD, talks about how humans cope with extreme life events, the factors that lead to resilience in the face of adversity, and how cultivating cognitive flexibility can help us handle difficult times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hoarding disorder affects about 2 percent of the population and is more common among older adults. Psychologist Mary E. Dozier, PhD, talks about the causes of hoarding disorder, its links to other mental health disorders, why many people who hoard are highly altruistic, and how a values-based intervention can help them – and others who struggle with clutter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Girls begin receiving messages that will shape their body image as young as preschool. Janet Boseovski, PhD, and Ashleigh Gallagher, PhD, author of “Beyond Body Positivity: A Mother's Science-Based Guide for Helping Girls Build a Healthy Body Image,” talk about how kids understand body image from early childhood through the tween years and why parents’ early influence is so important. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The word “extremist” might call up images of violence or terrorism. But extreme behaviors are all around us and can be a force for good as well as destruction. Arie Kruglanski, PhD, and Sophia Moskalenko, PhD, talk about what drives people to extreme behaviors, whether there’s an “extremist personality,” how social media drives extremism and whether the world is becoming more extreme. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pain, sadness, joy, awe – under the right circumstances, any of these emotions can bring on tears. Lauren Bylsma, PhD, talks about why crying evolved, the psychological and social purposes of tears, why some people cry more easily than others, and whether having a good cry can make you feel better when you’re sad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Advocates of cultured meat say that it could help solve many environmental and animal welfare problems. But psychologists have found that some consumers say they’d be reluctant to try it. Matti Wilks, PhD, and Daniel Rosenfeld, PhD, discuss the psychological factors at play when people consider eating lab-grown meat -- and meat in general -- and how moral values, disgust, and other factors contribute to people’s dietary choices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s your first reaction when someone cuts you off in traffic or you stub your toe? Do you let out a choice word or two? Richard Stephens, PhD, talks about the psychology of swearing, including his research on why swearing can increase people’s pain tolerance and strength during stressful or painful moments; how swearing is processed in the brain; and the increasing acceptance of swearing in daily life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the most important things you can do to reduce the risk of dementia and keep your brain healthy as you grow older? Neuropsychologist Vonetta Dotson, PhD, talks about what a healthy brain looks like; why you’re never too young – or old – to think about brain health; why physical activity, mental activity, and social engagement are all key; the relationship between depression and brain health; and small steps you can take to get started with a brain-healthy lifestyle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you think your ex is probably a narcissist? Do you worry that your boss is gaslighting you? In recent years, these words and others have entered the vocabularies of millions of Americans. Dr. Taisha Caldwell-Harvey, PhD, and Dr. Erin Parks, PhD, discuss the rise of “therapy speak,” what psychologists and other mental health professionals think about it, and how it’s changing the way many of us think about our friends, our family, our relationships and ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, paranoia was seen a symptom of severe mental illness only. But in recent decades, some psychologists have begun to think about it differently. Daniel Freeman, PhD, author of “Paranoia: A Journey Into Extreme Mistrust and Anxiety,” discusses his research on the links between paranoia and other forms of mistrust and anxiety; why paranoid thoughts are relatively common; and new research on therapeutic treatments for paranoia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between email, Zoom, Slack, and just walking down the hall, workplaces these days offer people more ways than ever to communicate with their virtual -- and in-person -- colleagues. Andrew Brodsky, PhD, author of “Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication,” discusses the best ways to use all these modes of communication; the advantages and disadvantages of “video on” vs. “video off” meetings; whether you should use emojis in your emails; and how to develop authentic, strong work relationships with virtual colleagues – and with those you see in person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astronauts on a future mission to Mars will face many challenges, including three years in a tiny spacecraft and a Mars habitat, with just a few other crew members and a 22-minute delay for any communication back to Earth. Psychologist Suzanne Bell, PhD, head of NASA’s Behavioral Health and Performance Lab, talks about the human challenges of long-term space exploration, what it will take to keep astronauts mentally and physically healthy, and how researchers are using a simulated Mars habitat here on earth to prepare for a mission to Mars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many years, ADHD was seen as a disorder of childhood. But in recent years, an increasing number of adults have been diagnosed with it as well. Clinician and researcher Russell Ramsay, PhD, discusses what’s driving the rise in adult diagnoses, what ADHD looks like in adults, how it affects people’s lives – including their work, relationships and health -- and what treatments are available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Disgusting” is a flexible word – it could describe everything from a putrid smell to your least-favorite food to a behavior you find immoral. But what does it really mean to be disgusted? Paul Rozin, PhD, talks about where disgust comes from, why some people are more easily disgusted than others, universal triggers of disgust, why the foods we consider disgusting vary by culture, why is gross-out humor can be funny, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How often do you “go along to get along,” or say yes when you really want to say no? Organizational psychologist Sunita Sah, PhD, author of “Defy: The Power of No in a World That Demands Yes,” talks about why it can be so hard to speak up and and how can you strengthen your resolve and ability to say no when the situation calls for it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year, more than 50 million U.S. adults experience chronic pain. Increasingly, researchers and patients are finding that behavioral treatments and therapies can be an important part of pain treatment. Pain psychologist Rachel Aaron, PhD, discusses what effective treatments are available, the link between chronic pain and mental health, how our emotions and life experiences affect pain, and what promising pain treatments may be on the horizon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the difference between an inspiring boss and an infuriating one? What qualities do the best coaches, teachers and mentors share? Adam Galinsky, PhD, author of “Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others,” discusses why leaders often have even more power than they realize, the universal qualities of good leadership, and how anyone can learn to become a more inspiring leader in their work, as a parent, and in other aspects of their lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Columbine to Sandy Hook to Uvalde, the list of schools and communities devastated by gun violence grows every year. Dewey Cornell, PhD, an expert in school violence prevention, discusses how schools can respond when faced with a potential threat, and how students, teachers, administrators and law enforcement can work together to keep schools safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study has been tracking the health and life experiences of more than 1,000 New Zealanders since 1972. Terrie Moffitt, PhD, a professor of psychology at Duke University and one of the leaders of the Dunedin study, discusses what researchers have learned from this remarkable study about how people age, why some of us age faster than others, and how our genes and life experiences shape our physical and mental health and the aging process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called to add cancer warnings to alcohol labels. For many people, “Dry January” offers a chance try out a low- or no-alcohol life. Health psychologist Richard de Visser, PhD, talks about what’s driving public interest in Dry January and other “sober curious” trends; how temporarily giving up drinking can affect your mental and physical health; and how to succeed if you’d like to give Dry January a try. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Ponzi schemes to email 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 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 late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of the most frequently diagnosed personality disorders, and one of the most misunderstood. Carla Sharp, PhD, of the University of Houston, discusses how BPD is diagnosed, defined and treated, how family members can help children and adults with BPD, and how the disorder fits in with researchers’ evolving understanding of personality disorders in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our dreams can be exhilarating, surprising, terrifying, even mundane. But where do they come from and what, if anything, do they mean? Dream researcher Antonio Zadra, PhD, talks about why some people remember their dreams vividly while others don’t remember them at all; whether exploring dreams can offer insight into our waking lives; why nightmares happen and effective treatments for problematic recurring nightmares; understanding lucid dreaming and sleepwalking; and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In job interviews and in life, perfectionism is often seen as a selling point – an asset disguised as a flaw. But as psychologists have found rising rates of perfectionism in the United States and around the world in recent decades, they’ve begun to recognize the toll that the drive to be perfect can take on people’s mental health and well-being. Thomas Curran, PhD, author of “The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough,” talks about different types of perfectionism, why more and more of us feel the need to push ourselves to perfection, and what can we do – as individuals, as parents and as a society – to recognize that often, ‘good’ is good enough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you dreading the cold, dark months ahead? In Scandinavia, where the winters are among the coldest and darkest on earth, many people look forward to winter as a time of coziness, beauty and rest. Psychologist Kari Leibowitz, PhD, author of “How to Winter,” talks about how cold weather and darkness affect our body and mind and what can we learn from the way that residents of cold-weather places approach the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does shopping bring you joy? Or do you feel a bit of pain and regret every time you have to make a purchase? Many of us will be shopping for gifts in the upcoming weeks—whether we enjoy it or not. Scott Rick, PhD, of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, discusses how our emotions drive our buying behaviors, why some people spend money so easily while others find it so difficult, whether “retail therapy” actually works, and why Black Friday sales are so irresistible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strong, supportive relationships are key to our mental and even physical health. But what are the keys to a healthy, loving relationship? John Gottman, PhD, and Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD, talk about why it’s so important to pay attention to your partner’s “bids for connection,” how to have productive rather than destructive fights, whether any couple can learn to communicate better, and why it’s a myth that you should never go to bed angry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our culture tends to prize being bold and outgoing, making the world harder to navigate for kids who are shy. Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar talks about temperament in young children, how shyness develops from babyhood on, the difference between shyness and introversion, how parents and other caregivers can best support shy kids, and recognizing the advantages of a shy temperament. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Birdbrain” may be an insult, but birds are far smarter than they’re often given credit for. Irene Pepperberg, PhD, talks about her five decades of research with gray parrots, how she teaches parrots to communicate with English words, how birds’ mathematical and other abilities compare with young children, how the field of animal cognition has evolved over the decades and what it can teach us about intelligence in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the surgical suite to the battlefield to the driver’s seat of a car, robots and other autonomous systems are increasingly part of people’s workplaces and their daily lives. Ericka Rovira, PhD, a professor of engineering psychology at the United States Military Academy West Point, talks about how robots are being used in the military, in medicine and in other complex, high-stakes arenas; how trust and collaboration work on human-robot teams; and how we humans can maintain our skills as we increasingly rely on robots and AI to assist us in our work and lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few decades the U.S. has become an increasingly less religious country, and many people who grew up with religion have chosen to leave the faith they were raised in. Daryl Van Tongeren, PhD, author of “Done: How to Flourish after Leaving Religion,” talks about the changing religious landscape in the U.S.; what’s driving these religious “dones”; the spiritual, social and other challenges they face; and how people rebuild meaning in life after leaving religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even as the average family size shrinks in much of the world, myths about only children remain common – including that they’re lonely, spoiled or maladjusted. Toni Falbo, PhD, talks about her decades of research with only children that have dispelled many of these myths, explains what researchers have found instead, and offers advice for parents of only children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between raising young children, climbing the career ladder and handling the everyday demands of adult life, the 30s and 40s can be a particularly busy time. Developmental psychologist Clare Mehta, PhD, talks about the challenges and rewards of “established adulthood”; how relationships, friendships and work life change; and why it’s useful to think of the 30s and 40s as its own distinct life stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year, there are more than 2.8 million traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. The risks of brain injury among youth athletes, pro football players and military veterans have all made headlines in recent years. But other populations are at increased risk as well – including people in the criminal justice system and domestic violence survivors. Concussion researcher and brain health advocate Kim Gorgens, PhD, talks about how to identify TBI, what happens to the brain when you get a concussion, what we should we be doing to protect athletes and help them recover, and what could we be doing to mitigate the harms of brain injury in often-overlooked populations such as domestic violence survivors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. feels more polarized than ever, and with election day around the corner, many of us are feeling the strain of political divisions among our friends, family members and loved ones. Keith Payne, PhD, author of “Good Reasonable People: The Psychology Behind America’s Dangerous Divide,” discusses the psychology that underlies how most people think about politics, how U.S. history has led us to where we are, whether polarization is really worse than it used to be, and what, if anything, we can we do to bridge the divide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, a psychologist who has spent decades working to advance the mental health of youth of color, was selected as one of 12 global leaders to receive a $20 million grant-making fund from philanthropist Melinda French Gates. Dr. Alfiee discusses the state of youth mental health, particularly for intersectional youth of color, the biggest challenges facing young people today, how the conversation around youth mental health has changed in recent years and how she hopes to use the new funding to make a difference in young people’s lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, music therapies are being used to help treat mental and physical health conditions as diverse as chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and stroke. Renowned soprano Renée Fleming, editor of a new book on music, the arts and health, joins music cognition researcher Aniruddh Patel, PhD, to talk about the connections between music, mind and body, whether humans evolved to be an inherently musical species, the science behind some of the most effective music therapies and promising directions for future research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your commute the most stressful part of your day? Traffic psychologist Dwight Hennessy, PhD, talks about what’s going on when we get behind the wheel -- including what causes “road rage,” why some people find driving more stressful than others and how our personality affects our driving, what’s going on with the “zipper merge,” and how driving may change with more automated and self-driving cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For those with health anxiety, worrying about sickness can be a constant struggle that can harm their mental health, relationships and even physical health. Karen Lynn Cassiday, PhD, author of the book “Freedom from Health Anxiety,” talks about how to recognize health anxiety (once known as hypochondria), why the internet and “Dr. Google” can make health anxiety worse, and what to do if you or someone you love struggles with health anxiety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you and your job just not clicking anymore? New York University psychology professor Tessa West, PhD, author of “Job Therapy: Finding Work that Works for You,” talks about the most common sources of job dissastisfaction, how you can figure out why you’re unhappy at work and find a job that’s a better fit, how to handle -- or avoid -- toxic coworkers, and the importance of good communication at work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 disagreement, and how technology changes conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a lifetime of thinking that she was just a little bit bad at remembering people, Sadie Dingfelder learned that she had prosopagnosia, a disorder more colloquially known as face blindness. Harvard psychologist Joe DeGutis, PhD, who runs the research study that Dingfelder participated in, joins her to discuss how people with face blindness see the world, why it’s such an interesting disorder to study, and promising treatments that his lab is exploring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Octopuses haven’t shared a common ancestor with humans in at least 600 million years. But somehow, separately, these invertebrates evolved remarkable problem-solving abilities, curiosity and intelligence. Octopus researcher Jennifer Mather, PhD, talks about what we know about octopus behavior and cognition, how they evolved to be so smart, how the octopus brain is structured, and what can we learn about thinking and intelligence in general from studying how it evolved in a species so far removed from us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

APA’s 2024 Work in America survey found that younger workers are more likely than older workers to feel stressed, lonely and undervalued at work. Dennis Stolle, PhD, senior director of APA’s office of applied psychology, talks about why that might be and how employers can create workplaces where all ages can thrive; as well as other key findings from the survey including the state of remote work, hybrid work and four-day work weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few decades ago, the idea of being able to interact directly with a computer using only your thoughts would have sounded like science fiction. But today researchers and companies are testing brain-computer interfaces that allow patients to move a computer cursor or control a prosthetic limb directly with their thoughts. Nicholas Hatsopoulos, PhD, discusses the future of brain-computer interfaces, how they work, the practical challenges researchers face, and what scientists have learned about the brain as they develop this technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From getting lost in a novel to binge-watching a favorite TV show, we humans spend a lot of time in fictional worlds. Jennifer Lynn Barnes, PhD, a psychologist and novelist, talks about why we’re drawn to fictional worlds; the psychology of fandom and fan fiction; and how insights from psychology helped her write her best-selling series “The Inheritance Games.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From roaring leaf blowers to screeching trains, the world is full of unwelcome noise – and researchers have found that noisy environments can take a real toll on people’s mental and physical health. Arline Bronzaft, PhD, talks about how noise affects health and well-being, how it can harm kids’ learning, why it’s not just a problem in big cities, and the most unusual noise complaints she’s heard in her five decades of advocacy combating noise pollution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices