Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

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 lives?  Also, how about religion?  We also hear that religious people are happier, but is this true everywhere in the US or everywhere in the world?  Why does religion make us happy and in what societies are people likely to benefit from this "religion effect"?  Finally, some helpful advice on getting into grad school.

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 already positioned herself very well for grad school. How did she do it? What is she doing that you ought to do? And how, of all things, is she using Twitter to get into grad school?

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 already positioned herself very well for grad school.  How did she do it?  What is she doing that you ought to do?  And how, of all things, is she using Twitter to get into grad school?   Among the many tools you'll want to use to help you get into grad school, like GRE preparation books and getting into grad school books, you'll want to add twitter.  Find out how Erin is using twitter to make connections with potential future Psychology mentors and increase her chances of knowing what she wants to do in Psychology and which faculty she might like to work with while in grad school.  

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 brief I take a look at some of the more interesting psychological research circling around the web this past month.

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 brief I take a look at some of the more interesting psychological research circling around the web this past month. 

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. None of these are based on evidence, but instead on what might be going on inside your mind that made you think she was guilty. Caution: open mindedness required!

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.  None of these are based on evidence, but instead on what might be going on inside your mind that made you think she was guilty.  Caution: open mindedness required!

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 the Psych Files and learn how our attitudes develop over time and how strong attitudes especially come to be held.

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 the Psych Files and learn how our attitudes develop over time and how strong attitudes especially come to be held.

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 it. In this episode we talk about how to get kids to practice the piano, but you'll quickly see how this approach could be applied to all kinds of other life challenges. Scott developed his approach over many years of working with young people both at the piano and with at-risk adolescents in school. See how Psychology can be put to work!

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 it.  In this episode we talk about how to get kids to practice the piano, but you'll quickly see how this approach could be applied to all kinds of other life challenges.  Scott developed his approach over many years of working with young people both at the piano and with at-risk adolescents in school.  See how Psychology can be put to work! 

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", Hindsight, and the Base Rate Neglect (Fallacy) heuristics. Lots of examples of these heuristics at work are included. Let's face it - we all have lazy minds! Either that or we're all too busy to try to weed through complicated statistics and probabilities. Heuristics help us make decisions fast. But are they the right ones?

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", Hindsight, and the Base Rate Neglect (Fallacy) heuristics.  Lots of examples of these heuristics at work are included.  Let's face it - we all have lazy minds!  Either that or we're all too busy to try to weed through complicated statistics and probabilities.  Heuristics help us make decisions fast.  But are they the right ones?

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 know what is going on inside a child's mind?  How about this challenge: do animals also understand object permanence?  If you've ever seen your cat or dog look under or around objects for a lost toy then yes - you've seen that they do understand object permanence. How can you study object permanence - or a related idea called "expectancy violation" - in animals?  Let's take a look in this 150 episode of The Psych Files.

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 know what is going on inside a child's mind? How about this challenge: do animals also understand object permanence? If you've ever seen your cat or dog look under or around objects for a lost toy then yes - you've seen that they do understand object permanence. How can you study object permanence - or a related idea called "expectancy violation" - in animals? Let's take a look in this 150 episode of The Psych Files.