Everything's Psychology

Valued this year at $8 billion, OnlyFans is the video hosting site generating significant media interest, with celebrities using it to support their other work.I chat with Dr Anna Kelberg about why people put themselves on cams, and whether it's just for the money. Also, is paying for a subscription to an OnlyFans provider considered cheating on your partner? And, is OnlyFans something which young people view as empowering or exploitation?– – –Find out more about Anna's work at https://www.annakelberg.com/Anna's research into sex webcammers: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1173902/fullAnna's thoughts on infidelity: https://www.annakelberg.com/blog-posts/cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eaterThe paper I mentioned from Guadalajara from Anguita & Romero: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-025-10389-2Research into sexual attitudes and characteristics of OnlyFans users: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9330933/Send us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

I share my framework to help companies struggling to persuade their customers to make decisions that will make them better off. I share how mapping customer communications to a psychological model helps promote action.For more on the Behaviour Relay, email paul@behaviour.co.ukGet updates and freebies from my upcoming book at behavebook.comSend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

Join Dr. Daniel Crosby, a psychologist and behavioral finance expert, as he dives into the fascinating interplay between psychology and investing. He reveals how biases, like overconfidence and familiarity, often lead investors astray. Discover why emotional decisions can undermine even the strongest funds and how market instincts may mislead us. Crosby also offers actionable tips, emphasizing the importance of education, environment, and encouragement for investment success. Learn why women tend to outperform men in investing and how to choose the right financial advisor.

In this shorter episode, I share a few more ideas from psychology that relate to last week's topic of sexual violence. I also give an update on which episodes have proven to be the most popular to date.If you have an idea for an episode, please let me know at paul@everythingspsychology.com or DM me on any of the social channels.📺  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@everythingspsychology📷  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingspsych💃🏻  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@everythingspsych☁️  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/everythingspsych.bsky.social🤬  X: https://x.com/everythingsPsySend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

In this episode, we dip our psychological toes into the world of sociology and gender studies by chatting with Professor Alison Phipps (Newcastle University) about sexual violence.It's certainly a serious topic, but we try to tackle it with humour as Alison and I are old school friends who can be open and honest with each other. I ask Alison to summarise her last book, ‘Me Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism’ and also her upcoming book, ‘Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism’, and I get to ask lots of ‘dumb’ questions in my attempt to understand this complex topic.Show linksFind out more about Alison and her work here: https://phipps.space/‘Me Not You’ by Alison Phipps‘Sexual Violence in Racial Capitalism’ by Alison Phipps‘Abolition Feminism Now’ by Angela Davis and othersSend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

In this shorter episode, I discuss my interview with David Cohen on the psychology of vampires and delve a little deeper into the groups of people who identify themselves as real-life vampires or drink blood.– – –The Psychology of Vampires by David Cohen (Routledge Publishing)Psychologists on Psychology by David CohenLaycock, J. (2010) Real Vampires as an Identity Group: Analyzing Causes and Effects of an Introspective Survey by the Vampire Community https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2010.14.1.4Kendegar, A. (2021). From the urge to see one’s own blood to the urge to drink it: Can hemomania be specified as an impulse control disorder? Two case reports. https://doi.org/10.1080/10550887.2021.1897200Send us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

Why are we so obsessed with vampires?In this episode, I'm joined by psychologist and author David Cohen. We chat about his book The Psychology of Vampires (Routledge, 2019) and David unpacks what vampires really represent in the human mind—from repressed desires and forbidden sexuality to our deepest fears about death, power, and emotional dependency.We delve into how Freud, Jung, and modern psychological theories help explain the vampire’s grip on our imagination—and why this mythical figure has evolved from a terrifying predator to a tortured, seductive anti-hero in today’s pop culture.You can order a copy of the Psychology of Vampires directly from RoutledgeFind out more about David's books and films hereAnd you can contact David on dcpsychologynews@gmail.comSend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

If you haven't listened to the previous interview episode with Dr Janina Scarlet on the idea of Superhero Therapy then instead get the cheat sheet with all the best bits here. Also, I extrapolate from Superhero Therapy to Bandura's Bobo doll experiments from the 1960s, behavioural noise from Daniel Kahneman, and I also share a couple of super resources for you to dive into.ResourcesSuperhero Therapy for Anxiety and Trauma by Dr Janina Scarlet: https://amzn.eu/d/1SX8xbvBandura's Bobo Doll Experiment: https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.htmlNoise by Daniel Kahneman: https://amzn.eu/d/jjm6eorOur Superheroes, Ourselves by Robin Rosenberg: https://amzn.eu/d/d4SVYXUOxford Risk study (2021) into decision noise for financial advice: https://www.oxfordrisk.com/blog-posts/adviser-noise-in-retirement-income-adviceHero Cards: www.loveherocards.comSend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

In this episode, discover the innovative concept of superhero therapy with Dr. Janina Scarlett. Her work with military personnel, adults, and children integrates pop culture heroes into evidence-based therapy to help individuals cope with anxiety, trauma, and other mental health challenges.Links from the episodeDr Janina Scarlet's website: https://www.superhero-therapy.com/The Superhero Therapy podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NLrbC0hDBF4TPZe5t8G4aDr Scarlet's online courses on Pesi.com Paper on the effectiveness of Avatar Therapy in people with psychosisSend us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology

This is the first of shorter episodes to sit in-between the main interview episodes. It means you'll now get an Everything's Psychology episode every week.Here, I dig a little deeper into the psychology behind the Hero's Journey and share a couple of academic studies which reveal the power of storytelling.– – –Here's some links which I mention:Christopher Vogler's 7-page memo on the relevance of the hero's journey in screenwriting: https://livingspirit.typepad.com/files/chris-vogler-memo-1.pdfEgan, L.C., Santos, L.R. and Bloom, P. (2007) ‘The Origins of Cognitive Dissonance’, Psychological Science, 18(11), pp. 978–983.Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Epstein, S. (1992). Cognitive-experiential self-theory and subjective probability: Further evidence for two conceptual systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 534–544. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.534McAdams, D.P. (2001) ‘The Psychology of Life Stories’, Review of General Psychology, 5(2), pp. 100–122. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.5.2.100.McAdams, D.P. (2019) ‘“First we invented stories, then they changed us”: The Evolution of Narrative Identity’, Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 3(1), pp. 1–18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.26613/esic.3.1.110.Send us a textYou can watch the video of this episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@EverythingsPsychology