The Psychology Podcast

“Whether you think you’re better than everybody or worse than everybody, you’re still assuming that you are different than everybody.” — Mark Manson Today it’s great to have Mark Manson on the podcast. His blog, markmanson.net, attracts more than two million readers per month. Mark is the New York Times and international bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck (with over 6 million in sales in the US alone) and his latest book is called Everything is Fucked: A Book About Hope. In this episode we discuss: Why we are a culture in need of hope The paradox of progress How self-control is an illusion How to learn to communicate to yourself effectively “Emo Newton’s” laws of emotion Mark’s definition of growth How to start your own religion The paradox of hope How hope can be incredibly destructive if we’re not careful Kant’s Formula of Humanity How to grow up Political extremism and maturity The difference between #fakefreedom and real freedom Why we are bad algorithms and why we shouldn’t fear artificial intelligence so much What Mark dares to hope for   Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today it’s a great pleasure to have Dr. Scott Peters on the podcast. Dr. Peters is an associate professor of educational foundations and the Richard and Veronica Teller Endowed Faculty Fellow of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he teaches courses on measurement and assessment, research methodology, and gifted education. His research focuses on educational assessment, gifted and talented student identification, disproportionality within K-12 education, and educational policy. He is the first author of Beyond Gifted Education: Designing and Implementing Advanced Academic Programs and the co-author (along with Jonathan Plucker) of Excellence Gaps in Education: Expanding Opportunities for Talented Students, published by Harvard Education Press. In this episode we discuss: Advocates vs. scientists in the field of gifted education Does teacher training in gifted education have any effect on self-reported teaching in the classroom? How the desire for good advocacy in gifted education can bias good science The real need to advocate for kids who aren’t being challenged in the regular classroom The absurdity of teaching children based solely on how old they are Is there room at the table for all different perspectives in the gifted education field? The problem with the “gifted” label How can you balance excellence with equity? How to close the “excellence gap” in gifted education What domains should be included in gifted education? The importance of “frontloading” opportunities in school Acceleration vs. enrichment What happens when addressing underrepresentation is the main goal of gifted education? The value of using local norms for gifted student selection Is complete excellence gap reduction a reasonable goal of gifted education? Scott’s plan for addressing excellent gaps in gifted education Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Play is life force itself… when we can sense and amplify its most life-affirming, transformative impulses, it will point us directly to the Playground.” Today it’s great pleasure to have Gwen Gordon on the podcast. Gordon began her career building Muppets for Sesame Street. Since leaving Sesame Street, Gwen developed Awakened Play, a play-based approach to making behavior change irresistible and transformation delightful. She has applied her insights in organizations ranging from San Quentin Prison to the MIT Media Lab and from IDEO to PepsiCo. Along the way, Gwen has collected a master’s degree in philosophy and an Emmy award in children’s programming. Her latest book is The Wonderful W, which is the first picture book for grownups. In this episode we discuss: What is play? How everything is really “fear of the void” The doorway to the sense of wholeness Gwen’s experience working at Sesame Street Correcting the record about how Gwen created the Rockheads on Sesame Street Scott’s crush on Miss Piggy The shadow side to play How the playground is our true habitat The incredible importance of adult play The inherent paradoxes of play How play relates to attachment theory How play is a healthy stepping stone to healthy childhood development Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today it’s great to have Ruth Richards on the podcast. Dr. Richards is a psychologist, psychiatrist, professor at Saybrook University, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She has published numerous articles, edited/written three previous books on everyday creativity, and received the Rudolf Arnheim Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement (Division 10, American Psychological Association). Dr. Richards sees dynamic creative living as central to individuals and cultures, and a new worldview. Her latest book is called “Everyday Creativity and the Healthy Mind: Dynamic New Paths for Self and Society”, which recently won the won a Nautilus Silver Award. In this episode we discuss: What is “everyday creativity”? What is “universal creative potential”? All the ways people can do things differently The four P’s of creativity Openness and creativity Chaos and complexity in creativity The role of the unconscious mind in creativity The link between mental illness and creativity The controlled chaos of creativity The healing function of creativity Can consciousness get in the way of creativity? Can creativity heal the world? Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"We should be humble in the face of temptations to engineer society in opposition to our instincts. Fortunately, we do not need to exercise any such authority in order to have a good life. The arc of our evolutionary history is long. But it bends toward goodness." -- Nicholas Christakis Today we have Nicholas Christakis on the podcast. Christakis is a physician and sociologist who explores the ancient origins and modern implications of human nature. He directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University, where he is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science in the departments of Sociology, Medicine, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Statistics and Data Science, and Biomedical Engineering. He is also the codirector of the Yale institute for Network Science, the coauthor of Connected, and most recently, author of the book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society,which on its first week became a NY Times bestseller. In this episode we discuss: Why breadth of knowledge across fields is important The evolutionary forces that have shaped our capacity for living socially Can you love your own group without hating everyone else? How can crowds be a force for good? How the capacity for friendship is connected to the evolution of cooperation Can you love your own group and evenloveother groups as well? Framing group dynamics in terms of collective narcissism The “social suite†of human nature The “forbidden experiment†Experiments on artificial societies How long will Homo Sapiens last? The importance of elephant friendships How evolution has shaped our societies The importance of recognizing our common humanity Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today it’s a pleasure to have Molly Crockett on the podcast. Dr. Crockett is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale University and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics. Prior to joining Yale, Dr Crockett was a faculty member at the University of Oxford’s Department of Experimental Psychology and a Fellow of Jesus College. She holds a BSc in Neuroscience from UCLA and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge, and completed a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship with economists and neuroscientists at the University of Zürich and University College London. In this episode we discuss: The discrepancy between outrage in real life vs. online outrage Cultural evolution and the selection and amplification of online content How basic reinforcement learning principles drive the design of online systems to maximize the amount of time we spend on the platforms Is the “habitual online shamer” addicted to outrage? Habitual behavior vs. addiction Is “outrage fatigue” happening en masse? Should we be thinking about rationing our outrage (reserving it for issues we find most important)? The costs and benefits of outrage Why people punish and the discrepancy between the actual reasons why we punish (inferred from behavior) vs. self-reported motives The difficulty doing science on topics that are incredibly heated in public social discourse The intractably intertwined nature of science and social justice What technologies might be doing to the way that young people construe the social world The human capacity for forgiveness Twitter Q & A Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today it’s an honor to have Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath on the podcast. Ryan is an author or co-author of nine books, an award-winning psychologist, international keynoter, and education director of the VIA Institute on Character. Robert is Professor of Psychology at Farleigh Dickinson University, senior scientist at the VIA Institute, and has published extensively on the topic of character and virtue. Together, they are author of the new book, The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality. Find our your character strengths at viacharacter.org. In this episode, we discuss the following: What is a positive personality? The measurement of character strengths Why are so many people interested in learning about their character strengths? How self-knowledge can impact people positively in their lives The difference between virtue and character The three main sources of a good character Is it possible to have a perfect character? Does the perfectly virtuous person exist? Is enlightenment actually possible? The developmental trajectory of character strengths Is the development of character strengths for everybody, including those experiencing adversity? Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colin Seale, the founder of thinkLaw, champions educational equity and is dedicated to bridging the critical thinking gap. He shares his journey from a challenging childhood in Brooklyn to becoming an advocate for all students. Topics covered include his pragmatic approach to educational inequalities, the importance of high expectations, and fostering resilience in kids. Colin emphasizes open dialogues about racial equality, the need for innovative teaching methods, and nurturing creativity to unlock every child's potential.

“There can be no autonomy without the autonomy to choose, without coercion or constraint, or in spite of it, who our lovers will be.” — Wednesday Martin Today we have Wednesday Martin on the podcast. Dr. Martin has worked as a writer and social researcher in New York City for more than two decades. The author of Stepmonster and the instant New York Times bestseller Primates of Park Avenue, she writes for the online edition of Psychology Today and her work has appeared in The New York Times and Time.com. Dr. Martin’s latest book is called “Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity Is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free.” In this episode we discuss: How Wednesday tries to make the sex research “delicious and fun” How female infidelity is mired in so much misunderstanding How Millenial women are more sexually adventurous compared to Millennial men What’s the consensual non-monogamy movement? How we evolved to be “cooperative breeders” What is “female flexuality”? Why we need to stop pathologizing those who embrace non-monogamy How women are driving the polyamory movement The good reasons why monogamy is hard and the other options that exist How your attachment style and sociosexuality are linked to consensual non-monogamy Disagreeable women and sociosexuality Rethinking sex differences in the drive for sexual novelty Pornography viewing differences between men and women Common triggers of violence in relationships Rethinking the motivations underlying sex differences in cheating How better science can help us all have hotter sex Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“At the end of your life, you won’t remember the thoughts or intentions you had. You’ll remember the actions you took. You’ll judge yourself by how you showed up, by what you did, what you said, how you acted, and whether you performed the way you knew you could in any of the stages of life.”    Today we have Todd Herman on the podcast. Herman is a performance advisor to Olympians, pros, and business leaders, and he creates proven systems to help teams & achievers win with less stress. Herman’s latest book is “The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life.” - How alter egos are part of the human psyche - The difference between childish and childlike - Why having an alter ego is about being the best version of yourself - Multiple self theory and the importance of context -  The Core Self vs. The Trapped Self vs. The Heroic Self - How to go from an ordinary world to an extraordinary world - How to activate the person you truly want to become - How to get into the “wow” mindset - Todd’s traumatic backstory and how it has led to his superpower - The hidden forces of the enemy - How the creative imagination is like the backdoor to performance Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.