Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

What are the psychological themes in the movie the Matrix?  In this episode I talk about connections between the Matrix and Jung's idea of the Collective Unconscious, Joseph Campbell's notion of the Hero's Journey and some recent research that explains why you experience Déjà vu.  Also, can you change your whole world by thinking differently about it?  Let's find out what psychologists (well at least me) think about this fascinating movie.

We face more moral "dilemmas" in everyday life than maybe we realize.  How do we resolve them?  In this episode I discuss two interesting moral dilemmas: a) should you employ for-hire crowds of actors to attend your event in order to make it look like you're more popular that maybe you really are? and b) should you place your advertisements on web and print pages in such a way that they don't really look like ads at all?  I discuss the moral questions involved in "native advertising".   We're all getting really good at using technology to avoid advertisements, but as we all know, "there's no such thing as a free lunch" - companies have to get you to find out about their products and hopefully buy them.  But when do we step over the line?  Is a little deception okay?

Need to memorize Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development really quickly?  This is what you're looking for - a brief audio podcast in which I give you some crazy images that will stick in your mind for a really long time.  You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll have the six stages memorized.  Some of my listeners have actually said that the mnemonics have stuck in the stuck in their head for years!  Whether you are studying for a psychology test or a nursing exam, you will find this a fun and effective way to learn.  I challenge you to listen to this episode and then quiz yourself a few hours later.  You'll be pleasantly surprised.  Let's memorize!

In this actual fake recording we hear how Freud might have handled your call to an anonymous technical support service.  Can you identify each of the following Freudian techniques in this episode?

The elaboration likelihood model is complicated name for a not too complicated idea.  In this under 2 minute video I explain the key idea.  

Would you believe there's a lot of psychology you can fit into a 6 second vine?  Well there is.  In this video episode I show you a few of there vines I like and which are also good (unintended) demonstrates of a variety of psychological concepts.  I think you'll have fun with this one.

Its time to hear from someone who has been diagnosed with autism what life is like.  Alex Lowery joins us to talk about growing up with autism - about the heightened sensations, the frustrations of not being understood and what has helped him get to where he is today.  At 20, Alex gives talks about his life.  I think you'll get some fascinating insights. 

In this interview with Paul Brodie, author of Secondhand Autism, we talk about what it is like to grow up in a family with an autistic individual.  As you can imagine, there are challenges, but ultimately there lessons to be learned about life. Listen to what Paul has to say about his brother Scott and to what it was like for Paul, his siblings and his parents - what they sacrificed and how they grew from it.  

How do you use psychology persuasion techniques to get people to contribute to your cause?  That's what I discuss in this episode of The Psych Files.  I'm trying to help my friend raise money and in doing so I employed a number of persuasion strategies to get people to help him out and I'm sure these ideas will be helpful to you as well.  We'll look at how Cialdini's ideas can be applied to fundraising and we'll look at other topics you may have studied in a psychology class: goal setting, bystander apathy, and the need to generate excitement in order to persuade people to part with their money.  I'll also look at the ethics of all this.  Is it okay to use these strategies on people?  When is it not okay?  Hopefully an interesting an useful episode up ahead.