Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files

Music researchers analyzed over 700 top Billboard songs (which included examining over 80,000 chords) and they determined that the "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da" is the most appealing song ever written. How in the world, you might ask, did they choose that (some would say annoying) song?! Let's find out how two key ingredients - surprise and uncertainty - combine to create songs that you really like to hear over and over.

Do "Blue Sky" brainstorming sessions actually produce anything creative? If you've ever sat around with a group of people and tried to "just come up with something creative" you probably found that it's pretty hard. We actually don't think that creatively when we're told to just "throw things out there" and "nothing will be judged". It's often more productive to give people a certain constraint on what they can say. See how researcher Catrinel Haupt-Tromp used as her inspiration the famous children's book "Green Eggs and Ham" to come up with a pretty neat research study on creativity.

Another violent act in America. Another man who committed it. Why do men in our society seem to always be the ones who carry out violent acts? Is it how we bring up boys? Or is there another influence - genes. I was lucky enough to get professor Steve Stewart-Williams, author of the book The Ape That Understood the Universe, so come back to the show and share more about the evolutionary Psychology perspective on this complex issue. And by the way, you can use the promo code APE20 to purchase this book at Cambridge University Press at a 20 percent discount. You’re going to find this discussion very interesting.

Dr. Nancy Haug, an expert in addiction treatment and cannabis research from Palo Alto University and Stanford, dives into the evolving role of cannabis in mental health. She discusses the surprising demographics at medical dispensaries and the critical role of trained staff, or 'bud tenders,' in guiding patients. Nancy advocates for careful consideration of cannabis treatment, especially for those with addiction histories, and emphasizes the importance of ongoing research. Plus, she explores vaping trends among adolescents, weighing its potential and risks.

The printed word has been around for a long time. Bet you thought there was nothing new in how we put words together in a book or website.  Well, guess again. Researchers at Asymmetrica have drawn upon a tried and true memory strategy called "chunking" and applied it to - get this - the amount of white space between words.  Would we be able to improve literacy if we ever so slightly adjusted the amount of space between words so that it better reflected our everyday speech patters? Psychologist Chris Nicolas has been tinkering with these word spaces and I think you'll be surprised at what he's doing.