Speaking Of Psychology

Guns killed nearly 44,000 Americans in 2020, a higher number than in any other year in the past two decades. Meanwhile, a spate of mass shootings in the spring brought gun violence to the forefront of the national conversation again. Susan Sorenson, PhD, director of the Ortner Center on Violence and Abuse at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses what we know about the causes and consequences of gun violence in the United States and whether research can offer any insight into how to prevent it. Listener Survey - https://www.apa.org/podcastsurvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your sleep schedule a mess lately? You’re not alone. The stress and disrupted routines of the past year have taken a toll on our sleep. Jennifer Martin, PhD, a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, discusses how sleep affects our physical and mental health, what the pandemic has done to our sleep patterns, and effective behavioral treatments and advice that can help us get a good night’s rest. Links Jennifer Martin, PhD Take our listener survey at apa.org/podcastsurvey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One year ago this week, George Floyd was murdered on camera by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. To mark the anniversary of Floyd’s death, we talked to Cedric Alexander, PsyD, a clinical psychologist and former police chief, about community policing, racial bias in policing, how communities and policymakers might rethink the role of police officers in ensuring public safety, and what can be done to restore trust between police departments and the communities that they serve. Links Cedric Alexander, PsyD Take our listener survey at apa.org/podcastsurvey Image Credit: Photo by Matthew Coughlin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zoom, Facebook, group text messages: This past year, technology has sometimes felt like the glue that’s kept many of our relationships alive. More and more, we talk to each other with technology in between us. Jeff Hancock, PhD, director of the Social Media Lab at Stanford University, discusses how this is affecting human communication, including whether people are more likely to lie online, whether the versions of ourselves that we present on social media are authentic, how artificial intelligence infiltrates our text messages, why video calls exhaust us more than in-person conversations, and more. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Jeff Hancock, PhD   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years, research on the power of growth mindset has made the leap from the psychology lab to popular culture. Growth mindset is the belief that a person’s intelligence and abilities can grow and improve with practice, and researchers have found that brief exercises that increase growth mindset can help keep students motivated when they face challenges, improve their grades, and even increase college graduation rates. But scaling up those interventions from the research lab to diverse real-life settings is challenging. Dr. David Yeager, an associate professor of developmental psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, discusses the science of growth mindset and how it could help close academic achievement gaps. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links David Yeager, PhD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m

For people with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM, every day is memorable. Ask them what they were doing on this date 10 years ago, and they’ll be able to tell you. Markie Pasternak, one of the youngest people identified with HSAM, and Michael Yassa, PhD, director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory at the University of California Irvine, talk about what it’s like to have this ability, what we know about how the brains of people with HSAM store and retrieve this vast amount of autobiographical information, and what studying this unique ability can teach us more generally about how memory works. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Michael Yassa, PhD - faculty.sites.uci.edu/myassa Markie Pasternak - http://livingwithtotalrecall.home.blog Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho

What if the way you think about your brain and how and why it functions is just plain wrong? Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University and author of the book “7 ½ Lessons About the Brain,” discusses myths about the brain and her theory that it evolved not to think but to control our bodies, and that emotions are not something we experience, but things that the brain creates in order to make sense of the signals it receives from the world. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD 7 ½ Lessons About the Brain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past several years, climate change has moved from an abstract idea to a reality in many Americans’ lives – a reality that we are increasingly worried about. An APA survey found that two-thirds of American adults said that they felt at least a little “eco-anxiety,” defined as anxiety or worry about climate change and its effects. Dr. Thomas Doherty, a clinical and environmental psychologist in Portland, Oregon, and Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo, a public health researcher who studies how environmental loss is affecting the mental health of the indigenous Inuit community in Canada, discuss the mental health effects of climate change and what can we do to cope and build resilience in ourselves. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Thomas Doherty, PsyD Ashlee Cunsolo, PhD Survey - Majority of US Adults Believe Climate Change

Despite the fact that so many people profess to dislike making small talk, it turns out that talking to strangers and acquaintances can actually strengthen our mental health and enrich our lives. What do we gain from meeting new people? What have we been missing out on this past year as COVID-19 has restricted these social interactions? And how can we become better at talking to strangers? We discuss these questions with Gillian Sandstrom, PhD, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex who studies what she calls “minimal social interactions,” and Jon Levy, a consultant, writer and speaker who founded “the Influencers Dinner,” a regular gathering that brings together strangers who are leaders in their fields. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Gillian Sandstrom, PhD Jon Levy Learn more about your ad ch

It’s too soon to know what effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the suicide rate in the United States, but even before the pandemic, that rate had been increasing in recent years, particularly among young people. Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, the vice president of research for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, discusses what may be behind this rise, how psychologists and other researchers are developing interventions to help those at risk, and what you can do if you’re worried about someone in your life.  Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD American Foundation for Suicide Prevention APA's Suicide Resources Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is it about puns that tickles our funny bone? Or dad jokes? How about a person slipping on a banana peel? What could possibly tie all these very different things together under the heading “humor”?  Just in time for April Fool’s Day, we explore that question with Peter McGraw, PhD, a marketing and psychology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and director of the Humor Research Lab, also known as HuRL. McGraw discusses his “benign violation” theory of humor, when it’s too soon to joke about tragedy, how and why humor varies by culture, and how we can apply lessons from comedy to become more innovative and creative thinkers in all areas of our life and work. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Peter McGraw, PhD Humor Research Lab Benign Violation Theory TEDxBoulder Video with Peter McGraw, PhD Learn mo

The COVID-19 pandemic is a grim reminder that infectious diseases have been a danger throughout human history–so much so that the threat of infection has actually helped shape human evolution. Disgust, wariness of strangers, cultural norms around food and cleanliness–all of these behaviors may have evolved at least in part to keep us safe from infectious disease. Researchers call this suite of protective mechanisms the behavioral immune system. University of British Columbia psychologist Mark Schaller, PhD, who coined that phrase, discusses the origins of the behavioral immune system and how behaviors that evolved to protect us from diseases may not be suitable for the threats we face today. We’d love to know what you think of Speaking of Psychology, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey, visit www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Mark Schaller, PhD Music Minimalist Piano w/ Cello by tyops via Freesound.org Freesound.org Learn more about your ad

Many people around the world have lost their sense of smell this past year due to COVID-19. Before the pandemic, scientists had already begun to gain a deeper understanding of how sophisticated our sense of smell is and how it is intertwined with our mental and physical health. Now, the pandemic is giving that research new urgency. Pamela Dalton, PhD, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discusses what we know about how our sense of smell works, the connections between smell, emotions and memory, how a rapid smell test could improve COVID-19 screening, how she developed the “world’s worst smell,” and more. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Pamela Dalton, PhD Monell Chemical Senses Center Music Electronic Ambient Loop by tyops via Freesound.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the world shut down in March 2020, few people imagined how different things would still look one year later – or that more than 500,000 Americans and 2.5 million people around the world would die from complications of COVID-19. APA’s Stress in America survey has been tracking the mental health toll this past year as Americans have dealt with lost jobs, shuttered schools, social isolation and the illness and death of loved ones. Vaile Wright, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the senior director of health care innovation at APA, talks about the state of our mental and physical health right now, how we are feeling about returning to our previous lives now that vaccines are providing some hope for an end to the pandemic, and what can each of us can do to ease stress and anxiety in the face of continuing uncertainty about what the future holds. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please

Meditation practices date back thousands of years and are a part of nearly every major religion. But it’s only in the past couple of decades that researchers have begun to use the tools of modern science to explore what is happening in the brain when people meditate and how meditation might benefit our mind and body. Richard Davidson, PhD, director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin and a pioneer in the scientific study of meditation, discusses what scientists have learned and how these ancient practices can help us to flourish. We’d love to know what you think of Speaking of Psychology, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey, visit www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Richard Davidson, PhD Music Meditation_Impromptu_01.mp3 by jominvg via Freesound.org Freesound.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From movie plots to ad campaigns to viral videos, if they feature twins, they grab our attention every time. But it’s not only the general public who are fascinated with twins. Over many decades, twins have garnered attention from psychologists and other researchers because of what they can tell us about how our genes and environment interact to make us who we are. Nancy Segal, PhD, a professor of psychology and director of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton, talks about the state of twin research today and what we've learned about twins, and from them, over the decades. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Nancy Segal, PhD Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton Music Funny music (orchestra) by Darkash28 via Freesound.org     Learn more about your ad choices. Vis

As a species, humans have an extra-long childhood. And as any parent or caregiver knows, kids are expensive—they take an extraordinary amount of time, energy and resources to raise. So why do we have such a long childhood? What’s in it for us as a species? According to Alison Gopnik, PhD, of the University of California, Berkeley, the answer is that kids are the "R&D division of humanity," with brains optimized to explore the world and seek out new knowledge and experiences. Gopnik discusses her research and its implications for how we think about the purpose of childhood, how we raise and educate our children, the role of grandparents in teaching the next generation, and even how we might develop artificial intelligence systems inspired by children’s remarkable learning abilities.  Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links

For psychologists, romance, attraction and love are not just the stuff of poetry – they’re also a subject for research. What are the qualities of a successful relationship? Why do some relationships endure while others fail? What do we gain from our relationships? How do we know which ones are worth holding onto or when it’s time to quit? Gary Lewandowski, PhD, a professor of psychology at Monmouth University, delves into these questions and discusses how understanding the science of relationships can help us strengthen our own. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Gary Lewandowski, PhD Break-Ups Don’t Have to Leave You Broken, Gary Lewandowski at TEDxNavesink Stronger Than You Think (Book) Music love technohouse & peace by frankum via Freesound.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who among us wouldn’t want to improve his or her brain? To see better, to hear better or to improve one'​s memory? The field of brain training has attracted controversy as commercial companies have heavily marketed brain training products that aren’t necessarily backed by science. But some researchers believe that brain training research does hold promise for developing games that can help people -- including older adults who want to keep their memories sharp, athletes who want to improve their performance and other populations. Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Aaron Seitz, PhD UCR Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Wellbeing Music Game-Music-01 by Michael-DB via Freesound.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a lifetime of thinking that she was just a little bit bad at remembering people, Sadie Dingfelder learned that she had prosopagnosia, a disorder more colloquially known as face blindness. Harvard psychologist Joe DeGutis, PhD, who runs the research study that Dingfelder participated in, joins her to discuss how people with face blindness see the world, why it’s such an interesting disorder to study, and promising treatments that his lab is exploring.  Are you enjoying Speaking of Psychology? We’d love to know what you think of the podcast, what you would change about it, and what you’d like to hear more of. Please take our listener survey at www.apa.org/podcastsurvey. Links Joe DeGutis, PhD Boston Attention and Learning Lab Music "Mystery" by ispeakwaves courtesy of freesound.org Sponsor APA 2020 Virtual Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices