Speaking Of Psychology

In job interviews and in life, perfectionism is often seen as a selling point – an asset disguised as a flaw. But as psychologists have found rising rates of perfectionism in the United States and around the world in recent decades, they’ve begun to recognize the toll that the drive to be perfect can take on people’s mental health and well-being. Thomas Curran, PhD, author of “The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough,” talks about different types of perfectionism, why more and more of us feel the need to push ourselves to perfection, and what can we do – as individuals, as parents and as a society – to recognize that often, ‘good’ is good enough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you dreading the cold, dark months ahead? In Scandinavia, where the winters are among the coldest and darkest on earth, many people look forward to winter as a time of coziness, beauty and rest. Psychologist Kari Leibowitz, PhD, author of “How to Winter,” talks about how cold weather and darkness affect our body and mind and what can we learn from the way that residents of cold-weather places approach the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does shopping bring you joy? Or do you feel a bit of pain and regret every time you have to make a purchase? Many of us will be shopping for gifts in the upcoming weeks—whether we enjoy it or not. Scott Rick, PhD, of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, discusses how our emotions drive our buying behaviors, why some people spend money so easily while others find it so difficult, whether “retail therapy” actually works, and why Black Friday sales are so irresistible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strong, supportive relationships are key to our mental and even physical health. But what are the keys to a healthy, loving relationship? John Gottman, PhD, and Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD, talk about why it’s so important to pay attention to your partner’s “bids for connection,” how to have productive rather than destructive fights, whether any couple can learn to communicate better, and why it’s a myth that you should never go to bed angry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our culture tends to prize being bold and outgoing, making the world harder to navigate for kids who are shy. Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar talks about temperament in young children, how shyness develops from babyhood on, the difference between shyness and introversion, how parents and other caregivers can best support shy kids, and recognizing the advantages of a shy temperament. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Birdbrain” may be an insult, but birds are far smarter than they’re often given credit for. Irene Pepperberg, PhD, talks about her five decades of research with gray parrots, how she teaches parrots to communicate with English words, how birds’ mathematical and other abilities compare with young children, how the field of animal cognition has evolved over the decades and what it can teach us about intelligence in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the surgical suite to the battlefield to the driver’s seat of a car, robots and other autonomous systems are increasingly part of people’s workplaces and their daily lives. Ericka Rovira, PhD, a professor of engineering psychology at the United States Military Academy West Point, talks about how robots are being used in the military, in medicine and in other complex, high-stakes arenas; how trust and collaboration work on human-robot teams; and how we humans can maintain our skills as we increasingly rely on robots and AI to assist us in our work and lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few decades the U.S. has become an increasingly less religious country, and many people who grew up with religion have chosen to leave the faith they were raised in. Daryl Van Tongeren, PhD, author of “Done: How to Flourish after Leaving Religion,” talks about the changing religious landscape in the U.S.; what’s driving these religious “dones”; the spiritual, social and other challenges they face; and how people rebuild meaning in life after leaving religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even as the average family size shrinks in much of the world, myths about only children remain common – including that they’re lonely, spoiled or maladjusted. Toni Falbo, PhD, talks about her decades of research with only children that have dispelled many of these myths, explains what researchers have found instead, and offers advice for parents of only children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between raising young children, climbing the career ladder and handling the everyday demands of adult life, the 30s and 40s can be a particularly busy time. Developmental psychologist Clare Mehta, PhD, talks about the challenges and rewards of “established adulthood”; how relationships, friendships and work life change; and why it’s useful to think of the 30s and 40s as its own distinct life stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year, there are more than 2.8 million traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. The risks of brain injury among youth athletes, pro football players and military veterans have all made headlines in recent years. But other populations are at increased risk as well – including people in the criminal justice system and domestic violence survivors. Concussion researcher and brain health advocate Kim Gorgens, PhD, talks about how to identify TBI, what happens to the brain when you get a concussion, what we should we be doing to protect athletes and help them recover, and what could we be doing to mitigate the harms of brain injury in often-overlooked populations such as domestic violence survivors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. feels more polarized than ever, and with election day around the corner, many of us are feeling the strain of political divisions among our friends, family members and loved ones. Keith Payne, PhD, author of “Good Reasonable People: The Psychology Behind America’s Dangerous Divide,” discusses the psychology that underlies how most people think about politics, how U.S. history has led us to where we are, whether polarization is really worse than it used to be, and what, if anything, we can we do to bridge the divide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Alfiee Breland-Noble, a psychologist who has spent decades working to advance the mental health of youth of color, was selected as one of 12 global leaders to receive a $20 million grant-making fund from philanthropist Melinda French Gates. Dr. Alfiee discusses the state of youth mental health, particularly for intersectional youth of color, the biggest challenges facing young people today, how the conversation around youth mental health has changed in recent years and how she hopes to use the new funding to make a difference in young people’s lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, music therapies are being used to help treat mental and physical health conditions as diverse as chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and stroke. Renowned soprano Renée Fleming, editor of a new book on music, the arts and health, joins music cognition researcher Aniruddh Patel, PhD, to talk about the connections between music, mind and body, whether humans evolved to be an inherently musical species, the science behind some of the most effective music therapies and promising directions for future research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is your commute the most stressful part of your day? Traffic psychologist Dwight Hennessy, PhD, talks about what’s going on when we get behind the wheel -- including what causes “road rage,” why some people find driving more stressful than others and how our personality affects our driving, what’s going on with the “zipper merge,” and how driving may change with more automated and self-driving cars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For those with health anxiety, worrying about sickness can be a constant struggle that can harm their mental health, relationships and even physical health. Karen Lynn Cassiday, PhD, author of the book “Freedom from Health Anxiety,” talks about how to recognize health anxiety (once known as hypochondria), why the internet and “Dr. Google” can make health anxiety worse, and what to do if you or someone you love struggles with health anxiety. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you and your job just not clicking anymore? New York University psychology professor Tessa West, PhD, author of “Job Therapy: Finding Work that Works for You,” talks about the most common sources of job dissastisfaction, how you can figure out why you’re unhappy at work and find a job that’s a better fit, how to handle -- or avoid -- toxic coworkers, and the importance of good communication at work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conversational chemistry might seem intangible, but psychologists are beginning figure out what makes some conversations work while others fall apart. Charles Duhigg, author of the upcoming book Supercommunicators and conversation researcher Michael Yeomans, PhD, talk about how anyone can learn to communicate better, the best way to build rapport with someone you just met, why it’s important to think about your goals in a conversation, how to have a productive conversation about a disagreement, and how technology changes conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whether your idea of the perfect vacation involves the beach, exploring a city, or just relaxing at home, you probably look forward to your time off all year. Sarah Pressman, PhD, of the University of California Irvine, and Jessica de Bloom, PhD, of Groningen University in the Netherlands, talk about why taking a break from work is important for physical and mental health, what you can do to make the most of your vacation time, and differences in work and vacation culture around the world. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices