Episodes

  • Dreams, nightmares and sleepwalking: What can happen while we sleep, with Antonio Zadra, PhD

    Dreams, nightmares and sleepwalking: What can happen while we sleep, with Antonio Zadra, PhD
    Dec 18 2024
    Our dreams can be exhilarating, surprising, terrifying, even mundane. But where do they come from and what, if anything, do they mean? Dream researcher Antonio Zadra, PhD, talks about why some people remember their dreams vividly while others don’t remember them at all; whether exploring dreams can offer insight into our waking lives; why nightmares happen and effective treatments for problematic recurring nightmares; understanding lucid dreaming and sleepwalking; and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • Why do we push ourselves to be perfect? With Thomas Curran, PhD

    Why do we push ourselves to be perfect? With Thomas Curran, PhD
    Dec 11 2024
    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
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    36 mins
  • Learning to embrace winter, with Kari Leibowitz, PhD

    Learning to embrace winter, with Kari Leibowitz, PhD
    Dec 4 2024
    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
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    42 mins
  • Encore - Tightwads and spendthrifts: How emotions drive our shopping behavior, with Scott Rick, PhD

    Encore - Tightwads and spendthrifts: How emotions drive our shopping behavior, with Scott Rick, PhD
    Nov 27 2024
    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
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    33 mins
  • Lessons from the ‘Love Lab’ on how to strengthen your relationship, with John Gottman, PhD, and Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD

    Lessons from the ‘Love Lab’ on how to strengthen your relationship, with John Gottman, PhD, and Julie Schwartz Gottman, PhD
    Nov 20 2024
    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
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    51 mins
  • Why are some kids shy? With Koraly Pérez-Edgar, PhD

    Why are some kids shy? With Koraly Pérez-Edgar, PhD
    Nov 13 2024
    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
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    38 mins
  • Some birds talk, but do they understand you? With Irene Pepperberg, PhD

    Some birds talk, but do they understand you? With Irene Pepperberg, PhD
    Nov 6 2024
    “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
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    40 mins
  • The future of human-robot teams, with Ericka Rovira, PhD

    The future of human-robot teams, with Ericka Rovira, PhD
    Oct 30 2024
    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
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    31 mins