What Makes a Dad Joke Funny? Science Weighs In
I'm known in my family for bad dad jokes. I text them to relatives and get the eye-roll emoji back. So when two psychologists published a pa...
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Psychology in Everyday Life: The Psych Files
Learn how theories in psychology affect you in everyday life. Upbeat and interesting podcasts from experienced psychology teacher Michael Britt give you a bit more insight into you and your...
Episodes
20 of 401 episodes
One Simple Habit for a Happier Marriage? Not So Fast
A new study of about 1,700 married couples found that partners who exercise together, usually by walking, tend to have stronger marriages, a...
I'm Not the Person I Used to Be (and Why Your Brain Wants You to Believe That)
Why do your good deeds feel like "still me" while your bad ones feel like "a different person back then"? Research from Felipe De Brigard's...
You've Got Dopamine Backwards (and I Can Prove It On Piano)
What do a false ending to the Star Spangled Banner, a food delivery website where nothing ever arrives, and a monkey waiting for a squirt of...
Science Corrects Itself: The Embodied Cognition Story
What is embodied cognition, and did it survive the replication crisis? This episode of The Psych Files examines the famous embodied cognitio...
The Secret to a Good Joke Is Silence
This episode looks at why comic timing works, using a 2026 study from Yuxi Ma, Yongqian Peng, and colleagues at Peking University, presented...
AI: Mixed Feelings, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
Most of us who use AI tools live with a quiet contradiction: the tools are genuinely useful, and using them raises real ethical problems — w...
Why Nobody Pushed the Button: The Psychology Behind a Subway Tragedy
Why did more than a dozen people walk past Steven McCluskey as he lay trapped in a Boston subway escalator? On the surface it seems to refut...
Why People Step Out of the Plane — and Go Back Up the Next Day
Why would anyone step out of an airplane — and why, after a fatal accident, would they go back up the very next day? In this episode I talk...
Does Your Cat or Dog Need Closure? Pet Grief and the Psychology of Loss
We hear the word "closure" everywhere — in true crime shows, in news coverage of trials, and in the well-meaning advice of friends after a l...
Home Alone: The Hidden Cost of Remote Work
I've worked from home for about fifteen years, and I like it. I'm a writer, I'm fine being on my own, and I've got the cats for company. But...
"I'm Getting Old" — And That Thought Might Be Killing You
Do you catch yourself saying "I'm getting old" more than you'd like to admit? Turns out, that habit might be doing more damage than you thin...
Actors Don't Really Memorize Lines!
Why do some people remember things effortlessly while others repeat information over and over and still forget it? In this episode, Michael...
Latest Research: Anthropomorphism and Dementia
In this episode of The Psych Files, I explore anthropomorphism—our tendency to attribute human characteristics to non-human entities—drawing...
The Surprising Psychology Behind Effortless Line Memorization
When I receive a new script, my first step surprises people. I create an audio recording of every scene I’m in – not just my lines, but ever...
Why Are We So Polite to AI?
When we say "please" or "thank you" to ChatGPT, we're witnessing the remarkable power of human social psychology in action. Our brains have...
The Song "Yesterday," Manhood, and the Fear of Vulnerability
In this episode of The Psych Files, I explore the fascinating intersection between music, psychology, and gender roles through subtle lyric...
Study Hack: Use ChatGPT to Ace Your Exams! | Self-Explanation Effect
Discover how to leverage ChatGPT and other AI tools to dramatically improve your learning and test performance! In this video, I explain a p...
Lost in the Click: Exploring the Browser Doorway Effect
The Blank Tab Effect: A Modern Doorway Phenomenon Have you ever switched to a new browser tab, only to find yourself staring at a blank page...
Beck's Cognitive Distortions: An AI-Powered Learning Activity
In my recent exploration of artificial intelligence, I stumbled upon a fascinating article entitled, “Instructors as Innovators: a Future-fo...