Episodes

Stress generally refers to two things: the psychological perception of pressure, on the one hand, and the body's response to it, on the other, which involves multiple systems, from metabolism to muscles to memory. Some stress...

We all have to face it at some point; an event of such enormity that it can make everything else in our lives seem insignificant: death, the end of our existence, our departure from this world.We live in a culture that denies...

One of the fundamental laws of social psychology is the reciprocity principle. When we pay back what we receive from others in social situations, we are engaging in reciprocity. If I do you a favor, there’s a reasonable proba...

There are two types of people, those who contribute and those who detract. You must learn that the best way to build your career and your life is through your own achievements, not by attacking the achievements of others. Peo...

A person who steals things that he already owns, can easily afford, or does not want or need can be baffling. Mental health professionals may think that his stealing can be explained by a psychological disorder. The habitual ...

Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on how people grow and change over the course of a lifetime. Those who specialize in this field are not just concerned with the physical changes that occur as ...

From eccentric and introverted to boisterous and bold, the human personality is a complex and colorful thing. Personality refers to a person's distinctive patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It derives from a mix of ...

If you’re like most people, you figure you’ll get married once—maybe twice—in your entire life.However, if you’re a serial monogamist (a person who engages in repeated serious relationships, one after the other), you might ma...

When we think of people being dramatic – or in this case, overly dramatic - we think of them making much of their appearance before others. They enjoy feeling and displaying emotions. They have a taste for tension-filled scen...

Although many people use the two words guilt and shame interchangeably, from a psychological perspective, they actually refer to different experiences. Guilt and shame sometimes go hand in hand; the same action may give rise ...

Unfortunately, we’re often taught that being an outsider is a “bad” thing, and no wonder — biologically we are made to stay within the safe confines of our species’ groups. But there comes a moment in life where “playing by t...

Rabbi Abraham Heschel stated that “Racism is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” Racism is a system of power and privilege based on perceived race and/or ethnicity that defines one gr...

Wisdom is one of those qualities that is difficult to define—because it encompasses so much—but which people generally recognize when they encounter it. And it is encountered most obviously in the realm of decision-making. Ps...

As cities across America grapple with people living on the streets, homelessness is becoming impossible to ignore. More than half a million Americans are homeless each night, including a staggering 2.5 million children who ar...

The defining characteristic of asexuality is never feeling sexually attracted to anyone, but asexuals vary in other ways. Romantic attraction, for example, is distinct from sexual attraction, and asexuals vary in the degree t...

Some of us are in the habit of using the same negative words over and over again out of habit. The problem is that the more we hear, read, or speak a word or phrase, the more power it has over us. This is because the brain us...

Eating disorders are complex psycho-physiologic challenges that require much more than simple determination and a strong will to conquer. One of every fifty children in the United States will deal with them at some point in t...

The Enneagram is a powerful tool for personal and collective transformation. Stemming from the Greek words ennea (nine) and grammos (a written symbol), the nine-pointed Enneagram symbol represents nine distinct strategies for...

In the case of depersonalization, the individual may feel detached from his or her entire being (e.g., “I am no one,” “I have no self”). He or she may also feel subjectively detached from aspects of the self, including feelin...

While humans seek solace in conspiracy theories, however, they rarely find it. For one thing, conspiratorial thinking can incite individuals to behave in a way that increases their sense of powerlessness, making them feel eve...

While persuasion is a science, it’s also an art. If a person pushes too hard, he will risk being aggressive. If he nudges too lightly, he will get nowhere. If she grips too loudly, she's just a jerk. Many things can influence...

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conformor the believe that dissent is impossible. The problematic or premature con...

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conformor the believe that dissent is impossible. The problematic or premature con...

The term “toxic masculinity” has become ubiquitous over the past few years after lingering in obscurity for the better part of three decades. Coined by Shepherd Bliss, the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement activist who spent the 198...