The Psychology Podcast

Today I’m excited to welcome Jordan Harbinger to The Psychology Podcast. Jordan is an entrepreneur, talk show host, and world-renowned social dynamics expert. As co-founder of The Art of Charm, he has helped develop one of the leading self-development programs in the world, with a special expertise in social capital, relationship-building, and authentic rapport. He is also the host of The Art of Charm Podcast, where he interviews leading entrepreneurs, celebrities, authors, and experts on psychology, human performance, behavioral economics, and success. In our wide-ranging discussion, Jordan and I talk about: How The Art of Charm came to be (and how it evolved to be differ from the pick-up artist movement) What kinds of things go on at his intense, 6-day live programs Where his work at the Art of Charm draws from the world of Positive Psychology Why it’s important to seek expertise from the right places and set healthy expectations Why feeling comfortable in your skin is more of a subtractive process than

Today I'm glad to welcome Cheryl Einhorn to The Psychology Podcast! Cheryl is the creator of the AREA Method, a decision making system for individuals and companies to solve complex problems. She is also the founder of CSE Consulting and the author of the book Problem Solved, a Powerful System for Making Complex Decisions with Confidence & Conviction. Cheryl teaches as an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School and has won several journalism awards for her investigative stories about international political, business and economic topics. In our conversation she takes us through the philosophy behind her unique perspective taking process for making better decisions as well as through each of the steps: The AREA Method gets its name from the perspectives that it addresses: Absolute, Relative, Exploration & Exploitation and Analysis: A, or Absolute, refers to the perspective of the research target. It is primary, uninfluenced information from the source itself. R, or Relative, refers to the persp

This week I’m excited to welcome Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness to The Psychology Podcast. Brad writes for Outside, Runner’s World, NPR and has a column in the Huffington Post about health and the science of human performance. Steve Magness coaches Olympians and marathoners, lectures at St. Mary’s University on Exercise Science, and writes for numerous publications including Wired, Sports Illustrated and NY Magazine on the science of performance. Together they are partners in peak performance, in research, and in writing their latest book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success. In this conversation, Brad and Steve teach us: Why the word “performance” can be deceiving and how those of us focused on creative endeavors, who may not think of “performance” as an end goal, can benefit from their research, Why both physical and cognitive rest are crucial for world-class performance in our pursuits, in what’s known as the Paradox of Rest (some of you probably

"Power is given, not grabbed.” — Dacher Keltner Today I’m really excited to have Dr. Dacher Keltner join me for his second appearance on The Psychology Podcast! Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty, and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct. His latest book is The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence. In our conversation we discuss several of Dacher’s ideas surrounding power including: The unique definition of power he presents in the book The recent development in power research of the 2 paths to power: Domination, Mani

Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D. is board certified in clinical child and adolescent psychology, and serves as the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his research have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, the LA Times, CNN, U.S. News & World Report, TIME magazine, New York magazine, Newsweek, and elsewhere. In his latest book Popular: The Power of Likeability in A Status-Obsessed World, Prinstein examines how our popularity affects our success, our relationships, and our happiness—and why we don’t always want to be the most popular. In our conversation we cover this and more, with key themes being: Why seeking popularity is actually a basic human need, Why it's not always the "conventionally popular" people who fare best, and how this relates to the (2) different strategies for achieving popularity: Likeability Status How studies can help explain b

"What are the deliberate habits I can do consciously and consistently to keep getting better?" -- Brendon Burchard This week I'm delighted to welcome Brendon Burchard to The Psychology Podcast! After suffering depression and surviving a car accident at the age of 19, Brendon faced what he felt were life’s last questions: “Did I live fully? Did I love openly? Did I make a difference?” His intention to be happy with the answers led to his own personal breakthroughs, and ultimately to his life’s purpose of helping others live, to love, and to matter. He spent his 20s researching psychology and leadership, and consulting at Accenture. By age 32, he went out on his own and became a #1 best-selling author, an in-demand high performance coach, a sought-after speaker, and an early pioneer in the online education space. A #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, #1 Amazon and #1 USA Today best-selling author, Brendon’s books include The Motivation Manifesto, The Charge, The Millionaire Messenger and Life’s Golden Ti

This week we're delighted to have Gretchen Rubin on The Psychology Podcast! Gretchen is the author of several books, including the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project and Happier at Home. She has an enormous readership, both in print and online, and her books have sold almost three million copies worldwide, in more than thirty languages. On her popular weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, she discusses good habits and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft; they’ve been called the “Click and Clack of podcasters.” Her podcast was named in iTunes’s lists of “Best Podcasts of 2015” and was named in the Academy of Podcasters “Best Podcasts of 2016". Gretchen's latest book is The Four Tendencies, which is the main focus of this episode's lively discussion and debate. The larger themes of our conversation include: The four tendencies: Upholders, Questioners, Oblidgers, and Questioners; they refer to the different ways each of us responds to internal and exter

This week we're glad to welcome Maia Szalavitz to the podcast! Maia Szalavitz is one of the premier American journalists covering addiction and drugs. She is a co-author of Born for Love and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, as well as a writer for TIME.com, VICE, the New York Times, Scientific American Mind, Elle, Psychology Today and Marie Claire among others. Her latest book is Unbroken Brain, which challenges the idea of the addict's "broken brain" and the simplistic notion of an "addictive personality". The key themes of our conversation include: The personal nature of her book and how emergent science has helped her understand her past Where the brain is and isn't to blame in the rise of addiction in individuals "Addiction is not a sin or a choice. It's also not a chronic brain disease." Why many addictive behaviors are adaptive, and the distinction between an "addiction" and a "dependence" "Traits that we think are useless can be useful in some settings." Why she advocates for a shift from belief-case

This week we're excited to welcome Dr. Michael Shermer to The Psychology Podcast. Michael is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, a New York Times bestselling author, and a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He has also been a college professor since 1979 and is currently a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University, where he teaches Skepticism 101. In our conversation, Michael sheds light on a smorgasbord of intersections between psychology and skepticism. This episode is also a great primer for those of you who are curious about what it means to think like a skeptic. In this episode we discuss: The core tenants of skepticism The difference between skepticism and cynicism Whether it's possible--in the eyes of a skeptic--to "prove everything" The evidence-based probability that God exists How individual differences in personality (ex. Agreeableness) play a role in one's proclivity for critical inquiry Whether Michael would consider himself a skepticism "guru" How to suspend disbelief when you need to ac

This week we're excited to have Robert Wright on The Psychology Podcast. Robert is the New York Times best-selling author of Nonzero, The Moral Animal, The Evolution of God, and most recently Why Buddhism is True. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Time, Slate, and The New Republic, and has taught at The University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University, where he also created the online course Buddhism and Modern Psychology. Robert draws on his wide-ranging knowledge of science, religion, psychology, history and politics to figure out what makes humanity tick. In this episode we cover: How "taking the red pill" from The Matrix can be likened to the practice of mediation, How and why "our brains evolved to delude us", If and how Buddhism gets you more in touch with "reality", including the bottom-up processes of cognition, Whether or not one can take parts of the practice too far, How Buddhism can be beneficial for seeing beauty where you didn't before, Why our default

Dr. Caren Baruch-Feldman is a clinical psychologist, certified school psychologist, and author of The Grit Guide for Teens. She’s also authored numerous articles and workshops on topics such as cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, helping children and adults cope with stress and worry, helping people change, and developing grit and self-control. In this episode of The Psychology Podcast, Caren and I talk about how her work on grit was a natural outgrowth of her clinical practice, and how this led to writing a book specifically for teens. We also cover what she adds to Angela Duckworth’s definition of grit, and her thoughts on some of the controversies surrounding grit, such as the grit vs. conscientiousness debate and the circumstantial factors that affect grit that may be out of one’s control. We also discuss why parenting is different today and the importance of social support in cultivating grit. Lastly Caren sheds some light on things we can pay attention to in order to increase success in achieving o

Sharon Salzberg is a NYT best-selling author and teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in the West. She also cofounded the Insight Meditation Society and is the author of 9 books, the most recent being Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection. In this episode of The Psychology Podcast, we get to learn about why Sharon has devoted her life to these ideas, how meditation has impacted her consciousness, what characterizes "real love", what differences exist between the modern-scientific notions of attachment and Buddhist notions of nonattachment, what Loving Kindness practice is, how you can love someone even if you don't like them (and why you should), how to extend compassion to people who are already self-satisfied, why an important component of self-love is accountability, empathy burnout, how stories play a role in love, why love isn't a state, why excitement vs. familiarity in romantic relationships is perhaps a false paradox, and how mindfulness can help you reframe even the most emotionally difficult

I’m really excited to have Christina Pierpaoli on the podcast. Christina is a graduate student in the Geropsychological doctoral program at the University of Alabama. Her research explores associations between chronic illness and psychological health in older adults, and she is by all accounts a rising star in the field of psychology. For our listeners who may not be familiar with the literature, Geropsychology is the psychology of aging. As Christina puts it, this particular field of psychology can be described as “underrated, poorly understood, embryonic, and riddled with all sorts of stigma”. The world and the United States are aging precipitously, with the estimate that by 2030 1 in 5 Americans will be considered an older adult, but few people are talking about it. In our conversation, Christina offers that “people are uncomfortable with talking about aging because talking about aging invites a conversation of mortality and finiteness” and speaks to the research showing that “the earlier and more often yo

Today I'm really excited to have Monica Worline and Jane Dutton on the podcast, co-authors of the new book Awakening Compassion at Work: the Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations. Monica Worline, Ph.D., is founder and CEO of EnlivenWork. She is also a research scientist at Stanford University Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education and executive director of Compassion Lab. Jane Dutton, Ph.D., is the Robert L Kahn distinguished University professor of business administration and psychology and cofounder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. She's also a founding member of Compassion Lab. A central thread in their work is that business has become dehumanized and impersonal. "One of the things that we're seeing as technology takes over more of our work spaces is there's an expectation that people are always available and always on, but that is driving out some of the human connection of work. " Increased busyness, workpla

Professor Lea Waters, PhD is an Australian academic, researcher, psychologist, author and speaker contributing to the field of Positive Psychology. Most people see improvements as eliminating what's wrong with us, but Lea's work in Positive Psychology expands what we mean by improvement and growth. Her latest book, The Strength Switch, offers parents resources to better build the strengths of young people. In our conversation, we talk about how Lea has used her strengths in research and storytelling to help parents recognize what biases might be influencing how they parent, and offer techniques for making the switch to a strengths-based approach. We also dive deeper into the benefits of a strengths-approach by exploring such questions as: How do we identify our child's strengths? How can we tell when a strength is underused? How can we condition ourselves to stop focusing on weaknesses? What is the difference between strengths of talent and strengths of character, and how can each be used in a strengths-base

Today we have one of the world's most preeminent attachment scientists, Dr. R. Chris Fraley, on the podcast! Fraley is a Professor at the University of Illinois's Department of Psychology and received the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award in 2007 for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of Individual Differences. In this episode of The Psychology Podcast, we take a deep dive into a few of Chris' many interesting research areas: attachment processes in close relationships, personality dynamics, and development. Some of the questions we explore are: How are attachment styles measured? How does research on attachment styles differ between children and adults? What are the implications of individual differences in adult attachment styles? How does this relate to internal working models theory? How does all of that relate to one's own motivational account? What are the roles of nature vs. nurture in the development of attachment styles? Note to our listeners: You ma

On today's episode of The Psychology Podcast, we speak with Caroline Adams Miller about how to to get more grit. Caroline is a certified professional coach, author, media personality, and keynote speaker & educator. In this episode, we discuss what it means to be a positive psychology coach, why she became interested in grit, why millennials may not be as gritty as previous generations, Caroline's definition of "authentic grit", the difference between "selfie" grit and authentic grit, when grit is "good" vs. when it could be harmful, current controversies surrounding grit, when to grit and when to quit, and some practical takeaways to increase your own grit. Wow, we might have just broken a record for the number of times we used the word "grit" in a single paragraph! :) Enjoy, and please contribute to the discussion below. Relevant Links: Webite - http://www.carolinemiller.com/ Getting Grit - https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Grit-Evidence-Based-Cultivating-Perseverance/dp/1622039203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&q

“If you just laugh at yourself, there is nothing to be scared of anymore.” Today we have executive, activist, and entrepreneur Sarah Robb O’Hagan on the podcast. O'Hagan is CEO of the fast growing indoor cycling company Flywheel Sports, where she is currently leading the transformation of the business through digital content and services. Prior to this role, Sarah was global president of Gatorade and Equinox, where she reinvented the offering through a significant technology transformation. In this episode, we discuss what it takes to become your extreme you. You will learn how to embrace failure, seize opportunities, and remain confident while igniting your magic drive, staying stubbornly humble, and changing the game! BONUS: Take the Extremer Quiz here. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have ABC News Anchor Dan Harris on the podcast. Harris is perhaps the most unlikely meditation evangelist, ever. After a panic attack on Good Morning America, he wrote the New York Times bestselling memoir “10% Happier” about what led him to embrace a practice he’d long considered ridiculous. He then started the 10% Happier: Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics app with a handful of bona fide meditation teachers, including Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, as well as the 10% Happier podcast. On today's episode of The Psychology Podcast, we discuss Dan's personal experience with self-help gurus Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, as well as Western Buddhist psychotherapists, such as Dr. Mark Epstein. As a bonus, there is a 3 minute mindfulness meditation led by Dan himself. Enjoy, and please leave feedback below! Relevant Links: 10% Happier: Mediation For Fidgety Skeptics App 10percenthappier.com 10% Happier book 10% Happier Podcast Dan's social accounts: Twitter: https://twitter.com/danbharris Instagra

It is an honor to have Dr. Steven Hayes, the father of "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy" (ACT), on the podcast this week. In this wide ranging episode, we learn about the "third wave" of cognitive behavioral therapies, and how to have greater psychological flexibility-- the ability to contact the present moment more fully as a conscious human being, and to change or persist in behavior when doing so serves valued ends. We will learn the 6 core ACT processes, and how they can help you stop fighting the battles within your own head and live a more vital life. The message from today's podcast is that you can choose to live a vital life. This episode will teach you how! Enjoy, and please join in the discussion below. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-psychology-podcast/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.