PsychCrunch
38 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsPsychCrunch is the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. Each episode we explore whether the findings from psychological science can make a difference in real life. Just how should we live, according to psychology? We speak to psychologists about their research and whether they apply what they've discovered in their own lives.
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Episodes
Ep 36: The secrets of dreams and nightmares
March 14, 2024 08:45 - 30 minutes - 70.9 MBThis is Episode 36 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Why do we dream? And what business does a good dream have turning into a nightmare? In this episode, Ella Rhodes embarks on an exploration of our non-waking life. In it, she speaks with Director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory, Professor Mark Blagrove, about his research and latest theories about the origins of dreams. Research Clinical ...
Ep 35: Why do we enjoy playing with fear?
October 26, 2023 11:26 - 19 minutes - 45 MBThis is Episode 35 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. From haunted houses to scary movies, many of us find a thrill in a good scare. But… isn’t that a bit counter-intuitive? In this episode, we ask why so many of us are drawn to things that should make us run a mile, and whether we can use fear to help us better cope with day-to-day anxiety. Host Ella Rhodes speaks with Director of The Recreational Fear L...
Ep 34: How do you make friends as an adult?
June 16, 2023 08:46 - 19 minutes - 43.9 MBThis is Episode 34 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Despite it being easier than ever to communicate, so many of us find it challenging to make new friends – especially as we get older. Opening up conversations with strangers can leave us feeling like a bother, and fizzle into nothing more than a one-off interaction. The loneliness this can create isn’t just a passing sting, it can have ongoing impacts t...
Ep 33: Have you experienced the unseen other?
February 23, 2023 09:55 - 33 minutes - 77.7 MBHave you ever had the feeling that there was someone – or something – nearby? Perhaps you were in bed falling asleep when you suddenly became convinced that a person was standing next to you, even though you couldn’t actually ‘see’ or ‘hear’ anyone at all. Or maybe you were out in the wilderness, with no-one for miles around, and couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following you. In this episode, Dr Jon Sutton, editor of The Psychologist magazine, talks to Dr Ben Alderson-Day, Asso...
Ep 32: How to face grief
February 15, 2023 12:06 - 26 minutes - 59.8 MBGrief is a universal experience, but one which affects every individual differently. A grieving person might feel guilty, listless, frightened, or angry. And at a time when they most need support, the bereaved may find other people turning away from them, not really knowing how to talk to them about their feelings and the person they’ve lost. So how can we learn to better cope with grief in ourselves and in others? In this episode, Ella Rhodes, journalist for The Psychologist, speaks to tw...
Ep 31: How to better understand your cat
September 06, 2022 08:36 - 22 minutes - 50.7 MBWe’ve lived side-by-side with domestic cats for thousands of years, yet they maintain an aura of mystery and a reputation for aloofness and even outright disdain for humans. But are cats really so enigmatic – or are we only just beginning to understand them? In this episode, Ella Rhodes, journalist for The Psychologist, speaks to two experts who are working to help us to understand cats. They discuss research on cat cognition and intelligence, chat about what we can do how to make our cats...
Ep 30: The psychology of superstitions
May 13, 2022 08:01 - 20 minutes - 47.7 MBFrom carefully avoiding cracks in the pavement to saluting every magpie that you meet, superstitious behaviour is really common. But why do we have superstitions? Where do they come from? And are they helpful or harmful? To find out, our presenter Ginny Smith talks to Stuart Vyse, former professor of psychology at Connecticut College and author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition. Ginny also chats to Laramie Taylor, professor of communication at the University of Califor...
Ep 29: Why do people share false information — and what can we do about it?
January 26, 2022 10:23 - 20 minutes - 47.5 MBWhy do people share false information? In this episode, our presenters Ginny Smith and Jon Sutton explore the psychology of misinformation. They hear about the factors that make people more or less likely to share misinformation, discuss strategies to correct false information, and learn how to talk to someone who is promoting conspiracy theories. Our guests, in order of appearance, are Tom Buchanan, Professor of Psychology at the University of Westminster, and Briony Swire-Thompson, seni...
Ep 28: Why songs get stuck in our heads
October 15, 2021 06:31 - 24 minutes - 57.4 MBWhy do some songs get stuck in our heads? In this episode, our presenter Ginny Smith explores the psychology of earworms. Ginny hears about the possible evolutionary reasons for why we experience the phenomenon, learns what earworms can teach us about memory — and finds out how to get rid of them. Our guests, in order of appearance, are Kelly Jakubowski, assistant professor of music psychology at Durham University; Petr Janata, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis...
Episode 27: The Psychologist presents… at Latitude Festival 2021 — Child food poverty
August 16, 2021 09:17 - 50 minutes - 117 MBThis is Episode 27 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. At Latitude Festival in Suffolk in July, The Psychologist Editor Dr Jon Sutton hosted a conversation in The Listening Post with Greta Defeyter, Professor of Developmental Psychology and founder and Director of the "Healthy Living" Lab at Northumbria University. An expert on food insecurity, social injustice, school feeding programmes and holiday hunge...
Ep 26: How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected our mental health?
August 03, 2021 10:23 - 21 minutes - 48.7 MBThis is Episode 26 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. What impact has the pandemic had on people’s mental health? In this episode, our presenter Ginny Smith talks to researchers who have been conducting work throughout the pandemic to understand the toll that it has taken on our wellbeing. Ginny learns about the different factors that can make us more or less vulnerable to these effects, finds out how pr...
Ep 25: How to change your personality
May 18, 2021 08:20 - 26 minutes - 60.2 MBThis is Episode 25 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Are our personalities set in stone, or can we choose to change them? In this bonus episode, Matthew Warren talks to former Research Digest editor Christian Jarrett about his new book Be Who You Want: Unlocking the Science of Personality Change. Christian discusses the evidence-based methods you can use to alter your personality, whether you’re an intro...
Ep 24: How Children Learn Through Play
April 13, 2021 07:47 - 21 minutes - 50.2 MBThis is Episode 24 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. What role does play have in child development? In this episode, our presenter Ginny Smith talks to some top play researchers to find out how children learn new skills and concepts through play, and explores what teachers and parents can do to encourage this kind of learning. Ginny also discovers how the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way kids play a...
Ep 23: Whose psychology is it anyway? Making psychological research more representative
January 21, 2021 14:02 - 13 minutes - 31.3 MBThis is Episode 23 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest. In this episode, Emily Reynolds, staff writer at Research Digest, explores modern psychology’s relationship with race and representation. It’s well-known that psychology has a generalisability problem, with studies overwhelmingly using so-called “WEIRD” participants: those who are Western and educated and from industrialised, rich and democratic societies. But how does that shape the as...
Ep 22: Drifting Minds — Maladaptive Daydreaming And The Hypnagogic State
November 03, 2020 12:19 - 16 minutes - 37.8 MBThis is Episode 22 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. In this episode, Ella Rhodes, Journalist for The Psychologist, explores the boundaries between wakefulness and dreaming. What can we can learn about consciousness from the strange transition period between being awake and asleep, known as hypnagogia? And why do some people experience visions and imaginings that take them away for hours at a time? Ou...
Ep 21: How To Stay Connected In The "New Normal"
September 02, 2020 16:04 - 21 minutes - 48.4 MBThis is Episode 21 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. What can we do to stay connected in the middle of a pandemic? We’ve all played our part in fighting COVID-19, and for many of us that has meant staying away from our friends and families. In this episode, our presenter Ginny Smith explores how this unprecedented period of separation has reinforced the importance of connection. Ginny looks at how video...
Episode 20
March 02, 2020 10:05 - 19 minutes - 45.6 MBThis is Episode 20 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. What can psychology teach us about dealing with pain? Our presenter Ginny Smith learns that swearing can have a pain-reducing effect, and puts the theory to the test with an experiment on editor Matthew Warren. Ginny also hears about how virtual reality could provide a welcome distraction to patients suffering from chronic pain. Our guests, in order...
Episode 19
January 28, 2020 08:38 - 16 minutes - 38.4 MBThis is Episode 19 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Do we worry too much about screen time? The issue of screen use by children and teenagers is rarely out of the headlines, and institutions including the World Health Organization have recommended specific limits on screen time for the youngest age groups. But what does the science actually say about the effects of screen time? To find out, our prese...
Episode 18
September 09, 2019 12:41 - 20 minutes - 45.8 MBThis is Episode 18 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help us become more creative? Our presenter Ginny Smith learns how we can develop our creativity with practice, and discovers that our best “Eureka” moments often come when we step away from the task at hand. She also investigates how members of the public fare with the riddles psychologists use to study creative problem solving — see ho...
Episode 17
July 23, 2019 09:30 - 21 minutes - 50.4 MBThis is Episode 17 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help make running more enjoyable? Our presenter Christian Jarrett speaks to several experts about various strategies including "cognitive reappraisal" and the benefits of taking part in organised runs. He also hears how some of us are genetically disposed to find running less enjoyable than others, and why that isn't an excuse for giving...
Episode 16 (bonus episode)
May 03, 2019 09:38 - 29 minutes - 67.5 MBElla Rhodes, journalist for The Psychologist magazine, delves into the growing body of research exploring aphantasia – a condition she has personal experience of. While most people can see images formed in their minds people with aphantasia draw a blank, what might this mean for autobiographical memory, face perception and imagination? Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Zoe Pounder at the University of Westminster and Professor Adam Zeman at the University of Exeter. Background r...
Episode 15
March 19, 2019 10:57 - 14 minutes - 34.1 MBThis is Episode 15 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Mindfulness is everywhere these days, but is it really as beneficial as it's often made out to be? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears from clinical psychologist Dr Catherine Wikholm(co-author of The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You?); she visits the Cambridge Buddha Centre to meet people who have taken up mindfulness meditation; and she discusses s...
Episode 14
November 07, 2018 10:17 - 14 minutes - 33.1 MBThis is Episode 14 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help your cooking taste better? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears about the importance of food presentation, pairing and sequencing, and how our perception of food is a multi-sensory experience. She and her friends conduct a taste test using "sonic seasonings" that you can also try at home. Our guests, in order of appearance, are: Profess...
Episode 13
August 29, 2018 10:58 - 13 minutes - 30.1 MBThis is Episode 13 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help us to learn better? Our presenter Christian Jarrett discovers the best evidence-backed strategies for learning, including the principle of spacing, the benefits of testing yourself and teaching others. He also hears about the perils of overconfidence and the lack of evidence for popular educational ideas like "learning styles" and "...
Episode 12
June 27, 2018 07:47 - 17 minutes - 40.8 MBThis is Episode 12 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Download here. Can psychology help us to be funnier? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how a key ingredient of humour is "incongruity" and the surprise of unexpected meanings. Individual words too can be amusing, but actually most of the time we laugh not because we've seen or heard a joke, but as a natural part of friendly interaction. Our guests, in o...
Episode 11
February 21, 2018 09:42 - 14 minutes - 32.1 MBThis is Episode 11 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help us get a better night's sleep? Our presenter Ginny Smith hears how worry about sleep is sometimes more of a problem than lack of sleep itself. She gives us some evidence-backed sleep tips and finds out about "sleep engineering" – deliberately manipulating the sleep process to aid memory and enhance its health benefits. Our guests a...
Episode 10
November 01, 2017 10:49 - 13 minutes - 30.7 MBIt's been a while coming, but this is Episode 10 of PsychCrunch the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help us avoid procrastinating and get on with the important things we know we should be doing? Our presenter Christian Jarrett hears about what causes procrastination, how to stop it, and whether it has any upsides. Also, we put the psychologists on the spot and ask whether they've managed to cure their own p...
Episode 9
February 21, 2017 12:21 - 14 minutes - 32.7 MBThis is Episode 9 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology help us work together better in teams? Our presenter Christian Jarrett hears about the benefits of appointing a "meta-knowledge champion" for the team, making sure everyone has contact with the team's "extra miler", and why you should think carefully about the physical space that you do your teamwork in. Our guests in order of appearanc...
Episode 8
November 07, 2016 11:58 - 10 minutes - 23.4 MBThis is Episode 8 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can we trust psychological studies? We speak to Brian Earp, of Oxford University and Yale University, about how to respond when we're told repeatedly that the veracity of eye-catching findings, or even cherished theories, has come under scrutiny. Brian also talks about his own experience of publishing a failed replication attempt – a must-listen for any...
Episode 7
August 09, 2016 16:15 - 11 minutes - 26.9 MBThis is Episode Seven of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Can psychology give you a competitive edge in sport? Our presenter Christian Jarrett learns about the importance of having the right competitive mindset, and how to use self-talk and positive imagery to boost your sporting performance. Our guests, in order of appearance, are George Hanshaw (International Sport Achievers and HanshawPerformance.com)...
Episode 6
June 13, 2016 09:33 - 10 minutes - 23.9 MBThis is Episode 6 of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. Have you ever sent a sarcastic email or text message and discovered to your horror that the recipient thought you were being literal? If so, this episode is for you! Research Digest editor Christian Jarrett speaks to Dr Ruth Filik (University of Nottingham), lead author of a recent study into how emoticons and punctuation can help you convey written s...
Episode 5
March 30, 2016 10:00 - 12 minutes - 28.1 MBThis is Episode Five of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology. In this episode we explore whether psychology can help us learn a new language. We hear about research showing the benefits of music training to language learning, and how it may be possible to boost your learning of foreign words while you sleep. Our presenter Christian Jarrett also hears about the anxiety that many people feel when trying to speak a...
Episode 4
December 16, 2015 10:12 - 12 minutes - 28.4 MBThis is Episode Four of PsychCrunch, the podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. In this festive episode we explore whether psychology can help us with gift giving. Our presenter Christian Jarrett and his guests discuss the benefits of giving "giver-centric" gifts; how recipients like to receive gifts on their wish lists; why ethical or pro-social gifts are sometimes not so warmly received; and the two words that can salvage that awkward situation when a gift does...
Episode Three Bonus Material
October 19, 2015 09:28 - 12 minutes - 29.3 MBOn October 1, 2015 Dr Christian Jarrett (Editor, BPS Research Digest) met with Dr Jon Sutton (Editor, The Psychologist magazine) to debate Michael Jackson's legacy. This is their full argument! Excerpts from their debate about MJ appear in Episode Three of PsychCrunch, which explored whether psychology can help you to win an argument.
Episode Three
October 19, 2015 09:04 - 12 minutes - 29.6 MBThis is Episode Three of PsychCrunch, the new podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. In this episode we explore whether psychology can help you to win an argument. After our presenter Christian Jarrett tries his luck with an argument about Michael Jackson's legacy, we find out why convincing people of your point of view is so difficult, and we hear about a paradoxical technique that's encouraging people to change their own minds about one of the most serious argum...
Episode Two
June 18, 2015 12:08 - 11 minutes - 26.9 MBThis is Episode Two of PsychCrunch, the new podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. In this episode we speak to psychology researchers in the field of habit change to see if their findings can provide real-life tips for people hoping to break bad habits or form new healthy ones. We can't promise you a life of health and success as some self-help authors do, but we might be able to help you eat less chocolate! Our guests are Dr Benjamin Gardner (Kings College London...
Episode One
February 13, 2015 09:12 - 9 minutes - 8.78 MBThis is Episode One of PsychCrunch, the new podcast from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. In this episode we speak to researchers in the field of personal attraction to see if their findings can provide real-life tips for people on a romantic date. Our guests, in order of appearance, are Adam Pazda (University of Rochester), Coren Apicella (University of Pennsylvania) and Sally Farley (University of Baltimore). The topics discussed by our guests have been covered previo...
PsychCrunch Trailer
February 11, 2015 13:30 - 39 seconds - 597 KBPsychCrunch, the new podcast coming soon from the British Psychological Society's Research Digest. Trailer credits: Presented by Christian Jarrett. Producer Lorna Stewart. Music and mixing Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler.