Conformity & Fitting In

This election matters - and so does your voice! This is a re-release of a 2018 episode that covers the motivation behind whether people choose to vote or not, and it is just as important now as it was 2 years ago. Take a listen, and then make a plan to vote. 

There is a rule in sales - if you want the customer to pay one price for a product, always tell them first that the price is much higher. Want to know why? The answer lies in the psychology of compliance. Compliance is a change in behavior as the result of a request. We are asked to do things countless times each day...so why do we comply with some of them?

The world is in a crisis. The coronavirus pandemic is affecting millions around the globe. As of today in the US, over 125,000 have been infected (that we know of) and over 2,000 have died. Our healthcare system is about to break under the pressure. And everything is cancelled. Life as we know it has stopped for a while. But here is the real mystery - why is everyone hoarding toilet paper? Since when did paper products become like gold? What is up with all the weird behavior that we are witnessing during this pandemic? Here is the psychology behind it.

Remember all those stupid trends you went along with in high school? There's a reason why you did it. Conformity is when we behave or think in certain ways because we feel like we should, because we want to "fit in" with a social group. No one told you to wear that cliche' Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt or use all that AquaNet in your hair, but you did it...and social psychology says that you are in the majority.

You aren't supposed to "judge a book by it's cover" and yet, you find yourself making instant assumptions about who someone is based on their initial appearance and first impression. Are you a bad person? Nope - according to social psychologists, you are engaging in a normal psychological phenomenon known as "person perception." And while this snap judgement about a person's characteristics might be inaccurate, there is an explanation for why it happens.

This episode reviews the two main approaches to treating psychological disorders: psychotherapy and biomedical treatment. While each has its own pros and cons, understanding the goal of each approach is important. *Side note: This episode does not intend to give treatment suggestions or advice to any listener - it is simply an informational overview*

Autism is the most misunderstood, yet fastest growing, spectrum of disability in the US. It is a developmental delay based disorder with specific symptoms that are important to recognize early. It is often represented by an image of a puzzle piece, because trying to understand, decode and treat autism is like a mysterious puzzle. This is an important (and longer) episode because this is an important topic. And - spoiler alert - NO, vaccines do not cause autism.

Ah, the teenage years - so full of drama. According to Piaget, there is a reason why. Adolescents think differently than adults, despite being more advanced in reasoning than younger children. This episode wraps up the Piaget Series and covers the last stage in his Theory of Cognitive Development - Formal Operational thinking.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...but according to a child in the Concrete Operational Stage of Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, it is really only 4:58pm. This episode covers how children think from ages 7-11 and why they tend to reason as if they were stubborn scientists. 

Children say some pretty funny things - and if you understand Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, it makes sense why. Children in the Preoperational Stage think differently than adults - they believe in animals coming to life, they have trouble with impulse control and they don't understand why everyone in their class really isn't a "friend." This episode goes over some of the basic qualities that occur in thinkers from ages 2-7.