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This episode of The Psychology World Podcast has been sponsored by my eBooks when you buy direct from me. What Have I Found on My Psychology Journey? When I first heard this question, I thought it was strange, and I believed that I haven’t found or lost anything on my psychology journey. But I thought about it, and I was definitely wrong. I say this because I have found something, I now hold dear to me and I love that I found this on my psychology journey. It was my sense of awareness. Now, I’m not saying that I wasn’t aware of the world and how it worked before I did psychology, and I will not pretend psychology is reading minds. I hate it when people think that. However, I love that psychology has given me an extra insight into human behaviour and this has allowed me to know when people are using certain tactics. My favourite example is forensic psychology. It teaches us that long prison sentences do not work. Instead, it is all about the training the criminals receive inside prison that helps them with their rehabilitation. For example, cognitive behavioural therapy, modelling or work skills to oversimplify the training. Personally, I love this fact because it means when politicians shout out to the people that they will give longer, harsher prison sentences. I know these politicians do not care about helping the criminals and aiding them in rehabilitation. I know that these politicians are only interested in getting people to vote for them. Because of if the politicians actually cared about making society safer, then they would invest in rehabilitation. Another favourite fact, I love comes from social psychology with Social Cognitive Theory. I really like the theory because it explains a lot of everyday human behaviour and it has a lot of real-world implications. Therefore, I’m grateful that I found this fact at the beginning of my psychology journey because it allowed me to understand modelling and how people learn from others. Finally, some more evidence I have for this awareness comes from Developmental Psychology. I might not enjoy the subfield of psychology but when you have an infant nephew, I felt happy when he does something, and I can link it something I’ve learned. For example, understanding desires with Theory of Mind as I always laugh when infants don’t understand you have a different desire to them. Such as when infants keep trying to give you their juice bottle because they think you are thirsty as well. Without psychology, I wouldn’t be able to do that. That’s why I love psychology. That’s why I am on my psychology journey because I want to learn about human behaviour, I want to understand people, but most of all I want to help people. So, the most important thing I have found on my psychology journey is undeniably an awareness of the extra things that psychology allows us to see. That is otherwise invisible to us. I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast is a cognitive psychology and forensic psychology episode on How to tell If Someone is Lying? This episode has been sponsored by: Forensic Psychology. How to Tell if Someone is Lying? Whether it’s in psychology itself or wider society, being able to tell lies from the truth is a popular idea. Thankfully, within psychology, the scientific literature surrounding deception and lie detector is massive. However, the same is true for the unscientific ‘popular’ literature. For example, there are thousands of books written by former professionals and other people who say X and Y is how you tell someone is lying. There are courses too on the internet and there is so much weird information out there for people to buy and sometimes pay thousands of dollars for. The Truth: The sad truth is there is no one indictor or sign that someone is lying. The main reason for this is because of individual differences. Since the stereotypical indicators of lying are laughter, avoiding eye contact, rise in temperature and more. Nonetheless, the great reality is we are all different so not every laughs or avoids eye contact when they lie. Everyone has their own little tell when they lie. Some are common. Some are not. Some are extremely rare. The Consensus: Overall, psychology research has shown humans are very bad at telling if others are lying and finding deception. In addition, the research shows this is mainly down to two biases that were found when researcher tested the public and professionals about questioning. Note: in this context, professionals are professional questioners and people whom it is there job to find deception and learn if people are lying. The public were found to have a truth bias because they trusted people were telling them the truth, and they didn’t seem out deception or lies in everyday human interaction. Whereas the professionals were found to have a Lie bias. This is where they constantly seem out lies in everyday interaction and they except people to lie. Ways to Tell if Someone is Lying: Despite the literature making for grim reading if you want a way to know if someone is lying. Research has shown there are several effective questioning approaches someone can talk to know if someone is lying. For example: Ask the Right Sort of Questions: With words being carriers of deception and deceptions requiring more of a cognitive effort, you need to ask open questions that elicit as many words as possible. The more words someone says the higher the chance their deception will be revealed. Make Every Question Count: When you want to find out if someone is lying, you don’t ask them simple questions just because you can ask. Nor do you ask question to fill the silence. Instead, you need to ask questions that move you towards your goal. This is to find out whether or not the person is lying to you. Listen, Don’t talk: This is a critical point because questioners need to say as little as possible during questioning. Since this will allow them to listen, think and consider or fully understand the responses they are being given. Be tactical: Whilst at first, this seems like common sense, it raises the question: how do you be tactical when questioning someone? If you know objective facts about what actually happened, question a person on each fact. This will allow you to know if the person is generally being truthful or not. Since if you know they’re lying or bending the truth. When you ask questions you don’t know the answer to, you know how they will behave. Note: it’s important the person you’re questioning doesn’t know that you know the objective facts, you’re asking them about. Switch in Timings: Personally, I really like this point because I definitely understand it, and it is useful to confuse people with. And yes, I am that horrible sometimes! During questioning sessions, it can be very useful to switch between the past, present and the future intentions or tenses. Since this is often very mentally demanding for liars. Meaning overtime liars will reveal their deception because they will make errors, contradict themselves or they contradict the facts that the questioner knows. Enquire and Converse, Not Aggressive: This is common sense to some extent because I think we all know the classic interrogation scene when the questioners shouts and screams at the person, and they suddenly reveal everything, is false. In realty, when you question someone, this is a complex social interaction where both parties aren’t exactly comfort. Therefore, this social interaction will often be more pleasant as well as far, far more productive if the person asking the questions can engage with the person in an information-gathering manner. Instead of being aggressive, formal, and accusatory. Ask Clarification Questions: These types of questions get the person being questions to explain previous answers in more detail. For liars, this is difficult because they can struggle with detail as well as there can be inconsistencies in their recapping or repeating of details. Overall Conclusion: Despite these psychological techniques being very good, spotting liars is still a great challenge. However, real world research has known that our ability to spot liars can significantly improve when these approaches are put together and used systematically when asking people questions. I really hope you enjoyed today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast. If you liked this episode and want to support the Podcast, please check out: YOUR FREE AND EXCLSUIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Forensic Psychology Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. References: Bogaard, G., Meijer, E. H., Vrij, A., & Merckelbach, H. (2016). Strong, but wrong: Lay people’s and police officers’ beliefs about verbal and nonverbal cues to deception. PloS one, 11(6), e0156615. Dando, C. J., & Bull, R. (2011). Maximising opportunities to detect verbal deception: Training police officers to interview tactically. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 8(2), 189-202. Dando, C. J., & Ormerod, T. C. (2020). Noncoercive human intelligence gathering. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(8), 1435–144 Ormerod, T. C., & Dando, C. J. (2015). Finding a needle in a haystack: Toward a psychologically informed method for aviation security screening. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(1), 76. Sandham, A. L., Dando, C. J., Bull, R., & Ormerod, T. C. (2020). Improving Professional Observers’ Veracity Judgements by Tactical Interviewing. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 1-9.

In today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we look at the cognitive psychology topic of the ‘Fast Development= Risky Vaccine’ Intuition. This episode has been sponsored by my Psychology 2021 Dairies. The ‘Fast Development= Risky Vaccine’ Intuition: All over the world there are multiple vaccines being approved for use and I’m very excited about the rollout of these vaccines so life can get back to normal. And vaccines are the only way we’re going to get out of COVID-19 pandemic. However, recent surveys (links in the reference) have found in the USA between a third and half of surveyed people wouldn’t take a vaccine even if it was widely available and free. I think this is shocking. The major reason for this hesitation is called: the ‘Fast Development= Risky Vaccine’ Intuition. Lay Theories: This intuition is an example of a lay theory. Another term for a theory made up by people to help them navigate their every day, and it makes the world make sense to them. These theories are very common in behaviour and they influence our behaviour a lot, they’re hard to change and common forms of consumer understanding. One common example of a lay theory is the false idea that unhealthy foods are tasty, whereas healthy foods are tasteless. I know this couldn’t be further from the truth because you can buy some great tasting healthy foods. ‘Fast Development= Risky Vaccine,’ Intuition: The intuition developed because multiple trustworthy sources have been a vaccine takes between 10 and 15 years to develop. This allows people to set a baseline for a vaccine. Meaning when multiple vaccines are developed under the course of a year. People are rightfully going to be suspicious. I understand it. In addition, in the US media, politicians and other experts have constantly been mentioning the speed of the vaccine development. Again, this reinforces the concern of others. Also, at the beginning of the pandemic, there were lots of cautionary statements from experts about the speed of the development. Overall, it isn’t hard for people who are already suspicious of vaccines to make up an intuition were the speedy developments means an increased risk of the vaccine. How Do You Change This So-called Intuition? I’m afraid to say this is difficult because this is an example of an implicit attitude, so lots of people don’t even realise they have this intuition that’s stopping them from getting the vaccine. Additionally, implicit attitudes are hard to change. Two suggested ways of helping to break this ‘Fast Development= Risky Vaccine’ Intuition is: · Updating people on risks and information. · Telling people how the vaccines work since people fear the unknown. How the Vaccine Works: To prepare for this article, I researched how the COVID-19 vaccines work and I’ve included a great article in the references. In short, the vaccines work by injecting a dead or inactive strain of the virus into your bloodstream. Then the virus RNA is detected by the body. Note: virus is dead or inactive so it CANNOT grow, development or do anything to you! Resulting in the body triggering an immune response. Then, for lack of a better term, the body remembers the antibodies to use when a live strain of the virus enters your body. This isn’t anything new because this is how lots of vaccines work and millions of lives are saved each year. Like: The Flu, MMR and many other vaccines. Final Note: I know this is a scary time but please get vaccinated. I truly don’t want anything bad to happen to any of you, so please stay safe and when you can become vaccinated. GET IT! We are only going to get out of this crisis if enough people are vaccinated. Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. References: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-science-behind-behavior/202012/unpacking-the-fast-development-risky-vaccine-intuition https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/how-they-work.html

Today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast is on the social psychology topic of How to Achieve Your New Year's Resolutions? This episode has been sponsored by Forensic Psychology. Therefore, in this episode, I want to talk about three tips to help you achieve your goals. Also, I recommend making some personal goals for the new year because this has a number of benefits. Including, if you're having a bad day or a dip in your mental health then these goals could help to remind you your life is meaningful and great. Do something truly meaningful: When it comes to new year resolutions, I think this the most overlooked idea. This is because resolutions are meant to be tons that you WANT to do as these will help you and improve yourself. Therefore, I stress to you please make them meaningful because if you don't, you won't stick to them. For example, a common and pointless resolution is 'I want to be a nicer person' Now that is an okay resolution but its not very meaningful by itself. Because how are you going to be nicer and why do you want to be nicer? Thus, I highly recommend you make it more meaningful by adding a few words to explain it and make it more specific. Since this will remind you why you're doing it for the times when you want to give up. For example, 'I want to be a nicer person to my grandparents so I can have a better relationship with them' Overall, to stick to your new year resolutions please make them more meaningful so you can remind yourself why you're doing them for the difficult times. Reward yourself This is simple- when it comes to doing a task, resolution or anything you need to reward yourself so you brain releases dopamine. Making you feel great. Otherwise, you will get no dopamine release and the task will not make your feel good. Your reward can be as simple as buying a cheap item (like a book) everytime you reach a milestone. Or you stack your rewards to get big reward at the end. For instance, referring back to our example, 'I will allow myself to buy an ebook everything time, I go and visit my grandparents and be nice to them) Or ' I will allow myself to buy a new ereader after I have visited my grandparents 5 times' Overall, you should try to reward yourself to get the release of dopamine that makes you feel great! Don't bite off more than you can chew: However, please don't bite off more than you can chew. In short, don't do tens of resolutions. Maybe do 1 or 2 or even 3 but don't overwhelm yourself. Since you will not be able to do that all effectively. Then the failure could make you feel bad and then this could affect your motivation for the rest of the resolutions. Therefore, I suggestion is focus on 1 or 2 manageable resolutions and get them done perfectly. So, I really hope you're enjoyed today's episode. If you want to learn more about biological and cognitive psychology then please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Forensic Psychology Have a great day! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/science-and-sensibility/201012/new-year-resolution-procrastination

In today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we’re going to be looking at the psychological approaches using the A Level Psychology syllable. This episode has been sponsored by Cognitive Psychology 2nd Edition. A level Psychology: I know I don’t typically look at psychology for students on the podcast but I like to change things up every once in a while. Therefore, I think in today’s episode it would be good to go back to the basics of psychology because not everyone knows what the approaches in psychology are. I certainly didn’t know. So, I hope you can learn something from today’s episode. Note: A Level Psychology is a subject or option 16 to 18 years old can do as part of their education in 6th Form or High School. Also, I’m not going to be talking about the approaches that are based on cognitive psychology, social psychology or biological psychology since The Psychology World Podcast talks a lot about these topics. Finally, this blog post/ psychology podcast episodes featured extracts of my free eBook What is Psychology? Available in eBook format from all major eBook retailers, and paperback from Amazon. The Approaches to Psychology The Behaviourist Approach: The first approach we’ll be looking at focuses on the human mind being a black box so there's an input and there's a behavioural output. For instance, if I was tapped on the shoulder then this information would be sent to my brain (the input) afterwards my brain would tell me to turn around. (the output) Additionally, behaviourists believe that people behave because of life experience and it completely ignores cognitive and biological factors. For example, a person could be rewarded for performances and behaviours or it could be punished. This life experience affects how they will behave in the future. Another example would be that according to this approach depression would be caused by bullying only and it wouldn’t consider genetic factors or cognitive/thinking style. Assumptions of the Behaviorist Approach: In behaviourism, there are the following assumptions about human behaviour: humans are born like a blank slate meaning that humans learn from their environment. This assumption follows the debate that human behaviour is based on nurture; how you bring up a child; compared to our genetics. In addition, behaviourism has the assumption that humans learn through conditioning. For example, if you are punished after being ‘naughty’ then you have been conditioned (learnt) not to behave in that way again. Finally, the behaviourists believe that humans, as well as animals, learn in similar ways. The main reason for this is probably because behaviourists and psychologists, in general, tend to animals in their experiments. Resulting in animal behaviour being compared to human behaviour often. This can be seen throughout my books. For instance, if Romeo (2014)’s study on oxytocin and social bonding on dogs in Biological Psychology 2nd Edition. Psychodynamic approach to Psychology: This approach proposes that human behaviour is as a result of the unconscious mind and emotions that are beyond our conscious awareness. For example, childhood memories that could be traumatic will influence our behaviour in the future. Assumptions: Firstly, the psychodynamic approach believes that the events of our childhood have a massive impact on our adult life. Personally, I think this to be true as research has shown that trauma in childhood does affect your adult life. A personal example would be the betrayals that I faced as a child greatly affects my ability to trust others as an adult. Secondly, the psychodynamic approach believes in the unconscious mind. In other words, Freud believed that the mind is like an iceberg because most of the mind’s working are underneath our conscious awareness. In addition, Freud believed that the unconscious is responsible for most of our behaviour because we are driven by unconscious drives. For example, we perform the behaviour of eating because the unconscious drive to survive and we need the energy from food to survive. Lastly, the psychodynamic approach to behaviour proposes that the personality is made up of three parts that develop over time. For example: · The Id develops at birth and this part of the personality is the unconscious mind that seeks to gain pleasurable no matter the cost. · The Ego develops around the age of two years old and this part of the personality is the rational consciousness. This aspect must balance the need for pleasure and getting this pleasure in a socially acceptable way. · The Superego develops around the age of four years old and this part encompasses the child’s sense of right, wrong as well as the ideal self. This develops through identifying with one’s parents or guardians, as well as the superego aims to civilise and perfect our behaviour. Of course, there are issues with this approach to behaviour; like all approaches; but that is what the psychodynamic approach proposes. The positive psychology approach: Finally, the positive approach believes that psychology should study the positive aspects of human behaviour as well as positive human qualities, so people can live more fulfilled lives. In addition, it's the belief that people want to enhance the experience of play, work and love that this approach is based on. Assumptions: Firstly, the positive approach acknowledges that humans have free will meaning that humans have a choice in their behaviour and how to act. Whilst, this is debated in psychology. The focus of this section is to merely introduce what the approaches propose. Secondly, the positive approach proposes that human goodness and positive emotions are authentic. I know that this wording may seem strange but in psychology, there’s a focus on the negative emotions without acknowledging the positive emotions In other words, this assumption means that psychology needs to acknowledge that happiness and other positive emotions are as important and serve our attention as much as negative emotions. Finally, the positive approach looks at ‘the good life’ which are a set of factors that look at what makes a human life well-lived. The findings by Seligman (2003) show that the following lives are important, and they can flow in order: · The pleasant life- in this life positivity comes from the active purse of positive emotions in relation to the past, present and future. · The good life- positivity is reached by pursuing activities that positively engage with us as well as absorb us. · The meaningful life- this approach to life means that we get enjoy from fulfilling a purpose that is greater than ourselves. Personally, for the meaningful life is writing and being an author because it means that I can write these books and hopefully serve people in their quest to understand human behaviour. I really hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. If you want to learn more and show the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Cognitive Psychology 2nd Edition Have a great day! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast looks at the social psychology topic of 4 tips to help couples resolve arguments. This episode has been sponsored by my psychology journals/ psychology notebooks. (They make create gifts!) Tips to help couples resolve Arguments: Let's face it couples fight and sometimes Arguments can be positive as it can allow you express thoughts and feelings that you've been building. Allowing you to possibly resolve them. Plus, I truly believe that people can grow through conflict as it can allow you express and resolve issues so you can both better the relationship. However, Arguments can awful if all you do is argue. Especially, over something you can't agree on. For example, where to go on holiday. Let's look at some possible tips: Understand the Interest, not the position itself: Let's say you were fighting about where to go on holiday and you wanted to go to the Caribbean but your partner wanted to go to Paris. And you too couldn't stop arguing and find a solution. Therefore, you might want to think about why you want to go to the Caribbean or Paris. You might want to go because the Caribbean has sunshine and hot temperatures. Then your partner might want to go to Paris for the history and cafes. So, now you know your interests, it turns out you don’t want to go to the Caribbean or Paris. You want to go to somewhere sunny with history and cafes. The whole point of this tip is to help you both become more flexible and find a resolution that you both like. Perhaps in this example, you might both want to visit Rome because it has cafes, sunshine and history. Quid Pro Quo: This tip is quote simple because you might want to come to an agreement saying if we do what I want. Then I do something that I don’t don’t really want to do for you. Like, if you hate cars but your partner loves them then you go to their car thing. In exchange for doing something you love. It's all about compromise. Take Turns: Going back to our holiday example, to resolve this argument the couple might want to think about simply taking turns. So, this year they go to the Caribbean and next year the couple could go to Paris. This way both members of the couple can get what they want. Flip a Coin: I suppose if everything else fails then the couple could flip a coin because at least some sort of decision could be made. At the end of the day, this could help the couple not to argue and could save them arguing for weeks or months. If this didn’t work, then professional counselling might be an idea. So, I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology Journals Have a great day! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: Fisher, R., Ury, W.L., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to Yes. Westminster, London: Penguin Books.

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast is on the cognitive psychology topic of the Psychology of Christmas Gifting Giving. This episode is sponsored by Formulation in Psychotherapy. Psychology of Christmas Gifting Giving and Cognitive Psychology: With Christmas just a few weeks away, I know many people have probably done their Christmas shopping, but I want to help people in the present and future. Because I know finding the right gift is hard, but hopefully this episode will be helpful. Also, this episode will mainly focus on people’s mistakes when choosing a gift. Choosing What You Like: Now, I know many people are guilty of this mistake, but I understand it. We are related to people, so surely we have common interests? Well, that probably isn’t true for several reasons. For example, in my own family, my mum and dad love cars, but I don’t. Therefore, if my parents got me a car present because they liked it. Then I would be very disappointed. Bringing in a bit of cognitive psychology here, people have a tendency to overestimate how many people like what we Like, and this is an outstanding example of poor perspective taking. You can’t perform the Other Taking Perspective and put yourself in their shoes. Christmas giving tip- when you pick a gift ask yourself are you buying it because they will like it or because you will like it. Choosing goods over experiences In the Western world, countries that are highly economically developed or above the Brandt line. We have an abundance of goods mostly of the time, and we are spoiled for choice. For example, right now I’m writing this blog post on my smartphone in my nice warm bed. I’m surrounded by other examples of technology, books and more. Sadly, some people don’t have access to this abundance and can only or just meet the baud needs. This people we need to help and support. This is why with my Global Author Brand I’m going to be focusing on something to help people next year. As a result of this abundance, research has shown they receiving material goods over memories, beyond fulfilling basic needs, has no measurable physical or psychological gain. This has been supported by a US survey of 1,279 students. A lot of my own family supports this idea as I love going to places and seeing the world and creating new memories. Also, as I’m impossible to buy for as people like to tell me. I tend to ask for tickets to the London Book Fair for Christmas. Because it saves me the money but it means I can have the experience of going to a major conference, seeing my role models and having great conversations. Christmas giving tips- give someone an experience. Whether it’s a holiday, a spa day, the theatre, etc. Refusing to ask questions: As always one purpose of The Psychology World Podcast is to debunk myths, and this is the biggest mistake people make. Because there is nothing wrong with asking people "what do you want for Christmas? Or" do you want x or y?" This is only wrong if you're using it to get out of trying to find a present. If not, this is fine because you're showing to them you care and you want to get them something they will love. Christmas giving tip- ask questions and have fun! I really hope you've found this useful. Have a great day, everyone! CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: Try to Avoid These 6 Gift-Giving Mistakes | Psychology Today UK

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast is on How Social Media Benefits Us? Therefore, we are looking at social psychology. This episode is sponsored by my free eBook What is Psychology? How Can Social Media Benefit Us? Within psychology and wider society, social media is constantly and rightfully complained a lot because social media has a lot of downsides. From cyberbullying to mental health to body image. There are a lot of problems with social media. However, in this social psychology episode, I wanted to take a positive spin and show the positive sides of social media. Large Scale, Immediate Validation: As humans, we love to be validated. We love people to say well done or great job to us. It’s who we are. And social media provides us with this instant, because you can post a photo or post about your achievement and other people get to see it. Giving you tens or hundreds of comments and likes. Therefore, you instantly feel good about yourself and after you’ve achieved something you need to validation to stay motivated. For example, when I released episode 61 of the podcast with J. F Penn, I posted it on my private Facebook profile- so I could get validated for landing an interview with a great guest. Appreciation: Another typical feature of the human experience is appreciation because we all love to feel appreciated and we like to give appreciation. I know as an author. I have done with plenty of times. Because of if there’s a particular company or author, I want to give a outshout to in another country. I can easily tweet my appreciation. I have done plenty of networking this way. For example, J. F Penn lives half the country away from me, so I could never show my appreciation to her without social media. Plus, it’s not only great to give out appreciation. It’s great to be thanked for showing appreciation. Again, my use of Twitter is proof of that. In short, social media is a great tool to feel appreciation from others and receiving it yourself. This greatly benefits well-being. Crowdsourcing: Personally, this is my favourite use of social media because I’m a part of two major author Facebook groups, and they are amazing! For the sole reason of picking other authors’ brains about writing, publishing and marketing and other things. This allows me to crowdsource ideas and help other authors without ever meeting or talking to them. without social media, I and a lot of other authors would have been stuck! The same goes for psychology Facebook groups! Conclusion: Yes, social media has a lot of problems, but there are benefits. It’s jobs as psychologists and/ or people interested in psychology to help people use social media for the positives. I really hope you’re enjoyed today’s episode. If you want to support the podcast, please check out: · FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. References: Bingham, P. M., & Souza, J. (2009). Death from a distance and the birth of a humane universe. Lexington, KY: BookSurge Publishing. Geher, G. (2020). An evolutionary perspective on the real problem with increased screen time. This View of Life. Geher, G. & Wedberg, N. (2020). Positive Evolutionary Psychology: Darwin’s Guide to Living a Richer Life. New York: Oxford University Press.

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast focuses on clinical and abnormal psychology on How to Help Men and their Mental Health? This episode is sponsored by my book Cognitive Psychology 2nd Edition Why Focus on Male Mental Health? In this episode, I wanted to focus on male mental health because it is difficult for men to get help for their mental health difficulties for many reasons. Including, societal stereotypes. For example: men aren’t emotional, men aren’t weak, men are supposed to handle whatever life throws at them, and men don’t ask for help. This is rubbish in my opinion! If you’re a male listening to this episode, please DO NOT listen to these stupid stereotypes. Overall, it is more difficult to males to reach out to mental health services and get support because of several factors. Therefore, in this podcast episode, I want to talk about how to help males and their mental health. Let them know you’re there for them: I know I’ve mentioned this on the podcast before, but I will say it again. Just say to someone I am here for you if you ever need to talk. It is as simple as that. Even if the person doesn’t need you now. If they need you in the future, then at least they know you are there for them. Never, ever underestimate the power of knowing people can turn to you. This has other benefits. Like it can improve or deepen friendships since you are offering them a potential lifeline. That’s meaningful. I’m talking from experience! Keep in Touch: Another point is never underestimate the power of a text message or phone call because you are giving up your precious time to check on someone. Also, by texting or calling someone you are giving someone a chance to tell you about their mental health. This is important because if they feel trapped and alone. Then they receive your text or call them it makes them feel less alone. Afterwards, they might want to get professional help. Personally, I know during lockdown I’ve been texting lots of people to check in with them. To make sure they’re okay. In short, text and keep in touch with people. Find out another local mental health services: This is really important because if someone tells you they are having a mental health difficulty then you might need to signpost them to a particular service. Meaning they can get professional help. For example, if you live in the UK then you might want to signpost people towards Mind.org or the Samaritans for support. Research mental health services in your local area so you know where to direct your friend or loved one when they need it. Reassure them: This links back to the stereotypes and all the reasons why males don’t seek support. For this point, you might want to reassure them it is fine to seek support, and it doesn’t make you weak or messed up. Contact the GP, do it for them, Offer to Accompany: If you live in the UK then our doctors, or the ones you see first are called, GPs and urge the person with the mental health difficulties to contact the GP. To get the ball rolling to seeing professional help. If the male or other person is resistant, offer to do it for them. They should appreciate it. And most importantly offer to accompany them to the appointment. Experiencing a mental health difficulty is a difficult and emotional time. Therefore, if you offer to accompany them, it shows you’re a great person who wants to support them, and this is will provide extra support for the person at this troublesome time. Take Care for Yourself: I know how difficult and emotional it can be to look after someone who is struggling, but you must look after yourself. You need to still have fun and maintain your mental health. So, please be careful, have fun and let’s work towards a future where everyone can seek help for their mental health. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode. If you want to learn more, please check out the links below: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Abnormal Psychology 2nd Edition Have a great day, everyone! Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/keeping-even-keel/202011/let-s-hear-it-the-boy I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog from now on and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show onetime support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Today’s episode is on the psychology of religion, Carl Jung and more with J.F Penn. I love the interview and hopefully you will to. Psychology of Religion Interview with J. F Penn Connor: Joanna Penn writes nonfiction for authors and is an award nominated New York Times and USA Today bestselling author as J.F. Penn. She's a podcaster and award-winning Entrepreneur. She has a master's in theology from the University of Oxford, Mansfield College and also a postgraduate diploma in psychology from the University of Auckland, which I think is a great bio. Hi Joanna, and welcome to the show. Thanks for being here. Joanna: Thanks for having me, Connor, and this is a great topic. I love talking about psychology, and of course we both write fiction, so I'm thrilled to be here. Connor: Yeah, great. For people who don't necessarily know you, just introduce yourself and how you got into psychology please. Joanna: Yeah, sure. So I write under two names: Joanna Penn as nonfiction, and I write as J.F. Penn. I write thrillers and dark fantasy. But before that, I used to work in the corporate world. I used to implement accounts payable in large corporates, and so that was sort of my day job for many years. But taking it back even further, as you said, I did a degree in theology at Oxford, and I specialized in the psychology of religion. And, in fact, it's kind of funny because going back even before that was when I did psychology A level, of course, where here in the UK we do A levels which is between the ages of 16 and 18. And I did psychology, and I still remember my teacher, Anthony, and he was just fantastic. I loved the course, and I've always read books about psychology. You know, it's the study of mind and behavior, as you know and the listeners know. So, I mean, it's just crucial to our lives. So as time went on, you know, and I specialized in psychology of religion, and when I did my post-grade diploma in psychology in Auckland, I was going to go into clinical psychology. That was the goal. I was going to get a job as a psychologist. I was ready to retrain because I just loved the study. And I see, you know, you've looked at normal psychology on your podcast, and I was fascinated by brain injuries and the kind of weird stuff that can happen. It was all just so interesting, but when I looked at the reality of the job, the job of a clinical psychologist mainly in New Zealand, which is a very small population, the work was either depression and anxiety (that's pretty much bread and butter for clinical psychology) or working in the prison system. And those were, like, the main jobs. So I was like, okay, I don't really want to do either of these things, but I love the study. And so I kept up my interest in psychology with reading, listening to audio books, and, of course, including it in my fiction because in my ARKANE series my main character, Morgan Sierra is in fact a psychologist, ex-military psychologist. So yeah, that's kind of how I got into it. It's definitely a topic I'm fascinated with and still read about all the time. Connor: Yeah. That's brilliant because I had no idea that you wanted to be a clinical psychologist. Yes, that's really good. Why do you use psychology in your fiction? What makes you want to, like, add it in? Because I think sometimes I think about that I would like to, but sometimes I'm thinking about, well, what if I get it wrong or something like that? Joanna: Yeah. Well, I think for me, writing fiction is about writing what you're interested in. Like, some people say, "Write what you know," but you and I, like, I've had a look at some of your books. I mean, we don't write what we know. You know, I'm not an ex-Israeli military psychologist, you know, going around with a gun. You have a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, don't you? We make things up. That's what we do. But writing fiction, to me, I love the research and turning that research into a story, and being curious, and following your interests. And all the things that you might love to read about you can also write about. Now I know because you are studying psychology, the things that you study for a degree exam, for example, or a job, that might not be quite the fringes of psychology that I'm interested in. So when I started with Morgan Sierra she was at the University of Oxford as well, so I used a lot of my background there, and the places that she goes to, she has a mentor who's at Black Friars. Her mentor is a monk. And I actually had a monk who was one of my tutors. So you can put real things into fiction, but equally you're going to be fictionalizing that. So I think I use it because I want to continue my research, and there are some things I'm so fascinated with, and we'll come back to that in minute. But equally, I want to twist that into a story somehow, and so I think your concern that you might not have it correct, there is a big difference between a nonfiction psychology textbook, and I know you have that kind of writing, but also a story where you can use concepts, but you don't have to be exactly right because nobody is using your work as a textbook. I mean, obviously if you're referring to people and places and ideas then you can easily kind of credit those ideas within your text. You know, one of your characters does some research and comes up with it, but I really like using it because it sparks my imagination into stories. Connor: Okay then. That's really good points. In fiction though, I definitely prefer just to blow things up and just travel the galaxy and just kill things, basically. Joanna: Which you can't do in your psychology textbook. And in fact, it's interesting because we, you know, as writers of more, I guess, thrilling books and having an eyebrow up, a lot people, when they have sort of mass extinction events and stuff like that, and it's, you know... Connor: Yeah, quite dark stuff. Joanna: Yeah, dark stuff that might be considered by some in the psychology world to be on the end of, you know, the more negative side of personality traits. And yeah, I think we would both say that writing our fiction and writing our stories almost helps. It's almost therapy for getting out some of our darker ideas, and then we can just be totally normal in our lives. Connor: Yeah, definitely. Yes. "Crypt of Bone" is one of my favourite books because I think it's the most James Bond-like. Yes, and in writing too. There's certain things you study in the book based on your master's dissertation, which is the psychology of obedience. Why do people do things in the name of God? Can you tell us a bit about that? Because I think it sounds really interesting. Joanna: Yeah, sure. Yes, as you say, I did my dissertation for my master's, and it was in 1997, so this was way before, you know, people published dissertations or anything. So it's not, like, something people can find. But it was based on, again, back in my A level days, we learned about Milgram's, Stanley Milgram's shock experiments which you just couldn't do it anymore because it's got so many ethical problems. But basically it was about obedience to authority figures. So if people don't know that study, essentially there were people in white coats, and this was not necessarily actual doctors, you know. It might have been, you know what psychology experiments are in universities, right? So you might have been the guy with the clipboard wearing a white coat, and then volunteers came in. And the person in the white coat, which was a man, this was back in the 1960s. So a man in a white coat tells the volunteer to shock someone in another room when they get the questions wrong. So they can't see this person, but they talk to them. They know they're a real person. This is not fake. You know, this is before, way before the internet, so, you know, people were believing that what they were doing was hurting another person. And then as they got things wrong, and of course the person on the other side was a plant, and they were getting things wrong, and the volunteer would shock them. And they would shock them all the way up to this danger of death mark on the dial, and the person next door was screaming, and then at one point they went quiet. And the people who were doing the shocking were the...obviously they're the ones in the experiment, but they didn't know what it was really about. Someone in a white coat told them to do something. So someone in authority said, "Do this," and they did it. And I think why this was so shocking is because in the 1960s people were obviously still shocked, and perhaps we still are, about the atrocities of the Second World War. So, you know, why did millions of Jews and Gypsies and gay people, you know, end up in the camps? And why were they killed in such horrific ways? And people said, "I was following orders. So I did things because someone in authority told me to." And this is something that goes across the whole world. And I think I was so affected by that study because I realized that I'm a law abiding person, you know. We're recording this during lockdown in the UK, and I'm obeying the rules and doing the right thing. If someone in authority has told us to behave in a certain way, I mean, it's quite different to killing someone, but it is still, there is an in-built thing in our human brains that says if an authority figure says something, then do it. So that was one thing. And then also, I worked out in the Middle East before university and then also during, and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist... So you're much younger than me, but Yitzhak Rabin was the Israeli prime minister. He shook hands with Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn in 1993. And I used to work in the Middle East. I was campaigning for peace in the Middle East, and that was the most hopeful moment in the Middle East peace process, and it has never come back. And what happened soon after that is Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist who said God told him to do it. And then I was also looking at the story of Abraham in the Bible who goes to sacrifice his son because God says, "Go and sacrifice your son to me." And so Abraham does take him up to the top of the mountain and is holding a knife. You know, he ties his son down, holds a knife, and then only at the last minute does God provide a ram to sacrifice. But, you know, it's kind of, who knows what could have happened? So those are some of the things around the Milgram shock experiment. And then I also combined that with the God helmet. So known as the God helmet, another psychological study by Dr. Michael Persinger where stimulation of the temporal lobe can make people see visions of God or the supernatural. And many of the saints (in inverted commas) were kind of, maybe had temporal lobe epilepsy. So the whole story of "Crypt of Bone," obviously there's lots of great bones and ossuaries and stuff like that, but the ideas behind it all came from technology and what would happen if you combined a God helmet that could tell people to do things in the name of God and the idea of Milgram. So I'm really glad you like it. Connor: Yeah. Wow, because I always thought that "Crypt of Bone" was always a bit, I don't know, but a bit farfetched because I always wanted to know, like, could that ever happen? I know the God helmet is, like, wow. That's just really, like interesting. Thank you. Joanna: I always include an author's note in the back of all my books where I outline the research behind the story. So that's something that I suggest for authors or for writers in general. I mean, I love that. As a reader I love reading the author's notes. In fact, if there isn't an author's note I get quite upset. So there's something for you. Connor: Yeah, but I like listening to the audio books, which, in your audio books, I don't think there is the author's note. Joanna: No, that's a good point. I don't have them in the audio books, for sure. Connor: Yeah, but I always like to include author's notes in my fiction because of the human branding effect because it gets people to know that you're a real person. Joanna: Absolutely. Connor: Yeah, but then I also like listening to "Stone of Fire." In one of our emails, when you talked about "The Red Book," what is that? Joanna: Yes. So Carl Jung, basically he wrote a lot of books, but the "The Red Book" was essentially Carl Jung's sort of breakdown. And it was closed. It was private. It was a private book owned by his family, his estate. And of course he was a very famous psychologist. People should know that. But essentially "The Red Book" was opened to the public and first published in 2009, which is when I started writing my first novel, "Stone of Fire." And I actually have a copy myself. I bought one of the first editions. Yeah, it's massive. If you stretch out your arm, it's about as big as your arm, and it's huge. It's really heavy, and it's got full color paintings, full color copies of the paintings. So Jung painted these pictures, and he wrote a journal, basically. It's a beautiful book. Have a look online for Carl Jung's "The Red Book." Now in that book is a painting by Carl Jung of a pillar of fire spouting from this stone in a room, and incorporated that into my story also. And I always try and make everything as real as possible. Now, Carl Jung did travel to North Africa, where I set some of the stuff, and also to North America and Clark University where I did set some of the book. And he also counseled the physicist Wolfgang Pauli on his dreams. In fact, Carl Jung's book "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" is probably the one that's most known to psychology students. It's a good place to start. But I find I use a lot of Carl Jung's ideas in my books, and many of us do without necessarily realizing it. So his idea of the shadow is something I keep coming back to. So, you know, where there is light there must also be a shadow. And by integrating that darker side into our lives we can become whole, whereas if we deny that darker side we will never be a whole person. And also he wrote books about spirituality and the occult. And he really blended the clinical side, his clinical practice with the mystical side. And he also wrote a book on "Psychology and Alchemy." He was, like, a stone mason. He had a tower at Bollingen in Switzerland, and he made these kind of totemic objects which he kept in his stone tower. And he was a disciple, I guess you could call it, of Sigmund Freud, but he split with Freud over various ideas. But certainly I find that Carl Jung's work, if you're purely into clinical psychology, it's not so relevant, but if you accept that the study of mind and behavior also has to cover religion, supernatural, occult, the darker side of humans, then you should definitely be reading Carl Jung. Connor: Okay. Yeah, definitely. I know that we were talking before the interview, when you mentioned Carl Jung. Yes, so the reason why I never did it and the reason quite a lot of listeners probably might not have done it, rather, is it because I never did the A levels school or because I did the International Baccalaureate. Yes, in that we don't go into the psycho-dynamic approach, which is a bit weird. Joanna: Yeah, no, I can understand that, and I think it's... But it's good to read around the things that you find fascinating. That's what's nice about psychology. Obviously there are so many kind of subsets of psychology that you can become interested in. I would say that obviously the world is quite different now to how it was during Carl Jung's time, for example. I'm not sure, I mean, there are people who are Jungian psychologists who follow that kind of way, but they don't necessarily have a clinical practice. But I think a lot of people use it has part of their insight into the human condition. I think that would probably be the best way to put it. Connor: Okay, thank you. I'll read up on that. You also mentioned there was the "Psychology and Alchemy" book. Tell us a bit more about that please because alchemy, yeah, it does sound interesting. Joanna: Yeah. Actually, it's a really big book. He's an incredible writer, Carl Jung, and of course we're both writers. So it's important to, you know, he was so prolific, an incredible worker. And, yeah, so "Psychology and Alchemy" is pretty dense, to be honest, I would say. Read the crib notes. It is pretty dense. But at the basic heart of it, alchemy is turning base metal into gold. But you could see that as a chemist, as in doing some kind of chemical reaction, but his study was more about what that means for human development. So if you think that we are all base metal and that we all have our imperfections, you know, we have a character that might not be well formed. Obviously we don't know everything. We might have flaws that we can improve. And then the process of alchemy is turning that into something precious. And so the idea really is for all of us to look at what we have as ourselves. You know, we don't have any choice in who we are, but what we can do is choose to improve ourselves, and that's definitely the side of psychology where I'm interested now whereas I started out being interested in things like brain injury. I'm now really interested in how we can improve ourselves and turn ourselves from, you know, that base metal into something precious. And that something precious might be, you know, becoming the best psychologist that we can be so that we can help other people or becoming the best writer that we can be. And I've actually used some of these principles, some psychological principles, more positive psychology probably in my book "The Successful Author Mindset," which is definitely about sort of facing up to the fears and the doubts and all the issues that we have in our lives as writers, and then how we can overcome them and integrate them into ourselves so that we can help other people, and we can reach readers with our books, and entertain people. So, yeah, I think "Psychology and Alchemy," I wouldn't start there. If you've never read any Carl Jung then definitely start with "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" which is a bit lighter, then there's certainly a lot more. Connor: Okay. That's such a beautiful way to think of people. Thank you for that. We're almost out of time. I could talk to you all day. Where can people find you and your books online? Joanna: Sure. Well, for my fiction, I write as J.F. Penn, and my website is https://www.jfpenn.com All my books are in all the usual places. And then my books for authors, like "The Successful Author Mindset" I wrote under Joanna Penn, and my website is: https://www.thecreativepenn.com And, like you, I have podcasts. I have "The Creative Penn" podcast, which is for writers, and my other podcast is called "Books and Travel" where I interview authors about the places behind their books. So yeah, that's where you can find me. Connor: Yeah. I think that what Joanna does is absolutely brilliant. I highly recommend her. CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET AND EMAIL COURSE I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast is a cognitive psychology episode on How to Deal with Negative Emotions and Thoughts? As the UK heads back into lockdown and the other negative events happening in the world, I wonder it would be useful to tell people some ways of how to deal with their negative emotions. That’s the focus of this cognitive psychology episode. Look for Positives: I know this is difficult, especially when you consider the times; we are in with the UK going into lockdown amongst other things. However, if you try, then I promise you there are some positives. For example, as a result of lockdown, my mum is off work so I get to see her more. I know one of my mum’s friends are glad as it gives them time to clear out the garage. Personally, the positive I’m taking away from lockdown is that the rate of infection, daily deaths, and number of cases will all fall. Meaning with we are a step closer to ‘defeating the virus’ Overall, trying to think about the positives should make you feel better. What Your Feeling is Temporary: I cannot stress this point enough because if you’re feel sad or anger because of lockdown or certain political events in the world. Then I encourage you to think about that these events are temporary. Lockdown will end. Political upheaval will end. Brexit uncertainty will end. Everything that is causing you to felt sad, angry, etc will end. So, please bear that in mind. Don’t judge yourself for feeling how you do: I know from personal experience that you can get very annoyed at yourself for feeling a certain way. For instance, why am I mad about lockdown? I’m so stupid for feeling this way. And I can assure you it is ‘normal’ to get annoyed at yourself, but it’s not healthy and it will only make your problems worse. So, you might want to consider (I have found this helpful in the past) sitting down on my bed or something and doing a few simple things: · Ask yourself, why am I feeling this way? · Think about it · When you have a few ideas, · Acknowledge them · Decide how you’re going to move forward I occasionally do this thinking exercise (if you can call it that) when I’m angry, sad, or some other range of emotion. Typically, it works for me, so hopefully it will work for you too. Other ideas: There’s a wide range of ideas about how to deal with negative thoughts. Here are some other ideas that I’ve already mentioned on The psychology World Podcast before: · Exercise · Use self-compassion · Have a social support network of friends and family · Write about your feelings I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I found this method extremely helpful in the past. Regarding a traumatic experience I had. Overall, I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s cognitive psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast. If you want to learn more, then please check out the links below: · Cognitive Psychology 2nd Edition · FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET · Abnormal Psychology 2nd Edition Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog going forward and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show onetime support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: A. Washton & D. Boundy. Willpower's Not Enough for Recovering Addictions. New York: Harper, 1989

Today’s episode of The Psychology World Podcast is about: How can Halloween Benefit Mental Health? Therefore, today’s episode looks at abnormal psychology and social psychology as we’re looking at a social occasion. The highlighted product in today’s episode is buying direct from me can really help me as an author as I get a higher percentage of the sale. Meaning I can produce more content for you overtime. You can buy eBooks directly from me at: www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley British Psychological Society Submission Link (Deadline: 20th November 2020)- https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/what-very-important-thing-have-you-lost-or-found-your-psychology-journey The Effect of Halloween on Mental Health: When I realised, I wanted to do a Halloween podcast episode; I browsed articles and sources only to find a lot of them mentioned the negative impact of Halloween on people’s mental health. Especially if they suffered trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (condition) so I was glad when I found these sources. Personally, I don’t like Halloween. Moving on, one benefit of Halloween on mental health is it allows people to deal with the realisation that we will die. We will die one day. Now I know it sounds scary, but it is the true and therefore humans use a wide range of different tactics. To manage the anxiety and fear associated with death. For example, social groups, work and other meaningful activities. Therefore, Halloween allows us to deal with this fear by us seeing death in a more comical light. Also, this celebration, if you can call it that, gives us a chance to tap into our darker side and express ourselves in a socially sanctioned way. Fear Exposure: Furthermore, Halloween is a great way for fear exposure to occur because a lot of Halloween decoration is in the form of classic phobias. For instance, spiders and bugs. This helps our mental health because we are being exposed to our fears in a safe, controlled manner. This is good for everyone. Especially children as it shows that there’s nothing to be scared of and it’s effective for people who suffer from phobias for the same reason. Linking Fear Exposure to Phobias: If you’ve read Abnormal Psychology 2nd Edition, you’ll know that fear exposure is a great way to treat phobias as you’re breaking the association between the fear object and the response. That’s the short version. Taking that into counter, everyone is more or less taking part in a mass fear exposure theory session on Halloween. Neurobiological evidence supports this. (See the references to find out more) Conclusion: Overall, Halloween can benefit mental health because it allows us to help our anxieties and fear about death. Also, neurobiological studies support the idea that Halloween decorations and the celebration helps with fear exposure and phobias. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s abnormal psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast. If you want to learn more, please check out Abnormal Psychology 2nd Edition. Or sign up here for your FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET! Have a great day, everyone! References: Craske MG et al. Maximizing Exposure Therapy: An Inhibitory Learning Approach. Behav Res Ther. 2014 Jul; 58: 10–23. Garcia, R. Neurobiology of fear and specific phobias. Learn Mem. 2017 Sep; 24(9): 462–471