Psychology & Mind

The Psychology of People

Hosted by The Observer

Research-backed insights into why people think, feel, and behave the way they do.

71 Episodes

Episode Date Duration
Your Big Decisions Aren’t the Problem Jul 24, 2026 11 min What If Dog Psychology Has Been Asking the Wrong Dogs? Jul 23, 2026 11 min Why Galleries Feel Like a Workout for Your Nervous System Jul 21, 2026 11 min The Loss That Was Almost a Win: Why Near-Misses Change the Story We Tell Jul 18, 2026 11 min The Boundary That Became a Wall: How Therapy-Speak Changed Everyday Conflict Jul 3, 2026 10 min The Screenshot You Cannot Delete: Digital Hoarding and the Fear of Losing a Version of Yourself Jul 2, 2026 10 min The Moment the Crowd Becomes One Body: Why Live Music Feels Bigger Than Music Jun 30, 2026 11 min The Hand on Your Shoulder: Touch as a Hidden Regulator of Emotion Jun 26, 2026 10 min The Anxiety That Wants an Assignment: Climate Distress and the Need for Agency Jun 25, 2026 10 min The Outfit That Thinks With You: What Clothes Really Do to the Mind Jun 23, 2026 10 min The Red Light No One Is Watching: Why We Obey Rules That Cost Us Jun 22, 2026 10 min The Mind Without a Narrator: What Happens When You Don’t Have an Inner Voice Jun 21, 2026 10 min The Confession Nobody Understands: Why Innocent People Say They Did It Jun 20, 2026 12 min The Room Everyone Misreads: Why Groups Stay Silent About What Most People Actually Think Jun 19, 2026 10 min Limerence: When Your Mind Turns a Person Into a Loop Jun 18, 2026 10 min The Confidence That Collapses When You Try to Explain Jun 18, 2026 10 min The Unfinished Task That Keeps Calling Your Name Jun 14, 2026 11 min The Blush That Apologizes Before You Do: Embarrassment as Social Repair Jun 14, 2026 11 min The Tiny Movement That Makes You Furious: The Psychology of Misokinesia Jun 6, 2026 11 min Why a Year Felt Like Forever at Seven and Vanishes at Forty May 30, 2026 11 min The Secret That Hurts When Nobody Is Asking May 18, 2026 9 min The Song That Won’t Leave: Earworms as Mental Habits May 16, 2026 9 min The Last Note You Hear: How the Peak-End Rule Means Your Memories Are Lying to You May 10, 2026 10 min The Third-Person Trick: Why Talking to Yourself Using Your Own Name Changes Everything May 7, 2026 12 min Scared Together: Why Haunted Houses Are Better for Your Relationship Than Date Night May 6, 2026 12 min The Hidden Map in Your Nose: How Scientists Finally Cracked the Code of Smell May 5, 2026 11 min The Poverty Tax Your Brain Pays: How Scarcity Hijacks Your Mind Apr 30, 2026 11 min Nostalgia as Medicine: The Surprising Psychology of Looking Backward Apr 29, 2026 10 min Your Gut Feeling About Anxiety: How Bacteria in Your Intestines Control Fear in Your Brain Apr 28, 2026 12 min The Willpower Myth: What Really Happens When You're Mentally Exhausted Apr 27, 2026 13 min The Scroll That Feeds Itself: How Passive Social Media Use Creates a Loneliness Loop Apr 26, 2026 12 min Rewriting Nightmares While You Sleep: The Science of Memory Editing Apr 23, 2026 11 min Burnout at 25: Why Gen Z Is Hitting Peak Exhaustion 17 Years Earlier Than Their Parents Apr 22, 2026 11 min Why Your Brain Won't Stop Making the Same Bad Decisions Apr 19, 2026 11 min The Brain's Hidden Fear Engineers: How Astrocytes Rewrote Everything We Know About Memory Apr 16, 2026 10 min Cognitive Surrender: The Psychology of Letting AI Think for You Apr 15, 2026 12 min The Fear of Growing Old: How Aging Anxiety Literally Ages Your Cells Apr 14, 2026 11 min Imposter Syndrome: The Paradox of Competent People Who Can't See Their Own Success Apr 12, 2026 11 min The Ozempic Mind: When Weight Loss Drugs Reshape Your Psychology Apr 10, 2026 12 min Revenge Bedtime Procrastination: Why You Sabotage Your Sleep to Feel Free Apr 8, 2026 10 min The Scroll That Steals: Why Passive Social Media Use Drains Us While Active Engagement Heals Apr 3, 2026 12 min Empathy Atrophy: What AI Companions Are Doing to Human Connection Apr 2, 2026 11 min The Dating Recession: Why Gen Z Is Opting Out of Romance Apr 1, 2026 11 min It's Not Practice That Makes Perfect—It's Patience: How Timing Trumps Repetition in Learning Mar 31, 2026 10 min Your Gut Remembers What You Forgot: How Childhood Stress Programs Lifelong Digestive Problems Mar 30, 2026 11 min Friction-Maxxing: The Psychology Behind 2026's Deliberate Inconvenience Movement Mar 29, 2026 11 min Your Brain on Words: How Language Hijacks the Same Chemicals That Keep You Alive Mar 28, 2026 14 min The Fractured Mind: How Digital Overload Is Creating New Psychological Disorders Mar 28, 2026 11 min Why You Still Believe the Deepfake: The Failure of Transparency Warnings Mar 24, 2026 13 min The Psychopath's Learning Problem: How Different Dark Traits Disrupt the Brain's Ability to Adapt Mar 24, 2026 13 min The Emotional Recession: Why We're Losing Our Ability to Feel Our Way Through Life Mar 22, 2026 9 min FOBO: The New Workplace Anxiety You Haven't Named Yet Mar 21, 2026 10 min The Loneliness Paradox: Why Connection Is Hardest When We Need It Most Mar 20, 2026 12 min Cannabis and the Memories That Never Happened Mar 19, 2026 11 min Psychology's Redemption Arc: How a Crisis Made Science Stronger Mar 17, 2026 11 min The Overconfidence Problem: Why Knowing More Can Make You Less Accurate Mar 16, 2026 12 min Why Your Brain Wants to Believe AI Has Feelings Mar 12, 2026 11 min Wisdom as Moral Compass: Why Creativity Without Wisdom Turns Self-Serving Mar 11, 2026 11 min Nostalgia as Medicine: The Surprising Science of Why Looking Back Helps You Move Forward Mar 10, 2026 10 min Are We Falling in Love with Machines? The Psychology of Human-AI Attachment Mar 6, 2026 11 min Why Some People Can't Stop Making the Same Bad Decisions Mar 4, 2026 11 min One Hundred Deaths an Hour: The Science of Why Loneliness Is Killing Us Mar 4, 2026 11 min The Moral Math We Do Without Knowing It: When Good Deeds License Bad Behavior Mar 3, 2026 10 min The Weekend Sleep-In Defense: Why Catching Up on Sleep Actually Protects Teen Mental Health Feb 18, 2026 13 min Exercise as Antidepressant: What the Largest Review Ever Tells Us Feb 8, 2026 13 min The Negativity Bias: Why One Insult Outweighs a Hundred Compliments Feb 8, 2026 13 min The Social Investment Account: How Lifelong Relationships Slow Biological Aging Feb 7, 2026 12 min The Night Owl Penalty: Why Staying Up Late Hurts Your Mental Health (Even If You're Wired That Way) Feb 7, 2026 12 min The AI Intimacy Trap: When Your Digital Companion Becomes Your Only Friend Feb 7, 2026 11 min The Trust Paradox: Why Believing in Strangers Makes You Happier Feb 6, 2026 12 min Your Brain at Fifteen: The Hidden Synapse Revolution We Never Knew About Feb 6, 2026 17 min