Health Psychology and Human Nature

What is physical intelligence? Sometimes, you need to do it to know it. Your hands have to be on the steering wheel to learn the feel of slipping tires. You need to be watching the traffic to judge the best moment to cross the road. Everything we do, from changing a lightbulb to navigating unknown terrain relies on physical intelligence, our oldest and most important form of cognition according to Professor Scott Grafton. To learn more check out his book: Physical Intelligence : The Science of Thinking Without Thinking

Scott Grafton is a distinguished professor at UC Santa Barbara and the director of the UCSB imaging center. He is interested in how people organize movement into goal-oriented action. The emphasis is on elucidating the cognitive architecture that underlies action representation. This is developed with studies of sequence and skill acquisition, motor simulation, sensorimotor transformation, on-line control and action observation experiments. Brain-behavior relationships are defined using fMRI, transcranial magnetic stimulation, patient based research and high-density electroencephalography.

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Please enjoy and take care friends.

Does DNA affect who we become? If you have siblings or children you can probably tell that we as humans are both similar and dissimilar. In todays episode Robert Plomin tell us about how DNA affects who we become and stress the importance of both DNA and the environment. We also discuss the importance of DNA for preventing health problems and for having better lives.

Robert Plomin is a Professor in Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. He has published more than 800 papers and is the author of the best-selling textbook in the field as well as a dozen other books. His most recent book is Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are 

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Please enjoy and have a great day. 

In today's interesting episode me and the great storyteller, professor emeritus Brian Fagan, do a deep dive into our history. We talked about the first modern Europeans, the Cro-Magnon. Who they were, how they lived, how they differed from the Neanderthals and us, their culture, what they ate and much more. A great conversation to better understand our European ancestors and thereby ourselves. If you want to learn more, check out his book on the topic named “Cro-Magnon How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans.

Brian Fagan is a professor emeritus of Anthropology who have written several archaeology books. He attendeted Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied archaeology and anthropology (BA 1959, MA 1962, PhD 1965).

For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.

Hope you enjoy it. 

In today's interesting episode me and the great storyteller, professor emeritus Brian Fagan, do a deep dive into our history. We talked about the first modern Europeans, the Cro-Magnon. Who they were, how they lived, how they differed from the Neanderthals and us, their culture, what they ate and much more. A great conversation to better understand our European ancestors and thereby ourselves. If you want to learn more, check out his book on the topic named “Cro-Magnon How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans.

Brian Fagan is a professor emeritus of Anthropology who have written several archaeology books. He attendeted Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied archaeology and anthropology (BA 1959, MA 1962, PhD 1965).

For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.

Hope you enjoy it. 

Looking at your smartphone too much? It is time to outsmart your smartphone. In todays episode Tchiki Davis Ph.D. tells us about how to decrease our screen time and increase the quality of our lives when we are not looking at out screens. We also get into gratitude interventions and talk about other interventions to increase wellbeing. Check out her book Outsmart Your Smartphone: Conscious Tech Habits for Finding Happiness to learn more.

Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D., is a Berkeley graduate and well-being-technology expert. Dr. Davis draws on her experiences building well-being products and interventions in Silicon Valley to deliver innovative ideas for increasing personal well-being. To learn more about how Tchiki can help you measure and improve well-being, please visit her at berkeleywellbeing.com.

Want to try positive psychology interventions? Go to: https://ggia.berkeley.edu/

For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.

Have a terrific day.

Do you know someone who does not like how they look? Both women and men have thoughts about their looks which can go to the extreme. In Muscle Dysmorphia, sometimes referred to as reversed Anorexia, the individual have the perception of looking small even though being muscular. In today's episode we get into the Adonix Complex, a book which details the various manifestations of body image problems in men. We also talk about these topics in general.

Dr. Roberto Olivardia is a Clinical Psychologist, Lecturer in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he specializes in the treatment of eating disorders and body image issues in boys and men. His work also includes ADHD and OCD. His work in these fields spans almost 25 years. He is co-author of The Adonis Complex.

Science of the Wim Hof Method. Everything you need to know about the science of the Wim Hof Method. Who Wim is, how his method of the breathing, cold and meditation work. Also how it affects you, your body, brain and mind.

In today's episode I have a conversation with Pierre Capel, professor emeritus in experimental immunology at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Pierre is a friend of Wim Hof and knows the science of the Wim Hof Method.

Pierre is an author and recently published a book called The emotional DNA.

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Friends, please enjoy.

How ought one to live? What is human nature? Why are habits important? Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas was thinking about these topics thousands of years ago. In this episode Professor Thomas Spalding teach us about the Aristotelian-Thomistic view about the human person and its view of the good life, human growth and development. To learn more, read the book: The Human Person: What Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas Offer Modern Psychology

Thomas L. Spalding is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Associate Dean Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on the psychology of concepts and the relation between the human conceptual and language systems. He is the author of over 65 journal articles and book chapters and over 100 conference presentations and invited talks.

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Friends, hope you like the episode. 

In today's episode Professor Bobby Duffy explains why we are wrong about a lot of things like murder rate and the number of teenage moms. We talk about fascinating concepts like: emotional innumeracy, confirmation bias, rosy retrospection and other biases. We also get into the dangers of not having a balanced view of the current state of our countries and the world. To learn more read Bobby’s book: Why We're Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding

Bobby is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute. Prior to joining King's in 2018, Bobby was Managing Director of Public Affairs for Ipsos MORI, which is a team of around 250 researchers in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Brussels, and Global Director of the Ipsos Social Research Institute, across around 30 countries. 

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Friends, hope you enjoy the episode. 

Are we born with an intuitive understanding of numbers or is it something we learn later in life? In today's fascinating episode we discuss the number instinct, what it is, how it’s traced back evolutionarily, the biological underpinnings and more. To learn more read Andreas book: A brain for numbers.

Andreas Nieder is a professor of animal physiology and the director of the institute of neurobiology (University of Tübingen).

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Friends, enjoy and have a great day. 

Have a great week.