There's a reason why Hitler bathed several times a day and was obsessed with cleanliness and infection: he was highly disgust-sensitive, which is linked with the Orderliness aspect of the Big Five factor Conscientiousness. Disgust is an ancient emotion to help avoid disease, and I discuss the interesting connections between disgust, disease, and authoritarianism.

All research references can be found at the website.

LAFM #22: There are potential problems of being too high in the Big Five trait Conscientiousness due to the link with disgust and its related behaviour, and we must also be aware of the dangers of dehumanisation language.

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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

The 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal showed how a company was able to amass huge amounts of psychological (Big Five) data from your profiles, and use it to sway the democratic voting process in their favour. To prevent this from happening again, we should better understand the current research of how our personality traits predict political beliefs.

All research references can be found at the website.

LAFM #21: Understanding how the Big Five personality traits relate to political belief can help me appreciate the pros and cons of both sides of the political spectrum, as well as prevent myself from being politically manipulated.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

You might scoff at the idea that vitamin C can cure the common cold or help with other viral infections, thanks to popular YouTube videos (by Vox) supposedly debunking this, but the actual research says otherwise; there is in fact an undeniable biological effect of vitamin C on viral infections, it just depends on how much you take.

All research references can be found at the website.

LAFM #20: The experts we blindly trust may be wrong sometimes, and there are simple solutions to health problems like the common cold in the form of cheap and safe supplements such as vitamin C.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

Have you ever scrolled through social media and thought "Why am I doing this? This doesn't even feel that good anymore..." I explore how the dopamine system is affected by our constant scrolling, and how this addictive pattern might eventually lead to anhedonia, a core symptom of depression.

All research references can be found at the website.

LAFM #19: The pleasure-pain balance in the brain always wants to stay level, and overuse of social media can tip it too much on the pleasure side; this might lead to anhedonia and depression, but quitting for 30 days can help reset the dopamine system back to normal.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

Is depression really just because of a chemical imbalance? And if antidepressants are supposed to correct that balance, why do they only work slightly better than placebo? Maybe a more useful perspective of depression is through the lens of a bio-psycho-social framework.

All research references can be found at the website.

LAFM #18: Complex problems require solutions at many different levels of analysis, and the solutions for depression need to factor in biological, psychological, and social causes through a more holistic approach.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

There's a reason why the anxiety response evolved the way it has, and one theory is that anxiety is for detection of threats. I explore how it might actually be the appropriate response for certain situations and conditions, despite how unpleasant it can feel.

LAFM #17: Anxiety acts like a smoke detector system for threats to safety; higher threat probability and vulnerability to them leads to me being more easily anxious.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

We feel physical pain to alert ourselves to injury or prevent further harm, but what about psychological pain? I explore why we feel negative emotion, how it relates to goals, and how we can manage it.

LAFM #16: Like pain, negative emotion is an alarm system but for a mismatch between our goals and current state, and the need for change because something's not working; the best method to regulate negative emotion is a conscious reevaluation of the emotional situation.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

Why do big achievements make us feel empty afterwards? How can the people who made their dreams come true fall into depression? I explore how the neuropsychology of dopamine & goals might help to give a clue as to why.

LAFM #15: The big goals we strive to achieve should be viewed as sub-goals of a higher purpose, as milestones in a long journey ahead. Also, exceptional success requires exceptional sacrifice.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

I used to think that once I achieve x,y,z goals, only then will I be happy. That is until I learned about the two types of reward systems in the brain, and how it made me see happiness in a different way.

LAFM #14: The happiness we get when we achieve goals is temporary, while the happiness we feel when we progress towards something greater than ourselves feels much more lasting; happiness is more about the journey than the destination.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com

If extroverts seem like they're happier than most people, it's because they actually are; the brains of extroverts are wired so that they experience more positive emotion. While that sounds great, I discuss some potential issues of that.

LAFM #13: People high in the Big Five Extraversion trait seem to be happier, but being highly extroverted can come with its own problems. People lower in Extraversion could possibly benefit from acting more extroverted at times but only to a certain limit.

https://www.lafm.blog

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lafm.substack.com