In part 2 of my interview with Dr. Anna Vagin, she talks about some of the videos she uses to help kids and teens better understand the emotions and challenges of characters in the videos and how those characters dealt with their difficult situations. The videos are a launching point for discussion and insight into the clients' own lives.

In part 1 of my interview with Anna Vagin, Ph.D. we talk about how she uses games and videos as part of her work with children and adolescents. I think you’ll be surprised how Dr. Vagin uses short videos she finds on YouTube in her sessions. These are not games or videos that were designed to be used in this way, but she has carefully scoured YouTube to find videos that help youngsters connect with their emotions and to better understand others. What’s additionally interesting is that Dr. Vagin’s Ph.D. is not in psychology but rather in Speech and Language Pathology. Ever thought of that as a career path – a way to help people in their lives? I think you’ll find this episode very interesting.

How can we use a little psychology to get you to slow down when you’re driving? You’d be surprised. Very often road signs like “Slow” or a posted speed limit of, say 20 mph does not work. Drivers go past these signs and nothing bad happens so after a while they’re ignored. We try to make it more personal with signs say, “Drive as if your kids live here”, but often that doesn’t work. How about something trickier: what if we enlisted the help of those 3D sidewalk artists? What could they possibly do? You’ll find out.

Here’s a new piece of weight-loss advice: eat on a crinkly plate! Um…sounds weird. It is kinda, but we’ll explore why this might be a good bit of advice. We’ll also take a minute and a half sound byte from the TV show Luther and wring all kinds of critical-thinking goodies from it. We’ll discover why it might be a total waste of time for you to read about how other people became successful (or happy or have a better marriage or whatever else you might want). All those advice-giving books could be a waste of time. It has to do with our self-esteem and confirmation biases. We’ll have some fun.

How can waiters increase their tips? Would you believe psychologists have devoted a great deal of research to this question? We've looked at the effect of smiley faces, touching, crouching, telling jokes, giving customers a fun task to do, and drawing suns on checks (yes, suns). Join me as we take a look at what waiters and waitresses can do to increase the amount of the tip their customers give them.

Fitness tracking devices are getting smarter. They're going to have to get a lot smarter if they are going to be powerful tools in your quest to be fit. But how much more "smart" do we really want them to get? Today they keep track of your steps and heart rate, but if your fitness tracker "knew" how you were thinking and whether you were saying things to yourself that are de-motivating ("ll never get in shape anyway") it might be more effective in getting you off the couch. But do you want it to have this information?

Passengers on an airplane spring to action when a stewardess needs help – but a neighborhood in New York City does very little when a woman is attacked. What’s different ? How can we take what we learn from the airplane and apply it to the attack? Lecturing the neighborhood residents probably won’t help. Can we do anything to the way the neighborhood is laid out to encourage interaction among residents and a greater sense of interdependency among them? We explore the topic of bystander intervention, diffusion of responsibility and the field of community psychology in this episode of The Psych Files.

In part 2 of my interview with Adele Faber, co-author along with Elaine Mazlish of “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk” we talk about what do do when you’ve got nothing left emotionally to give to your children, how to handle foul language, how to problem solve with your children, and being authentic with your children about own feelings. Finally, Adele gives her opinion on whether or not we need to be tougher with our children, especially when they are acting out.

Are you familiar with Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish‘s classic book “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk“? You should be. It’s not just for parents. The ideas in this book and in their other books should be required reading for all of us, but especially for parents, therapists and anyone interested in what we can do to better communicate with each other. I think you will be as charmed as I was listening to Adele and I encourage you to listen to part 2 of this interview.

Why does conflict emerge as it did in Baltimore among the police and the African-American community? Is it caused by poor parenting? Poverty? Joblessness? I provide a psychological perspective on the situation. I look at how stereotypes develop and conflict among groups develops. The solution is complex but the theories on these two issues give us some insight into what has to happen to resolve the problems.