American Psychological Association
448 episodes listed below
APA's Kim Mills interviews psychology researchers on tipping, crying, and extremism.
Speaking of Psychology is a measured interview series built around the practical reach of psychological science. Recent episodes move from tipping screens and buy-now-pay-later debt to infant laughter, swearing, brain aging, therapy speak, paranoia, and workplace communication.
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Speaking of Psychology is a one-on-one interview show, not a panel or narrative format. Host Kim Mills leads every conversation, drawing out a single academic guest per episode on a focused research question. Guests are typically professors, postdoctoral researchers, or research fellows at institutions such as Cornell, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Maryland, Georgia State University, and the University of Edinburgh. Topics recur around a handful of subfields: behavioral economics and consumer decision-making (tipping behavior, digital payment prompts), emotion and mental health science (crying, emotion regulation), moral and food psychology (attitudes toward cultured meat), and political psychology (extremism, radicalization, and conspiracy belief). Conversations reference specific published studies, named datasets, and multi-country research rather than general advice or anecdote. The tone is explanatory and evidence-based, with the host prompting guests to translate findings into everyday relevance — why a tip screen changes behavior, why lab crying differs from real-life crying, why a food choice provokes moral disgust. Episodes run in the 25-to-40-minute range and typically close with practical or research-based takeaways rather than open debate. The show suits listeners who want applied psychological research explained by the people who conducted it, including students, science-interested general listeners, and professionals in social science, marketing, mental health, or public policy fields. It is produced by the American Psychological Association, which frames the show's institutional and academic credibility.
Made for: Listeners who want peer-reviewed psychological research on everyday behavior explained directly by the researchers who conducted it.
What sets it apart: Each episode is anchored to one academic guest's specific published study rather than general self-help or pop-psychology commentary.
"Speaking of Psychology" is an audio podcast series highlighting some of the latest, most important and relevant psychological research being conducted today. Produced by the American Psychological Association, these podcasts will help listeners apply the science of psychology to their everyday lives.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Focused interviews turn familiar choices, social pressures, and emotional reactions into precise questions about how human behavior works.
Speaking of Psychology starts with an ordinary choice or reaction, then follows the psychological questions underneath it. Kim Mills leads focused guest interviews on cultured meat, spending and debt, extremism, crying, and tipping, giving the show a practical route into…
A tip screen, a crying jag, a lab burger: your everyday choices have psychological fingerprints.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A crisp look at why checkout tipping screens turn a small payment choice into a socially loaded decision.
Tipping is treated here as a small payment decision with an outsized social charge. Kim Mills starts with the familiar coffee-counter tablet, where suggested percentages and a watching line can make a routine checkout feel oddly public.
Why payment framing changes how spending feels.
This episode treats paying for things as a mental event as much as a financial one. Abigail Sussman walks through how buy now, pay later plans, credit cards, discounts, and social comparison can change what spending feels like and how people decide in the moment.
A careful look at why crying can help, especially when emotion meets attention and social support.
Crying is treated here as ordinary, bodily, and still oddly unresolved: a sunset, a skinned knee, a sad movie, even an onion can all set off tears, but the episode is more interested in what emotional crying may do once it starts.
A sharp psychology-first look at why lab-grown meat may be approved before it feels edible.
Cultured meat is treated here less as a food-tech breakthrough than as a test of what people are willing to call food. Kim Mills guides the conversation through the psychology around lab-grown meat, with Matti Wilks and Daniel Rosenfeld discussing disgust, moral values,…
A careful psychology conversation about extremism, significance, and why fixation is not the same thing as mental illness.
Extremism is framed here less as a fringe pathology than as a capacity built into ordinary psychology. Kim Mills talks with Arie Kruglanski and Sophia Moskalenko about the drive for significance, the need to matter, and how that need can tip into militancy, dominance, or rigid…
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Psychologists Dr.
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Kim Mills opens with a familiar scene.
Kim Mills starts with a familiar question.
This episode explores the science behind why babies laugh, examining how infant laughter reveals insights into cognitive development, humor perception, and social understanding during the first year of life.
This episode explores the psychological science behind swearing, examining its potential benefits for pain tolerance, emotional regulation, and physical performance with researcher Dr.
This episode features neuropsychologist Dr.
This episode explores the rise of therapy speak in popular culture, discussing common terms like gaslighting and narcissism with two clinical psychologists.
An interview with Dr.
This episode explores workplace communication challenges and how behavioral science can help navigate email, messaging, and virtual interactions.
This episode explores the psychological challenges astronauts face on long-term space missions, with insights from a NASA psychologist.
An interview with Dr.
An interview with octopus expert Dr.
This episode discusses findings from APA's Work in America survey on workplace well-being, focusing on younger workers' stress and the impact of remote work and AI.
This episode explores brain-computer interfaces, their current medical applications, and future possibilities, with a neuroscientist guest.
An interview with a novelist and psychologist about why humans are drawn to fictional worlds and how fiction affects our minds.
An interview with environmental psychologist Dr.
This episode explores how extreme heat affects mental health, emotions, cognition, and aggression, with experts discussing research and policy implications.
This episode debunks motivation myths with experts, exploring how rewards, competition, and praise affect goal achievement.
This episode explores the psychological effects of solitude, distinguishing it from loneliness, and discusses its benefits and challenges with expert researchers.
This episode discusses the 2024 World Happiness Report's findings on declining happiness among young people in North America and explores psychological research on happiness.
This episode explores the growing trend of adults choosing not to have children, examining the research on child-free individuals, their motivations, and societal perceptions.
This episode explores how political stress affects mental and physical well-being and offers strategies for staying engaged while maintaining mental health.
This episode explores how Sesame Street teaches emotional well-being to young children, featuring a developmental psychologist who oversees content at Sesame Workshop.
An interview with cognitive neuropsychologist Dr.
An interview with Dr.
An interview with psychologist Dr.
This episode features forensic psychologist Dr.
This episode explores family estrangement with psychologist Lucy Blake, discussing its prevalence, causes, coping strategies, and the role of therapy in deciding whether to reconcile.
This episode features an interview with psychologist Dr.
This episode explores how to bridge generational gaps in the workplace by moving past stereotypes and leveraging differences as strengths, featuring insights from organizational behavior expert Dr.
This episode explores how expressive writing can improve mental and physical health, featuring pioneering researcher Dr.