Podcast - Season 4

I am so excited to be taking this podcast into a second year.  This autumn I am going to be bringing you a range of really interesting interviews from leading psychologists in their fields.  I have decided to move away from theming the term and will bring you a wide variety of ideas, information and understanding about how psychological research is conducted and can be applied to the classroom.  Podcasts will look at social psychology, mental health and wellbeing, research methods and much more.

 Dr. Malik Boykin is the first Black professor in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences (CLPS) at Brown University.  In this conversation we discuss how student-teacher relationships affect learning, and the importance of being vulnerable in front of our students.  We then consider how stigma and prejudice arises and how to reduce this within schools at both and individual level and an organisational level.  Oh and Dr Boykin AKA Malik Starx is also a hip hop artist and has currently joined forces with producer Stephon Alexander, a theoretical physics professor at Brown University. The results include jazzy, Afro-Caribbean styled-single “Dancing for Freedom,” alongside vocalist Kanjia. A sample of their song “Dancing for Freedom” can be heard on this podcast. 

More information about Dr Boykin can be found here:

Dr. Boykin and Brown University

Dr. Boykin’s Research Lab

 Ever been in the situation where you feel you should do one thing but it goes against the 'rules' in some way?  Chris researches the phenomenon of Constructive Deviance and what makes us stick to the 'rules' even when we feel we shouldn't and what makes us break them.  We cover bystander apathy (a fascinating topic) and how to encourage people, including students, to intervene when they see poor behaviour.  The YouTube video on distraction can be found here.  

At what point do people accept the label 'Disabled'?  What are the barriers to acceptance?  Why do students fail to tell educational establishments about disabilities when it may be in their interests to do so?  Dr. Julie Hulme, Reader of Psychology at Keele discusses all these question and introduces us to Social Identity Theory and explains why social context is so important in defining who we are.  You can find out more about her work here.  

 This week Dr Eleanor Leigh talks about how, for some adolescents, social situations create such feelings of anxiety that it interferes with learning and education as well as other aspects of their day to day lives. Eleanor is principal Clinical Psychologist and the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow at the department of experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.  Her research is focused on social anxiety in adolescents. Social anxiety disorder is a common and disabling mental health condition that usually starts in adolescence and persists in the absence of treatment. Using experimental methods, her work aims to improve our understanding of the psychological processes that maintain social anxiety in adolescents in order to inform cognitive approaches to treatment.  You can find out more about her work here or visit the OxCADAT website

Aletia Hagedorn is Head of Psychology at a College in Guernsey and a committee member for the Association of the Teaching of Psychology. She is passionate about evidence based teaching and learning which she strives to use in her practice. Following the completion of a master's in education, Aletia embarked on a PhD in Psychology. She is a year into her part-time course and continues to teach full-time. Her work is both translational and interdisciplinary, primarily within clinical, developmental and educational psychological domains. She aims to explore the impact of trauma on education and assess the effectiveness of trauma-informed educational intervention. In this podcast she will discuss some of the research area and the next steps for this field. 

Dr Polly Waite works both at Oxford University and University of Reading as a Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow with a particular interest in Panic disorders in Adolescents.  In this interview she discusses the difference between 'normal' anxiety, clinical anxiety and how this may then become a panic disorder.  She also offers excellent advice on how to manage a panic attack in the moment and how to support a young person more broadly if they are struggling with a panic disorder.  

 As a psychology teacher with many years of experience Trevor is passionate about the wellbeing of teachers.  In this interview he raises concerns of many teachers about workload amongst other things and the challenges that new teachers faces when they enter the profession. 

 Many of you will have heard that journaling can be of benefit to mental health, but in the new digital age there is evidence that blogging can also benefit wellbeing, especially for young people.  Dennis Relojo-Howell shares his insights into the world of blogging, how it may be able to help build resilience in young people and how it can be used in the classroom to aid learning.  His passion for psychology and blogging has come together in his work on Psychreg and helping clearly communicate psychology to a wider audience.  Do take a look at his website and YouTube Channel. 

Every teacher has a plethora of strategies to manage behaviour and create a safe an calm learning environment.  But for a small minority the usual strategies just don't work and the pupils end up in a escalating cycle of punishment, usually resulting in exclusion. New research is showing that there are alternatives to the systems of reward and punishment in most schools that are more effective for these pupils, but senior leaders are often reluctant to be the first adopters.  Dr Laura Oxley talks about her research into this area, the alternative systems and the barriers that face schools in being early adopters.  To find out more about her work please do visit Pedagogies of Punishment 

Now most of you will go through your day saying hello to students and colleagues, greeting friends in the supermarket and not give a second thought to how you know it is them.  Well imagine not being able to recognise faces, you know you are looking at a face but you have no idea who it belongs to, you aren’t sure if you should say hello or keep on walking.  For about 2-4% of the population this is a daily reality, they struggle with face blindness.  PhD researcher Judith Lowes sheds some light on this fascinating topic and helps us to understand how we can support those around who may have Prosopagnosia.

If you are interested in participating in Judith's research do get in touch via  judith.lowes@stir.ac.uk or visit her research website. 

For more information on Face Blindness do visit the NHS website or faceblind.org.uk

Sport is all about timing - ensuring you reach peak at just the right moment and can perform under high pressure.  If you think about it, exams are like this too - you need to reach your peak at just the right moment and not allow the pressure to get to you.  So what can sports psychology teach us about exams?  This week Rhys Davies International Double Canoe Slalom competitor talks about his career as a high performance athlete and we think about how his research in sports psychology and mental health might translate into classroom practice. 

Kenji and Marsha talk honestly and openly about Kenji's transition, his coming out, his school experience, the highs and lows as well as Marsha's role as a parent.  We discuss the challenges that trans people face and the difference getting things right can make.  We cover what not to say as well as how to support young people who may be transitioning.  And we delve into the research to unpick our understanding of the science behind gender.

Mermaids Charity information can be found: https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/

For many of us Statistics is something we steer well clear of, well this week I am diving right in - head first.  With the help of Professor Obi Ukoumunne, from Exeter University we get right to the heart of the matter and break it down for the non-mathematician so that we can really understand what the statistics mean behind the research and most importantly so we can be critical of the numbers that are constantly thrown at us by leaders (both in school and out)!  If you are interested in research, are doing research or think you might this is the podcast for you!

Martin Galpin in a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who draws on positive psychology to help people be at their best and bring the best out of others.  This episode is all about how to how psychology can help us thrive and flourish in the work place, but also teach children a few tricks to develop a more optimistic outlook and understand their strengths and why they are valued.  

Links:

www.atmybest.com – where you’ll find the strengths cards and online 360 tool

www.giveawoohoo.com – the books of appreciation

www.deckhive.com – a platform where you can use the strengths cards (and other decks of cards) in digital form (use the code AMB to get a month free on the Unlimited plan, no payment details needed)

Martin Seligman's work can be found here.