Savvy Psychologist’s Top 5 Psychology Takeaways

I can’t believe it! It feels like just yesterday I sat in my bedroom surrounded by pillows and piles of sound-absorbing laundry (yes, the laundry was clean) to record my first hesitant podcast episode. Fast-forward 250 episodes and five wonderful years, and here we are at my final solo episode. 

Next week your new Savvy Psychologist, Dr. Jade Wu, will stop by the show to chat with me. I’m so excited for you to finally meet her!

But first, we have a final episode to savor. For five years, I’ve been inspired by your requests, combed through the literature, read thousands of studies, and maybe, just maybe, gotten sucked into way too many Office Space clips on YouTube. I’ll never tell. After pondering all that, I've arrived at my five biggest takeaways to help you understand the minds of your fellow humans. And your own mind, too!

Take Home #1: Behavior persists because it’s reinforced.

Or, in plain language, people do things for a reason. It’s easier to wrap your head around someone’s “bad choices” when you understand what those choices bought them. 

For example, your best friend stays with a horrible partner? To her, it may be better than being alone. Your little brother couch surfs and won’t get a job? To him, at least he’s not shooting for the stars and then failing. A customer drives through McDonald’s with three monkeys and orders them each an ice cream cone? Well, that’s not necessarily a bad choice—who doesn’t like ice cream and happy monkeys?

Who doesn’t like ice cream and happy monkeys?

Anyway, my point is that every poor decision, weird preference, or choice that makes you scratch your head can usually be understood through the power of empathy. Think: what does this person get out of this? What does this action buy them? 

Usually, they attain something desirable (love, money, power, positive emotions) or avoid something detrimental (harm, rejection, discomfort, negative emotions). Put yourself in their shoes, and you may just smack your forehead and say, “Ohhhhh! Now I get it. If I was in their situation, I’d probably do that, too.”

Take Home #2: People do the best they can with what they have at the time. 

This one comes right after Take Home #1 for a reason. When looking at Things Gone Wrong, whether in your own life or the lives of those you love, it can be helpful to remember that people—both you and others—generally do the best they can given their circumstances. Those circumstances may be colored by mental illness, trauma, addiction, poverty, or any number of other challenges. It’s by no means an excuse for...

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