Pumpkin Recipes

Thinking about sharing a scary movie with your kids? Rod and Lisa discuss the latest research about the effects of scary media on kids and how it may still affect their behavior as adults.

For many people, the most satisfying part of reading a book or watching a movie is being totally flabbergasted at a stunning turn of events—that moment when you throw the book across the room as comprehension dawns and the story finally makes sense. But most mysteries and plot twists are built from the same tricks—so why don’t we recognize them? Why was it so hard to guess that Darth Vader was Luke’s father all along? Author Vera Tobin joins us today to discuss the building blocks of surprise. Dr. Tobin is an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University, and the author of Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot. You can learn more about her here.

Our bodies are communicating long before our words are. The position you stand in, what parts of your body are moving, where you place your hands—all these behaviors send messages about what we’re feeling and thinking. Recognizing what signals you’re giving off, and being able to decode others’ body language are essential skills when it comes to our communication. Joe Navarro is a former FBI agent and an internationally best-selling author. He has over forty years of experience studying the use of nonverbal communications, which he used as a member of the National Security Division’s Behavioral Analysis Program. His latest book is The Dictionary of Body Language. You can learn more about him here.

It’s common nowadays to talk about being dependent on our phones or addicted to social media. Over 50% of teenagers say that they “feel addicted” to their cell phones, and according to Dr. Mike Brooks, it may be due to a reaction that’s programmed into us. This is an evolutionary response to what is called “supernormal stimuli.” Dr. Mike Brooks, Director of the Austin Psychology and Assessment Center, joins us now by phone to explain more. He is a licensed psychologist and the director of the Austin Psychology and Assessment Center. He is the author of the book Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World. Visit him on his website here.