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Presented by Orion Taraban, Psy.D. PsycHacks provides listeners with a brief, thought-provoking episode several days a week on a variety of psychological topics, inspired by my clinical practice. The intention is for the core idea contained within each episode to inspire listeners to see something about themselves or their world in a slightly different light.
Episodes

Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Episode 285: Why I talk about sex and money
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Thursday Jan 19, 2023
Some of you might be wondering why I talk so much about sex and money on this channel. After all, isn't this a psychology podcast? And aren't these relatively superficial considerations? What do these topics have to do with mental health? Well, it turns out that they have a lot to do with well-being. In this episode, I provide two answers to these reasonable questions.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations.
Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com #sex #money #psychology

Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Episode 284: How to make a connection with anyone
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
Tuesday Jan 17, 2023
The world is full of people. If you can forge a genuine emotional connection with others, then that world will an exciting place full of potential friends, partners, and lovers. The key to making a connection with anyone is empathy. However, most people don't really understand what this means. In this episode, I will discuss what empathy really is using a concrete example, and how this principle might be applied in real world situations.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations. Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com
#relationship #connection #communication

Sunday Jan 15, 2023
Episode 283: Being kind is not being nice
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
Kindness is actually a fairly complicated construct. It is not synonymous with being nice. Being nice isn't always kind, and being kind isn't always nice. The issue is that there are two faces of kindness, and one without the other is pathological. In this episode, I use concrete examples to demonstrate how kindness without loving honesty is typically a form of enabling that does more harm than good.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations. Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com
#kindness #emotions #psychology

Friday Jan 13, 2023
Episode 282: Loyalty means different things to men and women
Friday Jan 13, 2023
Friday Jan 13, 2023
In turns out that both men and women are capable of loyalty, though each group tends to remain loyal to different things. Whereas men are typically loyal to their duties, women are typically loyal to their feelings. It is what it is. Accepting this reality can help men and women have more harmonious and rewarding relationships with each other. Each other holds out a growth opportunity for the other, which I will discuss at the end of the episode.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations. Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com
#loyalty #relationship #dating

Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Episode 281: Of cats and cheese
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
In this episode, I discuss my simplified framework of human motivation: cats and cheese. Cheese is an anticipated reward associated with pleasure or fulfillment that we approach; cats are anticipated punishments associated with pain or loss that we avoid. If you understand the relative intensity and distribution of the cats and cheese in a person's perception, then you can actually predict their behavior fairly accurately at any given moment in time. Further consequences of this understanding are duly examined.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations. Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com
#motivation #success #psychology

Monday Jan 09, 2023
Episode 280: Why men care about a woman’s sexual history
Monday Jan 09, 2023
Monday Jan 09, 2023
From a woman's perspective, a man's emphasis on her sexual history may be somewhat baffling. After all: that was then, and this is now. What does what I did before we met have anything to do with our current relationship? A lot, it turns out. In this episode, I will help women understand why men tend to place so much importance on women's previous sexual behavior with other men.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, my top-rated program and the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans: https://stellargre.com.
Orion is a licensed psychologist in the state of California. Podcast available of Spotify, Instagram, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and others. See the "About" tab for more information on donations and consultations. Website: https://oriontarabanpsyd.com
#dating #relationship #sex

Saturday Jan 07, 2023
Episode 279: Three tips to deal with gossip
Saturday Jan 07, 2023
Saturday Jan 07, 2023
Being the target of malicious gossip can be difficult. I've learned this the hard way. If it happens to you, it's important to not make things more difficult for yourself than they already are. In this episode, I'll discuss three tips to navigate this situation more effectively. They're not easy pills to swallow, but they can help you find some measure of peace in a difficult circumstance.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans.
#gossip #aggressive #relationship

Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Episode 278: Fully half-full
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Thursday Jan 05, 2023
Contentment is the practice of turning toward the present moment and accepting it as sufficient. However, when I teach this to folks, the most common objection I hear is: "But, Orion, my present moment isn't sufficient. That's the problem! There are things that I want that I don't yet have." Fair enough. That said, I believe that the practice of contentment is perfectly compatible with goal-directed action. I'll explain how in this episode.
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans.
#happy #psychology #mindfulness

Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Episode 277: Shine brighter
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Thinking of going to grad school? Check out STELLAR, the world's only empirically-validated GRE test prep system. Use the code "PSYCH" for 10% off all membership plans.
In my previous episode, I discussed the importance of side hustles. In this episode, I'm going to tell the story of one of my businesses, a test prep company called StellarGRE. In the span of ten years, I went from living in public housing and putting up flyers to earning six-figures in my spare time. This was the first stage in reclaiming my life. With unwavering discipline and the right model for action, we are all capable of great things.
#hustle #business #success

Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Episode 276: Get a side hustle
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Tuesday Jan 03, 2023
Most people give the best hours of most of the days of the best years of their lives to their jobs, and then content themselves with the crumbs left at their own tables. To reclaim your life, you must reclaim your time, and this ultimately depends on divorcing your time from your income. The first step in this process is developing multiple income streams, and you can start with a side hustle. In this episode, I give practical, actionable advice on how to get started.
#hustle #money #success