Headshots: Psychology + Gaming

Hosted ByJosué Cardona & Lauren Keller

Geek Therapy's psychology and gaming podcast.


All Episodes

Mental Health and Games in Prisons

Can games improve mental health in prisons? We start the conversation by discussing Waypoint’s excellent week-long feature titled “At Play in the Carceral State.”

Disney Emoji Blitz is so juicy!

#26: Kelli and Josué have been playing a lot of Disney Emoji Blitz. A LOT. It may have to do with how “juicy” the game is, meaning that its feedback is emotionally satisfying. Notes: Disney Emoji – http://bit.

Reward Psychology

#25: Rewards are a big part of why we play games so Kelli and Josué discuss a GDC 2017 presentation on reward psychology by Ben Lewis-Evans, a user experience researcher at Epic Games, that address the good and bad rewards we see in games and how they …

Mental Health Awareness Month: Video Games and Therapy

#24: May is Mental Health Awareness Month so Geek Therapist Lara Taylor joins Josué to talk about video games and mental health services. They address some of the misconceptions about video game “addiction” and discuss how they’ve used video games in t…

Transmedia = More Story

#23: Kelli and Josué discuss how games can be a part of a much bigger story told through different media. Think of how Star Wars and Halo stories are told through books and movies in addition to games. Do stories in other formats make your play experie…

Breath of the Wild Flow

#22: We discuss the mental state of flow in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with special guest Lauren Keller. Lots of love for BotW on this episode. You can reach Lauren on Twitter: @CHICKENDINOSAUR — Visit us at www.HeadshotsPodcast.com.

Cards Against Psychology

#21: On this episode we review our recent PAX East panel which was our take on Cards Against Humanity, using psychology and gaming concepts, played live in front of an audience. It was tons of fun and now you can play at home too!

Love and Betrayal in the Console War

#20: Kelli and Josué try to objectively explain why gamers prefer one video game console over another by looking at their own reasons for being on their respective teams. We fail miserably, by the way. Kelli says she bleeds green,

Affection Games – Press A to Kiss

#18: There is a genre of games that is all about the love! Kelli and Josué explore the fascinating world of affection games. Get ready for lots of talk of kissing and flirt lasers. Notes: Affection games | DiGRA – http://bit.