In this episode I talk about behavioral science. Specifically, about one of the largest ever exponents of psychological research. None other than late professor Albert Bandura (1925-2021). Professor Bandura left behind plenty of highly influential works in the field of psychology, resulting from a most brilliant and productive career.

This is a timely tribute to him because I always wanted to share my personal experience about how one of his papers inspired my career and eventually led to the creation of this channel. Namely, I discuss the key ideas of Bandura’s 2005 paper titled: ‘The Primacy of Self-Regulation in Health Promotion’.

Are you familiar with professor Bandura’s works and theories? Would you like to know more about it? I would love to know what you think!

Goal-setting is one of my most favorite and fundamental strategies for self-improvement. I have applied it so many times in my life and profession. By doing that, I have come to recognize some of its most important principles.

In this episode, I want to talk to you about one important thing that you should know about goal-setting. That is, that goal-setting is about practicing and mastering the process, no matter the outcome! While it might sound contradictory, the benefits of conscious goal-setting are more in the action itself of doing that and not in its consequences.

Sure, we all wish we could achieve every single goal we set for ourselves. This is, however, quite unrealistic, as we are all fallible human beings. Nevertheless, the rational act of setting a goal and the way to pursue it, is one of the greatest achievements we can have.

What are your experiences with goal-setting? Have you failed many personal goals? And how did that make you feel? I would love to read your opinion!

Goal-setting is a widely known and applied behavior change strategy. It is also one of my most favorite and fundamental methods for self-improvement. However, I think the real potential of goal-setting is usually unknown to most.

In this episode, I want to talk to you about what behavioral science defines as ‘stretch goals’. Even though goal-setting is widely used in and outside science, I suspect that stretch goals are a type of goals that aren’t usually integrated in the typical recommendations. For that reason, I think stretch goals are a good example that illustrates the hidden potential of goal-setting.

Stretch goals have inspired my life and are a fundamental part of my general goal-setting strategy. Have you ever heard of them? If not, listen to what I have to say and let me know what you think!

Self-talk is a powerful technique, because it is about controlling our thoughts so they stay predominantly positive and constructive. However, what if instead of just controlling our thoughts internally, we just literally talk out loud to ourselves.

In this episode, I want to share with you one technique that has greatly helped me confront challenges, fears, and difficult situations in life. I refer to it simply as a ‘Conversation with myself’, because that’s what it is. It is something you can try out in a private space and in just a matter of minutes. It could help you have some meaningful reflection or simply order out your thoughts about a certain subject.

I have no specific source for this technique. I just started doing it one day and I liked it so much that I continued. Because it worked for me, maybe it works for you? Remember, that is what self-primacy is about: learning, practicing, mastering, and sharing techniques that can help us exert control over our own behavior. Have you ever heard about a similar technique? Or even better, have you ever tried it out yourself? Let me know!

Visualization or imagery is a widely used psychological strategy in performance-driven disciplines such as sports. There are many ways to visualize, and so many things you can focus on (e.g. visualize yourself performing well in a difficult situation).

In this episode, I want to share with you one specific visualization technique that I have practiced often in my life. I call it ‘Flashbacks’ and the name is almost self-explanatory. Basically, at moments where I am facing a challenge or a difficult situation, I try to boost my motivation or energize myself with positive energy by visually recalling in my mind all the key moments and hard work that got me up to that point. Thinking about these experiences help me continue my confrontation with today’s challenges.

Anyway, this technique is just something that I tried out for myself out of the blue, but it worked! Because it worked for me, maybe it works for you? Remember, that is what self-primacy is about: learning, practicing, mastering, and sharing techniques that can help us exert control over our own behavior. Have you ever used visualization in this way? If not, I recommend you to try it!

What are the guiding principles of your life? Or what are the key principles to adhere to in your profession? Having a decalogue has helped me direct both my personal and professional developments.

In this episode I tell you about ‘The Decalogue’ technique. It is a technique that can help you reflect about your life, behavior, and personal values. Moreover, it is really easy to perform! Simply think of ten principles, try to follow them in your life, and update the list every now and then!

I was inspired to pick up this technique many years ago when I attended a talk by sport journalist Roberto Gómez Junco, who spoke, among other things, about his own professional decalogue. Following this, I tried to apply this technique in my life, and it worked! That is for me what self-primacy is about: learning, practicing, mastering, and sharing techniques that can help us exert control over our own behavior. Do you have a decalogue? If not, try to make one and let me know what difference that makes, or not, in your daily life.

Although self-improvement is experienced differently by individuals, there are common underlying principles in it. These are things that we all get to learn about or recognize after repeatedly engaging in behavior change.

In this episode, I introduce to you five principles that I consider to be self-evident in self-improvement. By ‘self-evident’, I literally mean something that does not need proof or explanation. By sharing these, I hope to boost your own journey into self-improvement.

I have no specific source for these principles. They are simply things that I have gotten to experience up to the point of knowing they are just always there, when attempting self-improvement. Check out the video and let me know what you think! What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? More importantly, what are your own self-evident principles?

Hello, my name is Roberto.

How to initiate behavior change? You might have this question if you have never taken a conscious, systematic approach to improve your life. Or perhaps you have already done that, but you might be looking to try a different approach towards self-improvement.

In this episode, I introduce to you three simple and straightforward techniques that can help you initiate behavior change. They are ‘Agenda Mapping’, ‘Brainstorm Options’, and ‘Consider Behavior Change Options’.

I got to know these techniques thanks to the compendium of self-enactable techniques published by Keegan Knittle and his colleagues in 2020. Check it out: https://osf.io/mwtrb/. If you want some more tips and examples of these techniques, follow me on my social media platforms! You will find there some short videos explaining each of these techniques separately.

In this episode I talk about the concept of behavior change techniques. More importantly, I propose a clear distinction between ‘techniques’ and ‘strategies’. This distinction is important if you want to continuously build a path towards self-improvement. It is all about trying out things, reflecting and learning, adapting or integrating what you learned, and trying out again!

How many times have you been disappointed because you failed in an attempt to change or improve your behavior? Do not give up! The key is to practice and master different techniques and strategies.

In this episode you can listen to my conversation with researcher Keegan Knittle. We focus on a very interesting and useful study that he and his colleagues conducted. The study was published in 2020 under the following title: ‘The compendium of self-enactable techniques to change and self-manage motivation and behaviour v.1.0’.

Interesting right? The compendium was put together by reviewing techniques that were part of several other taxonomies developed and used in behavioral science. Importantly, Keegan Knittle and his colleagues even included a general version of the compendium that is tailored to make its contents accessible to the general public.

If you ever need a quick and easy entry-guide to behavior change, the compendium is the perfect starting point. Check out our conversation and let me know what you think!

In this episode I speak about self-talk. Self-talk is a term that we can use to refer to our inner voice or our inner speech. It is basically the internal dialogue that we have with ourselves. This dialogue can occur in many forms, for instance, it can be positive or negative (e.g. ‘I am prepared for it’ vs. ‘It is not my lucky day’).

Here, I do not address the science behind self-talk. Instead I just provide a simple and effective self-talk technique that comes from a book that I read. The technique centers on how you can redefine your concept of luck so that it can motivate you.

The concept of luck that I talk about comes from Robin Sharma’s book titled ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’. Check it out!

In this episode you can hear the third and final part of my conversation with Professor Emeritus James T. Lamiell. We talked about his book “Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics” (2019).

The main topic of the book is “statisticism”, a term coined by the author to describe an ascendant and continuing, yet unfortunate, practice in mainstream psychology. In this final part, Professor Lamiell talks about the historical developments that led to the ascendance of statisticism in psychology.

He also guides us through his own path and decision-making as a scientist with historical, methodological, and philosophical questions, in a field of science that did not always embrace such approaches! At the end of the video, he offers key takeaways for psychologists and non-psychologists, based on his book.

So what can we learn from the historical developments of psychology that led to statisticism? And what are the main takeaways of Professor Lamiell’s book?

In this episode I talk about negative self-talk. Self-talk is a term that we can use to refer to our inner voice or our inner speech. It is basically the internal dialogue that we have with ourselves. This dialogue can occur in many forms, for instance, it can be positive or negative (e.g. “I will win” vs. “I will lose”).

Behavioral scientists have their own opinions about negative self-talk. However, in this video I do not address the science behind it. Instead I present one of my favorite examples of negative self-talk. Namely, I discuss Mike Tyson’s technique to use negative self-talk as a motivator.

I use Mike’s example to focus on three questions: When can negative self-talk be useful? When is it better to avoid it? And how to master the negative to positive transition?

In this episode you can listen to the second part of my conversation with Professor Emeritus James T. Lamiell. We talked about his book “Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics” (2019).

The main topic of the book is “statisticism”, a term coined by the author to describe an ascendant and continuing, yet unfortunate, practice in mainstream psychology. In this second part, Professor Lamiell talks about the incorrigibility of psychology. Moreover, he talks about the socio-ethical problems that statisticism imposes for psychological science.

So why has psychology been so resistant to change? And what are the consequences of continuing this path?

In this episode I talk about 'self-talk'. Behavioral science uses the term of self-talk to refer to our inner voice or our inner speech. It is basically the internal dialogue that we have with ourselves.

Naturally, behavioral science has a lot of accumulated knowledge on this topic. However, this knowledge is not always reachable or made available to the general public. That is what this episode is about!

I focus on three important questions: What is self-talk? Why is self-talk important to you? And how can you improve self-talk?

This is the first part of my conversation with Professor Emeritus James T. Lamiell. We talked about his book “Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics” (2019).

The main topic of the book is “statisticism”, a term coined by the author to describe an ascendant and continuing, yet unfortunate, practice in mainstream psychology. In this first part, Professor Lamiell introduces himself, the book, and statisticism!

I want to talk about a book that I have recently read. The book is “Psychology’s Misuse of Statistics and Persistent Dismissal of its Critics” (2019), written by Professor Emeritus James T. Lamiell.

The main topic of this book is “statisticism”, a term coined by the author to describe an ascendant and continuing, yet unfortunate, practice in mainstream psychology.

I think Professor Lamiell’s book is a weapon. A weapon of knowledge to defend our individuality. I explain why here!

Self-primacy is about learning, practicing, mastering, and sharing techniques and strategies to exert control over your own behavior.