About Michael

I’m Dr. Michael Britt, a psychologist, educator, and the creator of The Psych Files. I started this site and the accompanying podcast in 2007 with a simple goal: to make psychology interesting, accessible, and useful for anyone curious about why people think, feel, and behave the way they do.

Before launching The Psych Files, I spent 10 years as a full-time psychology professor at Marist College, where I taught Introductory Psychology, History of Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Research Methods and Statistics. Teaching college students taught me something I’ve carried into every episode and video I’ve made since: psychology comes alive when you connect it to real life. The best lectures weren’t the ones that covered the most material. They were the ones where students walked out thinking differently about something they’d seen that morning.

The Psych Files podcast has been downloaded more than 22 million times across 330+ episodes since 2007, and the companion YouTube channel has reached learners around the world. Topics range from memory techniques and mnemonics (a longtime passion of mine) to the psychology of music, the science behind everyday behavior, and interviews with researchers and practitioners doing interesting work in the field. I’ve also appeared as a content expert on the History Channel series Dark Matters: Twisted But True.

Memory and learning have been the through-line of my work for nearly 20 years. My most-watched YouTube video, a tutorial on how to memorize the parts of the brain, was created in 2007 and is still helping students today.

When I’m not recording or writing, I’m usually at the piano (I play a Roland FP-E50), acting in a production with a local Hudson Valley theatre company, or somewhere in the company of a good Agatha Christie novel and my cat.

Thanks for visiting. If you’re new to The Psych Files, I’d recommend starting with one of the memory episodes, or whichever recent episode title catches your eye. And if you want to get in touch, you can reach me at [mikebritt@mac.com].