Peter Gray
American psychology researcherWikipedia
39
MENTIONS
23
EPISODES
20
PODCASTS
Search complete. 39 mentions across 23 episodes found for "Peter Gray".
Sep 14, 2026
Ginny YurichHOST
If you know someone who would love this conversation, send it their way today, and you definitely want to come back tomorrow.
Ginny YurichHOST
Dr. Peter Gray is here for the fifth time, and this is definitely our spiciest conversation yet.
Ginny YurichHOST
His new book challenges one of the most popular explanations for why kids' mental health has declined.
Ginny YurichHOST
Peter thinks we're focusing on the wrong things and that we've missed something much bigger that's happened to childhood itself.
Robert GlazerHOST
And it was horrible.
Robert GlazerHOST
Signed, Peter.
Robert GlazerHOST
I'm like, if I'm the manager getting that, I'm like, thanks.
Robert GlazerHOST
Great.
26 MINS LATER
Robert GlazerHOST
Everyone's terrible at math these days.
Robert GlazerHOST
We are paranoid of the low probability risk things and completely ignoring the higher risk things.
Robert GlazerHOST
And because of reading a story or a thing, like, you know, I just had Peter Gray on It hasn't come out yet.
Robert GlazerHOST
I don't know which order it'll end, but he actually doubled in on something which came up in my research, which was the milk carton.
Ben ChuggHOST
Like it could have been even better if they didn't have to go through world war two or something.
Ben ChuggHOST
Um, and so, I mean, there are places where I agree with her, like, you know, this sort of, this sort of let grow like a bad, she, she quotes Peter gray.
Ben ChuggHOST
We've, I think we've talked about previous on the podcast, um, and his organization let grow, which is encouraging parents to give their kids, um, some like more responsibilities and let them out of the house, um, to go do things more often.
Ben ChuggHOST
Kids like to feel like they're contributing members of the household.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
And I think it'll hopefully it'll show up in a greater kind of tolerance for what gets perceived as failure.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
You know, one of the things and I'm thinking about this because in a couple of weeks I'll have an interview with Peter Gray, the child psychologist.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
who talks about how no child left behind is the secret bad thing that happened to kids.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
And this is one of the reasons why people are opting out of these schools, as Zach alluded to it.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
And it's kind of interesting that Jeb Bush, brother of George Bush, who implemented No Child Left Behind, has a legacy of, you know, being like, no, let's let a thousand flowers bloom.
Nick GillespiePANELIST
And it seems to be working.
Zach WeissmuellerGUEST
And I'll just say that, first of all, I think Peter Gray is really onto something that it's created this...
Zach WeissmuellerGUEST
He's sort of challenging the height thesis that it's the screens causing all this rise in anxiety.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
So we base a lot of our, um, our theories based on the theorists that come before us, and we, we have a whole chapter on play theory over, over time, starting early as Plato and, and moving up to modern day play theorists.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
Um, our idol, Dr. Peter Gray, he, uh, kindly let me interview him, and I was like-- Let us interview him, and I was like, I had full body hives.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
[chuckles] I was like breathing into a bag.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
Like it was really-- 'Cause I've used his, his work so much in my, in my trai- when I train teachers and, and talk to people about the value of play.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
They're working, but it's play.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
Um, so the reason I brought him up was because, bringing it back to your question, is, um, who, who plays with-- What's the best way to play? Who's, who should children play with? And what Dr.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
Peter Gray said when we interviewed him was, "If parents want to play with their children, that's fine." And I was like, "What?" [laughs] Fine? I came in knowing, you know, play is so important.
Genevieve GorbachGUEST
We need to drop everything and play with the kids when they wanna play because they need to play, and how are they gonna play if I'm not the one playing with them es- especially if, you know, siblings aren't around or whatever.
BrandonHOST
Before we begin, let me set the context for this wonderful conversation.
BrandonHOST
Today I'm joined by Peter Gray and Lelkistis Demeck, founders of Scarlet Imprint.
BrandonHOST
We begin with what Scarlet Imprint is and the question of what magic is, then move between books and praxis, literature and the body.
BrandonHOST
We move into the depths of paradise lost by John Milton, Lucifer, and the Romantic poets through a mythopoetic lens, into questions of rebellion and authority, and from there into ritual, embodiment, and discipline.
BrandonHOST
It's a conversation about how ideas travel, how they settle into practice, and how they're lived with over time.
BrandonHOST
Peter Gray is a lecturer and the author of The Red Goddess, Apocalyptic Witchcraft, Lucifer Principes, and Lucifer Praxis.
BrandonHOST
Elquistus Demec is an artist, dancer, and writer whose practice is grounded in enkoku butō, and whose work shapes much of Scarlet Imprint's visual and typographic presence.
BrandonHOST
And for those new here, this is Magus in the Media, where I spend time with myth, magic, philosophy, and media of all kinds in the stories that we love, and the stories that shape how we see the world.
Melina WicksGUEST
So that is sort of, you know, doesn't sound like the most compelling evidence.
Melina WicksGUEST
Peter Gray is a former colleague of Height's who wrote a book that was effectively a rebuttal to Height's book.
Melina WicksGUEST
It blames Common Core for the rise in teen mental health problems.
Melina WicksGUEST
That's a set of education standards introduced in 2008 that was accompanied by an increase in testing to measure the outcomes of The Atlantic did a piece talking to him and talking about this.
Ginny YurichHOST
...
Ginny YurichHOST
Sandra Dodd, Peter Gray, Deborah MacNamara, Michaeleen Doucleff.
Ginny YurichHOST
She's one of my favorites.
Ginny YurichHOST
And in your wi- wife's podcast, The Ladies Fixing the World, is very similar.
Ginny YurichGUEST
So that's just one small piece.
Ginny YurichGUEST
And another book free to learn by Dr. Peter Gray talks all about mixed age play.
Ginny YurichGUEST
And so when you've got kids outside, that's what they're doing.
Ginny YurichGUEST
Often, you know, you go with another family, find a friend.
15 MINS LATER
Ginny YurichGUEST
Now, I can't check a box and say, well, they learned the difference between toads and frogs.
Ginny YurichGUEST
And they, you know, it's not that it's very open ended, but it's a trusting in growth.
Ginny YurichGUEST
It's a trusting in the child that, that they're going to, that I'm Peter, Dr. Peter Gray says they're biologically designed to self-educate.
Ginny YurichGUEST
Yeah.
Jessica Joelle AlexanderGUEST
Right now we believe that we should be letting our kids play and that the rising anxiety, it's not just tied to the social media, it's also tied to the drop in play.
Jessica Joelle AlexanderGUEST
That's what Peter Gray and many experts tie it to, right? So, okay, so now we know science is saying it's good and now we know there's research that backs it up.
Jessica Joelle AlexanderGUEST
So we should have more free play.
Jessica Joelle AlexanderGUEST
But I almost felt like even that could be become a stressful thing where it's like, okay, we're going to have free play time now.
13 more episodes mention Peter Gray.
Create an account to see the whole feed, search across every transcript, and follow the entities you care about.