Description: I was not intending to post three conceptually focused pieces (another one, a third one) when I sat down at my computer this week. By conceptual, I mean looking at articles that ask us if we are looking at or thinking about some aspect of human psychological functioning properly or whether a different conceptual… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Cultural Variation
Is “How Happy Are You” The Right Question?
Description: How happy are you? If you are not as happy as you would like to be what can you do to fix that? Is how happy you are an important question? If not, what else should we be thinking about or working on? These questions started out simple and then got fuzzier and more… Read more »
Holiday Loneliness
Description: Of course the holiday period in late December is supposed to be a time away from work and engaged in other activities such as spending time with loved ones, friends and family. This does NOT mean that it is a time to be away from Psychology (in fact maybe just the opposite)! It can,… Read more »
Introverts and the Holiday Season: Who Has Work to Do?
Description: Of course the holiday period in late December is supposed to be a time away from work and engaged in other activities such as spending time with loved ones, friends and family. This does NOT mean that it is a time to be away from Psychology (in fact maybe just the opposite)! It can,… Read more »
Hey Google (Alexa, Siri)! Should We Gender Our Technology?
Description: Do inanimate objects have a gender? Well while your quick answer to this question might be no, of course not, it is worth thinking about the question a bit more deeply. Since ancient times, for example, ships have been referred to as female (as ‘shes’). Why? Well, the word ship comes from the Latin… Read more »
Ouija Boards – What’s Up With That?
Description: Do you believe that it is, or might be, possible to communicate with the departed? It is around Halloween after all. I bet you know about and may have actually tried one of the supposed “technologies” for communicating with the spirit world, a Ouija board. If you believe that things like Ouija boards do… Read more »
Is Parenting Universal?
Description: Imagine (if it is not the case for you already) that you are about to become a parent for the first time and you are trying to figure out how you are going to approach the challenges and, hopefully, joys, of being a parent. Boil it down to one or two questions by starting… Read more »
Self-Narratives and Mental Illness
Description: Are you the same person today that you were 5 years ago? How about 10 years ago? A quick answer is, “of course, yes!” but as time, personal and developmental mount up the question becomes more challenging. Typically starting in the adolescent and emerging adult years it can become harder, and perhaps even impossible… Read more »
Remote Work and Mental Health
Description: Sometimes you may run across references to large scale studies that take broad, general looks at parts or sectors of the population and sometimes those large survey studies take a look at aspects of mental health. Before taking the results of such studies at face value it is well worth taking a moment or… Read more »
History, Development, Autonomy, and Old Enough?
Description: Ok, here is a challenging question. Imagine you are a parent, and your child is 4 years old, and you need some butter for a recipe you are working on for a large family dinner, but you have several things in the oven and on the stove and you cannot leave (Covid inspired delivery… Read more »