Description: I was teaching a summer course called Psychology for Everyday Life last summer in a dual credit format which meant that it was a real university course, but it was being taken by 150 senior high school students who would receive credit for the university course as well as receive a number of senior… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Emerging Adulthood
Emerging Adults and Parents’ Levels of Psychological Control
Description: There has been quite a bit of speculation about what is “wrong” with emerging adults (18- to 29-year-olds) these days. This typically occurs as part of reflections upon the significant rise (jump) in levels of anxiety among undergraduate student in general and first year students in particular. Putting aside non-useful hypotheses such as that… Read more »
Psychology of Covid-19: The Big Picture After
Description: Psychology tends to focus on the experience or behaviors of individual people. While social psychologists DO study people’s behavior in social situations and groups and developmental psychologists examine the effects of early social/relational experiences on later behavior the outcomes examined are those of individuals for the most part. So, if we are to speculate… Read more »
Into Post-Pandemic with Telehealth and Teletherapy
Description: Think back to one year ago, call that point in time up and try and remember what you thought about everything then. OK a big ask but one year ago would you have even thought about the possibility of accessing therapy services by phone or via video chat (I would bet you had not… Read more »
How Distracted is YOUR learning?
Description: Ok, imagine you are sitting in your first class in a new course at college or university (yes in the old world where you were sitting in a lecture hall with 200 to 300 other students). Further, imagine that the professor arrives and announces that they have a few rules that MUST be followed… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid 19: Unselfish Self Care
Description: Have you read anything about Positive Psychology? It is a relatively new sub-discipline within Psychology that is based on the idea that Psychology can do more that focus in on the ways in which things can go wrong for us in terms of things like mental illness. Research in Positive Psychology looks at what… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid-19: Uncertainty about Uncertainty Itself
Description: You have heard the Roosevelt quote from a speech celebrating Human Rights Day in 1948; “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now, without diving too deeply into what that might mean, but taking it as a metaphorical lead, think about this. Uncertainty (of outcomes, processes, and next steps) is a… Read more »
Answer This RIGHT NOW: Why Do You Procrastinate?
Description: Quick! Off the top of your head, why do people (perhaps you yourself) procrastinate? Procrastination is perceived to be a huge problem generally, and when I ask students to name a few things they think they need to work on in order to improve their academic and life performance, procrastination (doing less of it)… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid-19: Depression or Boredom?
Description: Think about this distinction for a moment in relation to your own experiences within and related to our time with the Covid-19 pandemic. How much of our negative emotional, social and cognitive experiences could or should we attribute to bad things that have happened to us (e.g., health challenges, job losses, life disruptions) and… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: Uncertainty is Certain
Description: Suppose you were told that a friend of yours was anxious, just generally anxious. In preparing to talk with them about how they are doing you are thinking a bit about the sorts of questions you might ask them in order to better understand their situation and their mental state. What are you anxious… Read more »
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