Description: Remember how sad Charlie Brown was when he did not get a single Valentine? The social norms of romantic love are burning brightly at the center of all that is involved in Valentine’s Day. Today (well tomorrow actually) having a Valentine is more difficult unless they are already holed up with you in whatever… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Intergroup Relations
Black Friday: The Psychology of Retail Rage?
Description: Even if you are not in the United States you have certainly heard about the Black Friday sales. We have them up in Canada as well though they are not quite as big a deal as are our Boxing Day sales. Things are a bit different this year, to say the least, but predicting… Read more »
Protests that Produce Real Change
Description: In thinking about recent events and the Black Lives Matter movement, if you had to come up with a small number, how many different kinds of protests would you say there have been in North America focusing issues relating to the BLM movement? If you said 2 (non-violent and violent) then you have likely… Read more »
Psychology of Covid-19: Cultural Variation in Reactions to Social Restrictions
Description: We know a LOT about social distancing at this point in time (Fall 2020) don’t we? Well, we might think we do but as we need to consider increasingly comprehensive restrictions on social engagement as the pandemic surges into the winter months it is helpful to see that quite a bit of Psychological research… Read more »
The Psychology of Covid-19: Your Behavioral-Immune System
Description: You are wearing a mask when you need to right? Its has become clear that mask wearing is perhaps the most important thing we can do to limit exposure to Covid-19 until a vaccine become readily available. What is also clear is that there are many factors involved in determining when people feel more… Read more »
Psychology of Covid-19: Lies, Damn Lies, and Pandemic Lies
Description: There are lies, damn lies, and statistics, right? But what about pandemic lies? How many lies have you been telling lately, and about what? How common do you think it is these days for people to lie about their health status or symptoms? Why might people be lying more these days than was the… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: What is the Deal with Masks?
Description: Even if you have not seen the media coverage of how mask use is breaking out along political lines in the United States you have very likely had your own experience of being hesitant about wearing a mask when going to the grocery store or if you did wear one feeling a bit weird… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: It is a HUGE Psychology Experiment
Description: Occasionally during one of my lectures something unexpected would happen, nothing serious, but perhaps a construction crew renovating a neighboring classroom would start to use a jackhammer or power drill. In such situations I would typically comment that the event was NOT part of a Psychology experiment of the effects of annoying background noise… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: There IS a Manual for This!
Description: Ask people how they are seeing the world around them these days as they deal with or do not deal so well with the social, isolation imposed due to the coronavirus and most will say something like weird, surreal, strange, or odd. These perspectives arise for the large extent to which usually or typical… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: How is This Changing Us Psychologically?
Description: Did you see those news videos of interviews with young adults partying on or near beaches during spring break and expressing disdainful disregard to distancing and other Covid-19 mitigation efforts? If you did, how did the statement made in the interviews make you feel? Anger? Disgust? If so, you were actually experiencing symptoms of… Read more »
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