Mounting evidence has demonstrated long-term negative physical and psychological health effects of stressors experienced in early childhood (Repetti, Taylor, & Seeman, 2002). But as health psychology researchers, what we’re interested in is why. Ho …

As promised from my previous blog on the costs and benefits of bilingualism, here are some strategies to create a home environment ripe for bilingualism. With its many benefits, parents may choose to raise their children as bilinguals. But after making …

This is the last piece in a four part series on sociocultural forces that influence academic achievement in India, Japan and China first posted on Parenting in the Digital Age. The last article talked about Japan. China: Educational Promise Out of the …

In the past, my partner and I have mostly haphazardly divvied up our good intentions to whichever charities are most easily accessible to us because of advertisements or a person standing in a grocery store parking lot. Lately, we are rethinking that ( …

The feud between religion and science can be compared to the Montague and Capulet relationship – hateful at times, dismissive often, and bridged rarely, often with tragic results for those who try. A recent article in the journal Science (see Can Scien …

As school performance becomes a bigger issue in the United States, many policy leaders, teachers and administrators are looking at the plethora of issues faces our schools. One such issue is the racial achievement gap. It seems that many minorities are …

I’m going to come out right now as a deconstructionist – I believe that everything we experience is shaped at least in part by our historical time and our social, physical, and psychological context. In other words, I don’t believe that when you and I …

Raising a child is no easy task (or so I’ve heard from my own mother). With many decisions to make regarding your child, where do you even begin? Well, let’s take it one question at a time. Have you ever thought of or are currently considering raising …

Do you remember what you did last night? Have you ever not remembered what you did after drinking? Drinking alcohol over a long time period can affect the brain and cause lasting damage including, but not limited to, slips in memory. These memory slips …

In the history of thought, the idea that the mind and body are separate has been hotly debated. Probably the most famous statement of mind/body dualism is from the philosopher René Descartes, who in the 17th century argued that there are two different …

Continuing in the spirit of my last post, which overviewed the desirable difficulties literature, and Carole Yue’s recent post on how desirable difficulties can improve induction tasks, today I’m highlighting some recent research on applying such diffi …

For those of you who enjoy a little futurism or secretly wish that science fiction would become a reality, have a look at Lev Grossman’s interview with Ray Kurzweil in the latest edition of TIME magazine. Author, inventor, entrepreneur and futurist Ray …

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD (formerly known also as ADD) are classically seen as the kids in class who have trouble staying in their seats and paying attention during long lessons. Underlying these problematic behavio …

Last month, Jeff Bye’s post on desirable difficulties in the classroom inspired some good discussion. One question that came up was, Do desirable difficulties only apply to rote memory tasks, or can we use them for other types of learning as well? I’m …

In November 2010, the Pew Research Center released results of a poll that showed that 43% of people agreed with the statement that gay or lesbian couples raising children are bad for society, 41% believe that it doesn’t make a difference, and only 12% …

Suppose I told you today that, from now on, you would be identified in your work place or school as being on the Blue Team. Then I listed a group of peers you didn’t know well as also being on your team. Another group would be the Red Team. A few weeks …

Many of us have had the experience of unusual associations between our senses and our memories.  Perhaps a certain smell unexpectedly reminds you of a grandparent, or certain foods evoke memories of old friends.  Associations between memories and senso …

Gratitude is defined as feeling thankful and appreciative of other people or aspects of life such as nature. It comes from the Latin root gratia, meaning grace, graciousness, or gratefulness. Actively being grateful on a daily basis has been shown to h …

Many of us have experienced chills when listening to music, those weird, almost indescribable sensations sometimes likened to shivers down the spine. If you’re very meta, the line serving as this post’s title might even do it for you (but probably not— …

It seems you can’t read or watch anything without hearing about the Wall Street Journal Article written by Amy Chua, the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  Time Magazine is one of the latest to talk about her article about why Chinese mothers …

Here are some drug use statistics: Over 80% of teens engage in some form of deviant behavior (1). Over 50% of high-school seniors admit to having used drugs (2). Only 10%-15% of the population develop drug addiction problems related to their drug use ( …