Psychology in Action

Category: Developmental Psychology

  • Is bullying going digital? Cyber Bullying Facts

    The suicide of a young girl named Phoebe Prince in January of 2010 received a great deal of media attention. Phoebe was the victim of bullying, manifested online by classmates who posted disparaging remarks about her on Facebook. A few months ago, digital bullying was again in the news when Tyler Clementi, an 18-year old…

  • Should we blame the media?

    The NY Times using nearly all anecdotal evidence based on one child, says the media may be responsible for poor grades and lack of focus. Don Tapscott rebutes this argument and cites much research. This is such an interesting example of how even a respected newspaper like the NY Times can flame the fire.  I…

  • Race to Nowhere

    A documentary called Race To Nowhere is making its way around the schools in my neighborhood.  The film was made by a mother who was disturbed by the amount of homework that schools were assigning, as she felt her children were focusing too much on homework and not enough on play.  This has been a…

  • Digital Media Are a Tool

    A recent article by James Fallows in the Atlantic reminded me that digital media are a tool and not an entirely new state of being and behavior.   The article says: “Technology, to them, is neither a sedative that dulls our alarm nor a rocket ship that will spirit us away from our problems; it is…

  • Texts, Sex, and Media Freakouts

    As I spent a few minutes this morning updating my Twitter, I was alarmed to see a post that a friend of mine had retweeted from The Atlantic: What’s that?  Texting no longer only represents a way for teens to ignore their parents at the dinner table and run up the phone bill, it now…

  • Raising an academically motivated child

    Children who are motivated on their own to do well in school is a dream of almost every parent. Fortunately, whether a child is intrinsically motivated to do well academically is not purely genetic or based on socioeconomic factors. This means that parents can purposefully contribute to the development of academic intrinsic motivation, or AIM…

  • Family Assistance Activities Makes for a Happy Adolescent?

    Some may believe that encouraging adolescents to engage in family assistance activities (e.g. taking care of younger siblings and performing household chores) may be overly demanding and stressful for them and thus create more family conflicts. Although this can be the case some of the time, a study conducted at the University of California, Los…

  • Warm and Fuzzy Moms Protect Kids Against Future Health Problems

    Lots of research suggests that having less money, a less prestigious job, or fewer years of education is bad for health. A person who makes $30,000 a year will be more likely to develop certain health problems, such as cardiovascular disease or even some types of cancer, than a person who makes $40,000, and on…

  • Childhood Sexual Assault: Impacts are broad, but not for all victims?

    Psychologists often rely on grouping participants together based on shared characteristics (e.g., are girls better than boy in reading ability). The goal is to broadly understand the relationships between potential causes and effects, and, ideally learn from them. In the first example above, perhaps reading interventions targeting boys may be an effect if the study…

  • Who can help reduce suicide among lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents?

    A recent string of suicides by adolescent lesbian, gay and bisexual teens has focused attention on what teachers, parents and peers of these teens can do to help. Psychological research has identified a variety of factors which make a difference for these teens, from supportive school environments to accepting reactions by friends.