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13 Things to Know When Talking to Your Child About Alcohol
"This summer a teen in my community died in a car accident after a drinking party. Can you give tips on how to talk to my kids about alcohol? They're 7 and 11."– DanSmart dad! Parents are the most...
View ArticleThe Ability to Reject the Projection
In the last blog I said we’d talk about how to avoid absorbing the projections of others. We saw there that children—who desperately need their parents—are susceptible, indeed, very vulnerable to the...
View Article"I'm afraid I have bad news..."
At the time, she was an intern in a Family Medicine Residency Program where I was teaching. I was a relatively new faculty member. She came to me because she had to tell a patient and the patient’s...
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Your Goals are Too Small
I want you to think about something.Maybe you’re like me: coasting along, doing okay, not lacking for anything material. You have a good life.What else is there? Oh, that’s right: everything.At a...
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Practical Possibilitarianism: The Other Hippy Legacy
My first Burning Man was eight years ago. Arriving at the gate late on the second night with my then girlfriend, a fastidious professional model, we were ready for almost anything, but not the manic...
View ArticleSalary Differences Between Employees Can Encourage Cheating
It is by now fairly well established in the behavioral science literature that people do not respond to monetary incentives in a purely linear fashion. For example, Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini have...
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Rabies from an Organ Transplant
When I was a young man, I was grilling meat when a scrawny raccoon creeped up behind me and licked my ankle. The scratch of his wriggly, little tongue made me jump, and I dropped the plate of hot meat...
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Confidence: Too Much, Too Little, Just Right
Can you have too much confidence?When someone says: “He thinks well of himself,” it's not a compliment. But try to avoid over-confidence and you could end up with too little confidence. Why is this so...
View ArticleSurefire Relationship Advice From an Unlikely Source
Looking for the courage to tackle your relationship problems? Interested in a surefire way to nurture and preserve your relationship? I would highly recommend that you check out one of the most...
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Taking Your Partner for Granted: Its Pleasures—and Perils
Frankly, few things are more comforting than having a partner you can take for granted. On the other hand, there are potential—though generally hidden—dangers in being “blessed” with such a person:...
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Could We Really Make This Work Without Grandparents?
During a recent family vacation, the grandparents were busy as usual. They were working in the background, so their labor was mostly invisible. But their efforts made for a successful trip. Without...
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Is Facebook Making You Depressed?
While enabling us to network and connect with distant friends, social media can also have unhealthy side effects, encouraging negative social comparison, which can lead to rumination and depression...
View ArticleHighly Sensitive Children: Do They Scare Easier?
Picking up the phone, Claudia, a mother said to me: “My daughter is shy and scared. She no longer wants to go to first grade. Can you help?” Of course, I can be of assistance. But she raises a very...
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In Defense/Not Defensive Part 1
In the previous post, The Trials of Art Therapy: An Introduction, I indicated “art is a viable assessment tool that can ascertain mental health status at the time of both the crime and trial or...
View ArticleNew New World Breeds Reveal Rich Recent Mixed Heritage
A few years ago, I was talking to a couple of Pakistani journalists about rising dog ownership in their country, and they said that the increase involved the purchase of purebred dogs to the exclusion...
View ArticleSelf-Monogamy
Little so stirs controversy in relationships and research like discussions of monogamy. According to my own totally non-scientific research it is a guarantee that if couples are in a social gathering...
View ArticleThe Elements of Beauty
We know a lot—at least we think we know a lot—about mating rituals in animals. These are often complicated behaviors that can last for hours and are designed to demonstrate good looks and physical...
View ArticleSyria, chemical weapons, and confirmation bias
McClatchy authors Hannah Allam and Mark Seibel have published an analysis of the evidence that Syria has chemical weapons that requires some serious psychological analysis, and they have been taking...
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