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I hate that I still love the alcoholic that was in my life
The other day, I attended an Al-Anon meeting in my area. I try to go once a week as I appreciate the shares of disappointment and victories from my fellow members. I was moved by a share from a woman...
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Do Some Murderers Deserve Mercy?
The legal system presupposes that we are rational, that we can form mental states and appropriately act on them. But not only must we act appropriately, we must recognize and act upon good reasons....
View ArticleDon’t Overspend this Holiday Season
As the holiday season approaches, it is hard to resist the many social cues in our environment telling us to buy! buy! buy! I can recount countless seasons when my mother was besides herself scrambling...
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Why Tax Progressivity is Such a Hot-Button Issue
I wrote last time about why the need for taxes is uncontroversial among economists. Virtually all economists agree that there are some goods and services, like public safety, that are more efficiently...
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Traveling through Time and Returning Safely to Now
We are all time travelers. We travel into the past; vividly remembering yesterday, last week, and previous decades. We also travel to the future; planning the weekend, imagining next year, and...
View ArticleHow To Avoid Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment, Part 2
In part 1 of this blog series, The Shocking Dangers of Medical Overdiagnosis & Overtreatment, I shared with you the data supporting how more tests do not necessarily equate to better health. In...
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Who Grows Up to Be Conservative or Liberal?
Who Grows Up to Be Conservative or Liberal?By Art Markman, Ph.D. on December 11, 2012 in Ulterior MotivesPsychologists have been interested in whether there are broader psychological factors that...
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Teens and Psychosomatic Illness
As most parents and teachers of teens can attest, psychological health problems are prevalent—and perhaps on the rise—among adolescents. The first sign of stress-related problems, depression, or other...
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Kim Peek, The Real Rain Man
Kim Peek, who lent inspiration to the fictional character Raymond Babbitt—played by Dustin Hoffman—in the movie Rain Man, was a remarkable savant. A savant is an individual who—with little or no...
View ArticleAnimal Cruelty and Antisocial Behavior: A Very Strong Link
Eleonora Gullone's new book titled "Animal Cruelty, Antisocial Behaviour, and Aggression: More Than a Link", published as part of the Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series, shows that there is strong...
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But How Do You Feel About That?
The word people use most often to describe my fiction writing is “cinematic.” The first few times I heard it, I asked for clarification; I mean, wouldn’t you? It’s not the kind of thing people say to...
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Will Neuroscience Change Education?
I was trained as an educator, and I’ve worked as a teacher and curriculum writer. More recently, I’ve been listening to what neuroscientists have to say and writing about cutting-edge discoveries about...
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10 Ways Your Brain is Smacking You Around
Brains -- can't live with them, can't live without them. We'd be nowhere without the marvel of evolution in our skulls, but sometimes our brains act in ways not in our best interests, and that's when...
View ArticleHow to Write a Final Exam
When most people think of tests, they think about things they TAKE. Especially this time of year, when students are hunkered down for finals.But I'm a professor. When I think of tests, I think of...
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This Was the Year in Willpower
Each year, I like to pull together the most-read blog posts of the year. It's always fascinating to see what gets tweeted, emailed, and read, and what gets lost in the dustbin of internet debris. So,...
View ArticleUpon the Murder of 20 Children and 6 Adults in Connecticut
Someone murdered 26 people this morning. Someone killed 20 children, innocent children. In my process of reflection (psychological reflection) I couldn’t help but think that it was not just innocents...
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Who Shoots Children?
As we sort through the horrific shooting in Connecticut, wondering why anyone would would target young children, I’m reminded of other similar incidents. They don’t entirely shed light, as each...
View ArticleSchool Shooting in Newtown: Why Guns Are Not The Answer
Imagine you are a squid. You hear rumors of an imminent attack by a loosely constructed cell of predatory sperm whales. You’re scared. What’s the best thing to do? You excrete a whole lot of ink,...
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Talking With Children About the Connecticut School Shooting
I knew something was wrong the second I saw my husband’s face. He was fighting back tears. “What is it?” I asked, urgently. When he hesitated, I said “Tell me fast!” as I tried to hold off imagining...
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It Can’t Happen Here
An unspeakable tragedy occurred in Newtown, Connecticut today. Twenty-seven innocent people—young children and their teachers—were killed at an elementary school where no one ever expected violence...
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