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Pro / Con: Spanking
Los Angeles Times: When your 3-year-old is throwing a tantrum in the middle of the supermarket or has poured his milk all over the floor, the urge to spank may be overwhelming. If you've ever given in to that urge, you're not alone — research shows that up to 90% of parents spank their children, at least occasionally. But does it work? And more importantly, is it harmful to kids? Once considered a fairly standard parenting practice, spanking is now opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Assn.
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Adversity, Trauma May Boost Mental Toughness
U.S. News & World Report: New research finds some truth in the old saying that whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger. While extremely harrowing experiences such as being assaulted or surviving a hurricane can cause psychological damage, less drastic life challenges can help you develop psychological resilience, according to Mark Seery of the University at Buffalo. In one study, he and his colleagues found that people who suffered many traumatic events were more distressed in general, but they also found similar problems in people who had not experienced any such adversity. Read the whole story: U.S. News & World Report
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Memories of the Future
I remember my retirement like it was yesterday. As I recall it, I am still working, though not as hard as I do now. My wife and I still live in the city, where we bicycle a fair amount, and stay fit. We have a favorite coffee shop where we read the morning papers and say hello to the other regulars. We don’t play golf. In reality, I’m not even close to retirement. This is just a scenario I must have spun out at some point in the past. There are other future scenarios, but the details aren’t all that important. What’s notable is that my futures all have a peaceful and contented feel to them. They don’t include any financial or health problems, and no boredom, not for me or anyone I know.
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Joe Magee
New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service & Stern School of Business, USA http://wagner.nyu.edu/magee What does your research focus on? I study the influence of social hierarchy on thought and behavior, and how people construe and communicate about their social worlds. The theme that ties these areas of research together for me is social power, defined by the dynamics of dependence and control in interpersonal relationships. In particular, I am interested in how the existence of power in social relationships and organizations plays an important role in construal and behavior. What drew you to this line of research? Why is it exciting to you?
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Katherine Kinzler
The University of Chicago, USA http://dsclab.uchicago.edu What does your research focus on? My research focuses on the development of social cognition. I believe that studying early development is essential for understanding the nature and potential malleability of human social interactions.
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Wendy Johnson
University of Edinburgh, UK http://www.psy.ed.ac.uk/people/view.php?name=wendy-johnson What does your research focus on? My research explores how genetic and environmental influences transact to shape the way people move through their lives and become the varied individuals we see around us. This is really broad, I know. I’m particularly interested in cognitive ability, how it develops in childhood, why and how it varies so much among individuals, what it is in the brain, how people use it or don’t, how it is integrated with personality and emotional expression, how it is shaped during education, and how it changes in old age.
