Posts by Neil Petersen
Do Children Imitate Differently Across Cultures?
Children have a lot to learn, and one of the ways they meet that formidable challenge is by imitating others. They’ll imitate the good things see. They’ll imitate the bad things they see. As I’ve written about before, they’ll even imitate robots. What’s less clear is whether children in different cultures practice the art of…
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Why Gun Owners Are Happier (Hint: It’s Probably Not the Guns)
Decades of psychology researchers has converged on the conclusion that the key to happiness is … owning a gun? Not quite. But as the authors of a new study on happiness and gun ownership point out, there has been plenty of speculation in that vein going back to when the Beatles released their song Happiness…
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The Dietary Habits of Optimists
It’s solidly established that there appears to be a link between optimism and physical health. This can be seen, for example, from the fact that people with higher levels of optimism tend to encounter fewer health problems as they age. Multiple explanations have been put forward for why seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses might…
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Romantic Partners May Influence Young Adults’ Binge Drinking
If you ever dated someone your parents thought was a “bad influence,” it turns out they might have been onto something. Romantic partners may influence young adults’ binge drinking behaviors more than friends or family, at least according to new findings from researchers in Canada. In a study published recently in the journal Substance Abuse,…
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What Happens When College Students Disclose Mental Health Problems?
To disclose or not to disclose? For people with mental health conditions, it’s a common question. On one hand, disclosing your mental health condition is a step toward obtaining accommodations or support in your everyday life. On the other hand, with disclosure comes the risk of running into mental health stigma. A recently published study…
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Hungry Kids Don’t Like to Share
It’s hard to be concerned with lofty philosophical principles when you’re hungry. A new study from researchers at University of Chicago underscores this point in the context of an ethical dilemma that children face every day: whether to share. Of course, children aren’t the only ones who need to remember to share, but this particular…
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When Is It “Manly” to Cry?
Our traditional ideas about how people are “supposed” express emotions are often tied up with gender stereotypes. Since managing emotions is a key part of mental health for anyone of any gender, viewing emotions in terms of gender has consequences for everyone, including men. As I’ve written about before, for example, traditional ideas about masculinity…
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Two Ways to Use Social Media
In my last post, I talked about how children in neighborhoods with faster internet apparently evaluate their lives more negatively. That study is one of several that has explored a possible link between internet use and mental health risk. One thing to keep in mind when we talk about “internet use,” however, is that there…
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In Neighborhoods With Faster Internet, Children Feel Worse About Their Lives
Who wouldn’t want a faster internet connection? Kids who want to feel good about their lives, maybe. A new analysis of data from 6,300 children carried about by researchers at University of Sheffield has come up with the finding that in neighborhoods with faster broadband speed, children and teenagers report feeling worse about their lives.…
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What Makes a Good Swear Word?
The idea that something is a swear word doesn’t seem to be defined by innate properties of the word as much as by the fact that you’re simply not supposed to say it in polite company. In other words, a swear word becomes taboo when we collectively decide that we’re going to consider it taboo.…
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