When someone does well at something, our first instinct is often to offer words of encouragement, such as "Good job!", "You're so clever!", "You’re amazing!", to celebrate their achievements. Undoubtedly, praise is a powerful motivator for encouraging one to continue striving for success. However, praise is not always as effective as we might expect. In fact, despite our best intentions, [...]
What is Parentification? Parentification occurs when a child prematurely assumes the typical adult’s responsibilities, often due to their parent's inability to adequately support the family amid significant life stressors (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Spark, 1973; Dariotis et al., 2023). Common reasons associated with parentification include the parent’s physical or mental illness, loss (e.g., death, divorce, incarceration), crises (e.g., unemployment, eviction), and dysfunctional [...]
Selecting our romantic partner is one of the most important decisions we make in our lifetimes. Have you ever wondered whether a potential boyfriend or girlfriend would be a good lifetime partner in the long term? Underlying these types of decisions are psychological processes that have been studied. So, what are these processes, and can we understand them to make [...]
Do you have elderly relatives who struggle with loneliness or depression? Are you concerned and unsure of what can be done to help the elderly in our communities who might be suffering in silence and would benefit from psychological assistance? Depression is not a problem that only affects young people. Older adults often suffer from depression in late life, known [...]
Confucious wrote: “At birth, the human nature is good”. Where this statement is true, it suggests that one’s environment and experiences can lead one astray. Sociological explanations of crime support this notion and propose that crime is shaped by external factors like one’s peer group and the family (Bostaph et al., 2010). Here is what we know about ‘Nurturing’ criminals. [...]
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, said, “The healthy man does not torture others. Generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers.”. Then – are criminals born or made this way? Biological explanations of crime assume that some people are ‘born criminals’ and are physiologically, biologically, or genetically distinct from non-criminals, while sociological approaches suggest that crime is shaped [...]
The effect of family communication patterns on children’s socioemotional development Does your child experience mood swings, throw temper tantrums or close themselves off? Does your child have trouble navigating their social environment? Are you interested to learn how you can support your child through their development? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this article is for [...]
Did you know? The age at which children regularly interact with media has significantly decreased from 4 years in 1970 to 4 months in the present day (Radesky & Christakis, 2016). Referred to as "digital natives," children today are born into a constantly evolving digital landscape shaped by mobile media, which have become integral aspects of their everyday lives. Given [...]
If you have ever judged someone by their size, did you stop to think, “maybe they already struggle with their body image, or even an eating disorder?” According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anyone can suffer from an eating disorder, regardless of their size. Eating disorders may become fatal if not treated in time. Some eating disorders [...]
You would never imagine your sibling throwing something at you, hurling insults at you, or touching you inappropriately. Unfortunately, it has been, and is the truth for some. Sibling abuse, a type of family violence, is defined as siblings exhibiting abusive behaviour towards the other sibling(s) in the family. Despite being one of the most common forms of abuse one [...]