“Should my child be rewarded/punished for getting a good/bad mark at school?” Are reward and punishment the opposite extremes of a response or two independent factors. Psychologists believe that they are independent behaviors and that punishments are two to three times more effective than prizes in modifying behavior. A group of boys and girls were...
Recently a mother brought her 12-year old son in for a medical visit. No particular problem, but the teachers say the boy does not show confidence in himself. “He does not go for it…” “He’s afraid of losing”, “He prefers playing with small children”, “He lets the other kids boss him around”, “He gives up...
Unemployment is a serious problem and there are many reasons why young people can’t find a job. Market problems, lack of work experience, hundreds of candidates for a position as teacher or nurse. There is also the inverse situation where jobs are available and a candidate has a great CV, but for some reason the...
Having to place your money in someone’s hands would you give more importance to whether the person has been recommended by someone or to your first impression? Studies say that we prefer to go with what we feel rather than with what we are told. Fifty subjects were given a sum of money to invest...
It is often said that our facial expressions are the mirror of our moods, but recent research says this is not so. For example, it was thought that an expression of fear was universal, but the inhabitants of Papua Guinea, when are shown a photo of a face which for ‘Westerners’ shows fear, instead see...
The ability to work together with others for an objective is called cooperation. We cooperate because advantages are greater than disadvantages even if specific costs differ from person to person. In this game of cost and benefit, we all have our strategies and expectations. One of the many examples of cooperation is between a man...
My little boy doesn’t speak while his sister at the same age was chatting away. My child has a problem with words that begin with ‘r’. We have a Chinese babysitter who only speaks Chinese to the kids. Why hasn’t my child yet said ‘mama’? I’m afraid my little girl’s pacifier prevents her from saying...
The parent, sibling, spouse, employer, manager who ‘look after’ a matter because ‘they know’. The one who calls the other ‘a disaster in the kitchen’ or ‘a public danger at the wheel’. These comments are not to be taken too seriously and may even be signs of affection, often said with the victim’s consent. However,...
It was thought that the general increase in people’s average income, with the consequent increase in financial resources to spend on one’s health, explained improvements in health and longevity seen in many countries. A huge international study that lasted 10 years establishes that, all factors equal, the single most important determinant for health and longevity...
However much we wash ourselves with soap, shampoo and various products, our skin remains covered with germs, virus and fungi. Beginning from the mouth and going south we notice armies of micro-organisms the concentration of which increases as we go down. Of all the cells in our body, 43% are human and the rest are...
