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In: 02. Research Methods, 05. Consciousness, 06. Development, 07. Learning, 10. Emotions & Motivation, 11. Social Psychology, Intro to Psych

In this New York Times article (gifted to you), the writer Frances Dodds tells us the tragic story of how her sister’s four children came to live with the writer’s parents, the children’s grandparents (Dodds, 2025). Grandparents being responsible for raising their grandchildren is not an unusual occurrence. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2023, 2.1 million grandparents were doing so. With very little effort, I can think of many “grandfamilies” I currently know or have known, including neighbors, my extended family, colleagues, and students. In my teaching and writing, I try to honor such families by referring to caregivers rather than parents. WhenRead More →

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In: 05. Consciousness, Intro to Psych

When I cover chronotypes in Intro Psych, I tell my students about the research that found that employees whose work schedules match their chronotypes have higher work satisfaction (Amini et al., 2021). I’ve always been a morning person. Even as an adolescent, I routinely awakened at 6am without an alarm. Now, deep into adulthood, I routinely awake around 4:30am. Interestingly, to me anyway, that time had been 5:30am, but my brain seems to have never adjusted after last fall’s time change. So, 4:30am it is. As a college student, I preferred taking the early morning classes. As a college professor, I preferred teaching the earlyRead More →

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In: 05. Consciousness, Intro to Psych

An estimated 43.6 million people in the U.S. who are 12 or older—that’s 15.4%—reported using marijuana in the last month. The largest group of people who used in the last month? They would be 18 to 25 year olds; 25.2% (8.6 million or so) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2024a). How about daily use? In 2023, an estimated 15.7 million people in the U.S. who are 12 or older—that’s 5.6%—reported using marijuana daily or almost daily. The largest group of daily users? Yes, that would be 18 to 25 year olds again; 9.2% (3.1 million or so) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health ServicesRead More →