Snow-capped mountain

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In: 08. Relationships, 11. Social Psychology, Intro to Psych, Principles of Social Psych

On January 18, 2025, dating partners Thomas P. and Kerstin G. went mountain climbing on Austria’s highest mountain, the Grossglockner. Kerstin never returned (Bell, 2026). Thomas was an experienced climber. Kerstin had some experience but not enough for the winter conditions that included strong winds (45 mph, 74 kph) and below freezing temperatures (17F, -8C). Prosecutors say the couple got stuck on the mountain and that Thomas P failed to call the police and did not send any distress signals when a police helicopter flew overhead at around 22:30. Video footage from the helicopter showed the couple still climbing. The judge noted that no distressRead More →

Credit score equals conscientiousness?

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In: 08. Relationships, 12. Personality, Intro to Psych, Principles of Social Psych

After covering the Big Five and/or the HEXACO personality traits in Intro Psych, ask your students which trait or traits are most likely to correlate positively with credit score and which trait or traits are most likely to correlate negatively. (If you want to play along, take your guesses now. The answers are in the next paragraph. As a quick reminder, your choices are conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, emotional stability, and agreeableness.) One study found a small positive correlation between credit scores and conscientiousness. It was about the same size as the positive correlation between credit scores and educational attainment. Interestingly, the authors found small negativeRead More →

Gallup data showing generational differences in sexual orientation identification

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In: 02. Research Methods, 08. Relationships, 10. Emotions & Motivation, Intro to Psych, Principles of Social Psych

Earlier this month, I attended the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) in what I hope will be their new conference home at the Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama. It’s a relaxing location with excellent food and friendly staff. The three keynotes at NITOP 2026 (Lisa Diamond, Claude Steele, and Markus Brauer)  gave me a lot to think about, as NITOP keynotes usually do. Lisa Diamond is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at the University of Utah. Her talk was titled “Your textbook is out of date: What we know now about gender and sexuality, andRead More →

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In: 03. Biopsych, 08. Relationships, Intro to Psych

The National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (NITOP) is later this week. I’ve previously written (Frantz, 2023): I’ll confess that well before I retired my primary purpose for attending conferences was to meet with my friends and make new friends. In SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the author and Roman historian Mary Beard tells us that Polybius (200 BCE – 118 BCE) supposedly advised a young man, “Never come back from the Forum…until you have made at least one new friend” (Beard, 2016, p. 184) I was reminded of this recently when I read the (freely available) Working Life essay at the endRead More →