Psychology Blog

Last year, I was honored to be a finalist in the 2007 Weblog Awards in the Individual Blogger category. I didn’t win, but it was a lot of fun to be included.

This year’s voting is now open.  I’ve yet to check out all the contestants (this is a great way to find new blogs to read), but our friend John Grohol’s World of Psychology is a finalist in the Medical/Health category. Good luck to John!

You can vote once a day–Vote early and often!

Read more from the original source:
Vote for the 2008 Weblog Awards Now

Every year John Brockman of Edge.org poses a question to a diverse group of thinkers and publishes their responses. This year’s question relates to the fact that some technologies or discoveries have changed our lives drastically in the past, and asks people to think about what big development they expect to see in their lifetime [...]

More here:
The Edge question for 2009

In our ongoing discussions of Cacioppo and Patrick’s Loneliness, our daughter Kristin shared some of her thoughts about the disconnect experienced by soldiers, particularly as they deploy and return home again.

Kristin gave a radio interview about the topic:

click to listen to the interview

Our friends at Ashworth University, which serves many students in the military, also found the interview interesting.

Although our experience can hardly compare with that of soldiers stationed abroad, we are missing our Kristin this holiday season. There is a distinct sense of guilt as we enjoy the comforts we have here, knowing that she is in a very different place. We are making long lists of things to do when she returns for the 2009 holiday season. We send packages of homemade goodies and warm socks and even a guitar, hoping to make her deployment a little more comfortable. We luck out on occasion and grab a quick chat with her on Facebook (the time difference is a bit challenging).

Kristin uses some rare downtime to practice her guitar playing

I thought it was a very nice touch to receive a handwritten Christmas card from Kristin’s superior officers. I’m sure these guys are plenty busy, and have families of their own that they were missing, but we really appreciated their taking the time to do this.

Not all soldiers have families who can step forward and help, and it’s just so important that all feel appreciated and supported.  If you want to help soldiers, here are some places to start:

Soldiers’ Angels

This site’s motto is “May No Soldier Go Unloved.” If you want to get involved in supporting the troops, this site gives you many ways to do so.

The USO

West Point Parents

This site has a lot of useful links about everything from how to store a vehicle for 12 months to advice about how to interact with a soldier home on mid-tour leave.

Yes, many of us are facing challenges–financial and otherwise–but these seem trivial compared to the challenges facing soldiers. As Cacioppo and Patrick point out, “extending ourselves” will make us feel better, too!

This is the largest yellow ribbon formation so far–can you beat it?

View original post here:
Loneliness and Deployed Soldiers

New Scientist is looking for participants in a study on personalities and facial characteristics. All you have to do is answer a few questions and mail a photo of yourself to the magazine. Photos will be merged to form composites that will appear on the cover of the magazine at some point in the future. [...]

See original here:
Face/personality study

Merry Christmas to all of my Christian readers. At the holidays, people often wax especially nostalgic for times gone by. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “nostalgia” as a “sentimental yearning for the past.” Some definitions make nostalgia sound sad, as in “homesickness” and “bittersweet.”

Nostalgia can apparently be helpful, though, especially to people who are lonely. This is not too surprising, given what we know about loneliness. Xinyue Zhou and Ding-Guo Gao from Sun Yat-Sen University, along with Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut from the University of Southampton found that their loneliest participants appeared to be the most nostalgic [1]. Even more interesting, when these researchers induced feelings of nostalgia in participants, the result was increased feelings of social support.

The Intrepid Competitors Take the Field

I am blessed with a wonderful family, and even though we can’t always be together (Kristin is currently stationed in Iraq), I feel a lot of social support. We are missing my mom, who passed away last March, and my brother, who passed away in August, so yes, the bittersweet aspects of nostalgia are there as we consider Christmases past.

We enjoy some traditions (we have our childhood stockings hung at the fireplace), but we like to start new ones, too. Some of these are food related, like the blueberry raisin cinnamon rolls we had for Christmas breakfast last year and decided to do annually. Yesterday, we tried out another new tradition–a family shot put contest. Okay, that’s not something you see everyday, so some explanation is in order. Mr. F was a track and field All-American at UCLA and had their discus record for some ten years, Kristin threw the shot and discus in high school and at West Point, and Karen was a 4-time All-American and holds the shot records for the USC Trojans. So I was at a bit of a disadvantage. Karla was throwing a 12 lb. shot (I was using the women’s standard 4k), and she beat me anyway! Nonetheless, the competition was heroic. Yes, I did come in last, but it was great fun! Now if we can start a minigolf classic, I might have a chance! And maybe memories of these times together will get our children over a rough bump or two down the road.

1.  Zhou, X., Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., & Gao, D-G. (2008). Counteracting loneliness: On the restorative function of nostalgia. Psychological Science, 19(10), 1023 - 1029.

Read the rest here:
Nostalgia Makes You Happy