Don’t pretend it is not WEIRD

Psychologists tend to make statements about human nature or how “people in general” behave. However, 80% of psychological studies are conducted with W.E.I.R.D (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples. People falling in this category are just a fraction of the world’s population and are therefore not representable of the world’s population.

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The perks of growing up bilingually

There appear to be clear differences between bilinguals and monolinguals. Within the last 30 years, an evolution took place from a very negative view towards being raised bilingual to a view that underlines the benefits of bilingualism. Findings nowadays are relating bilingualism to better attention, multitasking and a delay in the onset Alzheimer’s disease.

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Throw it in the box!

Black boxes are mechanisms, systems, or tools that we use without knowledge or interest in how they work internally; instead we look only at the input and output, or stimulus and response. Psychology, in its drive to establish itself as a hard science, appears to accept the closing of its black boxes with too great a readiness. What I suggest here is simply that we would benefit from a more scrupulous assessment of the validity and pragmatism of the black boxes we create, endorse and use within our field.

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Treat the patients, not just the symptoms: What we can learn from homeopathy

Homeopathy is a domain of alternative medicine that has no scientific plausibility. However, many people are convinced of its effectiveness because they are fooled by the unconscious psychological mechanisms homeopaths utilize for treatment. One of these mechanisms is the patients’ positive reaction to the empathy homeopaths show during consultations.

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