June was a banner month for bullying. Not surprisingly, Donald Trump was in the thick of it. His offensive tweets about MSNBC co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough are Exhibit A. Adrienne Watson…
- Professor of Psychology, The University of Melbourne
Cultural diversity is an inescapable fact of modern life. How we should think about it is less obvious. Should we celebrate the multicultural rainbow, merge its colours into one – like a colour wheel spinning…
Consider three propositions about how Australians see themselves. Young people today, with their preening selfies and their sense of entitlement, have a higher opinion of themselves than previous generations…
The debate over so-called “trigger warnings” continues to simmer, boiling over in the media every month or so. These warnings – statements alerting students, and other members of the public, if writing…
There has been much talk recently about “Australian values”. The new citizenship test will require aspiring Australians to demonstrate they possess them, or can at least reproduce them under exam conditions…
Like a grotesque mask reflected in a pool, narcissism has two faces, neither of them attractive. Narcissists have an inflated sense of self-worth, seeing themselves as superior beings who are entitled…
Comparing humans to animals is vexed but irresistible. We are animals, but animals who like to believe we are not merely animals. When we do liken people to other creatures – when sports fans use racial…
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that language is “fossil poetry”. It is made up, he said, of images which “have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin”. Some of that poetry is on the nose. An extraordinary…
It is well known that economic inequality is rising. In most industrialised nations the distribution of wealth and income is becoming increasingly concentrated. In the United States, the top 10% of earners…
Comparing generations is a reliable way to provoke an argument. Members of one generation are apt to criticise the failings of others and be blind to their own. As George Orwell wrote: “Each generation…
Writing in 1908, Freud identified a cluster of personality traits that came to be known as the “anal triad”. Orderliness, obstinacy and parsimony.
American psychologists Nour Kteily and Emile Bruneaushow how some politicians appeal to those who demonise marginalised groups, and how those groups respond with intensified hostility.
Let’s consider six psychiatric concepts whose meanings have shifted. Each is widely used in ways that deviate from its original medical sense.
Emotion embodies motion. When we experience emotions were are agitated and stirred, transported and animated. Motion is at the root of the word itself: emotion comes from the Latin, meaning to move out…
Mental health problems continue to carry a heavy stigma. People who experience them are often feared, excluded, shamed and discriminated against. Overcoming that stigma is a high priority, not least because…
With the Trump presidency we may be entering a golden age of insult and name-calling. Trump is exercising leadership in this regard with about 300 people, places and things feeling his sting.
What are the drawbacks of expansive definitions of prejudice?
Empathy is associated with being drawn to the arts, but do they actively promote it or merely appeal to already sensitive souls?
It is generally thought that science helps good ideas triumph over bad. But one old and oft-refuted idea that questions why we are who we are, and do what we do, refuses to die.
A bill that would release the 112 children currently in immigration detention in Australia will soon go before the House of Representatives. So what should MPs consider when casting their votes?
Halloween is upon us. Why do we seek out experiences that we know will expose us to dread, disgust and terror?
Birth order offers an intuitively appealing explanation for the perplexing differences between us and our siblings. Only problem is, it’s a myth.
Biological and genetic explanations of mental illness can weaken people’s sense of control and optimism, and create a bias against effective psychological interventions.
Our new research shows the culture of sexualisation not only affects how young girls see themselves, but also how they are treated and viewed by adults.
Psychologists have advanced a new theory linking neurotic unhappiness and creativity, arguing that natural worriers may have highly active imaginations and be more creative problem-solvers.
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