20+ Proofs for Humanity’s Sociality — The ‘nature vs. nurture’ question has been debated for thousands of years even before English polymath Francis Galen coined the term in 1874. In one way or another, we’ve all watched toddlers dance like their grandparents, children speak using their parents’ gesticulations, teenagers try to stand out by acting like…

A Teacher’s Take on Why we Should Think Psychoanalytically — When I was sixteen years old, I beat my father in chess for the very first time. One might assume that I celebrated this major victory — perhaps pounding my chest with my fists and roaring towards the heavens! But instead, I felt dread. Why? Well, defeating my father in…

The Good & Bad of Preferring those like ‘Us’ — Context: A more accurate subtitle would be ‘the good & bad of preferring those whom we perceive to be like us’, because perception is a fundamental part of favoritism. In-group preferentiality — attracting via shared language, ideas, cultures — is the very mechanism that permits societies to form in the…

How an Anxiety Disorder Can Begin — and End — With Your Gut — March 11th, 2020: I entered my apartment in Long Island City, feeling as if something was amiss. Ignoring this lingering jamais vu, I sat down at my desk and began lesson-planning. Maybe I’m nervous about these lockdowns? I thought, as ‘remote learning’ seemed more like an oxymoron than a teaching…

A 101 for Fighting Against Today’s Most BRUTAL Dictatorship — The Why: In a recent press briefing, US President Joe Biden made an historic announcement condemning the dictatorship of Turkey, specifically for their recent offensives in northern Syria. A portion of the briefing reads: …The situation in and in relation to Syria, and in particular the actions by the Government of Turkey…

Three Empirical Strategies for Self-Improvement — Martin Seligman is both the founder and leading pioneer of Positive Psychology, a subfield that offers a sort of guidance absent from most other schools. While Seligman began his research examining pessimism and learned helplessness, he grew increasingly curious about the opposite: What makes people endure challenges with optimism? What…

An Introduction to my Multidisciplinary Self-Help Work — “The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates “Snow day!” my best friend Sarik Kumar shouted through my phone’s receiver, rattling me awake. I turned towards my window and squinted at its purgatorial glow. “Are you there, Sam? They JUST announced it on the news! Snow day, man! Snow…

An Analysis of Psychology’s Origins, Insights & Inspirations — Context Every year, thousands of students graduate to become psychologists, entering a discipline that is both new (just under 150 years-old) but with ancient roots that run back thousands of years. As memory expert Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) put it: “Psychology has a long past, yet its real history is short.” Psychology…

The Psychological Benefits of Becoming an Educator — Before we begin: I’ve been teaching in NYC for seven years (6 years at a small underperforming public high-school, and 1 year at a top magnate high school with over 6,000 students) and have also spent four years teaching and lecturing in high schools and colleges in my home country of Armenia. I…