Carolyn Hax (2020), syndicated advice columnist, recently received a message from a parent who was tired of being the “bad cop” to their husband’s “good cop” in parenting their son.* The parent notes that while growing up, her** father was “pretty strict,” while her husband’s father “was not very involved when he was a teen.” When it comes to discipline, the mother is the enforcer. She reports that one of their teenage sons is “very headstrong.” The father, rather than supporting his spouse, tries to negotiate peace. As an example of her being the disciplinarian, mom writes, “[O]ur son does not clean up his room after promising to do so. I take the keys to his car for the day. Son spends way more time arguing about the unfairness than it would take to actually clean his room.” Father and son both find the punishment greatly outweighs the crime. In her advice, Carolyn Hax asks the letter writer, “Why are you treating your/your father’s strictness as the only legitimate approach?” She goes on to add that there could be workable boundaries. The son can do whatever he’d like with his room (within reason***), but common spaces need to be respected, e.g., dishes need to be done. “You can allow him a voice in these expectations and consequences. Not the last word, but a place at the table.” After covering parenting styles, provide your students with access to the article, then pose these discussion questions. Based on what you read in the article, is the letter writer more of an authoritarian parent or an authoritative parent. What evidence do you have to support your choice? What type of parenting style is the advice columnist, Carolyn Hax, suggesting the letter writer try? What evidence do you have to support your choice? In reflecting on your own experiences growing up—both with your own parents/guardians and those of your friends and classmates—did you or anyone you know have parents/guardians who were more authoritarian? Give an example from you or your friends’ experiences that illustrates an authoritarian approach to parenting. How did the children respond to this parenting style? Did you or anyone you know have parents/guardians who were more authoritative? Give an example from you or your friends’ experiences that illustrates an authoritative approach to parenting. How did the children respond to this parenting style?   Footnotes *You will need a Washington Post subscription to read the article at its original source. As of this writing, you can access the column courtesy of the Dallas Morning News via PressReader.com. Otherwise, work with your reference librarians to get a permalink to the column in your library’s database that you can share with your students. Just give your librarians the reference below.    **In Hax’s column, we are not told the gender of the person who wrote in asking for advice. In writing this blog post, I wrote myself into all kinds of knots trying to keep the gender ambiguous. Out of a need for clarity (and pure selfishness in getting to that clarity), I’m going to play the odds and assume the asker-for-this-advice is a woman. ***Newspapers take syndicated columns like this one (and all articles that come off the news wires, actually) and edit them down to fit the space available on the printed page. In the Seattle Times, for example, the sentence reads, “You can agree your son’s room is his jurisdiction (barring extremes, like vermin or contraband), and hold your lines on common spaces.” The Dallas Morning News struck the parenthetical in their publication. Conversely, the Dallas Morning News included the paragraph that begins “The flagrant notworking of the old method is reason enough to try a new one.” The Seattle Times deleted it. The only place to see the complete original is in the Washington Post, Carolyn Hax’s host newspaper—either through the Washington Post website or through your library’s database. Reference Hax, C. (2020, November 8). Mom resents “bad cop” role in discipling son. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/carolyn-hax-the-parent-who-has-to-be-the-bad-cop-is-feeling-blue/2020/11/04/818025b0-1aee-11eb-aeec-b93bcc29a01b_story.html ... View more

Because of the pandemic the Association for Psychological Science (APS) canceled their 2020 convention. In its place, they invited all of their poster presenters to upload their posters to the “APS Virtual Poster Showcase” which runs June 1, 2020 through September 1, 2020. If you’re teaching Intro Psych this summer, ask your students to register. Registration is free. This is an amazing opportunity for students to see current psychological research (hundreds of posters!) and, if they’d like, ask the researchers about their studies. While I have framed this activity as an online discussion forum, this can be adapted for discussion in a synchronous class or as a stand-alone assignment. Here are some discussion forum questions that would be appropriate for the Intro Psych development chapter. Amend the topic for other chapters. ***** There are several ways psychological scientists share their research. They will, for example, publish their research in peer-reviewed journals—journals where others who are doing similar research will review articles that have been submitted for publication, and offer critiques that will make the article better. Psychological scientists also present their research at conferences. In some cases, they’ll stand in front of an audience (just like your I do when I teach face-to-face) and talk about their research. In other cases, they’ll print a summary of their research on a big poster (something like 3 feet x 4 feet) and then post that on a bulletin board in a big hall with 50 to 100 other researchers and their posters. A poster session will typically last an hour. Conference attendees can visit the hall, read the posters, and ask each researcher questions about their studies. While we won’t be able to go to a psychology conference during this class, one conference’s research posters are coming to us. The Association for Psychological Science (APS) has asked the psychological scientists who had their posters accepted for presentation at this year’s APS conference to make their posters available online. Visit this webpage, and register for free for the Association for Psychological Science’s Virtual Poster Showcase. Once you’re registered, visit the posters. In the left navigation menu, click on “Virtual Posters,” and select “Cross-Cutting Theme Posters—Risk and Resilience During Emerging Adulthood.” Choose a poster title, and read the abstract—a short summary of the research. In your initial post, please address the following:   What is the title of the poster you’ve chosen? Who are the researchers? What college or university are they from? In 50+ words, why did you choose this particular poster? After viewing or downloading the poster, quote a sentence or two from the poster that stands out to you. In 50+ words, explain why you chose this quote. Lastly, after having read this research poster, in 50+ words, please share what else you would like to know about this topic. Please respond to the initial posts of two classmates. In each of your responses, use at least one of these types of comments to reply to the initial post’s answer to #3 and to #4. For example, in response to their quote, you may choose a compliment, and in response to what else they’d like to know about the topic with a question of your own. A compliment, e.g., "I like how... because...," I like that... because..." A comment, e.g., "I agree that... because...," "I disagree that... because..." A connection, e.g., "I have also thought that...," "That reminds me of..." A question, e.g., "I wonder why...," "I wonder how..."        ... View more