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@davidmyers.bsky.social
For psych teachers...and anyone else who might enjoy: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... or open.spotify.com/episode/4Z6t...
Teaching Like a Psychologist: Drs. Dave Myers & June Gruber Discuss Strategies To Foster Wellness and Belonging
open.spotify.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Thugs.
A running team from Chicago posted that Trump’s federal agents dragged a runner (67 years old) from his car, broke his ribs, and caused internal bleeding.

IG: dwrunning1
October 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM
How do you suppose the global homicide rate has changed over the last quarter century? (Hint: Another example of good things happening in our seemingly depressing world.) data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC...
World Bank Open Data
Free and open access to global development data
data.worldbank.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Our AP Psych text on PBS News Hour tonight...in a segment on books banned in Department of Defense schools...for our coverage of gender and sexuality (coverage that honors the College Board AP course guidelines).
October 24, 2025 at 2:54 AM
In our world, and perhaps in your life, there’s much to be distressed about. But there’s also, I suggest from research on human resilience, some good news for you. See if you agree…
community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
You Are Resilient
Some people live charmed lives. Some people endure persistent depression. Most people—likely including you—manage well enough, but with occasional heartaches. A relationship fails. A job is lost. An i...
community.macmillanlearning.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Teaching colleagues (& other friends), To start the new academic year, I offer some fun examples of the playful thoughts that season my text writing.
community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
September 6, 2025 at 3:11 AM
With explanations for the autism increase conjectured at the White House yesterday, with promise of more to come from RFK Jr., some might be interested in the pertinent research (which I summarized earlier this summer): community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
An Autism Epidemic?
You are an educated reader, so I know that you know that vaccines do not cause autism. However, you probably have also read headlines such as the recent U.S. Health and Human Services release, “Autism...
community.macmillanlearning.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:54 PM
My 2 cents on the wonder of hearing, the gifts of not-hearing, and the gaffes and humor of mishearing.

THE MARVEL OF HEARING--AND THE BLESSINGS, AND MISHAPS, OF NOT-HEARING
David Myers
Thanks to our eyelids, we can... Some of us also have “earlids.” community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
The Marvel of Hearing—and the Blessings, and Mishaps, of Not-Hearing
Thanks to our eyelids, we can, when our head hits the pillow, switch off our vision. Some of us also have “earlids.” When I remove my cochlear implant processor and hearing aid, I cannot hear my own v...
community.macmillanlearning.com
August 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
For psych teachers ... a nice example of the availability heuristic in operation...people judging reality by easily available images of horrific happenings, rather than data. Anecdotes>Statistics.
This @today.yougov.com poll is why I'm going to become the Joker.

The US murder rate in 2024 was likely down nearly 30 percent relative to 2020 and down nearly 50 percent relative to 1990.
July 31, 2025 at 3:35 AM
James Maas has died, at 86. Jim taught more than 65,000 intro psych students at Cornell, in an 1800-seat hall. He also wrote/spoke widely on sleep. Each November, for some 15 years, I flew to Ithaca to speak to his class and spend time with Jim and his students. He was a great encourager and friend.
July 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
For psych teachers: A nifty figure-ground example.
Once you’ve seen the arrow between the E and the x, you can never unsee it.
July 2, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Does seasonal affective disorder—aka wintertime depression—exist? Or is misery a year-round malady? I shine some big data light on the supposed seasonality of sadness. I’m curious: Do you, too, find the data persuasive, or at least suggestive? ow.ly/iUhj50Wio3U
Is Seasonal Affective Disorder a Zombie Idea?
“The great tragedy of Science,” observed biologist Thomas Huxley in 1870, is “the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” Yet some ideas, once rooted, believed, and publicized, become hard...
ow.ly
June 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM
A gentle reminder as we process protest images this week: Human judgment is easily hijacked by memorable graphic images, such as a burning LA Waygo car, that get replayed over and again. Psych students know the phenomenon as the “availability heuristic” (judging reality by easy-to-picture examples).
June 11, 2025 at 8:25 AM
“Autism Epidemic Runs Rampant,” declared a recent HHS release. Has there actually been an epidemic-level increase in autism rates? Might vaccines be involved even in a small way? For my 2 cents, see community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
An Autism Epidemic?
You are an educated reader, so I know that you know that vaccines do not cause autism. However, you probably have also read headlines such as the recent U.S. Health and Human Services release, “Autism...
community.macmillanlearning.com
June 4, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Depressed by today's politics and environmental destruction? Then perhaps treat yourself to 10 minutes of good news (from www.ted.com/talks/angus_...) or sign up for the weekly www.fixthenews.com newsletter.
Is this the time of monsters — or miracles?
Headlines warn of a world in collapse, but solutions journalist Angus Hervey finds the overlooked triumphs that never make the news — from the rollout of malaria vaccines to the recovery of sea turtle...
www.ted.com
May 27, 2025 at 9:42 PM
What are the arguments for and against today’s new “color-blind” policies? I review some pertinent research. community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
Better to Be Color-Blind or Racially Aware?
The new U.S. Administration has vowed to end diversity initiatives and “forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based.” Do its policies herald a new era in which all are welcome? Does its “color...
community.macmillanlearning.com
May 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
We often fear the wrong things, partly by feeling anxious when not in control (as when on a low-risk airline flight vs. driving). Likewise, Waymo robo taxis may feel scarier. But compared w/ human drivers have about 90% fewer property damage and injury claims. storage.googleapis.com/waymo-upload...
storage.googleapis.com
May 8, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Social connections boost happiness. Yet adults—especially older adults—are spending more time alone. So, I wondered, does communal senior living enhance late-life well-being? community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
Dining Alone
In his landmark 2000 book, Bowling Alone, Harvard public policy researcher Robert Putnam documented “the collapse of American community,” marked by declining participation in civic and religious organ...
community.macmillanlearning.com
April 21, 2025 at 11:25 PM
For more than 40 years I've lived one block from my city's (Holland, MI) gathering place for assorted small protest gatherings. Today's HandsOff assemblage is multiplies anything previously seen, with streets parked up for blocks around and passing cars tooting their support.
April 5, 2025 at 5:50 PM
More evidence re: teen/young adult mental health decline. In 2004, 48% of 18- to 29-year old U.S. women told Gallup their mental health was “excellent," as did 15% in 2024. For same-age men, the drop was from 49% to 33%. For folks over 50, little change. Source: news.gallup.com/poll/658082/...
Pandemic's Effects Linger in Americans' Health Ratings
After sliding over the past decade, Americans' reports of their own mental and physical health held steady last year at the lowest levels in Gallup's 24-year trend.
news.gallup.com
April 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Today is the 83rd anniversary of the last use of the Alien Enemies Act, as the WWII exclusion of Japanese Americans began on my home island. For two social psychological lessons from this history, which are applicable to today's happenings, see community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
March 30, 2025 at 12:53 PM
With grade inflation, high school GPA is less predictive of academic success—thus increasing admissions use of extracurricular activities, coached essays, etc. that advantage upscale students. Now, as I report, standardized tests are making a comeback. community.macmillanlearning.com/t5/talk-psyc...
Does Aptitude Testing Support, or Impede, Undergraduate Opportunity?
If blessed with excess applicants, how should colleges and universities screen and select those most likely to thrive academically, to graduate, and ultimately to vocationally succeed?   As a general ...
community.macmillanlearning.com
March 24, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Some evidence and my 2 cents on the happy power of social connections, from micro relationships to friendships to friendships sealed with commitment (aka marriage, and for both straight and gay folks). ifstudies.org/blog/shared-...
Shared Joy: Rediscovering the Power of Human Connections
The drains on our face-to-face relationships are baked into modern life. But we are not helpless.
ifstudies.org
March 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I'm reading many comments from outraged folks these days (you, too?, and perhaps you're feeling it?). The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu found a silver lining in such: “We are made for goodness. Why else do we get so outraged by wrong?”
March 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM