Great Kids, Great Parents

How can one sustain and enhance the child’s interest? The first order of business is for us to appreciate the importance of the interest affect and the exploratory behaviors...

To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, if hitting a child is not wrong, then nothing is wrong. If we truly want to decrease violence in our society, not hitting our children is a good place.

In the last decade or so, the media has itself become obsessed with the condemnation of technology and social media.

Parenting

A Step-Child's Guide to Step-Parenting

Paul C Holinger M.D. on November 30, 2016

Each family has its own story with its own peculiar complexities, but most have a moment in which the new boyfriend or girlfriend becomes a parent...

Each family has its own story with its own peculiar complexities, but most have a moment in which the new boyfriend or girlfriend becomes a parent...

Might one consider eliciting the child's interests, rather than imposing interests upon the child?

All innate affects (“primary affects”—feelings) are important. These affects—reactions to stimuli—ultimately form our more complex emotional life.

…we examined our earliest feelings and how they work. This month we take a brief look at some of the conceptual issues and questions surrounding our early emotional life.

We have been exploring how our earliest, innate feelings work – Distress, Anger, Fear, Shame, and Dissmell. This month we look at Enjoyment, Shame, Disgust, and Dissmell.

What science is really intrigued with is how feelings work. For ages, Tomkins and others grappled with the following question: How are there only a few discrete responses?

Our earliest nine inborn feelings—“primary affects”—are key to understanding human development and emotional life. What are they? How do they work?

We are born with specific innate feelings, which combine with each other and life experiences to form our complex emotional world.

Why do we tend to overlook the importance of feelings in understanding the behavior of human beings?

Psychoanalysis

What Are Feelings?

Paul C Holinger M.D. on March 21, 2016

In order to understand human beings, we must examine the origins of feelings (affects), language, and cognition.

In order to understand human beings, we must examine the origins of feelings (affects), language, and cognition.

Human motivation and behavior are powered by our affects initially, with language and cognition quickly becoming part of the complex process.

Origins are important. Origins count. If we appreciate the embryology of our feelings, language, and cognition--we have a much better chance of understanding what goes wrong...

Recently, we have been investigating two of our most important innate affects, Interest (curiosity) and Anger. We explored Interest in the May-October 2015 Newsletters.

Currently, we are discussing two of our most important innate affects, interest (curiosity) and anger. In the last several newsletters, we have examined interest in some detail.

This month we conclude our discussion of education with “Education – Part II.” The emphasis is how to enhance education by mobilizing the positive affects.

Educational philosophy and policy have spawned a massive literature and a huge variety of alternative methods. So what does education and educate mean?

Punishment

Physical Punishment—and Violence

Paul C Holinger M.D. on August 31, 2015

Physical punishment is damaging to the mental health of children and the societies in which we live, but there are healthier alternatives.

Physical punishment is damaging to the mental health of children and the societies in which we live, but there are healthier alternatives.