Everyday Psychology

  BLOG #7- Similarity-Attraction Effect, November 27th, 2024 As I’ve mentioned in other blogs, moving to university was a pretty scary experience for me. Coming from a small town in Newfoundland, I’d been friends with the same twelve girls my whole life. The thing that brought us so close was our shared childhood. So, when I arrived at St. Francis Xavier University, I was excited but definitely nervous about meeting new people and building a new friend group. My best friend Maggie, who also came from Newfoundland and shares those same friends with me, joked in our first year that our goal was to "replicate" our friend group from home. At the time, it felt like such a silly, impossible idea. Fast forward four years, and somehow, I’ve managed to find twelve amazing friends here at StFX. What’s wild is how similar they are to my friends back home. When my university friends came to Newfoundland, it was like magic—everyone clicked instantly like they’d known each other forever. I...

BLOG #6- How University Influenced My Sense of Self- November 25th, 2024 As my university career comes to an end and I prepare to tackle post-graduate opportunities, a heavy feeling weighs on my heart. Coming to St. Francis Xavier University was about more than academics—it was about independence, building a new life, forming new friendships, and stepping out of my comfort zone by moving from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia. The person I was when I first stepped onto the StFX campus is entirely different from the person now preparing to take a leap beyond this small, familiar community. Looking back at how much I’ve grown over these past years fills me with both pride and nervousness. I love the person I am today, but the thought of who I might become after university brings its own anxieties. How have I changed so much already? And how much more will I change? My identity is shaped by both independent and interdependent views of self. When I first arrived at university, I was focused on d...

BLOG #5- Surviving Exam Seasons- November 25th, 2024 As a university student, exam season often feels like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s an opportunity to showcase everything I’ve learned. On the other, it brings an avalanche of stress and pressure that can easily overshadow my well-being. When exams roll around, it’s easy to fall into the trap of prioritizing study sessions over everything else. I often find myself glued to my textbooks, sacrificing sleep, social interactions, and even my gym routine. This relentless focus on academics not only harms my mental health but also takes a toll on my physical well-being. With that in mind, I want to share a personal experience that highlights the dangers of neglecting mental health. This summer, I took the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), and my stress levels were through the roof. I knew it would be a difficult and time-consuming process, but I wasn’t fully prepared for the intense mental strain it would bring. It felt like...

  BLOG #4- Developmental Niche- September 24th, 2024 Common Newfoundland tradition- Getting "Screeched" in   I grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, a place where you knew your neighbors, your doctor, the mailman, and even the person who bagged your groceries. Whether at a local restaurant or the hardware store, you were bound to encounter someone who knew your family. In St. John’s, the community was everything; it felt like everyone was part of the same extended family. When I moved away from St. John’s with my best friend, Maggie, I wasn’t prepared for the cultural differences in Nova Scotia. Despite being just a two-hour flight away, my first day at St. Francis Xavier University felt anything but familiar. As Maggie and I walked around campus, we waved and said hi to everyone, just like at home. But unlike back home, not one person waved back. Instead, we received puzzled looks, as if friendliness was a foreign concept. Looking back, it makes me laugh; those people weren’t...

BLOG #3- Pedagogical Communication- September 22nd, 2024 Have you ever looked around and wondered how we, as humans, learn and pass down our culture in ways that seem so unique compared to other species? Tomasello's (2016) work emphasizes how humans engage in cultural learning through social interactions, particularly the role of authoritative figures in teaching. Pedagogical communication, discussed by Tomasello, is the deliberate and organized method of sharing knowledge and information between individuals, which can be seen in children, where authority figures, such as adults, impart cultural knowledge to children.  Pedagogical communication is a key component of how humans learn and can help answer many questions regarding the uniqueness of human culture. For the purpose of this blog, I will share my perspective as a university student to explain the topic of pedagogical communication in a more relatable way. University students use pedagogical communication frequently, inside ...

  BLOG #2- Pluralistic Ignorance- September 21st, 2024 I am a university student at St. Francis Xavier University (STFX), and throughout my last three years here one thing has become predominantly evident to me; that is the “hook-up” culture, which is quite strange and very different in university culture compared to other phases of people's lives. My peers and I have often discussed how unsettling this “hook-up” culture is, as it seems that many university students have become desensitized to the intimacy that should accompany sexual relationships. It is a challenging conversation to have without seeming either overly prude or overly promiscuous. However, after reading Reiber and Garcia’s (2010) article on “hooking up” culture and pluralistic ignorance, I have come to realize that this culture has a much stronger psychological component than I previously assumed. Pluralistic ignorance (PI) is the idea that individuals may behave in certain ways under the false assumption that thei...