What happens if you ask a child to look into an empty box and just pretend that something is there? In an interesting series of experiments, some children were asked to pretend that a puppy dog was in the box. As part of the experiment, the researcher was called out of the room, after which the children would often sneak a second peak at the puppy, some would even stick a hand in the box to check it out. Then there was a second group of children who were asked to pretend that a monster was in the box. These poor kids sat paralyzed in the chair, some cried, some even fled the room. The conclusion of the research was that children have difficulty separating pretense from reality. But what about adults?

For centuries, poets and priests have reflected on the influence of emotion, noting its ability to suddenly take control of thought and behavior. After reading Paul Ekman’s research on universal emotions, I was curious to know which emotion is most powerful. Some would suggest it is love. Having begun my career as a domestic violence counselor for violent and abusive men, I have direct knowledge of how powerful anger and rage can be, often trumping the intentions of love. Is there anything more powerful than anger and rage? I decided that I would answer the question through research. Because I wanted my results to be robust, I collected a very large amount of data (approximately 13 million subjects). With a preference for practical methods, I used a methodology that can be easily replicated by anyone with internet access, Google Books in particular. Using the search engine’s ability to locate each instance that a specific word group appears in written literature, I counted the number of hits for phrases such as “anger made me” or “sadness made me,” each time substituting a different emotional term. The results were both surprising and obvious, once I thought about it.

The Selfish Gene got it backwards. Dawkins accepted Tennyson's metaphor of "tooth and claw," expressed W. D. Hamilton's ideas in plain language, worked in synchrony with Hawk and Dove fans, and reinforced the image of selfishness "learning" cooperation. (Irony: all of this happened despite tenuous degrees of kinship between the investigators!) Strogatz ...

I've toyed for several years with using "complexity theory" to understand human interactions. It really does work and in some very powerful ways. Meanwhile, Robert Wright independently applied the ideas to human social evolution and wrote Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, recently published by Pantheon. Thus, I've reacted to his ideas ...

Patients express themselves in many ways. As therapists we have an obligation to listen and an opportunity to learn from each expression. However, it is often difficult to know what it is our patients are tying to ...

Reminders of Our Past First, it was noticed recently that some of our female ancestors in Africa had smaller leg bones and a different ankle structure than the males, suggesting to modern scientists that women came to ground from the trees long after the males did. Observers next watched American children on playgrounds; surprisingly, ...

Those of us who live in Philadelphia have been exposed to an unusual (if unappealing) opportunity to learn about the effect of chronic shame on muscular coordination, athletic skill, and cognition. Under the guidance of its head coach, the Philadelphia Eagles football franchise has slipped slowly into the bottom of its league despite the promise ...

Like all of us, I've been drawn into the storms raging about the President. Involved here, of course, are what Tomkins calls differing Ideological Scripts as seen in the responses of various political groups, as well as whatever personal scripts are involved in the behavior of the President. Yet it is to another aspect of ...

Mental health professionals may be surprised to discover how much is happening online today in the behavioral healthcare field. Working closely with dozens of online professionals and leading online discussions with hundreds of others, I believe I have a pretty good idea of what's going on and what is in store for us professionals in ...

I have been asked by Gil Levin to write about Brief Therapy, the topic of the August 26-30, 1998, conference organized by the Milton H. Erickson Foundation, to be held in New York City. In 1988, the first Brief Therapy Conference was held, and it remains the premier multidisciplinary congress on the topic. The three issues ...