Do you like writing? Do you like winning? Do you like writing and winning? If you answered "yes" to the previous questions, then there is a competition that you would love! The American Psychological Association (or APA for short) has an organization called the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (or TOPSS for short), and this organization is running its annual essay competition. While last year's topic was on racial bias, this year focuses on "An Aging World." Wh

Breathe in, breathe out. It's about time we give our sense of smell the credit it deserves because olfaction, or our sense of smell, is what makes life truly memorable. Reminiscing about our past experiences simply wouldn't be the same if we didn't have our ability to smell. There would be no association between the smell of a new box of crayons and the first day of kindergarten. Sitting around the campfire with a group of friends, chomping on gooey toasted marshmallows, woul

We, the Co-Founders of Brain Stamp, are deeply honored to be featured on the Teaching High School Psychology blog! (Click on the blog name to check it out.) The name of the blog gives it all: This blog is one the biggest resources for any teacher of high school psychology. Basically, the site is saturated with dedicated people who have a passion for spreading the study of psychology to others. Hmm... sounds awfully like what we love to do here at Brain Stamp! Here are some se

Do you like writing? Do you like winning? Do you like writing and winning? If you answered "yes" to the previous questions, then there is a competition that you would love! The American Psychological Association (or APA for short) has an organization called the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (or TOPSS for short). This organization is running its annual essay competition, and this year's topic is... racial bias. Despite the reforms for change, we still live in

Ah, siblings. They are often strange creatures that we have grown to love and cherish. Some of us may have them in our homes, but others may not see them at all. Some of us may have gotten into brutal fights with them, but others may only remember being spoiled by them. Whatever the case may be, they sure do a good job at making our lives a lot more interesting. Now, consider the birth order of you and your siblings. Who was born first? Is there a middle child? What about the

Like most people, I am uneasy about speaking in public. I am better now, but I still remember how badly my teeth used to chatter no matter how many times I told my brain to stop. I hated feeling so embarrassed, and I wanted to change so badly. Luckily for me, things started to turn around when I got to high school because that was when I began to force myself to be in vulnerable situations in various speaking clubs. However, others are not so lucky, and change isn’t as easy f

It's a Friday night out with your best friends. You are laughing out loud and simply having a good ol' time while walking down an alley. Everything seems perfect, and you just can't stop smiling throughout the entire night. You and your friends are dancing like crazy kids, and everybody is having a good time. But fast forward to the following Monday. You walk down the same exact alley after school. This time, you are alone. All of your friends are no longer around you. You st

Imagine that you're sitting by yourself in the park. As you're happily soaking up the autumn weather, you discover a dark blue minivan with stick figure family car window stickers: one dad, one mom, three kids, and a small cat. A guy sitting next to you on the wooden bench suddenly turns to you and says, "Did you know that families that have those family window stickers also have happier kids than families without them?" One of your eyebrows perks up as soon as you hear his w

As we all know, psychology is the scientifc study of behavior and the mind. Psychology is a field that is comprised of many parts, but some of the notable ones include neuroscience and the biological bases of behavior. These areas often have terms and ideas that can quickly get confusing and leave many people feel discouraged. So if you are a budding scientist who has a special talent for explaing difficult such concepts or theories in unique ways, then we have some news for

You're sitting in class, but your teacher suddenly tells one half of the students to wear this ugly, stinky sweater for an entire month while the other half doesn't have to. Unsurprisingly, you turn out to be sitting with the unlucky kids. In hopes of not being fatally humiliated by your peers, you ask your teacher for the purpose of this "exercise." Your teacher gives you a smile and says that it's all for her research. Anyone who refuses to participate will be given a faili

Analyze the photograph that's shown above. What do you see? How about this photograph? Anything peculiar? If you saw faces for both of the images, then consider yourself crazy... or should you? Human beings are pattern-finding machines. However, some things that we sense may be completely random and have no significant meaning to them. When we run into such data, it is very common for people to quickly detect familiar features in meaningless stimuli and come across surprising

From the day we first learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in elementary school, words like "discrimination" and "prejudice" frequently get thrown around left and right. They're important concepts, but people tend to use them interchangeably when discussing social issues that come up in life. And we get it, they all sound pretty similar. Do people intentionally jumble them up together? Probably not. But let's try to clear up the confusion. It a