By Dr. Jonathan Wai: At the heart of wisdom lies a paradox. On the one hand, our homegrown instincts about the world can be deeply flawed; the bias built into each of us is exactly what the methods of science are designed to overcome. At the same time, wisdom proceeds directly from personal, lived experience. …
The beginning of a new semester comes with a return to time management, a heavy workload, and rotating obligations. Impending deadlines and mounting assignments are already starting to stir up familiar feelings of stress for a lot of students, and we’re still in the first month of school. A USA Today study showed that over …
During the Spring 2014 semester, I took a class called “The History of American Families.” One of the biggest trends discussed was the shift in perceptions and expectations of marriage. As a freshman in college with a serious boyfriend and plans to get married before I graduated – which I did – it was a …
Psychology and history look at events affecting large numbers of people – psychology to understand behavior, and history to document it for posterity. A fairly recent convergence of the two fields comes in the forms of a study about how trauma can be inherited by the children of parents who experience it. The study (link …
At the end of my freshman year at CMC, my boyfriend came home from a 13-month deployment and proposed. It wasn’t a surprise, and almost all of my friends expected me to start my sophomore year of college with a fiancé. Yet even with this knowledge, many approached me with more judgment than joy. What …
By Adrienne Johnson ’16 Some of our best teamwork occurs when our research team meets up for a 3-hour meeting and has a “cram session.” During these meetings, which happen every couple of months, we discuss and develop all of the various projects we’ve been working on since the last meeting. These meetings start with …
-by Kelsey Gohn ’16 I didn’t expect to find my junior year internship so easily given what I had observed from the experiences of my peers, but one of Berger’s partner summer internship programs turned out to be the perfect experience for me. During CMC’s Silicon Valley Program, I was able to connect with a Berger …
The Berger Institute supports a select number of faculty in their research by funding research assistants of their choice. Students are employed in meaningful and valuable roles in a research agenda that relates to work, family, and children (broadly defined). For a list of faculty that we are currently working with and descriptions of their …
The Berger Institute regularly brings speakers to CMC’s Athenaeum, and co-hosts conferences and panel discussions that pertain to issues regarding work, family, and children (broadly defined). For a list of our past speakers and events, please click here.
I saw a screenshot of a Tweet today – it said “Don’t tell me ‘gender isn’t a factor’ when Hillary Clinton is more despised for being cheated on than Donald Trump is for cheating.” Political ideologies and candidate preferences aside, this Tweet points out a repugnant truth – the moral, physical, and behavioral standards for … Continue reading
Psychological studies suggest that for disadvantaged children – with disadvantages ranging from social perceptions of race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, family structure, etc. – resilience, or “grit,” is one of the most important factors in determining their success in overcoming social, personal, and financial obstacles. The knowledge that there are traits that can increase a … Continue reading
This week, I had the honor of attending a talk by Lynn Karoly, senior economist at the RAND Corporation, at Pitzer College. Professor Karoly’s research focuses on child and family well-being and early care and education programs. At RAND, she conducts nonpartisan, policy-driven research within these fields. Today, the key puzzle in early care and … Continue reading
Yolo Akili Robinson delivered a poignant speech at the Ath last night. He addressed mental health issues induced by unhealthy social constraints imposed on black males. Black males oftentimes are expected to be “stoic, rigid, and emotionally sparse.” They are expected to love sex with women and love sex with women without respecting them. These … Continue reading
Amanpour, like Clinton, misses the real problem buried in this event: the myth of the ideal leader. The ideal leader, like the ideal worker, is never sick, is always available, and will make extreme (often unnecessary) sacrifices to avoid rethinking the mission or timeline. When Amanpour asks, “Leading the world in sickness and in heath; … Continue reading
