Tag: Psychology

Pet Dogs Lower Stress in Kids

B1 – Intermediate

It is believed that dogs play an important role in children’s development. A new study finds that dogs actually help stressed children.

Read about how having pet dogs help relieve children from stress from the link below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1512/151204-anxiety-1.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the benefits of having a pet dog for children?
2. Do you believe in the idea that dogs help reduce children’s stress?
3. What might be reasons very young kids get stressed out?
4. What did your parents do when you were being anxious when you were little? / What do you do to help your children relax when they seem stressed out?
5. What would be the best pet for you? Why?

Optimism is Good for Our Health

B1 – Intermediate

Research has found that people who are overly optimistic may have “faulty” brains. According to a study, the reason a lot of people always see the positive side of things is perhaps due to the fact that they don’t have the ability to sensibly deal with risk.

Read about over-optimism from the link below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1110/111010-optimism.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your opinion about positive thinkers possibly having “faulty” brains?
2. What are the good and bad things about always being optimistic?
3. Do you believe that we must always be optimistic?
4. Do you agree or disagree that “seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty can be a positive thing”?
5. Talk about some ways that help you stay positive.

Google Will Check for Depression

B1 – Intermediate

Google has joined America’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to check people’s mental health online.

Read about what Google will do to check if people are depressed from the link below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1708/170826-depression-1.html

Discussion Questions:

1. What is your opinion on what Google will do?
2. This questionnaire will only be available in America. Would you like it to be available in Spain/Europe too?
3. Why do you think people with symptoms of depression have many years of delay before getting treatment?
4. Do you think a chat box to psychological services would help?
5. Do many people in your country know about depression and other mental health problems?

Road Rage

B1 – Intermediate

Road rage means violent anger due to the stress of driving a vehicle in difficult conditions like traffic jams. Did you know that it is a mental disorder?

Read about road rage from the link below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://www.english-online.at/society/road-rage/road-rage-aggressive-behaviour.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. What causes road rage?
2. What can we do to prevent road rage?
3. What do you think about the software that can help prevent road rage?
4. Have you ever witnessed drivers in road rage?
5. Do you hear news about road rage in your country?

Why People Fake Serious Illness?

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For some people, being ill means being special. They crave for the attention and care that others willingly provide them. The feeling is so intense that they would like to stay in that condition. However, unfortunately for them, some illnesses just simply go away and ironically therein lies the rub.

Watch the video and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is the difference between Munchausen syndrome and Munchausen syndrome by proxy?
  2. Why do people fake serious illness?
  3. Do you feel like you are given special treatment when you are sick? Does it make you linger to it a bit more?

Gaslighting

B2 – Upper Intermediate

If truth is universal, then why is it that there are many interpretations about the truth? Have you ever doubted your seemingly real perception of truth because someone manipulated you to think so? Some cult leaders and dictators tend to use this method called gaslighting.

Watch the video and find out more about gaslighting.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How is gaslighting defined?
  2. Who are at risk of becoming a victim of gaslighting?
  3. What are the signs one is being gaslighted?
  4. Is gaslighting considered a form of abuse? Share your thoughts.
  5. Is it possible for someone to be engaging in gaslighting behaviors and not know it or is it always done with intent? Elaborate on your ideas.

Bystander Effect

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Have you witnessed an emergency? Were you alone or were there a lot of people who witnessed it with you? Was it your first instinct to help or did you just watch by and waited for others to help first?

Let’s watch this video on an experiment on bystander apathy and find out about this phenomenon called ‘the bystander effect’.

 

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is the bystander effect?
  2. Why don’t people get involved in these situations?
  3. What was your reaction to this video?
  4. What does ‘pass the buck’ mean?
  5. Do you agree or disagree with, “There is safety in numbers.”?

The Trolley Problem

B2 – Upper Intermediate

We are put in a situation where we must make a moral decision; and what if between two possible moral imperatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. It’s moral dilemma at its finest.
Here’s a scenario:
How would you decide if the two options you had would cost someone’s life? Could your action be justified?

Watch the video below and find out more about the trolley problem.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is trolley problem?

2. What do you consider in making a moral decision?

3. If you were the one to press the switch, would you let the trolley barrel down the track that would kill five workers or divert the trolley onto a second track with one? Or could there be a more ethical solution to the problem?

4. What are some real world applications of trolley problem? (Note: This is not always about sacrificing people’s life.)

The Placebo Effect

B2 – Upper Intermediate

One doctor made up a fake drug and used every skill he had to convince a group of people it was a cure for their fears, phobias, addictions and insecurities. He was able to get some remarkable results, but in fact the drug was nothing more than a sugar pill.

Can a “fake” treatment really cure an ailment?

Watch the video below to learn more about the placebo effect.

Discussion Questions:

1. Explain the placebo effect. How is it used in a medical research?

2. What are the positive and negative effects of the placebo effect?

3. What conditions do you think can a placebo produce results even when people know they are taking a placebo?

4. Talk about your own experience of a placebo effect.

5. What if all medicines were placebo all along?

Objectification

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For some people, there is a hairline distinction between appreciation and objectification. When we appreciate, we recognize one’s good looks as a part of that person and not reduce them to it, which is the latter. Some may claim that objectifying someone is natural, others may take it as a compliment.

Let’s listen and find out more about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-181101

Discussion Questions:

1. What is objectification? Is it inherently bad?

2. Please give some examples of objectification evident nowadays. What could it lead to?

4. According to the podcast, “Women are more likely to be objectified than men”, why do you think that is the case?