An Overview of the Cognitive Dissonance Theory and Its Effects on Us

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Cognitive dissonance is a theory proposed by Leon Festinger in the 1950s related to how we react in the face of conflicting behaviours and cognitions (ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions). According to this theory, people strive to keep their knowledge, attitudes or behaviours consistent (consonant). So, when we encounter contradictory information, we try to reduce contradicting (dissonant) cognitions and restore equilibrium by altering our attitudes, beliefs or behaviours.   Festinger argued that to cope with contradictory ideas or experiences, some of us would blindly believe what we …

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Emotional Escapism: How Watching TV Shows Help Us Cope with Life’s Stressors

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I simply couldn’t finish a new tv series for the last two years, as I was more drawn to my comfort shows, Monk, Brooklyn 99, Derry Girls, or Avatar: The Last Airbender. There is something oddly comforting in rewatching favourite tv shows when confronting pandemics, lockdowns, social injustice, or war. Comfort watching, instead of binge watching, is that gentle feeling that everything feels ok with the world. There is no twist, dialogue, or scene that could surprise me when I rewatch these shows, giving me a reassuring impression …

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A Complete Guide to Visiting the Efteling Theme Park

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This March, we traveled from Dublin, our residence, to Efteling, a fantasy-themed amusement park in the Netherlands. There is something for everyone in Efteling, from toddlers (carousels, car rides, steam trains, dioramas, pedal trains, gondola rides, monorails, and playgrounds) to grown-ups (free-fall roller coasters with double spins).   How much time is needed for Efteling?  It depends, as a family with toddlers will have a different rhythm from a family with teenagers. We went during the Irish school break of Saint Patrick’s day, which didn’t …

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Dilemmas in Approaching Scientific Content

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Understanding some basic neuroscience can be highly liberating as it can undo some of our apparently irreversible limitations or failings. As you can imagine, much of this content is based on scientific research. Reading studies about neuroscience, procrastination, productivity, etc., is where the waters become muddier because scientific research often has an agenda that can lead to the “file drawer problem” or publication bias. This bias states that research results that don’t validate the researchers’ hypothesis tend to end up in the file drawers. …

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Address Unknown: an Anti-Nazi Storytelling Masterpiece

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At only 66 pages, Address Unknown by Kressman Taylor proves that you don’t need to write hundreds of pages to deliver a gut-wrenching story. This book can be borrowed for free and read online from the Internet Archive library.  Address Unknown tells the story of two friends that co-own an art dealing business. Max is a Jew living in San Francisco, and Martin is a German who returns with his family from California to Germany. The story is told in an epistolary manner, with letters dated …

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Four Compassionate Picture Books For Children About Death

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It might very well happen that a child learns about death from fairy tales, where monsters die and the good triumphs. The death of these characters reassures children that all is good with the world: evil is defeated, and good prevails. Yes, there are turns and twists in fairy tales, and the heroes have to prove themselves, but in the end, we all know how the story ends. Nasty things happen to nasty people, and good things happen to good people. And children do …

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What Makes Finland a Happy Country

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A few weeks ago, the World Happiness Report published its yearly global survey results about how people from more than 150 countries worldwide evaluated their lives. The full report can be found here (page 22). What is the methodology for ranking countries based on their happiness? The polling company Gallup conducts interviews with hundreds of thousands of people across the nations included in the report. People assess their own happiness using a scale from 1 to 10, responding to questions such as if they smiled, laughed or experienced …

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How Elden Ring Tests the Player’s Learning Ability

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Note: I wrote this article in collaboration with my husband.  Hidetaka Miyazaki grew up in an impoverished family in Shizuoka, Japan. Although he didn’t fully understand English, he borrowed many English fantasy and science fiction books from his local library. The boy let his imagination fly and fill the language barrier gaps by creating stories from the books’ illustrations, a skill that would prove helpful in a few decades. Later, he would say about his childhood: Unlike most kids in Japan, I didn’t have a dream… I …

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