Ne(w)(urotransmitter) Love This Valentines Day, lets talk about love. Not the love for your mother, but the passionate romantic love Nicholas Spark writes about, as, despite some overlap, there is a difference. Studies have shown that different areas of the brain are active during romantic love when compared to the love we have for a companion or family member. There changes are seen in our neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are the brains chemical messengers that send signals through the body and control our cognition and mood among other things. Several neurotransmitters are associated with romantic love and sexual activity. The most prominent of these is dopamine. Dopamine is the feel good chemical that allows us to feel pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. This neurotransmitter is responsible for addiction, and is activated when you're in love and during intercourse, which is why these can both be as addicting as drugs, gambling, or anything else. This addictive pro...
Parenting Styles For some parents, their style of parenting feels more like knee-jerk reactions and doing what they have to do to make it through the day. As much as each parent and family is unique, however, parenting styles are typically seen as best fitting into one of 4 categories. These categories are separated by differences in degree of warmth and demand, among others, and can lead to different benefits and setbacks for the child later in life. Of course, no parenting style is perfect, and choosing one can be a vital early step in the lives of new parents. For this reason, I've outlined the 4 major categories of parenting types with explanations here, as well as some of the pros and cons associated with each. Permissive Permissive parenting is characterized by the least expectations and avoiding confrontation with the child. This style ranks high in warmth, but low in levels of demand. These parents are very stand-off in their approach, and often allow their child nearly f...