One of your friends recently got married and she and her husband are planning to have children. You mention to your friend that once this happens she will have to stop drinking. She scoffs. “They make it sound as though a pregnant woman who drinks alcohol is murdering her baby. Look, my mom drank wine every weekend when she was pregnant with me and I’m just fine.” What is your friend failing to understand about the effects of alcohol on prenatal development? What other teratogens might you tell her about?

You are at the grocery store when you spot a crying child in a stroller. The mother picks up the child and cuddles him until he stops crying. A grocery clerk is standing next to you, stocking the shelves. He leans over and says, “Now, that’s bad parenting. If you pick up and cuddle a child every time the child cries, you’re reinforcing the behaviour, and the result will be a very spoiled child.” Do you agree? What do studies of attachment tell us about the effects of picking up and holding children when they cry?

You and your roommate are watching a movie in which a young man tells his parents that he is gay. The parents react badly and decide that they should send him to a “camp” where he can learn to change his sexual orientation. Your roommate turns to you: “Do you know anything about this? Can people really be changed from gay to straight?” Based on what you have read in this text, what would you tell your friend about the factors determining sexual orientation?

One of your cousins has just turned 30 and, to his horror, he has discovered a grey hair. “This is the end,” he says. “Soon I’ll start losing my eyesight, growing new chins, and forgetting how to use a cell phone. Aging is just one long, slow, agonizing decline.” What could you tell your cousin to cheer him up? Does everything in life get worse with aging?