Humans see the world in terms of categories. We group a chair, a table, a couch together under the category "furniture," which helps when we're confronted with unfamiliar objects. We have a similar tendency to categorize other humans. But whereas furniture doesn’t mind being stereotyped, people often do.

During this past weekend's (July 17-20) State Farm Classic LPGA Tournament, Michele Wie was disqualified for violating one of golf's inane rules governing when and where the players sign their scorecards. Upon finding out she had been disqualified, Sue Witters, the LPGA's director of tournament competition commented that "She (Wie) was like a little kid after you tell them there's no Santa Claus."  

Often, women with hair loss issues come to L.A. to work with some of the hair pros here. After all, if you can’t get good-looking hair in Hollywood, where can you go!

Most of us grow up believing in a variety of gender differences, but scientific data shows very little support for most of them. Belief in such differences perpetuates stereotypes and harms both men and women.

If Dads helped more, would Moms have more babies?  

The enormous time and energy investment of mothers compared to that of fathers probably greatly influences the number of children they bear. The division of labor ratio between husbands and wives continues to run about 2:1, a ratio that is no different from 90 years ago when women stayed home.

Dara Torres broke all stereotypical thinking over the weekend. At 41, she has the world in awe as she beat her own record from only a couple of decades earlier. . . Both men and women look up to her and wonder: she was 17 in her first Olympics and she's ready for the next, 24 years later.

 
Author Michael Sokolove is something of an expert when it comes to sociology of sports. In the past, he's written about the myth of Pete Rose and the upbringing of Darrel Strawberry and the cultural divide between athletes and reporters. Last month, he added another book to his resume, and this one is stirring up something of a hornet's nest. That's because Sokolove's new book is about the downside of Title Nine-a topic most reporters have been loathe to cover.

Would you feel like you'd still like to be president after you have just been liberated from six years of captivity?

Seeing a quiet, gentle man thrown into a desperate situation and taking heroic responsibility to care for others might just inspire some of our boys to become better men.

 Transsexual author, activist and actress Calpernia Addams, introduced to Psychology Today readers.

Now here's what's truly remarkable: Despite all the stereotyping and discrimination, most single men (and single women) are doing just fine.

Traditionally, a bride marries a groom, the bride has a female best friend serve as "Maid of Honor" and the groom has a male "Best Man." Wow! How many of these scenarios are no longer the norm of marriage?!

A decade ago, researchers began to suspect that mothers played a key role in determining how involved fathers are with their kids. But they didn't have much evidence. Now, a new study finds that mothers do play an important role both in encouraging and curtailing fathers' involvement. Even fathers who want to be involved with their kids often drift away with persistent maternal criticism.

For those who might think that women's brains aren't wired for math, new research that's been published in Science magazine might help change your mind.

Everyone wondered what Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's farewell would sound like as she prepared to deliver her "exit" speech.

I used to know a graduate student who was perpetually stressed out. He was so anxious that he had insomnia on a nightly basis. When I suggested that perhaps he try a yoga class, his reaction was almost violent.

Since men and women are of opposite gender, we naturally make excellent targets on which to cast not only idealized images of the perfect man or woman, but also our own most denied, despised, repudiated personal qualities and negative associations to the opposite sex: our contrasexual shadow, our anima or animus. The result: instant adoration or animosity. Idealization or demonization. Usually, some confusing and infuriating confluence of both.

What's happening in the perennial "war between the sexes"? While women and men daily love, live and work together in apparent peaceful co-existence, subterranean resentment, anger and rage rumble just below the surface, erupting intermittently into sexual tension, verbal sparring, and, sometimes, outright violence. What stimulates such antagonism, anger and rage between the sexes?

Many of us wonder, why would Hillary Clinton continue to compete for what seems to be a lost cause? Ambition? Power? Or maybe a true desire to help others?

It doesn't take a sociologist to point out that single men who live alone tend to eat more poorly than single women. Stereotypes and beliefs about "real men" are often at odds with conventional wisdom about health.