All Posts

Article with @taniacasso_psicologa Introduction For decades, the way Western culture has conceived of intelligence was dominated by a seemingly simple idea: intelligence is a unitary capacity, measurable through standardized tests and summarizable in a single number, the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.). This model, born from the work of Binet and Simon at the beginning of the twentieth century and consolidated throughout the twentieth century, profoundly influenced school system

Article written in collaboration with @cambiamenti_aps Introduction How many times, walking down the street with a stain on our clothes or after saying something awkward in a meeting, have we felt absolutely certain that everyone around us was noticing, judging, remembering? This sensation, so common it seems universal, is not random: it responds to a precise, systematic, and well-documented cognitive mechanism. It is known as the spotlight effect, a bias that distorts our p

Article written in collaboration with @aapertamente Introduction The idea that boys and girls are raised differently based on their gender is not merely a theoretical provocation: it is a fact extensively documented by pedagogical and psychological research. From the mid-twentieth century onward, scholars from various disciplines began questioning how much of what is called "typically male" or "typically female" behaviour was truly biologically determined, and how much was i

Introduction Few questions in psychology are as simple in form as they are profound in content: what happens inside a child when the person they love leaves the room? It was around this everyday scene that Mary Ainsworth built one of the most cited and influential experiments in the history of developmental psychology. The Strange Situation Procedure (Ainsworth et al., 1978) was not merely an observational method: it was a window into the way children construct, in the very f

Project Introduction — Trajectories Traiettorie is the newsletter of The Developmental Library, a community-driven space for anyone navigating the world of developmental and life-course psychology. Every month we give a voice to professionals and scholars who tell their story with authenticity: the daily work, the tools they use, the resources they find valuable, the questions that still run through them. We don't look for linear careers or perfect answers — we look for situa

Capitolo Aperto is The Developmental Library's book club project: every two months, people who work in, study, or simply live psychology come together to discuss a chosen text — not a textbook, but narrative writing about human development, relationships, and the complexity of being a person. The underlying idea is that psychological knowledge doesn't only live in papers, diagnostic manuals, or classrooms, but also, and perhaps especially, in the stories we tell about how we

Article written in collaboration with @semidilettura The Prenatal Bond Through Reading Pregnancy is often experienced as a waiting — a suspended time between the present and the encounter with a being not yet seen, but who already exists, already perceives, already responds. Yet research in perinatal psychology and developmental neuroscience offers us a far richer picture: the baby in the womb is not a passive subject. It is a sentient being, actively listening to the world a

Article written in collaboration with @semidilettura Abstract Shared reading during the first three years of life is one of the most powerful and accessible practices available to parents and caregivers for supporting children's overall development. Neuropsychological and developmental research has consistently documented that reading aloud — particularly dialogic and contingent reading — produces significant effects on cognitive, linguistic, emotional, and relational develo

Introduction to the column: The Unconscious of History History does not end in textbooks. It survives in the institutions we inhabit, in the ways we think about care, in the language we use to describe those who suffer. "The Unconscious of History" was born from a simple conviction: that understanding how the past built the psychological categories we use today — of normality, deviance, therapy, exclusion — is a necessary clinical and intellectual act, not a nostalgic exercis

Article written in collaboration with @cela.psico Abstract This article provides an in-depth exploration of the construct of behavioral extinction as formulated within B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism and subsequently integrated by contemporary research in learning psychology and neuroscience. The fundamental mechanisms of the process are examined — including the extinction burst and spontaneous recovery — and clinical implications for psychological practice are discussed.

Article written in collaboration with @spazioemozione Introduction Executive functions (EF) represent a set of high-level cognitive processes that allow individuals to plan, regulate behavior, manage emotions, and adapt to new situations. Over recent decades, research in developmental neuropsychology has clarified with growing precision how sensitive these functions are to the environment in which a child grows up. In particular, a substantial body of studies has highlighted

Article written in collaboration with @cela.psico Fear is one of the oldest and most universal human experiences. From an evolutionary perspective, it represents a sophisticated protective system: it prepares us to face or flee potentially dangerous situations, rapidly mobilizing physical and cognitive resources. However, when this alarm system remains chronically activated in the absence of real danger, fear stops protecting us and begins to limit us. It is in this space — b

Article written in collaboration with @dott.ssamartinamarano Introduction Many people find themselves answering "I'm fine" or "I don't know" when asked how they feel — not out of unwillingness, but because accessing their own emotional world is genuinely difficult. This phenomenon has a precise name: alexithymia. A clinical and psychological construct that, since its first formal definition in the 1970s, has progressively gained attention in research and clinical practice, r

Modern psychology exists because someone dared to think differently. Article written in collaboration with @oltremente_26 Walt Disney's name evokes imaginary worlds, unforgettable characters, and an unparalleled creative enterprise. But before all of that, there was a child who struggled at school. His story — despite the absence of any officially confirmed diagnosis — is widely used today in psychology and education to reflect on a central theme: academic difficulties do not

Critical Analysis of the First Meta-Analysis Published in Nature (Sommet et al., 2025) Abstract The relationship between economic inequality and mental health has long been considered established fact in the psychological literature and in public policy debate. A landmark meta-analysis published in Nature (Sommet et al., 2025) challenges this assumption, finding that the average effect of economic inequality on subjective well-being and mental health is statistically null acr

Continuing education, professional responsibility, and burnout prevention Article written in collaboration @edu.chiara Abstract This article examines the role of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in helping professions, with particular reference to clinical psychology and professional education. Starting from the observation that personal motivation, though necessary, is not sufficient to guarantee effective and ethical interventions, it argues that continuing professional develo

Introduction to the theme of the month This month, our library delves into territory made up of neurons, memories, and identities: the world of clinical neuropsychology. Talking about the brain means talking about ourselves — about how we construct reality, how we remember it, how we recognize ourselves over time. And when these functions falter, what is at stake is not just a diagnosis, but a life story. In this issue, we explore the neuropsychologist's work between acquired

Article co-authored with @onirosapp Abstract The dream of falling into the void is one of the most widespread and studied in the scientific literature on dreams. This article explores its physiology through the neuroscience of REM sleep, its possible cognitive and evolutionary meanings, and the clinical value of the emotional experience it leaves upon awakening. Integrating different perspectives —neuroscientific, cognitive-evolutionary, and emotional—, the article proposes

Article written in collaboration with @psicologa.luciacacace Introduction "I don't need anyone." At first glance, this statement might seem like an expression of strength, maturity, resilience. Yet when this belief becomes rigid — when asking for help causes discomfort, emotional closeness generates anxiety, and showing vulnerability feels unacceptable — we are dealing with something far more complex. The psychological literature describes this cluster of patterns with the te

Article written in collaboration with @chiaramarianipsi Abstract Eating disorders (EDs) — including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) — are among the most complex and misunderstood psychiatric conditions. Despite the robust evidence accumulated over recent decades, cultural narratives continue to attribute these disorders to personal weakness, vanity, or a lack of willpower. This article examines the neurobiological, psychological, a