February is Psychology month. Throughout the month, Dr. Fitzpatrick will write about value in our society. Don’t be afraid to write if have questions!

Whatever happened to values? A psychologist speaks out.

Remember Jimmy Stewart as George in Frank Capra’s 1946 classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life.  Remember how the angel named Clarence comes to earth to earn his wings by helping George who is considering suicide.  Clarence shows George what his world would have been like if he had never lived, and George recognizes that his self-sacrifices have created a wonderful life.  The movie evokes a time in which conversations about values seemed not quaint and embarrassingly saccharin but important and central.  You may be thinking, “She is just nostalgic.”  But in fact researchers Kesebir and Kesebir (2012) tracked the appearance of the general moral terms - character, conscience, decency, dignity, ethics, morality, rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, and virtue - using Google N-gram Viewer in books.  They found that indeed there has been a decline in the use of general moral terms across the twentieth century.  They also traced 50 character words like honesty, patience, and compassion and found a significant decline for 74% of them. We are talking and thinking less about values.

So what has happened to values in the public conversation? And what does psychology have to say about values?  During Psychology Month, McGill Professor and Clinical Director of Medipsy Psychological Services - Dr. Marilyn Fitzpatrick - will blog about the place of values in psychology.  Each day for the month of February she will deal with a question related to values in contemporary society and perspectives that psychologists and psychological research bring to these questions.  If you feel isolated from ideas like values and principles, if the public and private conversations in which you participate are less and less guided by concepts like fairness and more often oriented toward individual pursuits of personal gratification, then follow Whatever Happened to Values throughout February 2016. Questions? Don't hesitate to contact Dr. Fizpatrick at fitzpatrick@medipsy.ca. And don't forget to visit the Medipsy website and the Medipsy Facebook page!