Intellectual humility means recognizing that we don’t know everything. Actually, it means we should acknowledge that we're probably biased in our belief about just how much we understand and seek out the sources of wisdom that we lack.

The Internet and digital media have created the impression of limitless knowledge at our fingertips. The psychologist Tania Lombrozo of the University of California explained how technology enhances our illusions (错觉) of wisdom. She argues that the way we access information is critical to our understanding — and the more easily we can recall an image, word or statement, the more likely we’ll think we’ve successfully learned it, and so withdraw from effortful cognitive processing. In fact, your capacity to learn from the information online depends on your attitudes. Intellectually humble people don’t hide or ignore their weaknesses. In fact, they see them as sources of personal development, and use arguments as an opportunity to refine their views. People who are humble by nature tend to be more open-minded and quicker to resolve disputes, since they recognise that their own opinions might not be valid.

At the other end of the scale lies intellectual arrogance. Such arrogance almost always originates from the egocentric bias – the tendency to overestimate their own virtue or importance, ignoring the role of chance or the influence of other people’s actions on their lives. This is what makes these people credit success to themselves and failure to circumstance. From an evolutionary perspective, intellectual arrogance can also be seen as a way of achieving dominance through forcing one’s view on others. Intellectually arrogant people hardly invest mental resources in discussion or working towards group consensus, thus making it hard for groups to work successfully.

The Thrive Center for Human Development in California, which seeks to help young people turn into successful adults, is funding a series of major studies about intellectual humility. Their hypothesis is that humility, curiosity and openness are key to a fulfilling life. “Without humility, you are unable to learn,” Laszlo Bock, Google’s Head of People Operations, notes.

With busy lifestyle, many parents want to spend more quality time with their children. But what is quality time? Quality time is the time spent doing an activity that is meaningful to parents and children. It is the time when family members really get to know each other. Quality time is spent sharing thoughts and feelings with each other.

It can be fun and educational for parents to spend time with children. Much of children’s basic learning takes place in many informal situations that occur in daily life. These informal occasions for learning include all the times the family members are together doing ordinary things, such as getting dressed, talking about daily events, dealing with problems, having meals together and so on.

Children learn about families from the time they spend in their own families. They learn about birth and caring for another person when a new baby comes home from the hospital. They learn about loss when a family member dies. By living in a family, children learn to share, how to stand up for their own rights and speak for themselves, and how to love another person.

Parents can help children develop positive self-esteem by communicating the value they feel for the children. Words of encouragement and love help provide children with the courage to try new things. Children learn about trust at home from their parents. They learn trust from being trusted. When parents trust the child to complete a task on his or her own, the child learns that he or she can do the task. To help children grow well, parents should help children learn about life. The time parents spend with their children is very important.

September is an exciting month in every college freshman’s life. For many, it’s the first time that they’ve left home to live in a new environment. But after the hustle and bustle of a few weeks, excitement gives way to a less enjoyable emotion—homesickness.

Homesickness manifests itself in many ways. You may miss mum’s cooking, your pets, or even your old bed. All this becomes a fond memory of the past. Homesickness can be a bitter feeling for many students, especially when faced with the challenges of settling into an unfamiliar environment.

But remember, you’re not alone. According to a recent BBC article, 70 percent of British college students experience homesickness. In this increasingly globalized world in which people migrate to faraway places for a relationship, education or work, homesickness is a feeling shared by many adults.

Homesickness can have similar symptoms to depression and in extreme cases it can develop into a panic attack. As for the term, homesickness or nostalgia wasn’t invented until the 17th century. It was considered a disorder by a Swiss physician, who attributed soldiers’ mental and physical discomfort to their longing to return home, “nostos” from Greek, and the accompanying pain, “algos”.

Studies in recent years, however, have shown that nostalgia may have some benefits to our mental health. After a decade of surveys and researches, Constantine Sedikides, a US social psychologist, found that nostalgia is what makes us human. He explains that nostalgia can resist loneliness, boredom and anxiety. Therefore, it’s necessary for college students to learn some ways to overcome the uncomfortable feeling.