We suggest the following sources for your holiday stories:
Consumer/Shopping
Sema Barlas Professor, Desautels Faculty of ManagementExpertise: Marketing and the Psychology of Shopping: What influences consumer behavior? The impact of internet shopping
The Tradition of Gift Giving
Donald M. TaylorProfessor, Department of PsychologyExpertise: Social, personality
Conrad GrahamCurator, Visual Arts Collection, McCord Museum of Canadian HistoryExpertise: History of gift giving, historic gifts
"Overgifting" / Appropriate Gifts for the Holidays
Jeffrey DerevenskyProfessor, Faculty of Education, Co-DirectorInternational Center for Youth Gambling Problems & High Risk Behavior
Donating to Charity Rewards the Brain
Dr. Alain DagherNeurologist, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, Professor, McGill University Expertise: The function of dopamineContact via Sandra McPherson, Communications Officer, MNI
Holiday Family Stress
Dr. Michael Spevack Director, Cognitive Behavior Therapy Clinic at the Queen Elizabeth Health ComplexExpertise: Coping with family interaction — visiting relatives, gatherings, divorce/visitation — when pre-existing issues may be exacerbated by stress, social anxiety
Grieving during the Holidays
Estelle Hopmeyer Director, McGill Centre for Loss and BereavementExpertise: How to deal with the loss of a loved one despite constant reminders of holidays past.
Holiday Depression/Suicide Rates
Dr. Johanne Renaud McGill Group for Suicide Studies at the Douglas HospitalExpertise: The phenomenon of "holiday blues" brought on by stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, commercialization and financial concerns.
Holiday Weight Gain
Laurette DubéProfessor, Desautels Faculty of ManagementExpertise: Internationally respected professor in consumer and lifestyle psychology and marketing, food and health specialist, and founding chair and scientific director of the McGill University Integrative Health Challenge Think Tank. The role of comfort foods in alleviating negative emotions; which ones men choose, which ones women choose and why.
Baerbel Agnes Knaeuper Professor, Department of PsychologyExpertise: How individuals make food-related judgments, compensatory behaviour, whether post-holiday crash diets work.Recent study: "Efficacy of Self-Dieting Rules"
Food Safety
Judy Campbell GordonDietician/Food Lab Coordinator, School of Dietetics and Human NutritionExpertise: How to prepare food safely, contamination risks.
Healthy Food Choices during the Holidays
Louise ThibaultProfessor, School of Dietetics and Human NutritionExpertise: Smart food choices, avoiding winter weight gain
Food Chemistry
Ariel Fenster Professor, Department of ChemistryExpertise: The chemistry behind alcoholic hangovers and "turkey hangovers" , the effect of eating chocolate and mood
Spirituality
Ellen AitkenProfessor, Faculty of Religious StudiesExpertise: The spiritual meaning of the holiday season beneath the commercialism
Christianity and the Christmas season
Patricia KirkpatrickProfessor, Faculty of Religious StudiesExpertise: Biblical historiography
New Releases by and About McGill Professors
The October Crisis, 1970: An Insider's View by William Tetley McGill-Queen's University Press (released December 2006)
Red Travellers: Jeanne Corbin and Her Comrades by Andrée Lévesque McGill-Queen's University Press (released December 2006)
Rethinking Social Evolution: The Perspective from Middle-Range Societies by Jérôme Rousseau McGill-Queen's University Press (released November 2006)
Satanic Purses: Money, Myth, and Misinformation in the War on Terror by RT Naylor McGill-Queen's University Press (released September 2006)
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