Psychology

There was a story posted earlier tonight at Huffington Post regarding the resignation of Sarah Palin, an offensive attack on children and people with disabilities.

The Huffington Post lacking class.

Some of the latest on the biology of mental illness.

Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?

"God Says No" author James Hannaham talks about religious repression, life in the closet -- and sex in the bathroom

"Believing means you unconditionally accept that you are both capable and desirable. Acknowledging you are capable means you are good enough, competent, and able to handle life's situations. Admitting you are capable also means knowing that if you cannot handle a situation completely on your own; you know or can find out where to get the necessary help, information, or skill. Acknowledging you are desirable means you understand you are an attractive, likable, decent person. It means you accept this regardless of anyone's contrary opinion." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"You and your partner are headed in a new direction. Instead of a split between love and lust, your new path lies in the tensions between opposites - committed love and red hot sex, security and excitement, continuity and novelty, safety and adventure, comfort and passion. Maintaining balance is central." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"Internet Mapping Project is an effort to understand how people conceive of the Internet through a series of user-submitted hand-drawn maps. "The internet is intangible, like spirits and angels. The web is an immense ghost land of disembodied places. Who knows if you are even there, there. Yet everyday we navigate through this ethereal realm for hours on end and return alive. We must have some map in our head." (...) Those who spend the most time online, for instance, have the most abstract of drawings — perhaps an indication that a truly rich understanding lives in the realm of the abstract and conceptual, not the concrete, providing a big-picture view not of what the Internet does or offers, but of what it is: An infinite loop of possibility." - Amira via Bookmarklet

"At the same time, those who spend the least amount of time tend to put themselves at the center of the Internet — a sign of the “developmental psychology” of the web, wherein “web toddlers,” just like real 1-4-year-olds, adopt an egocentric worldview, while “web adults” are better able to shift perspectives and see the collective context of it all." - Amira

"the most effective method for remembering names and faces uses three basic memory skills I call: LOOK, SNAP, CONNECT. First, make sure you really take the time to focus on the name (LOOK). Then, creates mental snapshots (SNAP), visual images of the name and the face. Finally, CONNECT the name snap with the face snap by creating additional images so you can easily retrieve the information later." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

Three factors contribute greatly to happiness in old age, a new survey finds.

"constant over-stimulation seems to promise greater happiness and satisfaction. However, these loud, deceptive signals can actually undermine both, and they get even louder when we say "yes" too frequently." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"Children who are raised with harsh proscriptions against sex often desire the forbidden fruit. They may also become the most moralistic adults in an effort to keep their own yearnings at bay (which explains the hypocrisy we so often see among busted conservative religious and political leaders)." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

Depression is debilitating, and can often go undiagnosed in men. Here's how to spot it and how to help.

If you've been trying really had and meeting with failure repeatedly, read this. It's very heartening. - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"we are not only, or even mostly, "individual." The lines where our selves end and other selves begin are not as clear cut as the boundaries formed by skin, clothes or relationship. We are fundamentally connected to other people in essentially every way that makes life what it is." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"Life needs balance, and everyone needs a little indulgence." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"I am a big fan of South Park. In my mind, the perspective of the creators of South Park (Matt Stone and Trey Parker) on every social and political issue of the day is right on the mark, and I proudly identify myself as a “South Park Republican,” which essentially means libertarian. I love South Park because, among other things, Stone and Parker have better understanding of human nature than supposed experts like Richard Dawkins." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

According to researchers, people in very early stages of Alzheimers already have trouble focusing on what is important to remember.

"the only way to inoculate your children against this love bug is to teach them what you didn't know - how to fall in sexual love without losing your head and doing yourself permanent damage." - LANjackal via Bookmarklet

"Contemplative neuroscience is primarily the study of how contemplative practices like meditation affect the brain and nervous system. (...) The research on neuroplasticity clearly shows that specific kinds of mental training can influence how our brains operate, which strongly implies that our emotional and mental well-being can indeed be cultivated through mental discipline. The evidence seems clear: Our individual emotional set-points can be shifted toward higher levels of well-being. (...)Contemplative neuroscience agrees with the basic view that biology plays a role in causation. In this view, many of the thoughts and feelings experienced in our daily lives are indeed seen as the result of habitual neural processes. However, contemplative neuroscience makes the claim that causation between brain and mind is not merely uni-directional but bi-directional, and thus acknowledges the mind’s capacity to influence and change the brain, particularly when it is systematically and consistently trained over a long periods of time." - Amira via Bookmarklet

"So why, in fact, does psychiatry often assume that the primary cause of mental and emotional dysfunction is biological in nature? (...)Mental causation, as such, is often viewed as uni-directional, originating only in the brain and resulting in psychological experience and consciousness itself. This, of course, raises the issue of dualism between mind and body, otherwise known as the... more... - Amira

because psychiatrists, like most humans, think they are a body with a mind, separate .. rather than identifying themselves as consciousness, which, when done, leads to what your first quote is about - postlinearity

A new study by researchers have captured an image for the first time of a mechanism, specifically protein translation, which underlies long-term memory formation.

Brain games keep your brain fit, healthy, and young. Don’t just workout your body! Brain games make sure the rest of you is in shape too!

The secret to getting someone to do something is to ask them in their right ear.

It is natural that parents can have differences or disharmony among themselves but they should not fight in front of the child as it leads to feeling of insecurity in the delicate mind of child…

Perception of arm size altered after using mechanical grabber.

They do it late at night when their parents are asleep. They do it in restaurants and while crossing busy streets. They do it in the classroom with their hands behind their back. They do it so much their thumbs hurt.

The game Concentration (aka memory) using Beer Labels. Called advanced because pics are different snapshots of same label.

"I was speaking with my good friend Howard Lindzon, my partner in several Twitter-related investments, about the differences in the way people communicate on Twitter and Facebook. Howard's sense is that everybody lies on Facebook; that people represent a kind of "false self," so that it is hard to really know what a person is like from their Facebook profile. He feels differently about Twitter, however, holding the belief that people's tweets are a much closer representation of their true self than Facebook. So that someone who is a jerk on Twitter is likely a jerk in real life, and someone who is thoughtful and careful in their tweets is also like that offline. After considering Howard's theory, I am convinced that he is right. Then it hit me. There is a framework for conceptualizing the differences in peoples' communication between these two media: Freud's structural model of the psyche. In short, Twitter is the id, while Facebook is the ego." - Amira

Consider these 50 ways to make your memory more like an elephant’s, and you’ll be surprised at how much more you can pack into your day.

HI EVERYONE !