Entries tagged with psychology

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Friday offtopic. Meditation is not as harmless as you might think

Mind-blowing read: Meditation And Mindfulness Have a Dark Side We Often Overlook

In a nutshell:

1. Mindfulness and meditation, though widely praised, can cause serious adverse effects such as depression, anxiety, psychosis, dissociation, and depersonalisation, sometimes in people with no prior mental health issues
2. A 2022 US study found over 10% of regular meditators experienced negative impacts lasting at least a month
3. Historical sources, including a 1,500 year old Buddhist text and a 1976 warning by Arnold Lazarus, have similarly documented meditation's dark side
4. The booming US mindfulness market (≈US$2.2 bn) often omits warnings about potential harms, fueled by a "capitalist spiritual" mindset
5. Ethically, mindfulness promotion should include disclosure of risks, better training for instructors, and informed guidance for practitioners

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Colour me surprised.

Conspiracy theorists may not really believe their outlandish ideas
People who claim to believe in conspiracy theories may not actually deep down, which researchers uncovered by asking if they thought Canada had an elite army of genetically engineered, super intelligent, giant raccoons

I know a lot of these people personally. And it's never about believing in their theories. It's about inability to cope with their poor life choices, and then they go into two groups:

1. They need to deal with it somehow, so they blame it on somebody else. Everything that "they are trying to hide from us" is somehow directly connected to whatever poor life choice they made.

2. They are aware of their poor life choices and then they are giving a significance to their life. They believe that they are part of something very big while us others are blind sheep that need "eye opening".

From my observation, it's a psyhological defensive mechanism. And not about being unintelligent and uneducated as I originally thought.

If you took a flat Earther in orbit and showed them undeniably that the Earth is a globe, they would claim that the windows are in fact screens with video playing CGI.
Because once again, they are not defending what they really believe. They are giving their best to defend illusions that give their life a purpose because otherwise they are going back to being small fish in a big pond.

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Conspiracy theories: a sign of rampant neuroticism

First, some good news:
Alex Jones told to pay $965m damages to Sandy Hook victims' families

And this now brings me to the broader question. Why do people believe in conspiracy theories so easily?

See, I'm sure you've met that person, the one claiming to possess the ultimate knowledge about all the secret doings of the secret cabals of the world, someone who can explain to you the truth about everything from Russia to the CIA, reptilians, vaccines and the global plan to castrate humanity in order to reach the "golden billion" coveted by a handful of rich people.

That person could be the handyman who came to scrape the tiles in your bathroom, the taxi driver who takes you downtown in the morning or the hairdresser who does your haircut monthly. But it can also be your kid's teacher at school too. Or a colleague you've known for 20 years, and who you thought of highly. Or an old childhood friend. Or one of your own parents, as it happens so often.

( Read more... )

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The Belief in Conspiracy Theories

We often discuss issues related to fake news and conspiracy theories in this group, and for good reason. They are very important for the development of appropriate public policy, and especially so in a democratic system. Late last year the following article was published which is worthwhile reading:

Belief in conspiracy theories: The predictive role of schizotypy, Machiavellianism, and primary psychopathy (Dec 3, 2019)

"The total regression model indicated odd beliefs/magical thinking, trait Machiavellianism, and primary psychopathy were significant, positive predictors of belief in conspiracy theories. No other predictors reached significance. Results of the current study highlight individuals who might be more susceptible to believing conspiracy theories. Specifically, these results indicate that the individual more likely to believe in conspiracy theories may have unusual patterns of thinking and cognitions, be strategic and manipulative, and display interpersonal and affective deficits."

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0225964

Some things I like about this study on an initial level:

* It looks at something that is a critical issue in our society today, i.e., the propensity for "fake news" to circulate where media sources are treated as equivalents.

* Testing against multiple personality traits to determine if there are correlations between belief in conspiracy theories and other personality traits. Use of regression analysis to determine the accuracy of those traits (e.g., corroborating previous research for Machiavellianism), thus removing spurious correlations which were indicated in previous research (e.g., trait narcissism).

* Identification of the traits with positive predictors, which suggests means of identifying conspiracy theorists as a type, but also ways of approaching such encounters (the desire for avoidance is quite strong, I admit)

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The other pandemic

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/04/mental-health-coronavirus/

"Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, the country is on the verge of another health crisis, with daily doses of death, isolation and fear generating widespread psychological trauma. Federal agencies and experts warn that a historic wave of mental-health problems is approaching: depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide."

I am not sure how others feel about this. Finding treatment can be very difficult. I have a friend who suffers from bipolar disorder and extreme depression. For her? Finding care that is actually affordable is nearly impossible. Insurance companies tend to be very difficult to negotiate with. Thus many actual mental health providers may not be able to provide insurance covered care to someone (which by federal law would meet the same copay standards as physical care for a GP).

( But that is not the only issue )

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But why toilet paper?

Hoarding toilet paper seems awkward, even illogical. You can't eat it, drink it, you can't run your car on it... Besides, it takes a lot of space. Still, the whole world has gone mad for it. Toilet paper is all the rage!

If you make an experiment and ask people on the street why they are buying so much toilet paper, I'm sure many would say it's because of hygiene needs of course. Except, we're not talking of a stomach virus. If you press them a bit further, some would say they're buying it "because everyone else is". They are concerned that they would run out of toilet paper because others are buying it. Seems kind of cyclical, no?

Sure, but why toilet paper and not something else? Food doesn't seem likely to run out (for now) - but toilet paper? It is everywhere on the news, in the social media, all the new memes are about it...

( Read more... )

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health,
psychology

Orthorexia nervosa

What is healthy and what is not so healthy, and what could even be dangerous for our health? And, what could we even allow ourselves to eat at this point? Not much, people with orthorexia would say.

It all starts with the desire to be more conscious and responsible about what we put into our body. But then people with this condition start to design their own rules about what is healthy and what isn't. With time, these requirements become ever stricter, and more and more food products get relegated from the personal menu. The list of "unhealthy" foods grows on and on.

Thus, orthorexia is developed gradually. At first, the person is more focused on what they are eating, they follow strict guidelines. For example, if someone has decided to lose weight, they change their eating regime. Others just decide to pay more attention to what they eat, maybe they have heard about all the scandals with bad food and low quality products.

With time, this behaviour could become an obsession. And the fixation on healthy eating could become a burden that enslaves everything else the person does.

( Read more... )

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Scientists do the damnedest things...

What if I were to suggest that the most important study of the far-right worldwide had been made by a physics professor?

Well, in today's Grauniad we have a rather interesting article:

www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/22/online-hate-extremism-physics-science

Wherein we find that Neil Johnson has examined the structures of the politics of hate and tried to apply appropriate methodologies and metaphors to describe his findings. I think this whole analysis/analogy bears greater examination, because, from where I stand, it looks rather apt and fit for purpose. Some quotes:
( Read more, quotes and stuff... )

What I find interesting and heartening from his conclusions is that fighting with online trolls is actually worthwhile, but you can't do it by yourself.

Now obviously I need to solicit more opinions about this, and find proper criticisms of the analogies and analysis; but what I would imagine to be interesting to the intelligence agencies is the fact that Johnson has mapped the entire far-right network, in four dimensions from the look of it, and the information is now out there.

What do you chaps think about this analysis and modelling of far-right information networks? I mean outside of the normal tu quoque of socialists/communists/reds-under-the-beds; because I'm none of those things. (Everyone knows I'm an impoverished closet Aristo of the ancien régime.)

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Happy, happy West

Share of population with mental health and substance use disorders, 2016

Share of population with any mental health or substance use disorder; this includes depression, anxiety, bipolar, eating disorders, alcohol or drug use disorders, and schizophrenia.Due to the widespread under-diagnosis, these estimates use a combination of sources, including medical and national records, epidemiological data, survey data, andmeta-regression models.

Source: http://ow.ly/ln2430msjvE

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(no subject)

One year ago today - one man in Las Vegas killed 58 people, and injured 851 more.

He had no help. He had no motive. He didn't leave a note. He didn't mail a video confession to the local news station, he didn't blog about it, he didn't mention it to anyone. With some help from the unknowing staff, he brought 22 suitcases (containing 24 guns) into his room - a fairly normal number I suppose - as it did not raise any suspicion among anyone. It took ten minutes to narrow down where the 1100+ rounds were coming from, and another hour and twelve minutes before his room was breached and he was found dead.

Who do you consider to be a crazy conspiracy theorist - someone who doesn't buy all that, or someone that does?

I wish there was some kind of job - nay, an entire profession full of people trained to look into stories - figure out the who, what, when, where, and why of events like this.

I'm not putting all the blame on an incompetent(or lying, or both) government/law enforcement, and a completely useless news media.

At the core, it's our fault. Maybe there's only so much room in our brains - each new thing we learn threatens to fill it up and bump an old fact out - so we're forced to choose between knowing what really happened in Vegas, and how many scoops of ice cream Donald Trump likes to have.

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The most powerful force in the universe

You must have heard the statement that the wisdom of the people should not be underestimated. Politicians tend to particularly love these words. Especially those of them who like to regularly flirt with people's fears and hopes instead of doing their job. You know, the ones we call populists.

Now here is another statement, made by one Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli historian and author of two world best-sellers, Sapiens and Homo Deus. History, he argues, teaches us of a very important thing: we should never underestimate people's stupidity. Because it's one of the most powerful forces in the universe, if not the most powerful.

Another quote, this one ascribed to Einstein, famously says that two things are infinite, the Universe and people's stupidity - although he is not sure of the former.

( Read more... )

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BDE FTW, ZOMG LMAO!

I have been hearing about this on the various internets and now I have been educated on the intricacies of Big Dick Energy (BDE). Fascinating.

How Big Dick Energy explains modern masculinity
Big Dick Energy is the meme we need in 2018.

What is 'big dick energy' and how do you know if you have it?
Having a penis is not a prerequisite.

My first reaction? Excuse me, sir... Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.

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Selective empathy

Thank goodness, things have finished with a happy ending for the kids in that cave in Thailand. However, let's talk about a broader related topic, one that we've actually discussed before. I often hear the question, why are these kids so important that million of people are following their story on their phones, TV and the radio? Why is the whole world sympathetic with the families of those boys and the heroic efforts of the rescue teams? Why not the thousands and millions of people suffering from starvation, war and natural disaster around the world?

It's because when you tell the personal story, it touches you inside. All the photos and videos reaching the broad world have given direct and intimate access to the work of the rescue teams, they've created the impression that we're almost part of the whole effort. No sane person would remain indifferent to the messages that those boys sent to their families, telling them how much they love them and how they shouldn't worry. One of the kids wrote his first wish after he is rescued was to have a barbeque. The FIFA chairman has promised the boys to grant them front seats at the World Cup. Etc. All this innocence is touching. And that's normal.

( Read more... )

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Here's a rhetorical question...

Could someone please explain to me why a wedding is so important to so many people that they have to occupy everybody's attention most of the time with it? Whichever media I turn to, it's Harry and Megan all over. From a first sight, one would naturally find themselves having trouble figuring out why people care. People born into their position and everybody's clamoring over them. It sure reminds of religion.

The more superficial among us would just claim it's about love and that's all there is to it. That doesn't explain all the hype, though. People love each other all around the world. There must be more.

( There sure is more... )

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First-world problems, ya know

Little boxes on a hill side,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky...

Here is a bitingly funny look at how suburbia makes us miserable:

The Ghastly Tragedy of the Suburbs

"In James Howard Kunstler's view, public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good. Instead, he argues, what we have in America is a nation of places not worth caring about."

Wouldn't it be great if we more towns and cities could be designed like Europe, greatly reducing people's dependence on automobiles and fossil fuels and using the money instead for universal health care, but the zoning laws in the US just won't allow it. So Americans have to design their landscape to accommodate automobiles because it is against the law, or in the best case just impractical, not to.

The irony here is that lots of American often like to save a fortune for a trip to Europe, take a million pictures of all the charming towns and villages while they are there, and never wonder why Europeans don't do the same with their standard-issue suburb.

( On the other hand... )

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Friday off-topic. Got nomophobia?

Watch on YouTube

Does the thought of being without your iPhone or Droid send waves of panic through your body? If so, you might have "nomophobia" (no-mobile-phone-phobia).

Could you say you are among the afflicted?

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psychology,
trump

I hear you... not

A cheat sheet for being a decent human being - and still failing.

Trump Needs Reminder To Listen To Parkland Survivors In ‘Listening Session’

This is the actual president of the United States of America. He cannot even listen to kids, he needs a note to remind him to say "I hear you" amongst other things.

I thought at first this picture was doctored in Photoshop. Upon watching the so-called listening session. No surprise that 45 needs notes on how to relate to people. His narcissistic personality doesn't allow him to have empathy for others. His inability to be genuine is incredibly shocking. There are just not enough words to explain. The man is a frickin sociopath. There is no other explanation.

By the way... Is that the number 45 on his cuff? What the hell.....

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Industry 4.0: Murderous boredom

If you had to choose between a job where your adrenaline often skyrockets because of sudden tasks and deadlines that expired yesterday, and one where an automatic system has not only eliminated all the organisational chaos but it has taken the bulk of your everyday functions - which one would you choose? Let's not forget that things weren't always what they seemed.

Experts in psychology and social sciences are already pondering the implications of the the advent of a new era, the so called Fourth Industrial Revolution that's about to transform the workplace. Last year a new batch of researches and reports have warmed the global public some more about the coming of the age of automation as a result of the accelerated development of robotics, AI and self-teaching machines.

Apart from all the upsides that the boom of technology brings to mankind, there's also an intense discussion about how to mitigate and overcome the possible negative consequences on people, particularly the most immediate among them, job loss. The idea of a unconditional minimum income has received a new bush, and Bill Gates has proposed that companies should be paying a "robot tax" that would fund new types of activity, mostly in the social and humanitarian area.

( Read more... )

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ethics,
psychology

Why good people can commit atrocities

There is a good episode on the Through The Wormhole show, Can We Eliminate Evil? For those who are interested, here is the full episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnNWqmCZpnA

Some may have heard of the Milgram experiment. Apparently, its results are still valid today for most participants. Because this is what a new research shows after investigating people's proneness to electrocute an innocent person just because they have been told to do so.

In fact, now the results have become even worse than in the original experiment. The shocking conclusion is that more than half a century after the original research, the majority of respondents are still as prone, if not more, to electrocute a defenseless person that they do not know if some authority orders them to. This controversial research was first done by Stanley Milgram in Yale back in 1960, and it was inspired by the seemingly inexplicable way that the entire German nation fell in line with the ideas of the Nazi regime and become accomplices in its atrocities. Milgram wanted to discover if the Nazis and their supporters had inherited evil, or they were just blindly following orders by an authoritarian figure.

( Read more... )