Psych
As you've probably discovered, there are people lurking all over the web who find great joy in humiliating and attacking others. This insightful infographic describes the inner workings of Internet trolls, explaining why they decide to spend their online time in attack mode. Tapping the expertise of psychologists and experts, it offers solid reasons why this scourge of the Internet continues. We all like to think that most people mean well, and are inherently good.
Why Do Internet Trolls Exist? [INFOGRAPHIC]
The baiting crowd in episodes of threatened suicide. By Mann, Leon Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 41(4), Oct 1981, 703-709. Abstract Examined 21 cases in which crowds were present when a disturbed person threatened to jump off a building, bridge, or tower. Baiting or jeering occurred in 10 of the cases.
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(Image: Head gears via Shutterstock) What a fascinating thing! Total control of a living organism! — psychologist B.F.
Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate?
Creativity: now there’s a word I thought I wouldn’t see under attack. Don’t we live in a society that thrives on the idea of innovation and creative thought? The age of the entrepreneur, of the man of ideas, of Steve Jobs and the think different motto?
Why Are We So Afraid of Creativity? | Literally Psyched
The Ten Most Revealing Psych Experiments
Psychology is the study of the human mind and mental processes in relation to human behaviors - human nature. Due to its subject matter, psychology is not considered a 'hard' science, even though psychologists do experiment and publish their findings in respected journals. Some of the experiments psychologists have conducted over the years reveal things about the way we humans think and behave that we might not want to embrace, but which can at least help keep us humble.
Announcing the Healthy Mind Platter
The US government has just revised the food pyramid - the diagram that's been with us for decades that is supposed to remind people how to eat well. The model needed a revision, and the new version, called ChooseMyPlate, is a big improvement. However, there's a different epidemic happening out there that's getting less attention, perhaps because it is less obvious than the epidemic of obesity we're experiencing. We're entering an era of an epidemic of overwhelm. A time when too many people's mental well-being is being stretched through multi-tasking, fragmented attention and information overload. The trouble is, we are short on simple, clear information about good mental habits.Groupthink
A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy A speech at ETech, April, 2003 Published July 1, 2003 on the "Networks, Economics, and Culture" mailing list. Subscribe to the mailing list. This is a lightly edited version of the keynote I gave on Social Software at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference in Santa Clara on April 24, 2003
From PsychWiki - A Collaborative Psychology Wiki What is cognitive dissonance? Festinger (1957) stated the theory of cognitive dissonance in three parts: 1. Dissonance occurs when a person’s attitudes contradict other attitudes or behaviors. 2. Dissonance is an aversive state; therefore, a person feels pressure to reduce the dissonance and prevent future increases of dissonance. 3.
Cognitive dissonance theory
life online "popcorn brain"
Over time, and with enough Internet usage, the structure of our brains can actually physically change, according to a new study. Experts worry the stimulation of electronic multitasking could make people unfit for real life The human brain is wired to crave the instant gratification of technology Studies show multitasking on the Internet can make you forget how to read human emotions (CNN) -- When Hilarie Cash arrives home from work in the evening, she has a choice: She can go outside and tend to her garden or she can hop on her laptop. The lilacs really need weeding.Exclusively focusing on technological problems leads us to look for fixes in the wrong places. Another day, another New York Times story about technology addiction . It's almost like they are trying to win a Pulitzer Prize or something by pandering to the preformed opinions of journalists like themselves about the evils of modern communication. Anyway, this time, the Times ' Matt Richtel talked with a bunch of people in Silicon Valley who recommended "step[ping] away from the device." The basic argument is this: The concern, voiced in conferences and in recent interviews with many top executives of technology companies, is that the lure of constant stimulation -- the pervasive demand of pings, rings and updates -- is creating a profound physical craving that can hurt productivity and personal interactions.
