Emotions Are A Resource, Not A Crutch. | The Emotion Machine Ever since Darwin, and perhaps long before him, it has been theorized that our emotions play a crucial role in adapting to our environment. This means that emotions are not just an inconvenient byproduct of consciousness, but a form of higher cognition – an ability for living beings to experience their world in deeper and more complex ways. Humans are a species that thrive on social relations, and our emotions become a gauge on morality and justice. They help facilitate our interactions by giving us clues on how to connect with others in meaningful and productive ways. When someone makes us feel bad our emotions tell us to ignore them, while when someone makes us feel good our emotions tell us to appreciate them. Emotions however come in many different qualities, degrees, and intensities. Perhaps more important than how researchers conceptualize different emotions is how we experience them. Sources [1] LAROS, F., & STEENKAMP, J. (2005). [2] McNAIR, D.
The Metal Marvel That Has Mended Brains for 50 Years | Pharmaceuticals This article is a sample from DISCOVER's special Brain issue, available only on newsstands through December 28. Lithium is as puzzling as it is potent. It was the first drug used to treat mental illness, and more than 50 years later, it is still one of the most widely used psychiatric medications. But the doctors who prescribe lithium to their patients still do not know how it works or even why it works. “It is the most mysterious drug in psychiatry,” says De-Maw Chuang, a biologist at the National Institute of Mental Health. “It’s so small, but it is so powerful.” Unlike other psychoactive chemicals—large, complex molecules like Prozac (fluoxetine) or Abilify (aripiprazole)—lithium is extremely simple. The mood-stabilizing powers of lithium were discovered by accident in the 1940s by John F. In the United States, lithium is now the first-line treatment for bipolar disorder, a dangerous condition with the highest suicide rate of any psychiatric illness.
60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to make drastic changes in order to notice an improvement in the quality of your life. At the same time, you don’t need to wait a long time in order to see the measurable results that come from taking positive action. All you have to do is take small steps, and take them consistently, for a period of 100 days. Below you’ll find 60 small ways to improve all areas of your life in the next 100 days. Home 1. Day 1: Declutter MagazinesDay 2: Declutter DVD’sDay 3: Declutter booksDay 4: Declutter kitchen appliances 2. If you take it out, put it back.If you open it, close it.If you throw it down, pick it up.If you take it off, hang it up. 3. A burnt light bulb that needs to be changed.A button that’s missing on your favorite shirt.The fact that every time you open your top kitchen cabinet all of the plastic food containers fall out. Happiness 4. 5. 6. How many times do you beat yourself up during the day? 7. Learning/Personal Development 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
How Meditation Improves Attention The science of meditation and attention, including a beginner’s guide to meditation. William James wrote that controlling attention is at “the very root of judgement, character and will”. He also noted that controlling attention is much easier said than done. This is unfortunate because almost every impressive human achievement is, at heart, a feat of attention. Art, science, technology — you name it — someone, somewhere had to concentrate, and concentrate hard. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to concentrate without effort? Psychologists are fascinated by the sometimes fantastical claims made for meditation, particularly in its promise of improving attention. Does meditation improve attention? The problem with attention is that it naturally likes to jump around from one thing to another: attention is antsy, it won’t settle — this is not in itself a bad thing, just the way it is. Quicker results Dr. This research on meditation’s effect on attention is just the tip of the iceberg.
Why Do We Laugh? Why do we LOL? Is ROFLing an innate piece of human behavior? Does our tendency to LMAO say something about us—something that separates us from the non-kekekeing species who share our planet? For Scienceline, William Herkewitz explores the evolutionary history of laughter, a story that shows us that maybe we’re not quite so unique as we’d like to think. Herkewitz finds that various theories abound, but that the current “best guess” says that humans laugh to tell other humans not to get too fussed over something that could otherwise be regarded as scary or dangerous. If you’re an ancestral human, says Ramachandran, and you come across what you think is a dangerous snake but actually turns out to be a stick, you’re relieved and you laugh. People also laugh to show pleasure, to bond with other members of the group. Our laughter, the Tommy gun staccato sound of “ha-ha-ha,” is unique in the animal kingdom. Dogs, too, laugh in their own way. More from Smithsonian.com:
Defense Mechanisms Sigmund Freud (1894, 1896) noted a number of ego defenses which he refers to throughout his written works. His daughter Anna (1937) developed these ideas and elaborated on them, adding five of her own. Many psychoanalysts have also added further types of ego defenses. Freud once said, "Life is not easy!" The ego -- the "I" -- sits at the center of some pretty powerful forces: reality; society, as represented by the superego; biology, as represented by the Id. When these make conflicting demands upon the poor ego, it is understandable if you feel threatened, fell overwhelmed, feel as if it were about to collapse under the weight of it all. In order to deal with conflict and problems in life, Freud stated that the ego employs a range of defense mechanisms. defense mechanisms operate at an unconscious level and help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e. anxiety) or make good things feel better for the individual. Why do we need Ego defenses? Examples of Defenses Mechanisms * Repression * Denial
How to Be Charismatic: 7 Powerful Tips from the Mentalist Image by CielChen (license). My favourite new TV-show is The Mentalist. One of my favourite little interests over the last year or so has been to try to figure out why some people stand out, why they are charismatic. Now, if you have seen the Mentalist – a show about a former fake psychic who’s really good at reading people and helps the police out with solving a weekly murder case – then you have probably seen how charismatic Simon Baker is in the lead role. And even if you haven’t, this article just draws some inspiration that show. Also, I think being charismatic is about being a better you and bringing out more of yourself with less self-censoring. Find your own variation by exploring yourself. 1. Yes, this sounds really obvious. Charismatic people often seem to smile a whole lot. And, even if you don’t always feel like smiling do it from time to time anyway (not all the time though of course, that’s just weird). 2. Here’s a classic tip from Dale Carnegie: 3. Focus on your breathing.
Cognitive Dissonance Understanding this experiment sheds a brilliant light on the dark world of our inner motivations. The ground-breaking social psychological experiment of Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) provides a central insight into the stories we tell ourselves about why we think and behave the way we do. The experiment is filled with ingenious deception so the best way to understand it is to imagine you are taking part. So sit back, relax and travel back. The time is 1959 and you are an undergraduate student at Stanford University… As part of your course you agree to take part in an experiment on ‘measures of performance’. Little do you know, the experiment will actually become a classic in social psychology. The set-up Once in the lab you are told the experiment is about how your expectations affect the actual experience of a task. Perhaps you wonder why you’re being told all this, but nevertheless it makes it seem a bit more exciting now that you know some of the mechanics behind the experiment.