New Age and paranormal. In 1995, it was revealed that in the late 1970s, the U.S. Army created a secret division of psychic soldiers to explore the limits of human potential: They were called Psychic Spies. Well, this is Ronson's non-fiction story about it. And Ronson can say whatever he wants in his funny and serious way.
#jonronson #usarmy #themenwhostareatgoats #psycology #secrets #military #psychicspies #spies #nonfiction #nonfictionbooks #reading #usa #newage #paranormal

Project Pigeon by B.F. Skinner in the early 1940s.

By using trained pigeons and hydraulic guidance, Skinner and his team developed a method to create the first smart-bomb that could be guided to its target with great accuracy.

https://www3.uca.edu/iqzoo/Exhibits/project_pigeon.htm

#weapons #biology #cognition #psycology #reinforcementLearning

Great Article! ⬆️
So many important topics:

"Why those baselines [of reported depression in teens] vary by gender isn’t entirely clear, McDermott says. But when it comes to hopelessness, evidence suggests that boys might sometimes suppress those feelings in adherence to male norms that discourage vulnerability."

“It is difficult to see that we can effectively address the health of boys and young men, achieve gender equity for girls and young women, or achieve rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, without tackling the masculine identities adopted by boys in adolescence”

"overall suicide rate for males is much higher than for females. That gap holds across most age groups, even though teen girls report higher levels of suicidal thinking and planning than boys."

"Access to guns might factor in here. For every 10 percent increase in household gun ownership in a state, the youth suicide rate increases by about 27 percent "

A question "actually quite good at predicting who has depressive symptoms":

“During the past 12 months, did you ever feel so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that you stopped doing some usual activities?”

@matthewschuerman

#Psycology #FediPsych #Depression #NotJustSad #Gender

Behind the famous quote is deep observation about human condition #philosophy #psycology

"I have often said that man's unhappiness arises from one thing alone: that he cannot remain quietly in his room." [...] That is why men so love noise and activity. That is why jail is such a horrible punishment. That is why the pleasure of solitude is incomprehensible. [...] In fact, the greatest source of happiness in being a king is that
people constantly try to divert him and to procure for him every kind of
pleasure. The king is surrounded by people who think only of diverting
the king and of preventing him from thinking about himself. For, though he is king, he is unhappy if he thinks about himself. This is is all men have been able to devise to make themselves happy. [...] All our life passes in this way. We seek rest in a struggle against some obstacles. And when we have overcome these, rest proves unbearable because of the boredom it produces"

from: Pensees by Blaise Pascal; Roger Ariew, Hackett Publishing Company, March 31, 2005; ISBN-13: 978-0872207172

see also: Painful intelligence: What #AI can tell us about human #suffering
https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/ahyvarin/painintl/

Have you ever dreamt of living in a culture that was wise enough to not, at the very least, shit on themselves? 💩 Figuratively speaking.

#society #pollution #ecology #science #psycology

#ttrpgs #memory #psycology

Most rpg players have iconic scenes that stand out in their memory. The first time you beat a big bad. That time you fought an ancient red dragon on a flying carpet. Escaping the exploding space craft etc...

When you picture these events how do you remember them?

Using deceptive patterns to overcharge for pizza: https://builtformars.com/case-studies/dominos-pizza
Dominos is not a pizza company, it’s really a technology company, that just so happens to sell pizza. And it shows on how they try to deceive the users
#Psycology #DeceptivePatterns

A very good reading for self awareness!

#psycology
#SelfAwareness
#SelfImprovement

https://www.mindmypeelings.com/blog/window-of-tolerance

Would be incredibly grateful if anyone has a link to or source for non-pop #Psycology articles, etc. re: Thin Privilege. Thanks, Mastodon!

"The blank slate hypothesis is no longer on the table".

Two (non twin) children, born into the same family, even if the parents treated them equally, will become different people. #genetics

Two identical twin children, separated at birth, with differing care givers (parents), will be remarkably similar people.

The Best of Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content: #211 - The Nature of Human Nature

Episode webpage: https://samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/211-the-nature-of-human-nature

Media file: https://assets.samharris.org/episodes/audios/1810dc50-9364-4a6f-bc6e-3f89ac8197ac/Making_Sense_211_The_Nature_of_Human_Nature_subscriber.mp3

#science #psycology

"The blank slate hypothesis is no longer on the table".

Two (non twin) children, born into the same family, even if the parents treated them equally, will become different people. #genetics

The Best of Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content: #211 - The Nature of Human Nature

Episode webpage: https://samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/211-the-nature-of-human-nature

Media file: https://assets.samharris.org/episodes/audios/1810dc50-9364-4a6f-bc6e-3f89ac8197ac/Making_Sense_211_The_Nature_of_Human_Nature_subscriber.mp3

#science #psycology

They have no idea what they're talking about if - for example, they have never tried cannabis or "magic" mushrooms, and yet, have opinionated bigoted & generally extremely misinformed views on the topic. And, of course, they don't accept the reality that folk that drink alcohol are, by definition, drug users.

How many, "they have no idea what they're talking about!" folk subjects are there?

#psycology #EvolutionaryPsychology

It’s (a) Shame: Why Poverty Leads to Support for Authoritarianism https://doi.org/10.1177/014616722211415

>We hypothesize that the effect of poverty on support for authoritarianism is mediated by shame: People living in poverty frequently experience social exclusion and devaluation, which is reflected in feelings of shame. Such shame, in turn, is likely to increase support for authoritarianism, mainly due to the promise of social re-inclusion.

#authoritarianism #fascism #politicalScience #psycology

@mrbadger42

Conspiracy Theories have epistemic, existential, and social motives. They may:

• be used defensively, to relieve the self or in-group from a sense of culpability for their disadvantaged position
• foster solidarity and collective action in disempowered groups
• offer an important source of belonging and shared reality.
• not be only a symptom but also a cause of the feelings of alienation and anomie.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724570/

#psycology #socialPsycology

The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories (2017)

Has epistemic, existential, and social motives.

may:

• be used defensively, to relieve the self or in-group from a sense of culpability for their disadvantaged position
• foster solidarity and collective action in disempowered groups
• offer an important source of belonging and shared reality.
• not be only a symptom but also a cause of the feelings of alienation and anomie.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724570/

#psycology #socialScience

Was going to write
a haiku about the Id
but suppressed urge.
#haiku #psycology #Freud

This explains all the moral panic I’ve seen on the news from certain news outlets:
“[We] tend to see minority groups as being larger than they really are. This leads to a false impression of diversity, which [leads] to decreased support for pro-diversity policies”

“According to Americans, 21% of [us] are transgender.” It’s 1%.

https://hotcrossjoin.substack.com/p/do-i-know-americans-better-than-they

#Diversity #DEI #Inclusion #America #Psycology #Minorities #Polls #Data #Transgender #Estimates

This explains all the moral panic I’ve seen on the news from certain news outlets:
“[We] tend to see minority groups as being larger than they really are. This leads to a false impression of diversity, which [leads] to decreased support for pro-diversity policies”

“According to Americans, 21% of [us] are transgender.” It’s 1%.

https://hotcrossjoin.substack.com/p/do-i-know-americans-better-than-they

#Diversity #DEI #Inclusion #America #Psycology #Minorities #Polls #Data #Transgender #Estimates

A new type of mass sociogenic illness (MSI) that is spread solely via social media.

Teenagers refereed to outpatient clinic claim to be suffering from Tourette syndrome while having functional symptoms only resembling tics in Tourette syndrome.

21st century expression of a culture-bound stress reaction

Stop that! It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness Brain, Volume 145, Issue 2, February 2022, Pages 476–480, https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awab316

#psycology #socialMedia

“…whatever the particulars of your discoveries may be, eventually you will clarify for yourself how, like all humans, you have ascribed fixed and permanent qualities to a ‘self’ that can neither be located and grasped, nor described.”

~ Peter Coyote

#PeterCoyote #Psycology #CharacterStrengths #Virtues
#Enlightenment #Zen