psychology

In another thread, I was explaining how, for many Northwest Europeans, the decision to get married or live under a civil union or domestic partnership was often simply motivated by the desire to have a wedding party (still a dream for many women, regardless of their religiosity). I was...

I don't agree with all of these, but some of them are pretty interesting. 10. That makes sense, smiling, frowning, scowling, and crying are universal in all populations. 9. I guess I can believe that. 8. Doubt it, if I can get paid $250,000 a year to pump gas, I'd love that job. 7. By...

I do believe that certain higher-order thinking animals have emotions. Perhaps not as advanced as humans, but to at least some degree.

Interesting study. It might be possible to identify psychopaths based on their musical preferences. The Guardian: Playlist of the Lambs: psychopaths may have distinct musical preferences "Contrary to the movie trope epitomised by Alex in A Clockwork Orange and Hannibal Lecter in the Silence...

I wouldn't qualify the following study as new exactly, as it was published in 1986, but it still makes for an interesting read. New York Times: MAJOR PERSONALITY STUDY FINDS THAT TRAITS ARE MOSTLY INHERITED The main finding is: "Among traits found most strongly determined by heredity were...

Many if not most great geniuses in history are now thought to have had Asperger syndrome or High-functioning Autism. It all started with Norm Ledgin's book Diagnosing Jefferson, in which the author argues that Jefferson's behaviours matches the five diagnostic criteria for Asperger's: social...

Computers will soon be able to simulate the functioning of a human brain. In a near future, artificial superintelligence could become vastly more intellectually capable and versatile than humans. But could machines ever truly experience the whole range of human feelings and emotions, or are...

The New Scientist reported last night a theory explaining why Europeans are generally individualists while East Asians are collectivists. According to Thomas Talhelm, a social psychologist the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, rice farming seems to have fostered collective thinking...

I stumbled on a list of typical traits of autistic people and I was quite surprised to see how many of them were also typically associated with individualistic cultures from Northern Europe (+ North America, Australia and New Zealand). Many traits are also typical of scientists and...

Everybody thinks differently. People can't be lumped in just two categories such as 'verbal' or visual'. Like for everything else there is a gradation on a scale and each individual will fit somewhere in between the two extremities. Verbal thinkers, on one side, think in words. Spatio-visual...