Portal:Psychology

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The Psychology Portal

P:PSY

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior. Others explore the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.

Psychologists are involved in research on perception, cognition, attention, emotion, intelligence, subjective experiences, motivation, brain functioning, and personality. Psychologists' interests extend to interpersonal relationships, psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas within social psychology. They also consider the unconscious mind. Research psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. Some, but not all, clinical and counseling psychologists rely on symbolic interpretation. (Full article...)

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Cognitive inertia is the tendency for a particular orientation in how an individual thinks about an issue, belief, or strategy to resist change. Clinical and neuroscientific literature often defines it as a lack of motivation to generate distinct cognitive processes needed to attend to a problem or issue. The physics term inertia emphasizes the rigidity and resistance to change in the method of cognitive processing that has been used for a significant amount of time. Commonly confused with belief perseverance, cognitive inertia is the perseverance of how one interprets information, not the perseverance of the belief itself.

Cognitive inertia has been causally implicated in disregarding impending threats to one's health or environment, enduring political values and deficits in task switching. Interest in the phenomenon was primarily taken up by economic and industrial psychologists to explain resistance to change in brand loyalty, group brainstorming, and business strategies. In the clinical setting, cognitive inertia has been used as a diagnostic tool for neurodegenerative diseases, depression, and anxiety. Critics have stated that the term oversimplifies resistant thought processes and suggests a more integrative approach that involves motivation, emotion, and developmental factors. (Full article...)

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People at La Guardia Beach, Isla Margarita, expressing happiness

image credit: Wilfredor

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"Loneliness is a barrier that prevents one from uniting with the inner self." — Carl Rogers

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Money in 1996

John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender. Believing that gender identity was malleable within the first two years of life, Money advocated for the surgical "normalization" of the genitalia of intersex infants.

Money advanced the use of more accurate terminology in sex research, coining the terms gender role and sexual orientation. Despite widespread popular belief, Money did not coin gender identity. Money pioneered drug treatment for sex offenders to extinguish their sex drives. (Full article...)

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... that bereavement support groups are one of the most common services offered for grief but have little evidence of improving psychological outcomes?
... that Fortnite's Tilted Towers was described by critics as the equivalent of "psychological torture" and being "dropped into a meat grinder"?
... that award winner Lillian Comas-Díaz became interested in psychology after consoling classmates recovering from a destructive hurricane?
... that Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Rawlins proposed that the Rhodesian Army employ witchdoctors as psychological warfare during the Rhodesian Bush War?
... that fashion psychology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the interaction between human behavior, psychology, and fashion?
... that the psychological inner space genre was a rebellion against the traditional focus of science fiction on literal outer space?