My thoughts on anything related to psychology.
Jordan Peterson is a polarizing figure in the world of psychology. Some people view him as a prophet, while others condemn him as a charlatan. Although he has published several books, the majority of his work has been done through video lectures which he has uploaded to YouTube. Jordan Peterson has written many books, and … Read more
William James, the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, made an interesting argument about habits. He said that society would fall apart if not for habits. James was not arguing that this was a good thing, it is simply how the world works. If people were not habitual, business would … Read more
There have been multiple articles warning about the dangers of tech addiction, from publications like The Washington Post and The Atlantic, that note that smartphone addiction has resulted in higher rates of depression and suicide among teenagers. There have also been alarming behavioral shifts. Children and teenagers these days seem to be less interested in … Read more
The idea of the superorganism by Howard Bloom, answers the question posed at the end of this article: Do nations embody the same psychological characteristics as individual human beings do? According to Bloom, every nation is a superorganism, a cluster of billions of cells, that attempts to gain power, whenever an opportunity presents itself. And … Read more
The problem of self-discipline concerns each person, no matter what their beliefs or background. There is no need to expand on why self-discipline is important. Naturally, many approaches to practicing it have developed with time, each with its own ideological slant. Throughout history, different types of individuals have emerged, each a product of their own time. First, … Read more
The ironic part about get-rich-quick schemes is that the people who buy into them invest many years trying to get rich “quick.” But why are they so attractive? It could have something to do with “loss aversion” – the idea that people prefer to avoid losing 100 dollars than gain 100 dollars even if there … Read more
The Illusion of Separateness The biggest taboo of all is knowing who we really are behind the mask of our self as presented to the world. Through our focus on ourselves and the world as it affects us, we have developed narrowed perception. – Alan Watts, The Book To understand what Watts is saying, we … Read more
In The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966), Rieff describes modern society as completely different from the past. Previously, society was marked by “religious man” – and then, many centuries later, by “economic man”, and now, in the current stage, by “psychological man.” And this new type of individual differs from ancestors in the way he … Read more
In The Narcissistic Personality of Our Time, I discussed the trade-off of modernity, which recapped the ideas of A Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch. The belief of modern society, and perhaps even more so in the future, with the rise of techno-utopianism, is the belief that a combination of multiple autophile behaviors will be … Read more
There is a tradeoff between intensity and extensity. The specialist is a believer in intensity, he gains his advantage by knowing something that no one else knows. The generalist is a believer in extensity, he gains advantage by making multiple bets. The specialist places more value on his own rationality, the generalist places more value … Read more