# All Questions

57 views

### Reference for beginners: psychology [closed]

I am looking for a book that is not too rigorous but provides a good introduction to psychology as a preparation for a university-level course. Any suggestions? It is an introductory course.
56 views

### How to best prepare the mind for a problem identification brainstorm?

I am a manager of a team of software engineers. We often use brainstorming sessions to generate solutions to problems. We use typical cognitive games, e.g. word association, to "warm-up" and ...
163 views

### How to predict romantic attraction

Dating websites and psychological researchers attempt to find those factors that predict the fit between potential romantic partners. Examples for factors taken into consideration are the "big five" ...
42 views

### Things not physically moving very hard to concentrate upon - suggestions? [closed]

Hello dear cogsci users, I am a (fledgling) programmer by profession, one who also squarely fits the description of an ADHD person. The symptoms have been making it tremendously hard for me to ...
87 views

### Is tasting something you see a form of synesthesia?

Synesthesia is often stated as "a confusion of the senses" and some of the more common forms include "seeing sounds" or associating letters or numbers with colors. There is also a very rare form of ...
47 views

### Eating disorders and childhood sexual abuse

It is my understanding that extreme eating disorders such as bulimia are very intertwined with childhood sexual abuse. Just how strong is that link? I have a relative who is killing herself with ...
64 views

### Why did Richard Feynman appear to recommend replication before manipulation when conducting lab experiments?

In Richard Feynman's classic Cargo Cult Science speech. He talks about a type of scientific error made, where a person takes a previous experimental result for granted when designing an experiment. ...
26 views

### Do laypeople think lifestyle changes are effective at preventing and treating disease?

I'm curious about how laypeople think about healthy lifestyle changes (like eating well, not smoking, exercising) that are scientifically known to help prevent and treat a number of diseases. People ...
44 views

### What makes some criminals glamorous to others?

Some murderers are glamorized by society while others labeled monsters. In both cases, they can commit the same terrible crimes and cause the same amounts of pain - yet one can be romanticized the ...
162 views

### Frequency of schizophrenia symptoms related to mass surveillance?

Recently, mass surveillance by organisations like the NSA has become both more prevalent and more known to the public. Has the frequency of schizophrenia symptoms concerning mass surveillance (eg. ...
37 views

### Has anyone done a thorough comparative review of psychotherapeutic approaches?

Have the efficacy of different psychotherapeutic approaches--e.g., ACT, CBT, DBT, Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Behavioral--been compared? I'm sure each approach may be more or less effective depending ...
61 views

### What is the possibility that research in neuroscience can lead to a new kind of mathematics?

The mathematics of astrophysics is far more complicated. That scientists say the brain is the most complex organ we know. So will mathematics evolve to tackle such complexity? Or does the required ...
7k views

### Is extreme empathy and compassion considered a disorder?

Can extreme empathy and compassion get to a point where it is considered a disorder? For example, if someone is so empathetic, when feeling someones pain it negatively affects their life to the same ...
123 views

### Does Andler's (2012) article on 'Mathematics in Cognitive Science' provide an accurate picture of mathematics in cognitive science?

Andler (2012) wrote: What role does mathematics play in cognitive science today, what role should mathematics play in cognitive science tomorrow? The cautious short answers are: to the factual ...
165 views

### How has geometry been applied in cognitive science?

What areas of geometry are used in psychology/cognitive science/neuroscience? Are the applications of a sophisticated nature or superficial?
142 views

### What triggers people to do competitive activities?

From my past I have seen some people who like to compete in games and try to be first(by games I mean all kind of games or hobbies such as video-games, sports etc. in which competition is included). I ...
89 views

### Psychology behind repeated viewing of certain pictures and songs

Often it happens that we like to frequently listen to a particular tune or song or view some pictures or images repeatedly time after time. What are the reasons and psychology behind this?
471 views

### Are mnemonics by creating associations good for memory?

I read a book which says that to remember the lists of arbitrary objects, we should take a well-known ordered list (so that you know what is on the first place, what is on the second) and associate ...
75 views

### Are we actually seeing black colored objects?

We know that black objects absorb light with almost all the frequencies of the visible spectrum. This means there will not be any frequency of light reflected and falling on our retina, in order for ...
17 views

### Is it harder to perform a difficult act or avoid doing a compelling act?

Suppose what we have a set of choices $S$. Also suppose that $S$ consists of two "difficult" choices $X$ and $Y$ that rely on action and inaction respectively. So $S = \{X, Y \}$. Is it more difficult ...
181 views

### Evidence-based best practices for writing a gratitude journal

I was intrigued to read (in the question "What positive writing exercises improve happiness?") the idea of a gratitude diary suggested as an intervention that "causes psychological well-being levels ...
82 views

### Everybody thinks everyone's doing it, so they do it, and everyone ends up doing it [closed]

I'm on mobile, can't say much. But is there a term to describe such reasoning.
102 views

I recently conducted an EEG experiment using a passive Oddball paradigm with two experimental conditions : standard stimuli (occurring with a 85% probability) and deviant stimuli (occurring with a 15% ...
178 views

### What is it called when a person seeks to compare themselves to others?

What is it called when a person consciously or unconsciously looks for similarities and differences in other people's reasoning, behavior, actions or past events and compares them with his/her own ...
59 views

### How are sexual cues known by the brain?

Sexual cues have been well established in evolutionary psychology as indicators of genetic compatibility/useful genes. How does the human brain know that a cue is an indicator of a useful trait in ...
83 views

### Learned dyslexia? adult predicament from childhood teacher´s incompetence?

I have a friend, over 30, who is convinced she cannot really read. Of course; she can read, but she struggles so much with sorting letters into words that she cannot absorb the content. Playing - say ...
50 views

### Why do certain activities seem to co-occur with well learnt skills?

I have found that when I do certain activities, while engaged with them, I am inclined to do other activities, as well, which come naturally and do not seem to break productivity of the first ones, ...
71 views

### Enhance recollection abilites

I hope this is a good way of asking this question. I am not generally the guy with the best memory out there, so I looked a bit into it and I am concluding my recollection phase is the weakest. It's ...
82 views

### Is there a difference between existential depression and endogenous depression?

This question What causes people to feel depressed without there being a problem? got me thinking about endogenous vs reactive depression and existential vs psychological depression. It could be ...
54 views

### Book review for “Qualitative Mathematics for the Social Sciences”

Has anyone read/reviewed this book - Qualitative Mathematics for the Social Sciences? I have been trying to find a credible review on the reliability of the book.
53 views

### What's the difference between repression and suppression?

These two terms are closely related, and thus easily confusable as synonymous. Is there a difference?
481 views

### Is remembering a list of words an example of semantic or episodic memory?

I'm having a hard time making a clear distinction between semantic and episodic memory. When presented with idealized examples, I find the breakdown clear; describing a trip to Paris is an example of ...
330 views

### Personality traits associated with finishing other people's sentences?

I read in a North American undergrad psychology textbook, that people who tend to finish another's sentences tend to be emotionally intense. I think "emotionally intense" is the wording that they ...
134 views

### The propensity of sexuality to be a taboo subject

Social norms vary between cultures and have throughout history. In most societies, the expression of sexuality is demonised to a certain extent. This is apparent in the shame brought to people ...
116 views

### Psychology of a student

I'm a mathematics and physics tutor. I have a student in grade 9 who is very weak in the scientific subjects and she's been weak since 2 or 3 years even though she always had tutors. At first I ...
81 views

### Is implicit and explicit memory a useful distinction?

In principle I understand the distinction. Implicit memory is not consciously recollected but has an automatic character i.e. while I'm solving a task in math, I'm automatically using the concept of ...
39 views

### What is the psychological cause and meaning of “common sense”?

To what extent is common sense innate versus influenced by interactions with others? If someone has grown up with minimal interaction with other people, would their common sense be different?
145 views

### Why are most popular humans pets carnivores? [closed]

Most popular pets are cats, and dogs. They are all carnivores. Few people have pigs as pets. More commonly, people eat pigs. Why are some of the most common human housepets carnivores? Does this ...
376 views

### How long does it take to refocus after context switching?

Context switching has been highlighted for the toll it takes on productivity at great length, particularly by people who work in software and project management. Are there any ...
45 views

### What exercises can be used to overcome the cognitive distortion “disqualifying the negative”?

I've been writing "log of good things that happened today" for the last 2 years (every alternate day on average). It has resulted in a lot of improvement in my perspective and in general I'm more ...
105 views

### How to gamify a mentoring activity? [closed]

I am working on an app where we are aiming to develop peer to peer training. How could we gamify the learning process to make it more fun?
168 views

### How to interpret the meaning of “crossed arms”?

If my conversational partner (in western europe) crosses his arms, while I am talking; How can I determine if he is: showing signs of rejection and/or detachment or if he chose this position for ...
66 views

### What is the optimal exercise regime for improving cognitive functioning?

It seems that researchers agree that exercise increases cognitive abilities. This seems to work universally for all ages: children, adults and old people. It is suggested that everyone should ...
11 views

### Is it possible to gain strength by imagining working out? [duplicate]

Is it possible to still gain muscle strength by performing exercises but without load? Is there some kind of memory mechanism that would allow this?
47 views

### Is there a link between personality and sleep disturbances? [closed]

There is link between mental illness and sleep disturbance. One example following: BPD was significantly associated with all 3 chronic sleep problems assessed, as well as with the consequences of ...
51 views

### Is there a way to hasten recovery from sleep inertia?

Sleep inertia is a transitional state of lowered arousal occurring immediately after awakening from sleep and producing a temporary decrement in subsequent performance. (1) There is study ...
43 views

### Can bipolar develop in childhood?

Is it possible to develop bipolar in childhood? Does the same diagnostic criteria for bipolar in adults apply for children? In response to the comments under this question: Borderline Personality ...
29 views

### Is there a link between mania in childhood and Borderline Personality Disorder?

The comments under this question Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar yet unable to identify episodes? have led me to ask this. Is it possib Is there a link between childhood mania and adult ...