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Not Psychohistory. Not the History of Psychology, but Historical Psychology
Wikipedia lists 36 obsolete psychological categories. These include drapetomania, a supposed mental disorder that led enslaved African Americans to run away; hysteria, the host of motor, psychic and sensory disturbances that were supposedly gender-aligned; and neurasthenia, the fatigue, headache, lassitude and irritability that were purportedly a by-product of overcivilization. In some instances, an older psychological label was discarded and replaced by a more sophisticated, nuanced or less pejorative terminology. Think of derogatory, eugenics-aligned terms like imbecile or idiot that have thankfully been jettisoned.
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A Psychologist Explains 3 Ways a Rebound Relationship Can Benefit Your Mental Health
There are many coping mechanisms that people use to heal or distract themselves from the pain of a breakup. None of them, however, is as popular as the rebound relationship. Often frowned upon as a technique to suppress what one is truly feeling, rebound relationships have developed a bad rep in pop culture. Well-intentioned people often advise close ones who might be rebounding to process their relationship trauma before jumping into another relationship. However, is it really that bad to have a short-term romance right after you get out of a long-term one? The world of scientific research says no. Here are three science-backed benefits one can get from a rebound. ...
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Conspiracy Theorists May Not Always Think Rationally, but They Don’t Generally Believe Contradictory Claims
Regardless of the popular conspiracy theory, most of its believers stick to their guns — and do not subscribe to contradictory theories as well.
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How the Sunk Cost Fallacy Impacts Your Relationships
In the field of economics, the sunk cost fallacy — also called the sunk cost effect — is notorious. It occurs whenever we double down on poor financial decisions based on past investments that can't be recouped. But the phenomenon isn’t relegated only to the realm of business. You may be surprised to learn that it often rears its ugly head in our relationships as well. Sunk Cost Fallacy Examples Christopher Olivola, an associate professor of marketing at Carnegie Mellon University, offers up a few examples of sunk cost fallacy pertaining specifically to finances. ...
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New Content From Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on small-study findings, evaluating the quality of social/personality journals, comparing analysis blinding with preregistration in the many-analysts religion project, information provision for informed consent procedures, and much more.
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Why People Choose to Cooperate, According to Behavioral Science
People stop their cars simply because a little light turns from green to red. They crowd onto buses, trains and planes with complete strangers, yet fights seldom break out. Large, strong men routinely walk right past smaller, weaker ones without demanding their valuables. People pay their taxes and donate to food banks and other charities. Most of us give little thought to these everyday examples of cooperation. But to biologists, they’re remarkable — most animals don’t behave that way. “Even the least cooperative human groups are more cooperative than our closest cousins, chimpanzees and bonobos,” says Michael Muthukrishna, a behavioral scientist at the London School of Economics.