Psychology - Page 29 of 54

Why Attempt Suicide? Evidence from the Poetry of Suicidal Poets

Hollywood actor Owen Wilson’s recent suicide attempt once more raises the question of what leads people to take their own life.

[Photo by acme]

Hollywood actor Owen Wilson’s recent suicide attempt once more raises the question of what leads people to take their own life. Research into suicidal poets provides some clues.

This week it was confirmed that Owen Wilson, the Hollywood actor, attempted suicide. The question ‘why?’ naturally arises in these circumstances. While people’s specific reasons vary greatly, psychologists are, of course, interested in the general factors that lead to suicidal behaviour. Some fascinating evidence about what these general factors are comes from a study on poets, who appear particularly prone to suicide.

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Men and Women Are Psychologically Very Similar

That’s it, I’ve had enough. I’m fed up with endless bogus stories claiming substantial differences between men and women in the popular press.

…despite appearances:

[Photo by Mr November]
That’s it, I’ve had enough. I’m fed up with endless bogus stories claiming substantial differences between men and women which pass for news in the popular press. With the help of Janet Shibley Hyde of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and literally thousands of psychology studies, this myth can be banished forever (Hyde, 2005).

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This Week in Psychology

The science of magic is always fascinating.

This week (well last week now!) from my psychology notepad…

The science of magic is always fascinating; this New York Times article is no exception. MindHacks has a little background on this.

The excellent BPS Research Digest is running a ‘behind the news‘ series which gives links to the scholarly articles and lead authors on which news items are based. Two entries so far – long may it continue.

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Optimists and Realists Seen In Better Light Than Pessimists

Does optimism have a downside in that other people think you’re self-deluded, mindless and just plain annoying?

[Photo by theXenon]

…although we’re just as likely to provide support to optimists, pessimists and realists alike.

Being an optimist is supposed to be good for health, success and happiness. But does optimism have a downside in that other people think you’re self-deluded, mindless and just plain annoying? And on the flipside, how do people view pessimists? In particular, do we tend to shy away from helping out pessimists when they are in trouble?

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What is Courage?

Positive psychology research asks whether experiencing fear is a central component of courage.

[Photo by DeVo]

Positive psychology research asks whether experiencing fear is a central component of courage.

Imagine you are in this situation:

“I was sitting in a Tube carriage next to an attractive young woman who was reading a magazine. There was a guy sitting opposite me, who was kind of Neanderthal [and starts hassling the woman sat next to me].
Anyway, all the passengers on the Tube were aware of this. The Tube stops. He gets out of the doors – the thug. He walks off down the platform, we’re all quite happy he’s gone. Another passenger flips him a V-sign. The doors have closed, by the way, when he does this. And then the disaster happens – the doors reopen.
The thug runs back in. He’s six foot three, his muscles are so big they’re flexing against the Tube glass, and he just starts beating seven bells out of this fellow. And actually when you see physical violence or are on the receiving end of it, it’s very very nasty.
His fist went into the side of his head, blood came out, another fist, the guy goes down on the carriage floor, and the thug walks off very happy with himself. And I did nothing. The carriage was pretty full. But none of us did anything. It was terrible.”

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3 Reasons Life is Worth Living From Positive Psychology

For decades psychologists were almost exclusively concerned with alleviating mental distress.

For decades psychologists were almost exclusively concerned with alleviating mental distress. No bad thing of course – psychological knowledge has contributed to great strides in the treatment and understanding of mental illness. But to only study pathology, damage and weakness in humanity is to leave out half the picture. What about human strengths, human virtues and human excellence – surely these are worth studying too?

In the last few decades the positive psychology movement has recognised this need for research into what makes us happy, what makes us excel and how these things might be enhanced. Acknowledging this important movement, over the coming weeks PsyBlog will be looking at some of the research emerging from this area. We start with three reasons life is worth living to whet your appetite.

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Soviet Psychiatry | Miserable Middle-Aged Men | Satisfied Hairdressers | Jury Psychology

The Telegraph has a story suggesting the Russian psychiatric system may be returning to the abusive practices common during Soviet times.

This week, from my psychology notebook…

Soviet psychiatry

The Telegraph has a story suggesting the Russian psychiatric system may be returning to the abusive practices common during Soviet times. The article, called ‘Labelled mad for daring to criticise the Kremlin‘, tells the story of Larisa Arap who has been forcibly treated after publicising systematic abuses of patients at a clinic where she has been held. The Telegraph’s leader column goes on to say:

“Things are different in modern Russia, where, as we report in horrifying detail today, it takes only modest influence to secure the incarceration and chemical torture of a business rival, wealthy relative or prosecution witness, and where the sectioning of citizens hostile to the Kremlin seems set to become once more a fact of political life.”

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Does ‘Peer Review’ Mean Anything to You?

A discussion about ‘peer review’ suggesting science bloggers should use an icon to indicate when they are discussing peer reviewed research.

[Photo by marinegirl]

A new website, bpr3.org, has been set up to highlight peer reviewed research – the process by which academics check each other’s work.

A discussion about ‘peer review’ is ongoing over at Cognitive Daily suggesting science bloggers should use an icon to indicate when they are discussing peer reviewed research. Peer review is simply the system academics use for checking each other’s work. Before research is published in peer reviewed journals it gets sent to other experts in the field to be checked. Peer review is seen as the academic gold standard.

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Effectiveness of Mutual Support Groups

In stressful times we can all do with a little help from our friends.

In stressful times we can all do with a little help from our friends. Sometimes, though, our friends cannot provide – or we do not want to ask for – the kind of support required. Mutual support groups based around shared topics such as cancer or addictions have grown rapidly to meet this need. But, can mutual support groups really help people recover from mental health problems? A small but growing body of research suggests they can.

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How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker (Book Review)

Right from the outset Steven Pinker, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is apologising for the title of his book: ‘How the Mind Works’.

Right from the outset Steven Pinker, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, is apologising for the title of his book: ‘How the Mind Works’. We do not yet know how the mind works, he explains. The ideas contained in his book are not, he admits, his own but culled from various other fields. But this is rather false modesty as reading on it soon becomes clear Pinker does indeed intend to tell us how the mind works, albeit one particular version.

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