Category: Psychology
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In Danish Schools, Empathy Is Taught To Students Aged 6 to 16
Stock Photos from Karasiki/Shutterstock While most school children are educated in academic subjects such as math and English, there are other important life lessons that don’t always make it into the curriculum. Having empathy is a learned skill that comes with listening and understanding others. That’s why Danish schools decided to introduce mandatory empathy classes in…
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For Alzheimer’s Sufferers, Brain Inflammation Ignites a Neuron-Killing “Forest Fire”
Getty Images For decades researchers have focused their attacks against Alzheimer’s on two proteins, amyloid beta and tau. Their buildup in the brain often serves as a defining indicator of the disease. Get rid of the amyloid and tau, and patients should do better, the thinking goes. But drug trial after drug trial has failed…
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Why Your Most Important Relationship Is With Your Inner Voice
James Melaugh/The Observer As Ethan Kross, an American experimental psychologist and neuroscientist, will cheerfully testify, the person who doesn’t sometimes find themselves listening to an unhelpful voice in their head probably doesn’t exist. Ten years ago, Kross found himself sitting up late at night with a baseball bat in his hand, waiting for an imaginary…
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The Role of Literature In Unlocking Empathy
In school, the many benefits of reading were often preached, and the one that always stuck out to me the most was the argument that reading fiction increases empathy. It makes complete sense: reading fiction exposes you to the narrative, thoughts, feelings and experiences of someone else, real or not. One story puts you in…
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Fear of Suffering Is Worse Than Suffering Itself
Getty Emilio Duro in one of his best-known conferences called “Optimism and Enthusiasm” says that 99% of everything we worry about are things that have never happened to us nor will they ever happen. If we think carefully, it is true, because much of our suffering and its causes are in our brain, and what really happens is that…
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How To Forgive Someone Who Hurt You Even When It Feels Impossible
PEOPLEIMAGES//GETTY IMAGES Whether your partner had an affair, your best friend betrayed you, or a family member mistreated you for years, figuring out how to forgive someone can seem like a herculean task. The most important thing to remember: Forgiving someone is by no means a necessity—especially if the offender is someone who could still pose…
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Are We Born Good or Evil?
Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns a moral blank slate. Anyone who has read “Lord of the Flies” will expect children to be fully-fledged sociopaths just waiting to be…
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A Path To Well-Being: Recognize Your Inner Child
CAS MAROTTA CAS MAROTTA Caring for our mental health is more essential than ever before. The way we treat our bodies, how and with whom we spend our time, and what thoughts take center stage in our minds are vital. In the monthly Shondaland series A Path to Well-Being, we’re sharing science and strategies to help…
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Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus
Henrik Sorensen/Getty Images The ability to focus is an important driver of excellence. Focused techniques such as to-do lists, timetables, and calendar reminders all help people to stay on task. Few would argue with that, and even if they did, there is evidence to support the idea that resisting distraction and staying present have benefits: Practicing mindfulness for 10 minutes…
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How To Deal With Your Childhood Trauma As An Adult
Vicky Leta – In-House Art Recovering from trauma is hard no matter when it happens. However, if adversity happens during childhood, it can be especially hard to overcome. Unlike adults, children have very little control over their environment. If a child is living in an abusive home, their ability to remove themselves from that environment…
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If Anxiety Is In My Brain, Why Is My Heart Pounding?
George Peters/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images Heart in your throat. Butterflies in your stomach. Bad gut feeling. These are all phrases many people use to describe fear and anxiety. You have likely felt anxiety inside your chest or stomach, and your brain usually doesn’t hurt when you’re scared. Many cultures tie cowardice and bravery more to…
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Behavior Is a Miracle Drug
Getty Healthcare is broken. Chronic diseases are eating up an increasing share of healthcare resources in every healthcare system across the world in ways that are not sustainable. Yes, there is a golden age of innovation happening in the form of new technologies like gene therapy, neural technology, immunotherapy, and increasingly the impact of AI on…
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What Do We Understand About Dyslexia?
© Shutterstock Dyslexia is a brain-based type of learning disability that specifically impairs a person’s ability to read. It is a common condition that also causes problems with writing and spelling. According to figures published by the Reading Well, around 30 million adults in the United States are dyslexic. A further six million in the United Kingdom…
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Genetic Factors Linked To Nightmares and Poor Mental Health Show Substantial Overlap
OpenAI’s DALL·E Agenotyping study involving tens of thousands of individuals in Finland identified a significant overlap between genetic factors linked to nightmares and those associated with anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and neuroticism. The study also found that individuals with insomnia were more likely to experience frequent nightmares. The research was published in Translational Psychiatry. Nightmares…
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Everyday Philosophy Should I Hide My Wild Past From My Parents
Adobe Stock / Big Think I was really taken with this question because I’ve experienced the same thing, but in reverse. I asked my dad three years ago to write an autobiography — an in-house thing for Thomsons to read down the generations. He took to the idea and took to writing. A week later,…