The literature of self-esteem tells us that we need to gain self-esteem to be succesful. But this might be all wrong and a widespread misconception, according to a longitudinal study of nearly 2500 students. I’ll introduce you to self-compassion as an alternative to self-esteem, and the reasons why you should develop self-compassion more than self-esteem. Continue reading
Positive thinking can feel like a job to do, while negative thinking seems to happen more automatically. In fact, this is true at a very fundamental level of the brain, studies show. It is called the negativity bias. Continue reading
A large-scale study by Hudson and Fraley (2016), published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, finds that almost all people between the ages of 18 to 70 want to change aspects of their personality. Continue reading
Posted in Clinical Psychology, Personal Development, Personality Psychology
Tagged personality, the big five
The human brain is sophisticated. It separates us from all other animals. It allows us to have abstract ideas and to solve complex problems. We are rational social beings, or are we? Continue reading
The fact that anger can have adverse effects on behavior is evident. When people get angry, they behave in ways that they normally would not do. So, anger seems to impair or even block rational thinking. Continue reading
Posted in Behaviors, Clinical Psychology, Mental Health, Stress
Tagged anger, anger management, angry, empirical, evidence, motivational intensity model
A new large-scale study of over 12,000 participants shows that higher income is associated with less daily sadness but not more daily happiness (Kushlev, Dunn, & Lucas, 2015). Continue reading
Posted in Coping, Mental Health, Psychology, Stress, Success, Well-being, Work Life
Why would people maintain negative self-evaluations when they result in a great degree of distress? What purpose do negative self-evaluations have? Do they help us solve our problems, or do they help us in some other way? It seems not. Continue reading
Are you aware that psychological need satisfaction is crucial to your well-being, and that it should be one of your biggest priorities? This post will show you why. Continue reading
Hi! I’m Simon Moesgaard, a psychologist from Denmark, and this is my blog about psychology and mental health. Take a look.
