To hurt others is not without a cost. Self-reports have revealed that obeying to hurt others may lead to feelings of anxiety, guilt and agitation (Milgram, 1963). We feel so because of our innate need to care about others. We are social animals so hurting others, hurts us too. Continue reading
Posted in Behaviors
Why is it that some people prefer to stay up until late in the evening, and others go to bed early? Do you consider yourself an early bird or a night owl? Continue reading
Posted in Personality Psychology
There is a saying that a dog is a man’s best friend.
Keeping pets is a phenomenon that exists in most cultures. Among the psychological theories for doing so is the theory of parental instincts, the biological love of nature, the tendency to use pets for showing off, the need to dominate the natural world, coping with loneliness, and the desire to teach youngsters responsibility and kindness. Continue reading
What is the relationship between the environment, behaviour and emotions? What kinds of environments will make us happy? Environmental psychologists try to answer this question. Continue reading
The discussion whether we have free will or not is endless. Some people like to attribute all happenings to environmental or social influences, which reflects a deterministic point of view. Others prefer to look at people as having their own free will, and this implies that we choose our own destinies, not influenced by anything or anyone else than ourselves. Continue reading
Posted in Cognitive Bias
Tagged collectivism, determinism, experiment, free will, individualism, perception, philosophy, research
The actor-observer bias is the tendency that people view their own actions as caused by the situational context, while others’ actions are seen as caused by personality or stable dispositions. Continue reading
Psychological research has much to offer to the medical assessment.
This post is inspired by the general concerns (and my own concerns) about the overuse and misuse of medication. So what alternatives are there? Psychological medicine is a term for the integration of psychological knowledge into the general medical assessment and treatment. Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged assessment, collaborative care, health, medicine, stepped care
A literature review by Mitchell & Phillips (2007) examined how positive and negative moods influence people’s cognitive functioning, or more specifically, executive functions.
Hi! I’m Simon Moesgaard, a psychologist from Denmark, and this is my blog about psychology and mental health. Take a look.
