Portal:Psychology

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The Psychology Portal

P:PSY

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior. Others explore the physiological and neurobiological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors.

Psychologists are involved in research on perception, cognition, attention, emotion, intelligence, subjective experiences, motivation, brain functioning, and personality. Psychologists' interests extend to interpersonal relationships, psychological resilience, family resilience, and other areas within social psychology. They also consider the unconscious mind. Research psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. Some, but not all, clinical and counseling psychologists rely on symbolic interpretation. (Full article...)

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The mental status examination (MSE) is an important part of the clinical assessment process in neurological and psychiatric practice. It is a structured way of observing and describing a patient's psychological functioning at a given point in time, under the domains of appearance, attitude, behavior, mood and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgment. There are some minor variations in the subdivision of the MSE and the sequence and names of MSE domains.

The purpose of the MSE is to obtain a comprehensive cross-sectional description of the patient's mental state, which, when combined with the biographical and historical information of the psychiatric history, allows the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis and formulation, which are required for coherent treatment planning. (Full article...)

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The Spinning Dancer, a kinetic, bistable optical illusion resembling a pirouetting female dancer.

image credit: Nobuyuki Kayahara

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"Cogito, ergo sum: I think, therefore I am." — René Descartes

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Virginia Satir (June 26, 1916 – September 10, 1988) was an American author, clinical social worker and psychotherapist, recognized for her approach to family therapy. Her pioneering work in the field of family reconstruction therapy honored her with the title "Mother of Family Therapy". Her most well-known books are Conjoint Family Therapy, 1964, Peoplemaking, 1972, and The New Peoplemaking, 1988.

She is also known for creating the Virginia Satir Change Process Model, a psychological model developed through clinical studies. Change management and organizational "gurus" of the 1990s and 2000s embrace this model to define how change impacts organizations. (Full article...)

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... that Angéline de Montbrun by Laure Conan is the first psychological novel written by a French Canadian?
... that psychologist Janis Sanchez-Hucles was only the second person of color to earn a PhD in psychology from the University of North Carolina?
... that Cara De Silva described a cookbook compiled by a woman in Terezin concentration camp as a record of "psychological resistance”?
... that the reactions to food depicted in the manga series Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma were decided on through free association games?
... that food psychology research has found that the COVID-19 pandemic led to both reduced and increased consumption of junk food among different geographical populations and educational backgrounds?
... that fashion psychology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the interaction between human behavior, psychology, and fashion?

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Self inflicted cuts on forearm

... that the book Help at Any Cost triggered hearings by the United States House Committee on Education and Labor into behavior modification techniques used by the tough love teen industry?
... that the book Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control was runner-up in the 2005 Times Higher Education Supplement Young Academic Author Award?
... that according to A Bright Red Scream, millions of Americans regularly use razors, knives or broken glass to intentionally injure themselves? (self-inflicted cuts pictured)
... that Herbert Freudenberger fled Germany alone during WWII at the age of twelve, later becoming a well-known psychologist in the United States?
... that simply knowing about and understanding the illusion of transparency might help reduce speech anxiety?