Psychology

Emotions are reactions that human beings experience in response to events or situations. The type of emotion a person experiences is determined by the circumstance that triggers the emotion. For instance, a person experiences joy when they receive good news and fear when they are threatened.1 Emotions have a strong influence on our daily lives. We make decisions based on whether we are happy, angry, sad, bored, or frustrated. We also choose activities and hobbies based on the emotions they incite. Understanding emotions can help us navigate life with greater ease and stability. "Being aware of our internal emotional state and being more mindful and present with how our mind and body respond to situations enables us to manage stress better," says Annie Miller, MSW, LCSW-C, LICSW. "We can then have improved emotional regulation, as well as emotional resilience and lower levels of anxiety." By recognizing and tuning into our own emotions, we become more self-aware, and...

 Some time ago, Ted Kennedy was giving a speech about education that was televised on C-SPAN. The late senator often moved his hands when he spoke, and his gestures were especially expansive that day. His voice conveyed a sense of urgency that made pulses race. "Our national interest," he intoned, "ought to be to encourage...," his strong hands cupped the air, "the breast." The audience tittered, but they didn't have an opportunity to savor the gaffe. Without hesitation, the master orator backed up and started again. This time it came out right: "The best and brightest." Slips of the tongue are almost inevitable. For every 1,000 words spoken, we make one or two errors. Considering that the average pace of speech is 150 words a minute, a slip is bound to occur about once every seven minutes of continuous talk. Each day, most of us make somewhere between 7 and 22 verbal slips. Sigmund Freud, whose name is indelibly linked with such gaffes, call...

 To effectively combat stress, you need to activate your body’s natural relaxation response. Techniques such as deep breathing, visualization, meditation, and yoga can help. By Lawrence Robinson, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. and Melinda Smith, M.A. Finding the best relaxation technique for you Relaxation technique #1: Deep breathing #2: Progressive muscle relaxation #3: Body scan meditation #4: Visualization #5: Self-massage #6: Mindfulness meditation #7: Rhythmic movement and mindful exercise #8: Yoga and tai chi Tips for starting a relaxation practice Finding the best relaxation technique for you For many of us, relaxation means flopping on the couch and zoning out in front of the TV at the end of a stressful day. But this does little to reduce the damaging effects of stress. Rather, you need to activate your body’s natural relaxation response, a state of deep rest that puts the brakes on stress, slows your breathing and heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and brings your body and min...

 Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you. There are five key elements to EI: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. People with high EI can identify how they are feeling, what those feelings mean, and how those emotions impact their behavior and in turn, other people. It’s a little harder to “manage” the emotions of other people - you can’t control how someone else feels or behaves. But if you can identify the emotions behind their behavior, you’ll have a better understanding of where they are coming from and how to best interact with them.  High EI overlaps with strong interpersonal skills, especially in the areas of conflict management and communication - crucial skills in the workplace. Employees who can self-regulate their emotions are often able to avoid making impulsive decisions - they think objectively before they act. Operating with empathy and unders...

 What else helps placebos to work? Some other things that help the placebo effect to work include: The characteristics of the placebo – if the pill looks real, the person taking it is more likely to believe that it contains an active medicine. Research shows that larger sized pills suggest a stronger dose than smaller pills, and taking 2 pills appears to be more potent than swallowing just one. Generally, injections have a more powerful placebo effect than pills. The person's attitude – if the person expects the treatment to work, the chances of a placebo effect are higher, but placebos can still work even if the person is sceptical of success. The power of suggestion is at work here. Doctor–patient relationship – if the person trusts their health care practitioner, they are more likely to believe that the placebo will work. Placebos and clinical trials Placebos have been used in clinical trials for a long time, and are an essential part of research into new treatments. They are us...

 e encouragement of certain behaviors by removing or avoiding a negative outcome or stimuli. It is also known as a type of behavior modificationTrusted Source. People may use this technique to help children learn good patterns of behavior, but it can also play a role in training animals and pets. Negative reinforcement is part of operant conditioning, which was a theory of learning that B. F. Skinner developed in the 1930s. Operant conditioning centers on the idea of reinforcement. Reinforcing behaviors makes them more likely to occur again. Behaviors without reinforcement, according to operant conditioning, will not reoccur. Negative reinforcement allows the person or animal to remove the negative stimuli in exchange for a reward. Skinner demonstrated his operant conditioning theory by observing animals in what researchers came to call a Skinner box. The box may, for example, contain a lever or button that an animal can press for food or water. However, if the animal tries to get ...

 When you are trying to teach a new skill, whether it's teaching your dog to sit or getting yourself to stop doomscrolling before bed, rewarding good behavior is often better than punishing mistakes. Positive reinforcement involves rewarding desirable behaviors, making such actions *more* likely to be repeated. It's a common concept in behavioral psychology that can be used to teach and strengthen behaviors. Think about it this way: when you do one thing and something good happens as a result, you'll probably want to do the same thing again (and again) in the future so you can get those same effects. It's why we show up at work every day and put in a little extra effort when preparing for a big exam. The payoffs for those actions (yay, money! good grades!) act as positive reinforcers, making the behavior more likely to occur again. What Is Positive Reinforcement? In operant conditioning, positive reinforcement involves the addition of a reinforcing stimulus following a ...

 Hallucinations are thought of as additional sensory experiences, like hearing voices with nobody present. There are also negative hallucinations, or not perceiving something that is present. While often hypnotically induced, some people suffering psychotic disorders can negatively hallucinate. Hallucinations are internally generated sensory experiences. In short, the perception of something for which there is no stimulus. Given there is the addition of something present, this is considered a “positive” experience or hallucination, and these come in all sensory varieties. The most common include auditory and visual types. Less-encountered forms are the tactile (feel), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), somatic (internal sensations), extracampine (“6th sense presence”), and proprioceptive (motion). The latter three might be new to some readers, and are discussed at length in 3 Types of Hallucinations You've Probably Never Heard of. An unusual hallucination As if those three types...

 Abstract Objective: Auditory hallucinations that are viewed by patients as positive and useful may be barriers to treatment-seeking. The aim was to assess prevalence, impact, and course of, and attributions to, these voices in psychotic and non-psychotic patients. Method: One hundred thirty-one patients of a Voices Clinic and 65 members of the Dutch Resonance Foundation were assessed with the Positive and Useful Voices Inquiry. Data were analyzed using Pearson's chi-square, one-way anova, and Crohnbach's alpha statistics. Results: First voices are most often reported as negative. Positive voices occur more among non-psychotic subjects, but the specific characteristics and diagnosis are not significantly associated. Lifetime prevalence of positive and useful voices ranged between 40% and 60%, with varied prevalence rates over time. Positive voices are experienced by subjects as direct addresses in the third person. Perceived control of voices is significantly associated with th...