Why is the Psychology Board one of the least visited?

Philosophy Forums Psychology and Mind
1

I think the Psychology board isn’t visited as much and posted on as frequently as the other message boards because psychology itself is evolving into a much more of an academic and scientifically oriented field than religion, philosophy, etc…

Unlike in the days of Freud where you could say anything and call it right as long as it sounded good, today much more logic and evidence needs to be applied to the field before you can be taken seriously. Tests need to be done and theories need to be formed. I am not dogging philosophy as a field because some of the smartest people I have ever met reside in the field of philosophy, but it is easy to argue for that which there is no basis as long as you stay on the road of your own logic. As long as you don’t dabble with concrete evidence, you can talk for hours.

Now, psychology requires more and I think the ability not to be able to just spout off whatever comes to mind and be able to look intelligent turns some people off.

What do you think?

2

Psychology is very valuable as a separate topic. I hope it doesn’t go away.

But I’ve noticed that psychological perspective is laced throughout most philosophy posts, almost as if the psychological aspect wouldn’t be interesting without the topic matter or the philosophical perspective here.

I’ve also noticed that people on these boards have a tendency to shy away from talking about their psychological motivations, as such realization may take the steam out of presenting what might be their coping mechanisms in “philosophy” form.

I’ve also noticed that social science is receiving more of the psychological posts simply because people are thinking lately more in terms of science when they think of psychology and less in terms of the art of psychology. Take the question of what causes homosexuality. It’s more in vogue these days to imagine a genetic predisposition to this and other behaviorally reflected matters rather than to focus on the more complex realistic causes of family-of-origin dynamics in the first five years of life when the brain is still forming.

That’s my take on it, anyway.

3

I agree with you and Sabina. Elsewhere on this site one can voice unsubstantiated opinions with impunity. Psychology demands looking at empirical evidence. Some of the most exciting developments in psychology these days involve correlating behavior with brain structure and/or neural activity. This work has interesting implications for philosophy.

4

I just overlooked this section until recently. Most people are shy about talking about personal problems.

Here is a Psychology forum that has a lot of action.

uncommonforum.com/index.php

Putting our complaints down on pen and paper first crystallizes in our heads what needs to be changed or accepted in our lives. Getting it all out and putting it all down is the first start of this recognition process that leads us to change. Without this recognition, that something is wrong in our lives, we cannot develop the desire for change. We don’t even know what is wrong to change!

Writing your complaints down is the first start to making the roadmap for restructuring your life. Restructuring our lives is very important if we want to get peace. Those things that cannot be restructured need to be accepted. Either way we can find peace – by change or acceptance. When you write, it uses a different part of the brain that mere speaking uses and I seem to get amazing results from writing as compared to just talking. Writing helps crystallize your thoughts.

Just remember what the Buddhists say in the eightfold path about right actions. We have to use the right thoughts, the right actions and take the right direction with change. Just spinning our wheels in the wrong direction does little, so write about things that matter to you and your change.

For free access to my earlier posts on voluntary simplicity, compulsive spending, debting, compulsive overeating and clutter write: vfr44@aol.com.

5

nobody likes to be diagnosed…

-OKComp

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The confrontation of your own problems is scary too some people.

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I’m dying to be diagnosed. I just don’t think anyone has the balls to do it. I even started a poll about whether or not I’m a psychopath.

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I have diagnosed you, although very minimally, earlier. Why would someone not have the balls to do it?

If you’d like, I can diagnose you more. But you might be pretty insulted, and since I don’t have a “credible”/authoritative name to tell you I am intelligent you will most likely convince yourself I, and all my beliefs, are ridiculous, and just plain wrong. So, I’m actually afraid that my diagnosis would cause you to just deny them, and increase your dissonance (which your daily dose of weed eases–there’s Substance Abuse, for example, which is linked with eating disorder.)

You said you are very irritated when you are sober. Just to sensitive. That’s because you’re both smart and emotional. Unfortunately, emotion was not encouraged in your family because emotion is a womanly thing. You are still focused on what role you are on. You must be the stereotypical male, so nothing is wrong with you.

When humans don’t want to feel responsonsible for a situation (I got mad) they blame the outside word (but when one does well they will readily attribute their success to themselves). You blamed the outside world on your anger (and, in many cases I am sure, you had good reason to be angry). So now you have a great sense of self-acceptance, as you did a hell of a job adapting your beliefs and actions around a male social role. Unfortunately, you’ve projected everyone else down to your anger at the anger itself. Your anger.

Oh… so is this what you meant about someone not having the balls to do it? They would be convinced that you would deny my message, simply using it as a “Do Not Enter” sign as you reinforce your safety-net thoughts, and then have a faultless mind, a sociopathic-lack of conscience towards anything not-manly.

You have became your ideal form, and have internalized this knowledge. Your “free-will” is less than others, as you fail to consider the weakness in your arguments, the holes in your beliefs. You are more of an automaton, more of a savage. There is limited second-guessing, if any; you rarely need to rearrange the past for a guide on how to act ethically, because you have deluded yourself, due to the suppression of anxiety and a primary need for security, you grab the developmental-stage specific ideal: Conformity, reliance on rules and roles, a focus on earthly gain.

You are type 3 on the enneagram.

I could go on, if you wanted me too.

9

Please do. I’m very intrigued.

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You’re not a psychopath. I base this on my expert opinion.

11

Psychology: more projection than a whole chain of cineplexes.

Scott - I suspect you are what they would call ‘Therapy resistant.’ You seem fine to me. But what would I know. :unamused:

12

As far as I can tell, the only thing you have in common with psychopaths is attention-seeking behavior. If that alone makes you one, then welcome to the asylum.

IM(Expert)O, you’ve carved out a niche. I’d diagnose you as having a ‘gnat buzzing around their heads’ syndrome. A potential problem with that (I mean in terms of knowing that you’re actually getting the attention you seek) is that even those with superior motor skills may not always be interested in smacking at you. But if you go with the odds, it’s probably as good a strategy as most. :slight_smile:

13

I think Scott’s behavior is an expression of the histrionic personality; it explains his attention seeking and the antisocial qualities.

14

Dude I just read about that disorder on wikipedia and it was like reading a fortune cookie. Tell me more.

15

I go over the forums in this manner:

  1. Mundane Babble
  2. Philosophy
  3. Psychology
  4. Social Sciences
  5. The Rant House
  6. Religion
  7. Other (and only if I’m totally bored)

So, at least for me, I rank this forum pretty highly.

16

Could say the same of a lot of disciplines, including philosophy and religion (and even science if I were feeling particularly frisky). What’s your point, exactly?

17

Indeed. Many relms of philosophy require only an open mind. Psychology is more scientific and alot of people will think that their oppinion is irrelevant or are afraid that they may say something stupid without realising it. Which is understandable to be fair

18

It’s not visited as much because most philosophers are scared of it, they don’t want to look like the fool in approaching it when there are larger authority figures out there lurking with their fMRI’s ready to pounce and take you down. So it’s just easier to not have to think about this sort of stuff, and rather, take the more enlightened view of trusting the labcoat people and point and hoot and holler in the general direction of their papers whenever someone says a contrarian point not supported by the current theories of psychology… as psychologist are beyond philosophy and are made of magic.

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Because, if you start at the top, it’s fourth down. By the time you get down here, you’ve pretty much said what you have to say, without practicing psychiatry without a license.

Then you come to the fifth down–religion. Debating religion is a hopeless cause when it involves a ‘mine against yours’ pseudo debate. So I usually read it, but then move on to Mundane Babble.

Mainly, we’re not psychologists. Don’t come here if you want your psychological problems solved.

But I don’t think that’s why the forum exists.

20

Imho, psychology is the most important subject. That is, it is the point of greatest leverage in addressing most of the challenges that face us as human beings, both personally and socially. A few examples…

Hurricanes are a problem here in Florida. But are hurricanes themselves really the problem? Not really. The real problem is that we insist on building billions upon billions of dollars worth of property right on the beach. The real problem is psychology.

Imagine that in the news today we learn that somebody has invented a totally free and totally clean limitless source of energy? The end of global warming and the coming oil crisis? Yes, but… The economy takes off like a rocket, and now we begin burning through other limited resources at an accelerated rate. The problem is simply moved from one category to another. The real problem is psychological, our endless desire for more.

Our culture is remarkably blind to the central importance of psychology. A great example might be the Charlie Rose Show, perhaps the most intelligent show on TV. They even had an entire series about the brain. But they rarely if ever really get around to the issue of self, the “me” within each of us.

The “me” is the source of most of our personal and social problems, thus it is a point of greatest leverage. Any improvement we might make at the level of “me” would radiate outwards to improve all kinds of seemingly unrelated problems.

Given it’s central importance, you’d think most research dollars would go to the study of “me”. Instead, we spend billions creating improved plastic, nicer cars, and a zillion other relatively trivial topics. Psychology shouldn’t be just one a thousand topics we study. Psychology should be the man topic we study. We are psychology.

Philosophy is a good example. The focus is on the content of thought. This is a sideshow. The real action is found in a study of the nature of thought, as that is the source of all the content.

Regrettably, the exploration of psychology often revolves around discussion of individual people’s personal issues. Who cares about that? :smiley: The bigger picture, the factors that affect all of us, is the more interesting conversation.