An Interesting Essay on Identity and Loneliness

We all derive identity from the world around us. As infants, we are just a jumble of diverse biological processes over which we have no authority, and our first task in life is to develop a coherent personality which “pulls together” this fragmented confusion. Our first sense of coherence comes from our unconscious identifications with the persons around us. Then, as older children, we look around and see what the world shows us. Some things in the world appeal to us more than others; that’s because some things purport to show us something about what’s missing in our own lives and to offer us some knowledge of what seems to be hidden from us. So, from all the things that appeal to us in the world, we create images of how we want to see ourselves, and then we set about making ourselves “seen” in the world so our images can be reflected back to us through the desire of others. Click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading...

Personality Theories

   Introduction
   Sigmund Freud
   Anna Freud
   Erik Erikson
   Carl Jung
   Otto Rank
   Alfred Adler
   Karen Horney
   Albert Ellis
   Erich Fromm
   B. F. Skinner
   Hans Eysenck and others
   Albert Bandura
   Gordon Allport
   George Kelly
   Snygg and Combs
   Abraham Maslow
   Carl Rogers
   Ludwig Binswanger
   Medard Boss
   Viktor Frankl
   Rollo May
   Jean Piaget
   Sociobiology
   Buddhist Psychology
   The Ultimate Theory of Personality
   Bibliography

This is an electronic textbook ("e-text") in Personality Theories. While it is copyrighted, you may download it or print it out without permission from the author, as long as the material is used only for personal or educational purposes, and the source is indicated.

Via:  Dr. C. George Boeree

Conation: One of Three Parts of the Mind, Along with the Affective and Cognitive

...In short, the cognitive part of the brain measures intelligence, the affective deals with emotions and the conative takes those thoughts and feelings to drive how you act on them.

Erich Fromm in his work on “Human Ethics” discussed the conative nature of man by saying the way man achieves virtue is through the active use he makes of his powers.

"Uncertainty (the cognitive) is the very condition to impel a man to unfold his power. If he faces the truth without panic, he will recognize that there is no meaning to life except the meaning man gives his life by unfolding his powers, by living productively; and that only constant vigilance, activity and effort can keep us from failure in the one task that matters — the full development of our powers without the limitations set by the laws of our existence… “to be himself and for himself to achieve happiness by the full realization of those faculties which are peculiarly his — of reason, love and productive work.”

Fromm’s productive orientation was a fundamental attitude, a mode of relatedness in all realms of human experience. It covers mental, emotional and sensory responses to others, to oneself and to things. Productiveness is man’s ability to use his powers and to realize the potentialities inherent in him ... he must be free and not dependent on someone who controls his powers... he can make use of his powers only if he knows what they are, how to use them and what to use them for... they [must not be] masked and alienated from him.  Click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading...

Via:  Wikipedia

Al Seckel, TED Happiness Series: Your Brain Is Badly Wired — Enjoy It!

Al Seckel, a cognitive neuroscientist, explores the perceptual illusions that fool our brains. Loads of eye tricks help him prove that not only are we easily fooled, we kind of like it.

The World Looks Different if You're Depressed

DEPRESSION really does change the way you see the world. People with the condition find it easy to interpret large images or scenes, but struggle to "spot the difference" in fine detail. The finding hints at visual training as a possible treatment.  Click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading...

Via:  New Scientist

Mind tricks: Six ways to explore your brain

These tricks are really fun and very interesting.

"How does your brain work? Brain imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and similar advanced techniques have given neuroscientists huge insights into this question. Yet studying the brain doesn't have to be such a high-tech enterprise. Simple experiments can still probe the inner workings of the brain, and many of these are easy to set up at home or are available on the internet.

Try them on yourself and you will experience first-hand some of its strangest, most amazing workings - facets of brain function that scientists are only just starting to understand. You'll see aspects of perception, memory, attention, body image, the unconscious mind - and the curious consequences of your brain being split in two." ...click anywhere in this sentence to continue reading.

Observations on Latent and Low Latent Inhibition

"When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there."

Takahiro Kitamura

"Latent Inhibition is the natural ability to filter out the majority of incoming stimuli to the brain so one can concentrate and not be bogged down by extraneous information incidental to one's focus. Some people have Low Latent Inhibition and depending on the degree as I see it, it can be crippling as in psychosis or a tool of enlightenment for someone with an artistic slant. Here is a list of the "Pros" of Low Latent Inhibition."

1. You notice more, hear more, smell more and feel more through tactile contact. Without any conscious effort, your mind is in possession of a broader intake of information.
   

2. Upon encountering any form of stimulus (that interests you), your mind automatically dismantles and explores its components.
   

3. You usually see through the lies and the deceptions that people use in everyday life.
   

4. When learning, you can often make instantaneous changes.
   

5. Self-correction is easy because the underlying principle is more evident. Clearer.
   

6. Your memory is good. You can recall extensive details without effort.
   

7. You make connections and associations between seemingly unrelated material.
   

8. Comprehension is typically easy. You notice the non-verbal background information and this often provides a more comprehensive picture than what is being spoken.
   

9. There are exponential leaps of insight taking place all the time, with the background reasoning intact. Wave-upon-wave of permutations, options, variables and choices.
   

10. Creativity is a given. You see alternatives.
    

11. You notice things that other people miss.
    

12. You are innately organised.
    

13. There is no talking voice in your head. No 'chattering monkey'. The volume and complexity of the information drowns out conscious thought entirely.
    

14. Verbalising what takes place in your mind is impossible. Words render only a fraction of the entirety.
    

15. You see the world more thoroughly.
    

16. Listening to other people talking/thinking aloud can be infuriating. They are at point A when you have reached point N already.
    

17. Learning is not limited to defined periods of academic study. The assimilation of information is constant, ongoing and never static. There are no lulls or pauses. Everything offers a lesson.
    

18. Within the maelstrom of information there exists a place of calm and quietude. The eye of the storm. No verbalisation exists. No internal narrative. Just presence. No sense of self to intrude or interrupt.

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