What is Functional Behavior Analysis?
Re: What’s the Deal With Inkblot Tests? i 4/1 would like to hear your explanation of “functional behavior analysis” … someday has come, grandpa! Enjoy reading IronShrink.com. – Head Like a Sponge …
Articles
Psychology’s Response to the Virginia Tech Shooting
The nation’s reaction to yesterday’s mass murder at Virginia Tech University have been understandable and predictable: lots of speculation and emotion. …
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Do We Really Only Use Ten Percent of Our Brains?
Q: Every once in a while I hear someone say “we only use 10% of our brain.” In the movie “The Secret,” they say we only use 5% of our brain. I don’t believe it. Where did this come from? – Secret Identity …
Is It Possible to Raise My IQ?
According to some doctors, it is possible to raise IQ by “exercising” the brain with challenging activities for the left brain and right brain. Do you agree? – Jane …
Curing Conservatism: Psychology’s Abuse of Research
In 1994, the controversial book The Bell Curve examined intelligence in American society and asserted that whites outperform other races on IQ tests. The American Psychological Association was quick to respond, launching a task force to meticulously scrutinize the methodology behind the book. Throughout dozens of publications, a veritable contest took place: who could most eloquently and irrevocably discredit The Bell Curve? The book was called polarizing, biased, and specious. …
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How to Spot a Broken Study: The Baby Conservative Project
Last month, I examined one of the studies embraced in the current Psychology Today article, “The Ideological Animal” (Dixit, 2007). That study asserted that conservatives, among numerous other deficits, are lower in openness to experience and integrative complexity than liberals, and that people choose conservatism because it serves to reduce their inherent fear and anxiety (Jost, et al., 2003). The poor dears. …
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Do Delusions Usually Involve Aliens and Government Agents?
Q: After reading your answer to Michael regarding drug-induced insanity, I began to wonder why almost all descriptions of paranoid delusions seem to involve secret electronic surveillance by government agencies or aliens. Are these themes really so common among people suffering from paranoia, or are they just convenient examples used by writers on the subject? If they are ubiquitous, how would you explain so many people having the same delusion? If not, what other delusions are there? What do people in other cultures delude about? – Mulder …
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Can Animals Recognize Symbols?
Q: Is there such a thing as memory fluid? And can shapes affect your thoughts? Or can any other things affect your thoughts? Me and a friend are doing a science fair project and we are testing hamster memory. We will make three different mazes and put the hamster in, and see how many times it takes for it to remember the route. She suggested varying the materials, but I said I don’t think that’ll affect it, so let’s use shapes instead. But do the shapes or the materials (or both) affect your thoughts more? – Johnny …
A Methodology Critique in Defense of Those Wascally Wepublicans
You may have heard the news by now. People who hold conservative political opinions are suffering from a syndrome in need of a cure. How do we know this? Because a professor of psychology has demonstrated it to be so. The news has been getting a lot of press lately. …
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Does Behavioral Activation Cure Depression?
Q: I keep hearing about antidepressants having terrible side effects. Are there any real cures for depression? – JT …