In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is defense mechanisms. The concept of defense mechanisms was originally proposed by Sigmund Freud. They’re strategies that are used unconsciously in order to protect the ego when faced with uncomfortable feelings. Freud identified a number of defense mechanisms, as […]
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is the just world fallacy. The just world fallacy, also known as the just world hypothesis, is a common type of cognitive bias – a shortcut that the mind unconsciously takes when considering the world around us. Do you
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They may not be politically correct, but terms like “psycho killers” and “psychotic killers” get tossed around rather freely. Sometimes people will assume that to do horrific things people must have a mental illness. But is that accurate? It’s not, but that kind of misconception may originate from a few different mistaken assumptions. Psychosis One
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is kleptomania. Yes, kleptomania is actually a legitimate psychiatric condition. It wasn’t a condition I had anything more than passing familiarity with, but it came up in a conversation with a fellow blogger, so I wanted to take
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is unconditional positive regard. Unconditional positive regard was first described by humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. It involves accepting another person without judgment simply because they are a human being who has value. It doesn’t necessarily mean accepting a person’s
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The basic idea of positive psychology is a good one. Who doesn’t want to feel happier and the other positive emotions that go along with that? The essentials of positive psychology According to PositivePsychology.com, positive psychology focuses on the positive aspects of life, including: “Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love)” “Positive states and
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Introversion and extraversion are personality traits lying at opposite ends of a spectrum. Some people fit with one extreme or another, but many people fall somewhere in the middle. While societal expectations might make it seems like introversion is rare, it’s actually not. Introversion & extraversion – what’s the difference? Much of the difference between
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is self-efficacy. Essentially, self-efficacy is our belief in our ability to get shit done. Or, for a more textbook definition, there’s this quote from psychologist Alfred Bandura: “Perceived self-efficacy refers to belief in one’s agentive capabilities, that one
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is compassion-focused therapy. Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) was developed by Paul Gilbert and draws on compassion to eliminate suffering, including shame and self-criticism. The theoretical basis spans a number of fields and incorporates both Western and Eastern philosophies. Part
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is shared psychotic disorder, also known as folie à deux. Folie à deux is the more commonly recognized name for what the DSM-5 calls shared psychotic disorder. It’s a rare condition that involves shared delusions between two or more
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