Clipmarks | kankamuso's 'psychology' clips

38 Ways To Win An Argument

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:59:35 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: 28 more reasons after the jump.

Clip Source: indiauncut.com

38 Ways To Win An Argument

by Arthur Schopenhauer

1 Carry your opponent’s proposition beyond its natural limits; exaggerate it.

2 Use different meanings of your opponent’s words to refute his argument.

3 Ignore your opponent’s proposition, which was intended to refer to some particular thing.

4 Hide your conclusion from your opponent until the end.

5 Use your opponent’s beliefs against him.

6 Confuse the issue by changing your opponent’s words or what he or she seeks to prove.

7 State your proposition and show the truth of it by asking the opponent many questions.

8 Make your opponent angry.

9 Use your opponent’s answers to your question to reach different or even opposite conclusions.

10 If your opponent answers all your questions negatively and refuses to grant you any points, ask him or her to concede the opposite of your premises.

Tags: lists, arguments, psychology

Critical Thinking On The Web

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 03:51:19 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.austhink.com

Top Ten

Argument Mapping Tutorials. Six online tutorials in argument mapping, a core requirement for advanced critical thinking.
The Skeptic's Dictionary - over 400 definitions and essays.
The Fallacy Files by Gary Curtis. Best website on fallacies.
Butterflies and Wheels. Excellent reading - news, articles, and much more.
Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts by Peter Facione. Good overview of the nature of critical thinking. (pdf file)
Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion by John Stuart Mill. Classic chapter, densely packed with wisdom about thinking.
Chance - best resource for helping students think critically about issues involving probability and statistics
Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, by Richards Heuer. A good overview of how to improve thinking in the light of insights from cognitive psychology.
A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays by Ian Johnston
Baloney Detection Part 1 and Part 2 - by Michael Shermer. 10 step guide.

Tags: critical thinking, bull-shit detection

How to Get People to Like You

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:23:50 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: A little bit more detailed than the usual "just be yourself", heh.

Clip Source: mysticeye.info

Learn to remember names. A name is very important to someone. If you don’t take the time to learn someone’s name, it indicates that you’re not interested in him or her. When someone remembers your name, it gives you the feeling that you are interesting or important.

Be easy going and natural. When you are stiff, reserved or unresponsive, you unconsciously build up a barrier. But when you are easy going and natural it is easy for people to like you.

Be interesting. Have something to talk about that people find interesting or stimulating. This way people want to be with you.

Don’t have a big ego. If you give the impression that you know it all, that you are superior, you make it hard for people to like you. Be normally humble.

Do some self-study and get rid of negative attitudes. People can consciously or unconsciously pick those up and they might find it irritable to be around you.

Always look for the positive qualities in a person. Getting people to like you is merely the other side of liking them.

Try to build up someone’s ego. Make compliments. Congratulate upon someone’s achievement, or express sympathy when they are in sorrow or if they feel disappointed. The ego is a sacred thing; every human being has the desire to feel important. When you deflate someone’s ego, you are wounding him deep inside.

Give strength to people, support them. Help them to be stronger and they will give you affection.

Whether you like to admit it or not, we want people to like us. If someone tells you that he does not really care if people like him or not, he simply is not being honest. The longing to be liked is one of our deepest desires. We want to be popular, we want people to speak nothing but good of us and we want to have affection of the people around us. It is in our human nature.

Tags: how to, lists, psychology, relationships

Signs and Symptoms of Alcoholism

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:16:19 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso

Clip Source: www.paulhutchinson.com

The person develops a "tolerance" for alcohol. This means that it takes more alcohol to feel the same level of intoxication. Usually the person drinks more he or she used to, and more than most other people, in order to get the same effect.

The person has withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal means that you feel sick whenever there is no alcohol in your body. The symptoms include nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety. Withdrawal is different from a hangover. It typically isn’t at its worst first thing in the morning, but it gets worse through the day if the person tries to go all day without drinking, and it goes away if the person drinks again. (Having withdrawal symptoms is a very serious sign of addiction.)

The person often drinks more than he or she had intended to.

The person has been planning to cut down on drinking, or attempting to control the drinking, but those attempts keep failing. ( Don't be too quick to say, "see, I cut down for a month" if your use always shoots back up to where it was before. )

The person spends a lot of time and effort making sure that he or she can get alcohol. Often this takes the form of going to bars a lot, or planning lots of social events that involve alcohol, and avoiding social events where alcohol isn’t served. It also may involve spending time alone drinking instead of doing something else that wouldn’t allow as much drinking.

The person begins to give up or reduce important social, recreational or professional activities because of alcohol use. The person may be aware of being pulled in two directions, between alcohol and other priorities, and alcohol begins to win more and more often.

The person continues drinking even after being aware of having physical or psychological problems as a result.

Signs and Symptoms of Alcoholism

Tags: psychology, alcohol, alcoholism, lists, reference

Phobias and Manias

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:14:29 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: Not for the katalogosophobics.

Clip Source: www.getinfo247.info

Definitions , of Phobias and Manias
The Scream , the Universal Symbol of Fear

Section A, Part 1: ablutomania to acousticophobia
Section A, Part 2: acromania to aeroacrophobia
Section A, Part 3: aerohygrophobia to albophobia
Section A, Part 4: albuminurophobia to amathophobia
Section A, Part 5: amaxomania to anthophobia
Section A, Part 6: anthropophobia to arachnoophobia
Section A, Part 7: arithmomania to avoidance

Section B, Part 1: baby to batophobia
Section B, Part 2: batrachophobia to black
Section B, Part 3: blennophobia to buying

Section C, Part 1: cacodemonomania to cardiophobia
Section C, Part 2: carnomania to cats
Section C, Part 3: cave, caves to choking
Section C, Part 4: cholerophobia to cingulophobia
Section C, Part 5: claustromania to cliffs
Section C, Part 6: climacophobia to contreltophobia
Section C, Part 7: cooking to cytheromania

Section D, Part 1: dacnomania to dermatophobia
Section D, Part 2: desanimania to domatophobia
Section D, Part 3: doramania to dystychiphobia

Section E, Part 1: eating to enosiophobia
Section E, Part 2: entheomania to ergasiophobia
Section E, Part 3: ergomania to extraterrestrial

Section F, Part 1: failure to felinophobia
Section F, Part 2: feminophobia to furs

Section G, Part 1: gaiety to genuphobia
Section G, Part 2: gephyromania to glass
Section G, Part 3: glazomania to gynonudomania

Section H, Part 1: habromania to heights
Section H, Part 2: heliomania to herpetomania
Section H, Part 3: herpetophobia to hydrargyrophobia
Section H, Part 4: hydrodipsomania to hysteromania

Section I-J, Part 1: iatrophobia to justice

Section-K, Part 1: kainomania to kyphophobia

Tags: psychology, phobias, manias, lists, reference

Public Speaking: Malaprops

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 10:14:36 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso

Clip Source: www.public-speaking.org

A malaprop is an absurd misuse of words. It can be from words that sound alike (sadistic and statistic) or from explanations that don't make any sense. You can use these on purpose as a humor technique during your public speaking engagements. Consider some of the classic examples below:

Casey Stengel

I want you all to line up in alphabetical order according to your size.

I guess I'll have to start from scraps.

If people don't want to come to the ballpark, nobody can stop them.

It's déjà vu all over again.

Goldwynisms

In the 1940s the movie mogul Sam Goldwyn misused language so much that malaprops became known as Goldwynisms.

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

I read part of it all the way through.

I never liked him and I probably always will.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry is named William.

For your information, I would like to ask a question.

Now, gentlemen, listen slowly.

In two words: im-possible!

Include me out.

The great comedian Norm Crosby, who is best known for appreciating standing ovulations when he performs, has made a living out of the ingenious misuse of words. In real life though, malaprops are usually uttered by people who don't even realize their fox paws.

A flexible public speaker who was truly in touch would have:

realized her mistake,

laughed at herself, and

used that unplanned comic relief to get everyone's attention so that she could regain control of the meeting.

All you have to do to acknowledge the blunder is to refer to a quotation from Mark Twain and turn it on yourself. Say a self-effacing humorous prepared ad-lib:

"f Mark Twain can spell a word in more than one way, I should be able to say a wrong word at the right time."

If you don't like that one, make an ad-lib up on your own. To make effective presentations, you must appear human to those you speak to. Humans make mistakes. That's part of life. As Archie Bunker says, 'Case closed, ipso fatso.'

Tags: malaprops, psychology, speaking, lists, tricks, funny, humor

Introduction to critical thinking

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:33:37 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: Good article at source site.

Clip Source: www.freeinquiry.com

Raymond S. Nickerson (1987), an authority on critical thinking, characterizes a good critical thinker in terms of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and habitual ways of behaving. Here are some of the characteristics of such a thinker:

uses evidence skillfully and impartially
organizes thoughts and articulates them concisely and coherently
distinguishers between logically valid and invalid inferences
suspends judgment in the absence of sufficient evidence to support a decision
understands the difference between reasoning and rationalizing
attempts to anticipate the probable consequences of alternative actions
understands the idea of degrees of belief
sees similarities and analogies that are not superficially apparent
can learn independently and has an abiding interest in doing so
applies problem-solving techniques in domains other than those in which learned
can structure informally represented problems in such a way that formal techniques, such as mathematics, can be used to solve them
can strip a verbal argument of irrelevancies and phrase it in its essential terms
habitually questions one's own views and attempts to understand both the assumptions that are critical to those views and the implications of the views
is sensitive to the difference between the validity of a belief and the intensity with which it is held
is aware of the fact that one's understanding is always limited, often much more so than would be apparent to one with a noninquiring attitude
recognizes the fallibility of one's own opinions, the probability of bias in those opinions, and the danger of weighting evidence according to personal preferences

Tags: critical thinking, psychology, learning

Bulding self-steem

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:29:33 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: Very detailed article in source site.

Clip Source: www.socialanxietysupport.com

Pay attention to your own needs and wants.

Take very good care of yourself.

Eat healthy foods and avoid junk foods

Exercise

Take time to do things you enjoy

Get something done that you have been putting off

Do things that make use of your own special talents and abilities

Dress in clothes that make you feel good about yourself

Give yourself rewards

Spend time with people

Make your living space a place that honors the person you are

Display items that you find attractive

Make your meals a special time

Do something nice for another person

Make it a point to treat yourself well every day

Most people feel bad about themselves from time to time. Feelings of low self-esteem may be triggered by being treated poorly by someone else recently or in the past, or by a person?s own judgments of him or herself. This is normal. However, low self-esteem is a constant companion for too many people, especially those who experience depression. anxiety, phobias, psychosis, delusional thinking, or who have an illness or a disability. If you are one of these people, you may go through life feeling bad about yourself needlessly. Low self-esteem keeps you from enjoying life, doing the things you want to do, and working toward personal goals.

This guide is just the beginning of the journey. As you work on building your self-esteem you will notice that you feel better more and more often, that you are enjoying your life more than you did before, and that you are doing more of the things you have always wanted to do.

Tags: self-steem, psychology, lists

Are we refusing to grow up?

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:45:50 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: [excerpt]

Clip Source: www.zephoria.org

Many of the texts i'm reading these days are talking about the move from childhood to adulthood and the liminal/transitional stage in-between. Although the concept of "teenager" is relatively new (created during the American depression to keep younger people out of the workforce), most societies have a transition period between childhood and adulthood. Of course, girls' transition has been historically marked by menstruation while boys tend to go through some ritual of moving into adulthood. In almost all these texts, adulthood is seen as a desirable state to be in, full of all sorts of privileges. It is assumed that children want to move into adulthood and that part of the liminal stage is about taking on adult privileges (sex, drinking, ...) while still having childhood responsibilities (a.k.a. few). In most societies, the key to the transitional phase is the removal from the core community to a separate one and then a return...

Contemporary American society has really stretched the liminal stage to include mandatory high school and socially required college. Rather than moving into adulthood at menstruation/male strength periods, we have another 10 years to wait before we are deemed adults. We don't even leave home until 18 even though menstruation has dropped to 12 and below. With the liminal stage stretched out, there's a drastic increase in participating in adult behaviors with childhood responsibilities.

Tags: psychology, life, analysis

Cartoons to aid autistic children

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:15:13 GMT

clipped by: kankamuso
clipper's remarks: Creepy but useful. Heh.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A project that has helped a small group of autistic children understand more about human emotions is being launched nationwide.

The project uses cartoons narrated by the actor Stephen Fry to help teach the youngsters about facial expressions.

People with autism often struggle to identify and understand feelings, and to look others in the eye.

Denis Murphy, six, is one of those who has been taking part, and his family have already noticed changes in him.

He is typical of a child with autism because he is fascinated by trains and cars, but finds it much harder to relate to human emotions.

We've got to somehow find a way to get autistic children to overcome their fear of looking at people's faces

That may be because vehicles have very predictable motion, while people are far more unpredictable.

The DVD animation series, named The Transporters, capitalises on this fascination with vehicles by grafting real people's faces onto cartoons of vehicles.

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen is director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University.

He said: "We've got to somehow find a way to get autistic children to overcome their fear of looking at people's faces so that they can start learning about how expressions arise.

"This is a way to ease them into reading faces."

Proved popular

Denis began watching the cartoons before Christmas.

He was asked to look at them for 15 minutes every day over the course of four weeks.

But the first time he saw them, he liked them so much, he watched all 15 five minute episodes at once.

Each episode introduces the idea of new emotions, like happiness, anger, fear, kindness and pride.

It includes an interactive quiz, which helps the children learn about the emotions.

His mother, Alex Murphy, has been impressed with the results.

Tags: autism, cartoons, medicine, psychology

Trust your instinct

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 13:03:11 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Interesting

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

A UCL (University College London) study has found that you are more likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust your instincts. The research, published online today in the journal Current Biology, shows that, in some cases, instinctive snap decisions are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive processes.

Participants, who were asked to pick the odd one out on a screen covered in over 650 identical symbols, including one rotated version of the same symbol, actually performed better when they were given no time at all to linger on the symbols and so were forced to rely entirely on their subconscious.

Dr Li Zhaoping, of the UCL Department of Psychology, said: "This finding seems counter-intuitive. You would expect people to make more accurate decisions when given the time to look properly. Instead they performed better when given almost no time to think. The conscious or top-level function of the brain, when active, vetoes our initial subconscious decision – even when it is correct – leaving us unaware or distrustful of our instincts and at an immediate disadvantage. Falling back on our inbuilt, involuntary subconscious processes for certain tasks is actually more effective than using our higher-level cognitive functions."

The study shows an instance when our rational mind is more likely to perform worse than our subconscious – but the conscious mind still tends to veto the subconscious.

Ten participants were asked to locate the only back to front version of a repeated symbol on screen and were given between zero and 1.5 seconds from the moment their eyes had landed on the odd one out to scrutinize the image. Participants had to decide whether the odd one out was on the left or the right-hand side of the screen. The researchers found that participants scored better if they were given no scrutinizing time at all.

Tags: science, biology, psychology, cognition

Song Stuck In Your Head? You've Got An Earworm!

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:00:21 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks: The entire article is interesting.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

In Germany, this type of song is known as an "ohrwurm" - an earworm - and typically has a high, upbeat melody and repetitive lyrics that verge between catchy and annoying.

Songs such as the Village People's YMCA, Los Del Rio's Macarena, and the Baha Men's Who Let The Dogs Out owe their success to their ability to create a "cognitive itch," according to Professor James Kellaris, of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration.

"A cognitive itch is a kind of metaphor that explains how these songs get stuck in our head," Professor Kellaris told BBC World Service's Outlook programme.

"Certain songs have properties that are analogous to histamines that make our brain itch.

"The only way to scratch a cognitive itch is to repeat the offending melody in our minds."

'Insidious and blatant'

Professor Kellaris has presented the early results of his earworm research at a conference on Consumer Psychology.

He said that virtually everyone suffered from a cognitive itch at one time or another.

The Village People owed much success to earworms

"Across surveys I found that from 97% to 99% of the population is susceptible to earworms at some time," he stated.

"But certainly some people are more susceptible than others. Women tend to be more susceptible than men, and musicians are more susceptible to them than non-musicians."

The research is of particular interest to both the pop industry - looking to boost sales - and to advertisers, who often use jingles to get their brand name stuck in the head of listeners.

"For both advertising purposes and pop music purposes, you want something that once heard is not forgotten quickly or easily," explained jingle writer Chris Smith, adding that a good earworm was "Insidious - and often quite blatant".

"One of the key elements of an earworm is repetition," he said.

"If you have something with a lot of varied content, it's not so easily assimilated.

Tags: science, music, annoying songs, songs, pop, study, audio, advertising, entertainment, brand, marketing, research, mind, brain, itch