Let's dive deep into life and its complexities
psychology / science related research
For now over 100 years, there has been a major divide between the scientific approach to psychoanalysis and how psychoanalysis is typically structured. In recent years — mostly because of significant advances in neuroscience, neuropsychology, and biopsychology — psychoanalysis has been under heavy scrutiny. In short, because psychoanalysis often involves clinical sessions with a patient…
The term “narcissism” has grown quite a bit in popularity in recent years. In the social media world, “narcissism” is used to describe everything from being mildly self-absorbed, to pointing out showy behaviors that public figures / celebrities amplify, to the clinical definition of narcissism (when psychologists / subject matter experts weigh in on the…
We are all familiar with the term “personality.” We even qualify as lay “personality theorists” to a certain degree. We often use the word personality as a way to describe a person’s general disposition, or perhaps a certain quality that we appreciate, “My best friend is an adrenaline junkie”. Or “my partner is the ‘nurturing…
In this age of widely available, easily accessible information, learning about brain related disorders, such as schizophrenia, are just a couple of mouse clicks and Google search away. Unfortunately, these terms also often get colloquially re-clothed into different definitions. And many of these definitions are flat-out wrong. The term “psycho”, for example, has become so…
True story: Last night, while I was flipping through YouTube channels, one of the videos in my “recommended” list was a throwback to the famous (or now infamous) interview in 2005 between Matt Lauer and Tom Cruise. (I am subscribed to several channels involving science, history, and philosophy, which probably explains the cross-match with that…
Before I provide the basics on this topic, I just happened to stumble across something interesting while doing research: Apparently, although there are well-established, neurobiological explanations for emotions, there is some debate about understanding emotions from a biological standpoint versus psychological and conceptual/constructionist standpoints. Studies have been conducted to show either how these three approaches…
Let’s talk about neurotransmitters. Monoamine transmitters to be specific: dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and histamine. These monoamines are split into three categories of amines: catecholamines, indolamines, and ethylamines. Dopamine and norepinephrine are catecholamines, serotonin is an indolamine, and histamine is an ethylamine. All monoamine transmitters are similar in that they all contribute some level of response…
There is definitely no shortage of information and vocabulary to unpack regarding the senses. Therefore, at the 50,000 foot level, this post will cover some basics info about three of the five major senses: auditory, somatosenses, and olfactory. In addition, I will briefly explore the idea of additional senses that don’t quite fit into the original…
What is the first thought that comes to mind when you hear or see the word “personality”? Do you generally use the word to describe a person’s character traits and behaviors? Do you refer to your best friend as a “good person”? Or perhaps you have a co-workers “with a lot of drama in her…
By Cee Vee – July 2020 The term neurological disorder can be a bit daunting. After all, it involves the brain, which is arguably the most complex of all organs in the history of evolutionary biology, and particularly in humans. We humans have even used our own complex brains to understand, in microscopic detail, how…