Learned helplessness. A term in behavioral psychology that applies to a certain aspect of learning. In general, learning involves either the achievement of something pleasurable (positive reinforcement), or the avoidance of something painful (negative reinforcement). Example 1: A mouse must navigate a maze in order to find a piece of cheese — the end result is something [...]
Is there anything wrong with being asocial? Sure it’s in the DSM-IV [for those non-psych people, the DSM is pretty much an encyclopedia of all diagnosed disorders], but is there anything wrong with just wanting to spend time by yourself? Yes, humans are social creatures, interaction between them is often crucial, but is it necessary [...]
Tonight’s class was quite thought provoking. The majority of the presentations talked about optimism and pessimism and how it affects our well-being in general. Of course we’ve always asked ourselves is the glass half full or half empty. I always thought of myself as part of the half full category. But I know I have [...]