Skip to main content

Posts

DECISION MAKING: COGNITIVE BEHAVIORS INVOLVED - (CHAPTER 01)

Decision making  is a cognitive process leading to the selection of a course of action among alternatives . It is a method of reasoning which can be rational or irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions. Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat, when to sleep, and deciding whom or what to vote for in an election. Decision making is said to be a psychological construct . This means that although we can never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable  behavior  that a decision has been made. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. Structured rational decision making is an important part of all science-based professions. For example,  medical decision making  often involves making a diagnosis and selecting an appropriate treatment. Some research using naturalistic methods shows, however, that in situations with higher time pressure, higher stakes, o...

COMPASSION TRAINING: HOW TO BUILD RESILIENCE, EMPATHY, AND EMOTIONAL STRENGTH

  Discover what compassion training is, how it rewires the brain, and explore proven techniques to boost empathy, emotional resilience, and mental well-being daily. What is Compassion Training? Compassion is an ever-growing area of interest within psychology and psychotherapy. Definitions of compassion within psychology are varied and divergent, with some researchers considering it to be an emotion, a biologically based characteristic, or a multidimensional construct. There is, however, a broad agreement that compassion is comprised of a combination of affective, cognitive, and motivational components. A simple statement is that compassion  is a concern for the wellbeing of others . A panel of researchers in 2012 defined compassion as a complex multidimensional construct comprised of four components: Differentiating Compassion From Related Emotions Compassion is often misunderstood and easily confused with other related but distinct constructs. While it is important t...

INVERSION AS A CRITICAL THINKING APPROACH: BEHAVIORS ASSOCIATED

  The ancient Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus regularly conducted an exercise known as a premeditatio malorum, which translates to a “premeditation of evils.” The goal of this exercise was to envision the negative things that could happen in life. For example, the Stoics would imagine what it would be like to lose their job and become homeless or to suffer an injury and become paralyzed or to have their reputation ruined and lose their status in society. The Stoics believed that by imagining the worst-case scenario ahead of time, they could overcome their fears of negative experiences and make better plans to prevent them . While most people were focused on how they could achieve success, the Stoics also considered how they would manage failure. This way of thinking, in which we consider the opposite of what we want, is known as inversion. It is a rare and crucial skill that nearly all great thinkers use to their advantage. How Great Thinkers S...

WHY FACTS DON’T ALTER OUR MINDS: THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND RESISTANCE TO TRUTH

  Why don’t facts change our minds? Why is it that even when faced with undeniable evidence, people often hold on to false or inaccurate ideas? What drives such behaviors, and how might they actually serve us in unexpected ways? These questions dig deep into human psychology, social dynamics, and the way our brains process information. The Logic of False Beliefs Humans need a reasonably accurate view of the world in order to survive . If our model of reality is wildly different from the actual world, then we struggle to take effective actions each day. However, truth and accuracy are not the only things that matter to the human mind. Humans also seem to have a deep desire to belong. Understanding the truth of a situation is important, but so is remaining part of a tribe. While these two desires often work well together, they occasionally come into conflict. In many circumstances; social connection is actually more helpful to our daily life than understanding the truth of a partic...

INVERSION AS A CRITICAL THINKING APPROACH: BEHAVIOURS ASSOCIATED

  The ancient Stoic philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus regularly conducted an exercise known as a premeditatio malorum, which translates to a “premeditation of evils.” The goal of this exercise was to envision the negative things that could happen in life. For example, the Stoics would imagine what it would be like to lose their job and become homeless or to suffer an injury and become paralyzed or to have their reputation ruined and lose their status in society. The Stoics believed that by imagining the worst-case scenario ahead of time, they could overcome their fears of negative experiences and make better plans to prevent them . While most people were focused on how they could achieve success, the Stoics also considered how they would manage failure. This way of thinking, in which we consider the opposite of what we want, is known as inversion. It is a rare and crucial skill that nearly all great thinkers use to their advantage. How Great Thinke...