#psychology

[eunuchposting]

eunuch wisdom: positive reinforcement is the most affective strategy in getting people to perform a desired behavior. in addition to this, giving the reward after randomly varying instances of the good behavior is the best way to keep them performing it consistently. this is why gambling is so addicting.

i literally love when people realize positive reinforcement works like yes its so silly isnt it. but it literally works humans love juice reward too

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing a "Highly Sensitive" Character

Sensitivity - awareness of and responsiveness to the feelings of others; susceptibility to being easily hurt or offended

Highly sensitive people (HSPs) - often show heightened sensitivity to stimuli such as loud sounds, bright lights, or strong smells. They also tend to experience deep emotional reactions, empathy for others, and may need more time to recharge after social interactions or stimulating environments.

Traits of Sensitive People

HSPs have distinct traits that could be mistaken as symptoms but do not indicate a disorder. They can include the following (Aron, 2010):

HSPs feel everything deeply and more intensely than others, whether joy or sadness, pleasure, or pain.

HSPs' high sensitivity means they take great joy in the simple pleasures in life, making them low maintenance and easy to please.

Need a lot more downtime than others, thrive in silence, and need a slower pace of life. This means taking the time to relax and process experiences is essential for their wellbeing.

Take longer to make decisions than others due to the depth of information processing involved, including conducting a thorough risk assessment and proceeding with caution.

Change can pose problems for HSPs. Even positive change may result in high levels of excitement and anxiety simultaneously due to the overstimulation caused by new experiences.

Can find handling conflict and criticism challenging, as they tend to have very high expectations of themselves and are hard on themselves when falling short. Others’ additional criticism can feel overwhelming.

Tend to have a rich inner life, being more self-aware, creative, and insightful than less sensitive people. This is likely to draw them into exploring a spiritual path in life, especially contemplative practices like meditation. They also enjoy a deep appreciation of the arts such as painting, dance, and music.

Tend to avoid the negative overarousal caused by violent films and news coverage, which almost hurts them physically.

HSPs' vulnerability to overstimulation can lead to a tendency to withdraw in new or tense situations. This can lead to them being seen as shy or unsociable when many are extroverts who just need extra time alone to process things.

Prefer a small social circle full of love and support, which they return in abundance due to their high levels of empathy. Letting another person in takes time, but when an HSP becomes your friend, they are loyal and supportive through thick and thin.

A highly sensitive person is someone who processes sensory input and emotions more deeply than the average person. This heightened awareness makes them more reactive to both external stimuli and emotional experiences.

This is a trait characterized by sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), which identifies a highly sensitive person/personality (HSP).

The term HSP was first coined by the psychologist Elaine Aron (1996), who is herself an HSP. She and her husband devised the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), which spawned further research into the trait, including its neurobiological origins (Aron & Aron, 1997).

Before that, Carl Jung was the first to recognize the importance of sensitivity and believed that it played a more important role than sexuality in an individual’s susceptibility to neurosis (Aron, 2004).

The terms HSP and SPS are often used interchangeably. In later research, Aron (2010) differentiated the HSP trait into 4 categories.

Depth of processing. HSPs process all types of information more deeply than others, are more reflective, and take longer to make decisions (Aron, 2010). Depth of processing occurs both consciously, through analysis of information conveyed by communication in relationships, and unconsciously, through gut feelings or hunches.

Overarousability. HSPs notice a lot more than others in the same situation or environment, including other people’s emotions (although they may remain unexpressed), noise levels, smells, and other aspects of the environment (Aron, 2010). This can be advantageous but can also lead to overarousal and chronic stress.

Emotional intensity or empathy. HSPs experience strong positive and negative emotions in response to a range of pleasurable and painful stimuli (Aron, 2010). This increases their sensitivity to others’ feelings, making them very empathetic.

Sensory sensitivity. HSPs notice subtle environmental stimuli that other people miss. This can help protect them and others in their social group from unforeseen dangers but can also lead to problematic levels of sensitivity to foods, medicines, pain, noise, and light (Aron & Aron, 1997).

The combined effects of the trait result in empathic, conscientious, cautious individuals, who may also be sensation seeking and relish novelty (Aron, 2010).

There is no correlation between the HSP trait and extroversion or introversion (Aron, 2010). However, an HSP will always carefully evaluate the risks before proceeding with an adventure, as their sensitivity counters impulsivity (Aron, 2010). HSPs tend to plan ahead and are excellent strategists.

From an evolutionary perspective, HSPs may have an oracular function in social groups due to heightened intuition and sensitivity to environmental cues (Acevedo, Jagiellowicz, Aron, Marhenke, & Aron, 2017). Highly sensitive members of around 100 animal species have been identified and often warn their group of dangers undetected by others, helping to keep them safe (Aron, Aron, & Jagiellowicz, 2012).

The HSP trait is not aligned with giftedness, which comprises only 3% of the population (Aron, 1996). However, research conducted by psychologist Elke van Hoof found that 87% of gifted people are highly sensitive (Koolhof, 2020).

HSPs also have a heightened aesthetic sense, being highly sensitive to beauty in nature and the arts (Aron, 2010).

HSPs are also more disturbed by ugly or coarse stimuli than less sensitive people and avoid violent action films and news coverage (Aron, 2010). They are also more likely to have vivid dreams and have a rich inner life (Aron, 1996).

While HSPs are more distressed by negative environments than less sensitive people, they also benefit more from positive, supportive, and nurturing environments (Aron, 2010). This is especially true during childhood, but HSPs also benefit greatly from counseling and psychotherapy to overcome childhood difficulties, leading to low self-esteem (Aron, 2002).

There are cultural differences in their experiences, too. HSPs are highly valued members of societies that value reserved, cautious behavior such as China, Japan, and Sweden, but less so in bolder, competitive cultures such as Anglo-American and some European societies (Ketay et al., 2007).

Smolewska, McCabe, and Woody (2006) conducted a factor analysis of the HSPS and found it comprises 3 distinct factors:

Awareness of aesthetics (AES)

Low sensory threshold (LST)

Ease of excitation (EOE)

Further analysis from Smolewska et al. (2006) found that higher AES indicators bestow more positive outcomes of the trait, including a more intense perception of subtleties and empathy, while higher LST and EOE scores tend to indicate more neurotic outcomes, such as anxiety, social withdrawal, hypervigilance, and overarousal. 

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[incognitopolls]

Had to use abbreviations due to character limit.

nT = neurotypical. Stylized as nT to make the options easier to differentiate.

ND = neurodivergent

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We ask your questions anonymously so you don’t have to! Submissions are open on the 1st and 15th of the month.

[elegantpersoncreation]

… and among us, humans: there are modest people with a pure heart, "inconspicuous" and "small", but with a huge soul. They are the ones who decorate life, containing all the best that is in humanity - kindness, simplicity, trust….

[xanthumn]

[just-a-life-in-moments]

No one is born hating another person. We learn to hate. But just as we learn to hate, we can learn to love, for love is far more natural to the human heart than hate

[liberatingreality]

In every European language, the use of the word “person” to signify a human being, is unintentionally appropriate. The origin of “person” is “persona”, a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that most don’t show themselves as they are, but wear a mask and play their part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds much of society so insipid, whilst the incompetent are quite at home in it.

Arthur Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism

[danshive]

When figuring out feelings related to instincts, I don't think of things in a modern context. I think of similar context from thousands of years ago.

Which is why I think we can respond so strongly to random people's opinions. If depending on being part of a small group to live? It's a bigger deal.

Our logical minds: It's some rando I don't even know. I definitely shouldn't care.

Our instincts: THIS JEOPARDIZES MY VERY SURVIVAL

One can see the potential effort required to convince ourselves to not be bothered by it (and why the effort is required at all).

[vancouvery]

I really hate how children are easily programmable and adults are only partially reprogrammable after a lot of effort :(

Really fucked up that you can just inherit complexes from your mother and be fully aware that they're complexes from your mother but still do all that shit

[irinewt]

today wasnt all that productive either, but i learned something valuable about the people that i hang out with, and my interpersonal relationships, i broke up with my therapist, which is really sad but is something that had to be done, it makes my heart heavy but i suppose it was inevitable. i hope i study more when i get home

[andreainlove]

I'm that kind of girl who'll send you to the psych ward if you hurt my little brother and I swear it. I will not break your bones but will break your fucking brain so bad that you'll be left traumatised and will never forget my name. And that's a threat.

[sophieinwonderland]

r/systemscringe still thinks a disorder that develops in childhood can't be detected at 14. 🙄

Reminder that the DSM-5 specifically discusses DID in children and adolescents and ways the disorder can present in minors.

There is seriously nothing unbelievable or strange at all about a 14-year-old being medically recognized or diagnosed with OSDD or DID!

Can you please stop stigmatizing young people with DID just because they got diagnosed earlier than you did?

[gothicseverance]

Trauma psychology frequently resorts to the Gothic or supernatural to articulate post-traumatic effects.

—Disintegrated Subjects

Art by @chamomile-dove 🖤

[sehsfav]

you may call it adhd but I call it constantly seeking my great perhaps.

[itsyoourrgirlll-xoxo]

be careful who you trust. salt and sugar looks the same.

@itsyoourrgirrll.xo