Psychology is the scientific study of mental behaviour.
|
|
Are you content? |
|
|
Friday, 21 December 2007 |
 What makes us happy Katherine Power writes about the science of happiness. Until recently psychology used to have much to say on mental illness, but little about what makes us happy. For the last half century the darker aspects of our mental lives – depression, neurosis, obsessions and paranoia – have been extensively studied, while the positive emotions were largely ignored by science. But thanks to people like American psychologist and writer Martin Seligman, positive emotions are now hot topics in academic circles. Even politicians are taking notice. “Happy politics has arrived,” argues BBC home editor Mark Easton, who believes that politicians are increasingly trying to make us happier, not just richer. |
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 07 October 2008 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Madly in Love |
|
|
Wednesday, 07 February 2007 |
 The Science of Love Katherine Power writes about the science of love. Expressions like 'madly in love', 'crazy for you' and 'lovesick' may be more accurate than we think. When we fall in love, our brains experience an explosion of powerful chemicals. The neural profile that emerges has led some scientists to compare the initial stages of love to mental illnesses like obsessive compulsive disorder and mania, the manic phase of manic depression. Helen Fisher, a researcher at Rutgers University and the author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love believes we evolved three systems related to matters of the heart: the first deals with lust, the second with romantic love – also known as attraction, obsessive love, passionate love or 'being in love' – and the third with attachment. Fisher's theory is that the three systems motivate us, respectively, to mate, focus our attention on a particular partner, and stick with that partner long enough to look after the children we may have. |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 February 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Psychopharmacology and the Human Condition |
|
|
Thursday, 21 September 2006 |
|
Bruce Charlton argues that psychopharmacology has a fundamental role in enhancing the human condition. Contemporary human life is very different from the ecological and social environment in which humans evolved, and which shaped human psychological architecture [1]. The human mind is adapted to maximize reproductive success under very different conditions from that in which it finds itself [2]. This has profound implications for a consideration of the attainment of human happiness and fulfillment; so much so that - contrary to the views of some evolutionists [3] - I believe psychopharmacology has an fundamental role in enhancing the human condition.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 01 March 2007 )
|
|
Read more...
|
|
|