Sublime
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Searching for a term less loaded than “normal” to describe these people, Grinker called them homoclites, a Latinate term he invented to indicate “those who follow a common rule.”
Nassir Ghaemi • A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness
Positive illusions, described as “pervasive, enduring, and systematic,” come, Taylor writes, in three types: (1) unrealistically positive views of the self; (2) exaggerated perceptions of personal control; and (3) unrealistic optimism. All of these illusions can, managed the right way, supposedly improve our lives. Illusions are good for people, sh
... See moreChris Hedges • Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Psychologists, in and out of the government, have learned how to manipulate social behavior. The promotion of collective harmony, under the guise of achieving happiness, is simply another carefully designed mechanism for conformity. Positive psychology is about banishing criticism and molding a group into a weak and malleable unit that will take or
... See moreChris Hedges • Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
So if you are playing the odds, your confidence that you can see some evil in another person’s soul is probably closer to being batshit crazy than to being the first known human with psychic powers.
Scott Adams • Loserthink: How Untrained Brains Are Ruining America
A central concept of human psychology is that we strive to avoid psychic discomfort. It is not a pleasant thing to think badly of oneself. Some psychologists call this “ego defense” (after Freudian theory), but whether we frame it within this paradigm or not, the concept is clear. It just feels better for us to think that we are smart, well-informe
... See moreLee McIntyre • Post-Truth (The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series)
“The only thing different about neuroscience,” according to Morse, “is that we have prettier pictures and it appears more scientific.”
Sally Satel • Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
The inventor of Self-Verification Theory, Bill Swann
Sam Gosling • Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You
his book The Folly of Fools, Trivers argues that a contradiction lies at the heart of human intelligence. Our brains are simultaneously designed to seek out information and destroy that information after we acquire it. Specifically, our minds evolved to make sense of the world not in ways that are true, but in ways that help us survive. But once al
... See morePassages Saved From iOS
Insanity is not a “regrettable . . . accident” but the “indispensable catalyst” of genius.