Free Talk Live - Submitted news - Psychology / Sociology

5 Ways Your Brain Is Tricking You into Being Miserable

Karrde188 — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:18:39 +0000

Your brain contains more than 100 billion neurons that flawlessly work together to create consciousness and thought. It is an astonishing marvel of evolution and adaptation, and it is also a huge dick.What do we mean by that? Well, everyone wants to be happy, but the biggest obstacle to that is the mushy thing inside your skull that you think with. Evolution has left your brain with all sorts of mechanisms that are heavily biased toward misery. We can't guarantee that reading this article will help, for your brain is as crafty as it is sadistic. But at least you'll understand it better.

What is your opinion?

LoveFreedomAndLiberty — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:29:20 +0000

If a person commits suicide, and they felt pushed to do so, does that make the person or persons that pushed them, or harassed them, an accomplice; and should they be held accountable as accomplices? Perhaps this is a topic that can be opened for discussion on the show? How many people have committed suicide due to similar circumstances, that the general public is not even aware of? Perhaps, their names can be added here, under "comments" so they can be remembered? Can people be bullied to death?

Stefan Molyneux Makes Sweeping Generalizations About Gays & Lesbians

csmith71 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:39:49 +0000

The "philosopher" & cult leader reads from the Focus on the Family playbook.

The Tyranny of the Discontinuous Mind

Jking8767 — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:30:16 +0000

What percentage of the British population lives below the poverty line? When I call that a silly question, a question that doesn’t deserve an answer, I’m not being callous or unfeeling about poverty. I care very much if children starve or pensioners shiver with cold. My objection – and this is just one of many examples – is to the very idea of a line: a gratuitously manufactured discontinuity in a continuous reality. Who decides how poor is poor enough to qualify as below the ‘poverty line’? What is to stop us moving the line and thereby changing the score?

Modern Parenting May Hinder Brain Development

Jking8767 — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:37:50 +0000

Social practices and cultural beliefs of modern life are preventing healthy brain and emotional development in children, according to an interdisciplinary body of research presented recently at a symposium at the University of Notre Dame. "Life outcomes for American youth are worsening, especially in comparison to 50 years ago," says Darcia Narvaez, Notre Dame professor of psychology who specializes in moral development in children and how early life experiences can influence brain development.

STUDY: Intelligent people booze more...

Sammy316 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:44:34 +0000

The next time you're inclined to enjoy an extra glass of wine, consider that it may be a reflection of your intelligence.

5 Ways Your Brain Tricks You into Sticking With Bad Habits

Karrde188 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:46:49 +0000

Bad habits can ruin your life. Whether you're gorging on Haagen-Dazs or dressing up like a Power Ranger and flaying hobos every night, you know on some level that things have to change, or disaster will follow. But no matter how badly you want your life to be different, things just keep plowing on the way they are. Why?
Because your brain has a long list of diabolical mechanisms intended to keep your habits exactly as they are.

Szasz On Gender Identity Disorder

jtk3 — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:34:10 +0000

Szasz's analysis is highly relevant to the story Mark and Stephanie covered Sunday about the prisoner receiving gender re-assignment surgery. To call this required medical care is to identify the person's condition as a disease. Is that really where we want to go? It wasn't that long ago that homosexuality was considered a disease. I think Szasz would say the prisoner in question was unhappy with his/her lot in life, which is a fairly common condition that should not be medicalized or politicized.

Thomas Szasz, Relentless Freedom Fighter, Dead at 92

jtk3 — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 18:20:02 +0000

"I am sorry to report that Thomas Szasz, the great libertarian critic of coercive psychiatry, the "therapeutic state," and the war on drugs, died over the weekend at his home in Manlius, New York. He was 92"

"In addition to opposing involuntary psychiatric treatment and the insanity defense, Szasz objected to medically sanctioned state interference in what ought to be private decisions, ranging from drug use to suicide. "

New Weapon Against Soldier Suicides: Anti-Depressive Nasal Spray

kelvin — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 06:18:39 +0000

The U.S. Army tallied 38 confirmed or suspected suicides among its ranks last month--that’s among both active- and non-active-duty members including the Army National Guard and Army Reserve--the highest rate of suicide within the branch yet observed, further underscoring a mental health crisis that the services have yet to get a handle on. But help may be coming in an unlikely form: nasal spray.

Little Words with Absolutely Huge Meaning - Use Them

Mattfree88 — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:05:46 +0000

Little Words with Absolutely Huge Meaning - Use Them

As children many of us hyped the statement, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Clearly, it doesn’t take long to realize that words have far more weight than we want to realize. They influence thoughts, feelings, actions and states of mind. Even little words often have big meaning.

Think about it. Whether you want to land your dream job, improve your friendships, save your marriage or retain your employees; the words you choose can make all the difference.

A pill to make you smarter? New drug grows brain cells

Mattfree88 — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 18:05:08 +0000

A pill to make you smarter? New drug grows brain cells

The drug helps more baby brain cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Researchers have found a drug that can help the brain grow new cells and said their study may lead to ways to improve experimental Alzheimer's drugs.

The researchers' work, done on rodents, builds on findings that all mammals, including humans, make brain cells throughout their lives. Most of these die, but this drug helps more of the baby cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

Paradigm Lost: Why the rEVOLution Has Not Been Televised

mikesylvia — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:05:15 +0000

Any paradigm worthy of the name -- such as this American political paradigm -- lasts for a long time and is hard to unlearn.

But when it is about to collapse, a few things happen.

French TV Milgram experiment has 80% obedience

TheAllen4 — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:23:53 +0000

A French TV documentary features people in a spoof game show administering what they are told are near lethal electric shocks to rival contestants. Those taking part are told to pull levers to inflict shocks - increasing in voltage - upon their opponents. Although unaware that the contestants were actors and there was no electrical current, 82% of participants in the Game of Death agreed to pull the lever.

Violence on TV Infographic

Mattfree88 — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:23:48 +0000

Violence on TV In fographic

Does TV violence cause actual violence? Although there is a widespread belief that watching fictional violence causes people to be more violent, the rise of violence on TV and comparable real-world violence statistics over the past 20 years tell a different story. How does violence on TV affect your beliefs about violent crime? Take a look below.

5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think

Karrde188 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:29:48 +0000

The Internet has introduced a golden age of ill-informed arguments. You can't post a video of an adorable kitten without a raging debate about pet issues spawning in the comment section. These days, everyone is a pundit.But with all those different perspectives on important issues flying around, you'd think we'd be getting smarter and more informed. Unfortunately, the very wiring of our brains ensures that all these lively debates only make us dumber and more narrow-minded. For instance ...