PsychWorld

Attractiveness and beauty are our everyday obsession, yet what is real beauty? Why do we find some people beautiful and others not so much? Over the past few decades, there have been some great psychology research done on the topic. Here is what was discovered:

Having a psychological disorder such as bi-polar is considered a handicapt in our society. That is why we’re overprescribed lot’s of drugs – to make us “normal”. What if instead we used our craziness for good? Check out the short video below as bipolar comedian Joshua Walters talks about using his craziness for creativity:

Apparently people who tweet at least once a day have shorter relationships according to the latest data analysis from OkTrends, the dating site OkCupid’s blog which analyzes its users data. I guess having to shorten your thoughts to 140 characters and your URLs to bit.ly every day has a way of shortening your relationships too…

If you’re not into swearing or taking drugs when in pain, there is an amazing alternative for you. This method is free, non-addictive, and devoid of side-effects. Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it? Not only does meditation reduce stress among other benefits, it also substantially reduces pain according to a new study described by LiveScience.

I don’t swear very often. And apparently that’s a good thing…because if I’m ever in so much pain that I do end up swearing, it’ll actually make the pain much more tolerable according to fascinating new research described by Time.

We like to think we have it under control. After all, we are rational human beings, so every action we take has a rational reason behind it. Yet, if we look deeper, we will find that the more we try to rationalize our behavior, the more wrong our explanation becomes…

Today is Monday, yesterday was Sunday, before that it was Saturday, three days since Friday… If you haven’t seen the infamous Rebecca Black Friday video, you’ve probably heard about it via your friends on Facebook or Twitter. Since uploading the “worst video ever made” in February, this 13-year-olds video has gotten over 80 MILLION views and millions of comments / spoofs / parodies / tweets, most of them beyond mean.

It is way too easy to trust experts without ever questioning them. In fact, according to the below talk by financial expert Noreena Hertz, when we listen to experts, the independent decision making part of our brain turns off. Although experts are great most of the time, too often, they make mistakes. After all, experts are humans. It is therefore in our interest to challenge and even disagree with them.

Watch the below video as the water flows up the waterfall!

It is now 2011, yet most mental health therapists don’t even have a website! That makes finding a therapist way too much work for a person who really needs help. Currently, you can find a nearby therapist by going through your insurance website, or through the Psychology Today or PsychCentral directories.Yet, both Psychology Today and PsychCentral refuse to include consumer reviews of the therapists in the interest of having more listings from the therapists (which is partially how these sites make money).