PsychWorld

You may have noticed that during debates and arguments, some people tend to get loud. A recent study suggests that the loud ones are less secure in their arguments. The article explores whether shaking a belief would make a person more likely to advocate and proselytize—and not less likely to do so, as one would intuitively conclude. The findings are surprising.

In today’s day and time, the concept of ‘identity’ is rapidly fading. What is fading even more, is ‘individuality’. I say this as a teenage observer who basically spends more than 50% of her awake life mingled with teenagers supposedly all of different….everything. But, now I have been to a good few schools and in most, especially the last two, I have begun to notice a sort of fade in orginiality of personality.

Altruism sparks a very big debate in evolutionary psychology. Does pure altruism actually exist? Or do we “altruistically” help others simply to get something in return later on (think The Godfather) or maybe to look good to our friends (e.g. if I donate money to charity, that girl will think I’m nice and go out on a date with me…)? After decades of research, most psychologist are optimistic that there is such thing as pure altruism. And they may be right, because new research from the University of Bonn claim to have discovered the “altruism” gene!

If you’ve read Psychology Today in the last month, you might have stumbled upon a front page article entitled “Revenge of the Introvert” by Laurie Helgoe. The article is primarily an introverted psychologist’s perspective about the ways in which she believes introverts are misunderstood in an extraversion-heavy American society. Dr. Helgoe, while presenting some useful information in the process, has made two potentially harmful claims that require revision.