Psychiatry and Psychology

Are dogs smarter than humans? Let's assume that you buy a brand new puppy. Within a month (if you're good), you can have that puppy listening to and understanding simple commands, such as "sit" and "come here". But with a human child, who's aproximatly a year old, they still can't understand basic commands. If you tell him/her to walk over here (if they're able to walk yet), they just sit there and stare at you, while a dog would walk over there (usually, assuming you trained it right). It's obvious that puppies are smarter than babies. But adults on the other hand, are (we think) smarter than adult dogs.

With a few exceptions, Environmental defiency is responsible for psychological problems, and genetics is simply a source of variability. All that stuff about things being "biological" is just reductionist crud. LOL....

I was thinking about the human mind and why problems in society exist (culture clash, racism, religious clash, etc) and I think it all comes down to the human mind and it's relationship to our animal past. In order for the human mind to operate it must simplify the world around us. The most basic form of simplification is by lumping things into categories. That's why we name everything we come across. We can put it into a category more easily. One could argue that science is nothing more than an advanced form of lumping things into categories. For some religion becomes a means of making things easier to sort into categories. The categories are already given, all you h…

This is a thread to discuss potential ways to increase intelligence or brainpower. Discuss.

Would you agree or disagree to this? Lonely people (meaning people who wished they were more friend to others/respected/loved/cared for/ etc. by others as opposed to those who wish to be alone) tend to push people away. Why would you agree or disagree? Would you call this a sub-conscious trigger like getting a sore throat an hour before singing auditions?

ive seen a few topics on music so i thought id start one. Has anyone ever thought of the psychological effects that music has on humans? Music is a major part of my life and depending on what is blasting, it affects me differently. I saw a report a while back, don’t know if it’s true but, I read that in iraq, the US military was playing some Metallica tracks in an effort to I guess drive them mad. Don’t know if it worked but they should have used something else if that’s where they wanted to achieve. In waco texas, I heard law enforcement tried using music to drive everyone out. I think they chose the wrong music. Should have tried some opera. Mothers will often sing to t…

How do you deal with an overload of anxiety? If all your worries became a huge list that you felt you could not handle any more? What do you do, when life is extremely stressful and on top of that you have past worries that haven't gone away to add to the currant stresses? How can people get rid of their worries before they lose their mind? Just a question, please feel free to offer any suggestions on how to control or get rid of stress. Kate

Sometimes it seems easier to think about and predict the actions of man by considering the behaviour of say “Mars god of war” than by calculating all the political minutia involved in world politics. Is behaviour easier to understand if it is isolated then wrapped up in a human form? Thoughts?

I'm guessing there is something in psychology relating to a variety of aggressive behaviors that people show, some more than others. And I'm also guessing there's more than one kind of bully. I know some general reasons why people bully others, but I want to know about this kind of bully in particular. I try to grab a rubber band on the floor and this guy slides down and grabs my wrist. He vehemently tries to pry my hand open, but I put it in my other hand. Then he starts twisting my hand, or at least the sleeve of the wrist I was wearing. Then he aims a rubber band gun at my face and threatens to shoot me. He then threatens to slap me if I don't give the rubber band to …

I've currently been hurt from a guy who told me that he loved me, and he's just a big flirt, so i didnt ever respond. Well, deep inside i loved him with more than what seemed like life itself. And he used to hold me and kiss me all the time! Even last week!! And i told him how i felt, about 2 months ago and he said "you're tight too" Then, like 2 days ago he told me he loved me(which he had been saying since i met him in like...August), and then i got in trouble, and couldnt get to the computer. Then I went on yesterday, and saw that it said "i love you Rachel" which is my best friend, in his profile. She told me that she wouldnt ever do anything to hurt me, and she kinda…

Hello. I am a student currently studying for my A levels. I need to do a piece of coursework and I have chosen to do mine on image affecting memory. i.e if a picture or image can help somebody as a memory cue or aid to help retrieve information. I would greatly appreciate if somebody can tell me about or give links (preferbly web links) to studies like this that have been carried out in the past. This would help my research as I am have slight difficulty in finding studies and experiments carried out about this subject. Thank You.

Have there ever been any studies that show a distinction between conditioning a behavior and conditioning the rate of CHANGE of a behavior? For example, let's say I had a rat that I wanted to press a leaver every 10 minutes or so, and I only reinforced it once for every leaver press so long as it's been ten minutes since the last reinforced leaver press. And let's say there was another rat that, for every leaver press, I wanted it to do so sooner than the time between its last two leaver presses, thereby increasing its leaver pressing frequency over time. Have there ever been any experiments to show that it is possible to control which one of these two kinds of conditioni…

I work in a mall, where it can get extremely noisy sometimes. A few days ago I tried listening to the white noise created by all the random happenings around the mall, shutting off all the immediately definable noises. Right at that instant I felt extremely scared, got tunnel vision and couldn't really focus on anything. It's what I would imagine sensory overload feeling like, with my whole body starting to tingle, especially my head and spinal area, and a very strange 'electrical' sensation in my head. I realised something really odd was happening and just focused hard on what was in front of me for a second and I snapped out of it instantly. I know that if…

Do you suppose human thought evolved (just like our bodies did). I was thinking, the dawn of man… What if we started out just getting vague sensations of the world. then evolved to feel a certain way about those inputs, not actual thought but “proto-thought”. then much later evolved “reason” to plan how to take best advantage of those inputs. What if that sub thought early layer is still alive and well in the brain. What say the reason part had to evolve totally different type language in order to work well. What say the reason type of language can not interface with the proto mind. What if dreams are the proto mind trying to talk to th…

awhile back, i read a book that suggested a theory to end war... it was pretty detailed, woman could take sperm sample of men and then kill them, and have woman procreate thru artificial insemination. There were other contingencies of course but the point of the theory is that woman are more emmotional and less violent, therefore by eliminating the male sex (to a certain extent) war/fighting could end.... but i think there are a lot of physcological loopholes.... Do you think woman could take the part of men, is there any chance of this working to any extent if so how long.. just general points of vies since i thought it was interesting.....

Can You Help Me..... I Am Doing A Study On The Average I.q. Of The Society And Want To Take Atleast 1000 Samples From Every Where Around The World ( Major Societies And Civilizations ). Practical Purpose Of This Is A Comparetive Study. Can You People Submit Your Original Iq With Certificates. And Ur Address. Things Required : I.q. Test Score Sheet With A Certificate. (like Mensa, Highiq Society, 999 Etc.) Your Address With Country. Race You Belong To.

this is probably more of a joke than anything else but this is a miscillaneous observation/inquiry on the subject. i work at a television studio in Burbank ca. yesterday we had the first taping of a new show called the Ellen Degeneres Show. as you all may or may not know, Ellen is female and is gay. she is probably one of the more notable gay females in the US. the show had a live audience for the taping. let me tell you, these were some of the most hideous looking females i have ever seen. they were gay. they came in couples, holding hands. girl and girl, boy and boy. it was not a pretty sight. hell, i couldn't tell some of the guys from the girls. it wasn't like the…

Hello everybody, I need serious help. Anyone has studied psychology before? I am in a trouble.

A fairly sizeable segment of the populace claims to "hear voices". What I'd like to know is, from where do those voice messages originate?

Hi, my name is Jack Kirby. I’m a psychology major at Bates College in Maine. I’m studying domestic labor issues. I am collecting data with a survey that asks some questions about domestic habits. I was hoping that you could fill out my survey, it will take 10 minutes (20 if you do a good job). Thanks. http://abacus.bates.edu/~jkirby/

Here, i wan to address two things. First is a addiction. Situation: you become deeply absorbed in playing a computer and for long hours. the next day, you are desperate to continue playing. There is this "URGE" that forces you to play. Does that having something to do with the brain? Or has the type of game have a part to play in your addiction? Like the way drug addicts are addicted? Although i know it is due to the chemicals produced that indirectly results that addiction. Second one: Memory. Is it made of only the explicit and implicit memory? What causes our explicit memory to lose its function? eg. you enter a room but you suddenly forgot what your purp…

My question is how long benzo occupation of GABA receptors might take to alleviate upon benzo usage termination. Based on another thread here, it's apparently well-documented that lengthy benzo usage and subsequent GABA receptor occupation reduces the effectiveness of pain killers eg opiates, thus increasing morbity if such a patient needs, for example, open-heart surgery. Don't know if you have any knowledge or know a place where I can find out?? THANKS!

Why do people no longer fight with honor? They usually have a conversation like "well, my ____ is bigger and stronger than your ___." They bring anyone that they think can help them. They even use weapons. Is it just me, or should a fight be between the two people the conflict was between?

How can one remove fear of tomorrow ,even if the fear has base. Sometimes you are unable to do anything about it.

im suprised a thread similar to this hasnt started yet, if it has, then i couldnt find it! What goes through the mind of a terrorist? What would make someone kill others just to try and get a ransom which they are not even going to get? Why would someone commit a crime like robbing a major bank, or killing a high profile person.... when they are obviously not going to get away with it! Why do people bother killing others, when in the end, its gonna be at their expense? What motivates a terrorist or criminal?