Formerly, I’ve argued that what's truly valuable in a man is inner peace, however, is that ever attainable in our mortal lives? Truthfully I don’t think anyone can ever find a steady state of balance as long as they live. Only at night when there truly is nothing else other than yourself and the moonlight peaking out your curtains can you attain a state of relaxation or peace that is quickly deprevated by the tasks of the morning. Perhaps what we desire is desire itself or th

The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance   Leon Festinger came up with the idea of cognitive dissonance theory in 1957. It says that people need to be very consistent in what they believe, how they act, and how they feel. Cognitive dissonance is the stress you feel when you think two or more things that are at odds with each other or when you act in ways that are against what you believe. This conflict makes people feel bad on a mental level, so they want to get rid of it. Usually

Behaviorism was a major school of thought in psychology from the early to the middle of the 20th century. It was all about looking at behavior that can be seen and the things around it that affect it. Early behaviorists argued that psychology ought to examine how organisms learn from their interactions with their environment rather than focusing on unseen brain processes. This method relies heavily on conditioning, which comes in two main types.   Ivan Pavlov was the first p

If one is to consider that there is an objective value that supersedes all of humanity, it is inner peace. Nihilist commit suicide to find a peace unachievable in the world, ascetics reject themselves to grasp its the simulation of inner peace, and the common man labors himself to death in exchance for its ephemerality. While what may lead to one's inner peace is usually subjective from culture to culture and from individual to individual, in usual cases they are guided to it

The stages of cognitive development by Piaget  A key idea in developmental psychology is Jean Piaget's view of how we learn to think and reason. Piaget suggested that from birth to adolescence, children go through four common but different stages of thinking.  From birth to about age 2, babies learn about the world through their senses and the things they do with their bodies. They develop important ideas like object memory, which means they know things exist even when they c

The reason to which there is a common manifestation of archetypes and morality across contrasting cultures is not the work of a metaphysical truism. Rather, it is the uprising of common behaviors in group cohesion and natural societal formation that is propelled by the intrinsic human nature within its inhabitants. Cultures and societies are all founded on the mutual agreement of human behavior. When a group has enough power, whatever is deemed as moral to them becomes moral.

Bordering Language And Intelligence It is unfortunate that humans need to use language in order to convey what is going on inside them. Truthfully I believe that there are many instances in which one cannot truly convey what they have buried in their hearts. Emotion and life is buried untranslatable in the bones, it courses through you and forcing you to rely on the construct of words to elaborate what could be rhetorically conceived as divinity. Even as I write this I feel c

Awe And Intelligence If man's awe for the world is not founded through the exploration of himself, his perceived beauty belongs to standards of the world.  Through aesthetic awe for the world around him, man is capable of seeing beauty. What is deemed as gorgeous should not be molded from the standards of society, rather they should be crafted as such through the lens of a man's experience and intuition. Art becomes famous when appealing to the general public, art becomes bea

Temporary Fulfillment Through Union Hedonism, specifically through the sexual acts of a reprobate is usually not something that constitutes meaning in life. If we were to look at meaning from a biological perspective, reproduction may seem like an obvious answer. However due to the human ability to disobey nature's accordance, we can find a personal fulfillment that exists outside our evolution. Mystical traditions throughout history try to conceptualize through religious id

Ethical Value One should not completely strip themselves of all moral principles, for that would lead to an instinctive sense of crisis and coerce them towards absurdity unless done with absolute precaution. Eliminating all ingrained sense of ethics and pursuing egoistic tendencies will not make them justifiable, only comprehensible to the observer as well as the individual mind. Personally, love and connection is my foundation of value. It serves in ways I cannot consciousl

In terms of desire, what separates man from the plants or the animals that sprout throughout the world? To many, it may seem like the conscious observation of desire is an overstep in evolution. However it can be alchemized into the defining feature of beauty in the human experience. We are not entirely fatally bound to the unconscious gravitation towards the sun as means of life. People may only deem such  natural actions as fulfilling because of their projection of objectiv

In Lacanian theory, desire is intrinsically connected to lack. Lacan reinterprets Freud's concept of desire by differentiating it from mere biological necessity. He famously says that desire is not just wanting something or asking someone else for love, but "the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from the second" ( nosubject.com ). In other words, when a baby's basic needs (like hunger) turn into demands (like crying not just for milk but also for the c

Lacan categorizes subjective experience into three interconnected registers: the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. Each of these "orders" signifies an essential facet of psychic existence. The Imaginary is where images, appearances, and identification live. It arises with the mirror stage and the development of the ego; at this point, relationships are dual and founded on mirroring and illusion. The Imaginary consists of the alluring coherence of images ( IE: one ’s own

Lacan’s concept of the mirror stage describes a pivotal moment in early infancy when the child first recognizes its own image in a mirror. Around 6–18 months of age, an infant becomes captivated by the mirror reflection and identifies with this seemingly unified and coherent image Lacan noted the infant’s “jubilation” in this discovery – a triumphant delight as the child anticipates a mastery over its body that it has not yet achieved. In assuming the image as itself, the chi

The internet has turned into a huge social stage where people play different roles in online communities. This is something that can be examined through the work of Erving Goffman and George H. Mead. In forums, multiplayer games, or social networks, people often create characters and follow unwritten rules that are similar to roles in real life. Goffman’s dramaturgical theory (the idea of holding a mask as a role) is often used to explain how people act online. For example, p

Sociologists are looking back at Karl Marx's ideas about work and abuse because of the rise of the gig economy. Some examples of gig economies are food delivery, rideshare driving, and freelance platforms. There are often power issues with tech platforms and gig workers' income isn't stable. Platforms own the "means of production," like apps and algorithms, while workers are below them and don't have control over these digital tools. This is an example of Marx's idea of cla

Cultural psychology shows that different cultures have very different ways of seeing and reacting to other people's behavior. A notable illustration is the response of cultures to transgressions of social norms—subtle infractions that contravene etiquette or expectations. A 2023 cross-cultural study examined reactions to quotidian "incivility" (e.g., rudeness or rule disregard) in a highly collectivist nation, China, compared to a more individualistic nation, the UK. The rese

Psychedelic drugs now seem to be a new uprising solution for modern psychological research. Substances like psilocybin, which is found in "magic mushrooms," are being utilized by researchers to determine how they might be able to help with depression, anxiety, and addiction. The American Journal of Psychiatry's January 2025 issue had a special section on psychedelic treatments, which included new research and reviews of clinical trials. One study in particular that stood out

Decision science is helping us understand how the speed at which we make choices can affect how good they are. A new study uses math to show that our first biases are more likely to show up in quick, impulsive decisions. On the other hand, decisions that take longer and are more thought out are more likely to be right and less biased. The study found that "fast deciders," or people who rushed to make decisions, often made choices based on their biases and were wrong about hal

People often think that empathy is a good thing for being moral, but psychologists say that it can be bad at times. People are nice and do nice things for others because they feel bad for their sadness. Empathy, however, can shape our perceptions of morality. Research demonstrates that individuals tend to exhibit greater empathy and a propensity to assist members of their own group rather than those from disparate groups, and they are more likely to aid singular, identifiable