Semantic Aphasia

Self-control

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 23:25:00 -0400

There is a model of self-control in the psychology literature which proposes that it’s a limited resource: We have a certain amount which we use up throughout the day, decreasing our ability to exercise it on subsequent tasks, and then, somehow, it rebounds and we start at the beginning again.

I have a feeling that if I looked at the peaks and valleys of my expressiveness it would follow the same trajectory as this model proposes. For the most part I am extremely controlled: I make a conscious effort to remain unemotional and nonreactive. Eventually, though, the self-control keeping this in place erodes, and all of my emotions are expressed in one exhalation.
Then, eventually, the feeling passes: I can compose myself, and the cycle is complete.

"I can’t exactly describe how I feel but it’s not quite right. And it leaves me cold."

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:18:37 -0400

“I can’t exactly describe how I feel but it’s not quite right. And it leaves me cold.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Love of the Last Tycoon (via audreylostinparis)

cat power-the greatest

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 14:28:17 -0400

cat power-the greatest

sahremina: yann tiersen,la valse d’amelie

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:55:45 -0400

sahremina:

yann tiersen,la valse d’amelie

9-year-old explains the meaning of life

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:43:38 -0400

9-year-old explains the meaning of life

crittters: divine-hatred: reasons not to have kids: the seventh grade emo phase the seventh grade...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:00:17 -0400

crittters:

divine-hatred:

reasons not to have kids:

the seventh grade emo phase

the seventh grade emo phase

the seventh grade emo phase

the seventh grade emo phase

the seventh grade emo phase

the seventh grade emo phase

Omg

Apology

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 02:00:00 -0400

sor•ry (ˈsɒr i, ˈsɔr i)

adj. -ri•er, -ri•est.

1. feeling regret, compunction, sympathy, pity, etc.

2. regrettable or deplorable; unfortunate: a sorry situation.

3. sorrowful; grieved.

4. suggestive of grief; melancholy.

5. wretched, poor, or useless.

6. (used interjectionally as a conventional apology)

I’m sorry.

cacestlavie: The evolution of a wise man

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 22:02:30 -0400

cacestlavie:

The evolution of a wise man

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then..."

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:52:53 -0400

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

"In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:20:15 -0400

“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”

- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (via fleurstains)

"I liked Berlin. The city and I understood each other. I liked that they had left the bombed-out hulk..."

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:37:54 -0400

“I liked Berlin. The city and I understood each other. I liked that they had left the bombed-out hulk of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church as a monument to loss. Nobody had forgotten anything here. In Berlin, you had to wrestle with the past, you had to build on the ruins, inside them. It wasn’t like America, where we scraped the earth clean, thinking we could start again every time. We hadn’t learned yet, that there was no such thing as an empty canvas”

- While Oleander - Janet Fitch (via theawkwardhug)

Feeling confused? Shaky? Ambivalent? Unsure? You might like our new episode.

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:25:00 -0400

Feeling confused? Shaky? Ambivalent? Unsure? You might like our new episode.:

wnycradiolab:

It’s called “Are You Sure?” and it’s waiting for you right here.

Best Coast: When I’m with you

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:03:44 -0400

Best Coast: When I’m with you

Theories of Personality

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:34:00 -0400

In this class I’m revisiting a number of paradigms I haven’t encountered since psyc101, and I keep tripping over theories that I remember being intrinsically drawn to years ago. I’ve come to realize that what connects them is that they involve the imposition of some kind of structure which makes life seem simple and predictable. They include: stage theories that depict the life span as if it were a staircase that everyone climbs; hierarchies that illustrate all of our motives for action in a simple, rank-ordered pyramid; and theories of learning that boil the complexity of human behaviour down to equations involving punishment and reinforcement.
The last one mentioned, the learning theory, may be my favorite of them all, and oddly, it is perhaps the coldest and most mechanistic. In this theory human behaviour is predictable and malleable: We do what we learn it is beneficial to do, and we avoid doing what we learn it is harmful to do.
Despite the fact that this theory seems dehumanizing, I think the comfort of it lies in it’s scientific approach. There is something reassuring about being able to see the world as logical and rule-bound, and perhaps this is especially true when it applies to the actions of people, which so often can seem to defy explanation or understanding.

partybarackisinthehousetonight: if you’re ever feeling lazy just remember that the ancient greeks...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:07:40 -0400

partybarackisinthehousetonight:

if you’re ever feeling lazy just remember that the ancient greeks believed their gods lived on top of a very climbable hill but no one even bothered to check

Morcheeba and Talib Kweli-Let me see

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:34:22 -0400

Morcheeba and Talib Kweli-Let me see

Self-Serving Bias

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:20:56 -0400

In making sense of the actions of ourselves and others, there is a tendency for people to automatically evaluate their own in reference to situational factors, and other’s in reference to intrapersonal factors. Therefore, we tend to see others who do something bad to us as bad people, yet, when we perform the same action, we see ourselves as victims of circumstance. We don’t see our own negative actions as reflective of who we are.

Eventually, though, when we come to know someone else well enough, we begin to incorporate their personality into our self-concept. In the close relationships literature this is called inclusion of the other in the self, and when it happens, for that other person, the self-serving bias disappears. We give them the benefit of the doubt, and we interpret their negative actions the same way we would our own.

Bob Dylan-All the Tired Horses

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:38:26 -0400

Bob Dylan-All the Tired Horses

"But mostly, I wanted to tell her about her cat. I had kept my promise; I had found him. It took..."

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:03:33 -0400

““But mostly, I wanted to tell her about her cat. I had kept my promise; I had found him. It took weeks of after-work roaming through those Spanish Harlem streets, and there were many false alarms — flashes of tiger-striped fur that, upon inspection, were not him. But one day, one cold sunshiny Sunday winter afternoon, it was. Flanked by potted plants and framed by clean lace curtains, he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room: I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he’d arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has, too.””

- Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (via shoreparty)

"It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read."

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 02:08:50 -0400

“It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read.”

- Lemony Snicket (via gingermob)