Psychology Shorts

In this section

• Memory And Self Awareness
  • Unfinished Loops and Hidden Memory
    Three short lessons on how memory works beneath awareness: the Zeigarnik effect, childhood amnesia and acquired savant syndrome.
  • Watching Your Own Thoughts
    Two short lessons on metacognition and drifting, and why noticing the thinker and choosing a direction matter.
  • The Inner Voice and Self-Talk
    Five short lessons on how the voice in your head works, from noticing thoughts and distanced self-talk to ancient theories of consciousness and the promises you make to yourself.
  • How Memory Is Rebuilt Each Time
    Four short lessons on why memory is a rebuilding process rather than a recording, covering Bartlett's folktale study, reconsolidation, the language you use and the music passed between generations.
• Stress And Nervous System
  • Fight - Flight - Freeze and Fawn
    Two short lessons on the four stress responses of the nervous system, how each shows up in everyday habits and one small tool for each.
  • When the Body Is Stuck in Survival Mode
    Two short lessons on the signs of a nervous system stuck on high alert and three simple ways to help the body stand down.
  • Staying Regulated Under Pressure
    Three short lessons on the amygdala under pressure, why healing can feel like getting worse and five public figures associated with nervous system awareness.
• Social Psychology And Language
  • Groups - Words and Argument
    Three short lessons on workplace mobbing, a Spanish word English lacks and a set of rules for arguing fairly.
  • Blame - Conformity and Moral Excuses
    Six lessons on how groups and individuals assign blame, stay silent, obey authority and excuse harm without seeing themselves as wrong.
  • Manipulation - Attachment and Connection
    Five short lessons on DARVO, double binds, attachment styles, contact comfort and the loss of third places.
  • Social Roles - Borrowed Desire and Hierarchy
    Three short lessons on front stage and backstage selves, mimetic desire, and the claim that hierarchy follows possessions.
• Perception And The Body
  • Perception - Attention and the Body
    Six short lessons on what the brain filters out, what it still monitors, and how expectation, dreams, distance and being watched change what we perceive and do.
• Motivation And Decisions
  • Rewards - Effort and Motivation
    Five short lessons on how rewards, metrics, effort and favors shape what we value and why we keep doing things.
  • Commitment - Sunk Costs and Self-Binding
    Two short lessons on why people stay in things that no longer serve them, and how to bind your future self instead of relying on willpower.