All posts tagged: behaviors

Debunking The Telepathy Tapes: The Role of Facilitator Behaviors

Debunking The Telepathy Tapes: The Role of Facilitator Behaviors

Published by Sam Flores

With all the recent hype around The Telepathy Tapes podcast, people might think that claims of telepathic abilities in nonspeaking individuals with profound autism are new. They are not. They are decades old. FC (used here as an umbrella term for all facilitator-dependent techniques) is, purportedly, a communication technique in which the previously silenced thoughts of individuals with profound autism can be accessed through “spelling” while using a simple letter board. Proponents claim FC works primarily through a trust-bond between a literate assistant (called a facilitator), who provides physical and emotional support, and the nonspeaking individual. Critics of the technique point to facilitators’ visual, auditory, and physical cueing as the source of FC-generated messaging. Almost from FC’s inception, there were reports by some facilitators that their clients could spell out answers to the questions they (the facilitators) hadn’t yet asked. Paul Haskew and Anne Donnellan, in a 1993 book titled Emotional Maturity and Well-Being: Psychological Lessons of Facilitated Communication claimed (without scientific proof) that some facilitated individuals had a “sixth sense” that translated into telepathic …

The 2 behaviors that make you socially magnetic

The 2 behaviors that make you socially magnetic

Published by Jenni Sidey

A few months ago, I was queuing for free tacos at my coworking space in London. And because nothing unites people like free food, half the building had shown up. This gave me the opportunity to shamelessly eavesdrop on the group of guys in front of me. Three of them stood out.  The first talked about himself a lot, jumping in on other people’s stories to tell his own slightly better version of whatever had just been said. His colleagues let him, but their faces had gone politely blank, the look people wear when they’re waiting for something to end. The second was his opposite: warm and pleasant whenever someone spoke to him, but only when someone spoke to him. He gave brief answers, handed the floor straight back, and initiated nothing. It was the third who intrigued me the most, because he was the one the whole group kept reorienting toward. What stood out was the way he moved attention around the group, asking questions and handing the floor to different people, while being …

The Many Faces of Procrastination and Health Behaviors

The Many Faces of Procrastination and Health Behaviors

Published by Jenni Sidey

Procrastination abounds. If you ask anyone, they will probably say that they procrastinate from time to time. Sometimes it is a mild tendency that is fairly harmless, perhaps causing some guilt or annoyance. But, sometimes, procrastination is a constant, causing stress, anxiety, and possibly having adverse life consequences. The debilitating kinds of procrastination have been described simply as having a single cause: dysfunctional delay. Others go deeper and suggest that it is driven by emotions—specifically, anxiety, fear, shame, guilt, regret, boredom, frustration, anger, and revenge. Based on these causes, some research suggests mood repair and emotional regulation as potential cures. Others have suggested learning time management skills. Still others refer to research indicating that procrastination is 46 percent genetic. Some do not bother with deeper causes and simply call it an inefficient coping mechanism. In many cases, procrastination is linked to low self-esteem and feelings of failure. Indeed, many procrastinators are discouraged by it, which can lead to further dips in self-esteem. However, some ways of coping and getting relief have been identified. It’s been …

Common Post-Breakup Behaviors of Covert Narcissists

Common Post-Breakup Behaviors of Covert Narcissists

Published by Jenni Sidey

Covert narcissism operates on subtle control, emotional dependency, and plausible deniability, which makes their behavior more insidious and challenging to pinpoint. While the relationship is intact and they are benefiting from you, their abuse can stay hidden under the guise of concern, intellectual depth, “togetherness,” or performative empathy and emotional attunement for years. However, once you assert a boundary or flex your autonomy, it disrupts their agenda and increases the propensity for many of the cruel behaviors, including covert reactive aggression. Because those high in covert narcissistic traits have difficulty tolerating a loss of control over their ex, they see their ex’s independence as an attack. To reassert their power without looking like the “bad guy,” they weaponize vulnerability, including giving the silent treatment and staging themselves in dysfunctional situations to see if their ex will reach out and “rescue” them (i.e., in a toxic rebound relationship, making themselves appear used or mistreated by their new partner or worse off now, looking dejected or performative in photos, or feigning physical or emotional pain). They also …