All posts tagged: psychological

A Psychological Thriller that Resonates

A Psychological Thriller that Resonates

Published by skeptic

The Note marks Alafair Burke’s triumphant return to psychological suspense, demonstrating her keen understanding of human nature and the complexities of long-term friendships. This meticulously crafted thriller weaves together past and present, exploring how a seemingly harmless prank spirals into a web of deadly consequences, testing the bonds between three women whose lives have been intertwined since childhood. Plot and Narrative Structure The story follows May Hanover, a former prosecutor turned law professor, as she reunites with her childhood friends Lauren and Kelsey for a weekend in the Hamptons. What begins as a lighthearted vacation takes a dark turn when the trio encounters a couple who steal their parking spot, leading to a vengeful note left on their windshield. When one half of the couple ends up dead, the three friends find themselves at the center of a murder investigation that unearths long-buried secrets. Burke masterfully structures the narrative across five distinct parts, each revealing new layers of complexity: The Best Trip Ever Our David Smith Wildwood The People v. Kelsey Ellis The Truth Character …

How to embrace “psychological magic” to be more creative

How to embrace “psychological magic” to be more creative

Published by skeptic

Sign up for The Nightcrawler Newsletter A weekly collection of thought-provoking articles on tech, innovation, and long-term investing from Nightview Capital’s Eric Markowitz. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. This is an installment of The Nightcrawler, a weekly collection of thought-provoking articles on tech, innovation, and long-term investing by Eric Markowitz of Nightview Capital. You can get articles like this one straight to your inbox every Friday evening by subscribing above. Follow him on X: @EricMarkowitz. This week in The Long Game, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, author of Alchemy, and one of the most original minds in business and psychology. Rory has a knack for flipping conventional wisdom on its head, and in our conversation, he takes aim at our culture’s obsession with efficiency. His argument? True breakthroughs often come not from optimization but from slowing down and embracing what he calls “psychological magic” — solutions that defy logic yet resonate deeply with human behavior. Our conversation explored Rory’s delightfully contrarian ideas — challenging us …

New study demonstrates the psychological pull of Christmas cookies

New study demonstrates the psychological pull of Christmas cookies

Published by José

Do sugar content labels help us make healthier choices during the holidays? A study in Acta Psychologica found that they might not. Using mobile eye-tracking glasses, researchers found that festive, sugar-rich foods are more visually captivating and desirable than their sugar-free counterparts, even when nutritional labels highlight their sugar content. These findings suggest that simply labeling food as “sugar-free” may not effectively curb cravings during this indulgent time of year. The holiday season is a time of celebration, but it is also marked by overindulgence in sugary and high-calorie foods, leading to seasonal weight gain. With high-sugar foods prominently featured in festive traditions, people often struggle to resist their cravings. Nutritional labeling, intended to guide healthier food choices, has been widely adopted, but its effectiveness remains unclear. Previous studies suggest that sugar content labels may even increase cravings for some individuals. The researchers aimed to explore whether sugar labels influence visual attention and preferences in a real-world setting. By focusing on Christmas-themed treats, the study also sought to understand whether the festive context amplifies the …

Psychological Ghost Story Went Up the Hill

Psychological Ghost Story Went Up the Hill

Published by skeptic

There are plenty of horror films on offer at the AFM this year but Went Up the Hill, the second film from New Zealand director Samuel Van Grinsven offers a very different take on the genre, using a story of haunting and possession to probe much deeper emotional terrain. Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps (Old, Phantom Thread) play the titular Jack and Jill, two strangers connected through their troubled relationship to Elizabeth — the mother who abandoned Jack and was Jill’s domineering and lover. The pair meet at a wake after Elizabeth’s suicide. Jill asks Jack to stay. That night, Elizabeth’s ghost possesses Jill to speak to Jack. Later the process is reversed: Elizabeth possesses her son Jack to interact with her former lover. “It’s a three-hander played by two people, with two people playing the same person,” says Montgomery. We’re not in Exorcist territory here. Krieps and Montgomery deliver spectacularly understated performances with no spooky voices or OTT violence and only subtle cues to indicate the shift. Krieps, playing Jill possessed …

The potential psychological harm of being labeled as “addicted” to pornography

The potential psychological harm of being labeled as “addicted” to pornography

Published by José

A recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior offers new insights into how labeling oneself as addicted to pornography might influence both personal and relational outcomes. The study found that while identifying as addicted to pornography is linked with various negative outcomes, it is particularly associated with communication discomfort about pornography and a higher likelihood of relationship dissolution. Notably, these relationship outcomes persisted even after accounting for the degree to which individuals reported their pornography use as compulsive or difficult to control. Instead, “problematic pornography use” refers to cases where individuals’ consumption of pornography becomes excessive, dysregulated, and has a negative impact on their lives. This might manifest as an inability to control one’s use despite wanting to stop, leading to personal distress, relationship problems, or interference with daily responsibilities. The term “problematic pornography use” is preferred over “addiction” in the scientific community for several reasons. One key reason is that the term “addiction” carries significant stigma and moral judgment, which can exacerbate negative outcomes for individuals who feel they have a problem …

She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica: A Gripping Psychological Thriller

Published by skeptic

A Nurse’s Nightmare Unfolds Mary Kubica, the master of psychological suspense, delivers another gripping thriller with her latest novel “She’s Not Sorry.” In this taut page-turner, Kubica plunges readers into the high-stakes world of an ICU nurse whose compassion becomes her greatest vulnerability. As the lines between professional duty and personal involvement blur, we’re left questioning how well we truly know those closest to us—and what desperate acts we might be capable of to protect the ones we love. Unpacking a Web of Lies A Fall from Grace…Or Was She Pushed? The story opens with ICU nurse Meghan Michaels caring for Caitlin Beckett, a young woman in a coma after an apparent suicide attempt. Caitlin supposedly jumped from a pedestrian bridge, plummeting over 20 feet onto train tracks below. But when a witness comes forward suggesting Caitlin may have been pushed, Meghan finds herself drawn into a tangled web of lies, family secrets, and hidden motives. As Meghan becomes more invested in uncovering the truth about what happened to Caitlin, she makes the critical mistake …

Exploding pagers, psychological warfare: Israel’s attack on Hezbollah | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Exploding pagers, psychological warfare: Israel’s attack on Hezbollah | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Published by Sam

Beirut, Lebanon – At least nine people were killed and some 3,000 injured, including the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when thousands of pagers exploded – nearly simultaneously – in Lebanon. The attack on Tuesday, which purportedly targeted members of the Hezbollah group, caused havoc in civilian areas and overwhelmed hospitals. A resident of the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp told Al Jazeera traffic was heavy as bloodied people arrived at the nearby Al Rassoul al-Azam Hospital. Lebanese hospitals called on all available medics to report for duty as injured people poured through their doors in need of treatment, many covered in blood and in visible pain. Iranian media said Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani was injured by an exploding pager. Iran’s mission in Beirut later posted on X, formerly Twitter, saying Amani’s treatment was “progressing well”, adding the reports of his “physical condition and vision are false”. Attacks were also reported in neighbouring Syria. An officer inspects a car in which a pager exploded in Beirut on September 17, 2024 [Hussein Malla/AP Photo] Hezbollah pledges ‘fair …

She Won the Psychological Battle But…

She Won the Psychological Battle But…

Published by skeptic

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts The most appropriate terms to describe how Kamala Harris triumphed over Donald Trump in Tuesday’s debate come not from political punditry but from the field of psychology: triggered, baited, ego deflated. In answer after answer Kamala Harris went straight for Donald Trump’s tender spots, calling him weak, saying he was an easy target for dictators “who can manipulate you with flattery,” and that he was having a “difficult time processing” that he actually lost the last election. Harris laid obvious traps, like saying people left his rallies “out of exhaustion and boredom,” for example, and he walked into nearly all of them. The result was that Trump was too distracted to land many punches. On this week’s Radio Atlantic we talk to political writers Elaine Godfrey and Mark Leibovich to explore the potential long term effects of the dramatic debate. Will this new impression of Kamala Harris stick? Will Trump’s missed opportunities make a difference? (And which is the right Taylor Swift …

How marital dynamics shape psychological well-being

How marital dynamics shape psychological well-being

Published by José

A recent study published in the journal Personal Relationships investigated the long-term dynamics of self-esteem, subjective happiness, and marital conflict in South Korean married couples. The study found that self-esteem and happiness were interconnected for both partners individually, while wives played a greater role in influencing their husbands’ self-esteem and marital conflict than vice versa. “Marital relationships are among the most significant bonds where mutual influence is experienced by most individuals over their lifetime. However, there is still insufficient research on the psychological and marital functioning for couples over time, particularly with data collected from both marital partners,” said study author Jeong Jin Yu, a professor in educational studies at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. “Despite women’s increased participation in the workforce, it remains unclear whether and how wives’ employment predicts marital and psychological functioning in married couples over time. This study aimed to address these underexplored issues.” For his study, Yu analyzed longitudinal data from the Panel Study on Korean Children (PSKC), focusing on a subset of data collected from 2014 to 2016. This approach allowed …

New study sheds light what really influences nightmares and their psychological impact

New study sheds light what really influences nightmares and their psychological impact

Published by José

Recent research published in the journal Dreaming has provided new insights into what influences nightmares and the distress they cause. The study found that an individual’s long-standing personality traits, rather than their momentary emotional state, play a more critical role in both the occurrence of nightmares and the distress experienced from them. Nightmares affect between 2.4% and 12% of adults, and their impact extends beyond unpleasant dreams. They have been linked to heightened emotional distress, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, paranoia, and even an increased risk of suicide. While previous research explored both nightmare frequency (how often they occur) and nightmare distress (how bothersome they are), there has been an ongoing debate about the roles of personality traits (long-term characteristics) versus states (temporary experiences). The new study aimed to clarify how these factors interact and to investigate recently identified traits such as ego strength and emotional regulation. “I’ve always been interested in understanding why we dream, especially why we have bad dreams or nightmares. The reasons seem both complex and elusive. Since I like a good …