Most Popular
1500 questions
20
votes
4 answers
What causes some people to unconsciously imitate the accents of others?
Background: I often notice that when I talk with someone with an accent that I often unconsciously start to imitate their accent. Similarly, you see some people that very quickly after moving to a country start to adopt the local accent whereas…
Jeromy Anglim
- 30,741
- 11
- 93
- 221
20
votes
5 answers
If someone becomes a split-brain patient, which side will "maintain" the continuity in their consciousness?
The brain injury might apparently produce two "independent" consciousnesses, and I'm wondering where the original person's "consciousness" would "transfer".
We had a debate on this over at Reddit some time ago, but it didn't really get resolved.…
InquilineKea
- 2,317
- 17
- 33
20
votes
5 answers
Why do people laugh in serious situations?
I've seen people (including myself) that laugh for no apparent reason in really serious situations, such as in an argument or when receiving bad news. Although the other party is clearly very upset, it seems they have the worst possible reaction:…
Eric B
- 301
- 1
- 2
- 4
20
votes
5 answers
Is the mathematician's activity psychologically healthy?
I am a professional mathematician, and I regularly meet other mathematicians.
I have come to wonder if there is something like a slight neurosis, specific to this activity.
To be more precise, let me grossly describe the mathematician's…
Sebastien Palcoux
- 429
- 2
- 10
20
votes
4 answers
Can we be conscious of our dreams?
During the day time, we are conscious of our surroundings and the brain does its work.
During sleep, we are not conscious. We have dreams. But the brain continues to function. After we awake though, there is only a memory of the dream experience.…
Sai Krishna
- 332
- 1
- 5
20
votes
2 answers
What are popular rationalist responses to Tversky & Shafir?
In the early 90s Tversky & Shafir observed several violations of rationality in human participants, in particular violation of the disjunction effect and sure-thing principle. This has lead to much work on questioning the rationalist assumptions of…
Artem Kaznatcheev
- 12,323
- 5
- 70
- 164
20
votes
1 answer
Does dream recall disturb the processes of memory consolidation?
Psychology in the time of Freud was occupied with dreams. Relaying these to one's analyst was an important part of treatment.
Fast-forward to less than 100 years later, and we know so much about the importance of sleep in consolidating memories…
Chuck Sherrington
- 7,112
- 4
- 43
- 83
20
votes
2 answers
Is Freudian Psychology a scientifically valid contribution to the Cognitive Sciences?
Freudian Psychology is based on the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). He is the founder of Psychoanalysis and is credited with establishing the field of verbal psychotherapy. Freud is known for his theories of the unconscious mind, dreams,…
AliceD
- 20,583
- 8
- 49
- 140
20
votes
4 answers
What is the primary source of the "mount stupid" graphic?
Online descriptions of the Dunning-Kruger effect are often accompanied by a "mount stupid" graphic similar to the below - from a Psychology Today article:
However, the research paper does not contain this graphic. Here are some of the graphics…
Arnon Weinberg
- 19,600
- 8
- 56
- 91
20
votes
5 answers
Is there an R implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model for measuring response time and accuracy?
I am looking for an implementation of the linear ballistic accumulator model or Ratcliff's diffusion model (e.g. in R, MATLAB, or Python).
jokel
- 653
- 5
- 11
20
votes
3 answers
Are there any personality theories that use the scientific method?
Background
I have come across a number of personality theories. There are even disciplines of personality theories, dividing these theories according to the assumptions they are based upon. The most accepted/used theories seem to be Big 5 and…
Bharadwaj Srigiriraju
- 1,445
- 12
- 16
20
votes
1 answer
Is there a range in time on which the mind detects correlation between events?
I've been searching for info on this but I'm usually finding unrelated information.
My question is whether there is a time range in which our mind suspects that two events are correlated.
For example: pressing a pedal in the car and hearing a noise…
Alpha
- 791
- 5
- 13
20
votes
1 answer
Does self-directed speech help or hurt a blind subject's auditory recognition?
Recently, it was found that self-directed speech was helpful to sighted subjects engaging in a visual search task:
Participants searched for common objects, while being sometimes [sic] asked to speak the target’s name aloud. Speaking facilitated…
Chuck Sherrington
- 7,112
- 4
- 43
- 83
19
votes
2 answers
Thinking, Fast and Slow vs. Mindfulness vs. Flow
I've been wondering how dual-process theory, which is described in Daniel Kahneman's book "Thinking, Fast and Slow", relates to mindfulness and the state of being in the present moment and the flow experiences coined by Mihály…
ThamP
- 344
- 2
- 5
19
votes
2 answers
Why do people avoid taking the last "donut"?
In many contexts (family, colleagues, etc), say there is a box of donuts for people to take (or any kind of treat or snack). A lot of the times we can observe that there will be only one left and people just avoid taking the last one.
Is there a…
LulalaBoss
- 293
- 2
- 6