When I was studying #psychology I learned about the theory of semantic memory - how people will remember the meaning of something better than raw facts.
This is certainly true for me. I can remember long strings of numbers if I have time to give them a context. And this must be what mnemonics and memory palaces do: give data a semantic structure and context to help us remember it.
Since April is #AutismAwarenessMonth, I felt like I should amplify the fact that people with #Autism and #Autistic spectrum disorders almost unanimously feel that #AutismSpeaks is counterproductive in that it actively avoids allowing autistic representation, and focuses on suppressing autistic traits in general rather than trying to bolster coping skills and give autistic people wider acceptance in society.
It's the equivalent of an organization about people in wheelchairs, run entirely by people who are inconvenienced by them, pulling attention away from advocacy for ramps in order to find ways to make the wheelchairs less obtrusive, at the expense of the people in wheelchairs.
When Eugenia Kuyda created Replika, the AI companion app, she had no idea it would be downloaded millions of times all around the world. The results were more powerful than she could ever have predicted. But so was the backlash.
"A way to understand that answer is to maybe think that in life we do need advice, and we need help, and we make those kinds of judgements. But what about having a space in our lives - a desert in the oasis of our lives - where we're not told what we should do or not do. But we're brought to a space in which we just confront ourselves and who we are.
"... this book [Negative Psychoanalysis for the Living Dead] is more focused on people who are experiencing an absolute despair. Where any type of positive, 'you can do it' message would feel like a dagger. And [Julie Reshe's] work is about acknowledging that irredeemable suffering, what she calls 'negative plasticity' from the work of Catherine Malabou..."
Relistening to this Millennials Are Killing Capitalism after having seen the images coming out of Al-Shifa hospital after the IOF massacred 100s of people there. Don't @ me about "battle" when IL soldiers have documented their own war crimes.
Mental Health Check: Unpacking Affect and Resisting Psychic Intrusion with Lara Sheehi
"Many people are feeling burnt out and struggling a lot mentally, amid the constant mobilizations to stop the genocide being enacted in Gaza. And many people are experiencing incalculable trauma through the loss of family, friends, comrades and more. Dr. Lara Sheehi will join MAKC Live! for a discussion on mental health.
[...]
Lara's work takes up decolonial and anti-oppressive approaches to psychoanalysis, with a focus on liberation struggles in the Global South. She is co-author [...] of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine which won the Middle East Monitor's 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is the author of the forthcoming book, From the Clinic to the Street: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures (Pluto Press, 2025)"
Relistening to this Millennials Are Killing Capitalism after having seen the images coming out of Al-Shifa hospital after the IOF massacred more than 400 people there. Don't @ me about "battle" when IL soldiers have documented their own war crimes.
Mental Health Check: Unpacking Affect and Resisting Psychic Intrusion with Lara Sheehi
"Many people are feeling burnt out and struggling a lot mentally, amid the constant mobilizations to stop the genocide being enacted in Gaza. And many people are experiencing incalculable trauma through the loss of family, friends, comrades and more. Dr. Lara Sheehi will join MAKC Live! for a discussion on mental health.
[...]
Lara's work takes up decolonial and anti-oppressive approaches to psychoanalysis, with a focus on liberation struggles in the Global South. She is co-author [...] of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine which won the Middle East Monitor's 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is the author of the forthcoming book, From the Clinic to the Street: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures (Pluto Press, 2025)"
From CBC Kids:
How to tell if you have eco-anxiety (and what to do about it)
Especially younger generations, they sort of see the writing on the wall with what’s to come if no action is taken [to fight climate change]. And so they are very worried about their future.”
Eco-anxiety is usually associated with fear for the future, deep sadness and anger related to the environment.
How behavioral science can help us find meaning in our work.
The MIT Press Reader reports: "Research shows that simple practices can help us zoom out, rediscover purpose, and find a fresh perspective when we're feeling burned out."
Currently there's a big wave of #retro (1980s mostly) #aesthetics, #music, #movies & #tech, embraced by Gen Z/A. Some are baffled by that and try to understand why. To me, it's obvious why: that was the golden age of the modern world (1950s is too far removed at this point to be embraced by them).
So what we're seeing is a depressive #nostalgia of a promising & hopeful world that will never be witnessed by the young generations. They know it, and they're trying to get a bite of it.
The new issue of Educational Psychologist is out! This issue contains cutting-edge ideas on school segregation and social processes and also teachers’ emotion regulation and effectiveness. It also has Thomas Good’s Career achievement address on decades of teacher expectations and effectiveness research. Let’s go!!!!! https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hedp20/59/2
“In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical 'therapy' to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens.”
Nice piece in Nature warning against Jon Haidt’s new book on screen time and mental health. The case he is making for screen time is not supported by the evidence, but it’s something that seems plausible and people will be happy to believe. Recently, it seems like these kinds of loose, associative stories are winning out over careful reads of the evidence. @psychology@psychology