Psychology Facts and Insights Curated from Popular Sources

Positive psychology treatments focus on four fundamental areas:

• Strengths: Finding one's inner strength and resilience.
• Quality of life: Goals and achievements should be underpinned by meaning and purpose.
• Hope: Ensuring a positive attitude when faced with life's trials and knowing that they have the support to cope.
• Wellbeing: A sense of environmental mastery, full engagement with the world, and personal satisfaction.

Those who desire to live in tiny homes show two psychological mechanisms:

• Clustering. It is the idea that we tend to mix with like-minded individuals.
• Self-verification. We want to be seen in ways that are aligned with our identities.

If you live in a tiny house, you probably have a high need for uniqueness and enjoy an intellectual challenge - you will have distinct constraints that will require a solution.

• Self-Concept: Our own self-image, the way we perceive ourselves.
• Identity: Our social status, physical characteristics and abilities.
• Self-Perspective: Our own unique view of ourselves and the world around us.
• Self-Worth: The ability to see the good in ourselves, someone who deserves good things and values being themselves.
• Self-Esteem: It is a positive sense of self-worth, our own confidence, and the need to fulfil your and others desires.
• Individuality: It is our own unique self, as each of us has our own thoughts, needs, abilities and preferences.
• Personality: The unique traits, quirks and other qualities that make you who you are. Example: Cheerful, quiet, or bossy.

Repression is of two types: primary and proper.

While the primary one takes into account the fact of hiding undesired thoughts or facts, the proper one takes place whenever an individual becomes aware of the thoughts that had initially been hidden and tries to hide them again.

Communication to first impressions, to gaining admiration, attracting someone and self improvement, psychology tricks can do wonders for you! Don’t underestimate what you are about to read, practice them and see how they work. Scroll down now!.

Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology.

The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental processes down into their most basic elements. 

Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school of thought. Instead of focusing on the mental processes themselves, functionalist thinkers were instead interested in the role that these processes play.

• The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the part of our brains situated right behind our forehead. It is responsible for abstract thinking, analyzing thoughts, and regulating behavior.
• The PFC controls what we think about, what we pay attention to, how we feel. Studies point out that this part of the brain is only fully developed around age 25.
• The "I will power" is controlled by the region near the upper left side of the brain and helps you start and continue with not so fun tasks.
• The right side handles the "I won't power," preventing you from acting out on every impulse.
• The "I want power" sits in the middle of the PFC and keeps track of your goals and desires.

• This school of psychology is based on the idea that we experience things as unified wholes.
• The approach started in the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.
• Instead of breaking down thoughts and behaviour to their smallest parts, the gestalt psychologists believed you should view the whole of experience.

When I was in class someone ask ''how can I say if my patient is telling me the truth?" the answer we receive was "we don't need to find that "absolute veracity of facts" because the real important thing is the reality of the facts that your patient believes in.

Maybe a lot of people know about it, but for me it was a little shock. How do you want to interact with the feelings of others if you don't know how to work with your own feelings?

Therapy is really important for everyone, unrelated if you are a child, adult, old, young, woman and man. Take care of your health.

The projection bias means that even though people generally understand the direction in which their attributes will change over time, they systematically underestimate the magnitude of this change, so their prediction lies between their current attributes and their actual future attributes.

This happens because people give too much weight to the anchor of their current attributes, and fail to properly take into account factors that could cause their attributes to change, such as maturation, social influence, change in circumstances, adaptation to changes, and general mood fluctuations.

The vast majority of the self-help industry deals with the two genres of pop psychology: practical help with everyday challenges and overcoming mental health problems.

But not all popular psychology is self-help, and not all self-help literature is based on psychology. Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends and Influence People, was a salesman, actor and public speaking coach. Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, was a religious educator, and M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Travelled, was a psychiatrist.

In order to better understand what emotions are. let's focus on their three key elements known as:

• The subjective experience
• The physiological response
• The behavioral response.

• Some suggest that love is a basic human emotion, like happiness or anger.
• Others believe it’s a cultural phenomenon that partly arises from social pressures and expectations.
• Research has found that romantic love exists in all cultures, which suggests that love has a strong biological component.

It’s a part of human nature to seek out and find love. However, culture can significantly affect how individuals think about, experience, and display romantic love.

Psychology encompasses the study of the mind and brain. Those fascinated by cognitive processes, emotions, and neurological aspects may naturally gravitate toward asking psychology-related questions.

Moral psychology is the study of how we process moral ideas, how we become moral beings, and how our brains handle moral issues. We can use a four-category framework to understand how people make moral judgements. These are: Evaluations, Norm judgements, Wrongness judgements and Blame judgements.

It takes less than two seconds of seeing an action with a moral dimension to make a basic judgement on whether it was good or bad, morally wrong or not, and who to blame for it. Some of these quick decisions will be wrong because we rely on preexisting biases and insufficient information. The four-category framework can help us understand that moral situations can be viewed from different perspectives. Holding opposing views on an issue can be natural.

Here I will summarize some laws of human nature and later, I will publish the second part to continue learning a little more about Robert Greene's book. Having mentioned this, we can begin!.

The term 'culture' can be defined as the characteristics of a group of people, from attitudes to values, transmitted from generation to generation.

The cross-cultural psychology studies, by means of etic or emic approach, the way culture influences our life as a whole or the idea of ethnocentrism, which so often leads to biases.

Did you know that love can be addictive? Or that people are more likely to fall in love with someone who looks like them? Keep reading to discover six controversial psychology facts about human love that might surprise you!

• During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt outlined many of the major connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior.
• He viewed psychology as the study of human consciousness and tried to apply experimental methods to study internal mental processes.
• His processes are known as introspection and seen as unreliable and unscientific today, but it helped to set the stage for future experimental methods.
• The opening of his psychology lab In 1879 is considered to be the official start of psychology as a separate scientific discipline.

A basic understanding of this mindset - being an innocent, passive victim at the hands of others and circumstance, completely devoid of any responsibility/accountability and has no power to change things.

The general behaviours and beliefs displayed are as follows:

• I am not responsible for my own happiness.
• I am not responsible for my own decisions.
• I am a victim of circumstance.
• There is nothing I can do to change things.
• Nobody is helping me.
• Others should understand me.
• Falling apart and being helpless is part of life.

It’s no secret that boys are pretty distinct in how they approach life right from the get-go. From learning to relationships and everything in between, the way their minds work and develop is quite interesting, to say the least.

Here are 41 facts about boys that’ll blow your mind.

• Realistic hope: It is hope for an outcome that is reasonable and possible. For example, hope for ease from chronic pain, knowing that complete eradication is unrealistic.
• Utopian hope: It is a collectively oriented hope that combined action can lead to a better future for everyone.
• Chosen hope: Hope helps us live with a problematic present in an uncertain future. Choosing hope for the smallest range of goals is essential to control negative emotions.
• Transcendent hope, or existential hope, is the hope that is not tied to a specific outcome, but a general hope that something good can happen.

When you don't have to make a decision then don't make a decision. 

What makes certain women appear confident and in control? There are habits that confident women adopt.

Confidence comes from knowing your area of expertise so thoroughly that you speak about it with complete certainty and unwavering knowledge. Research shows that planning and preparing for the unknown is an important factor in developing self-confidence .

Being held back a grade in middle school will hugely impact the future career of a person and so this pressure can mean many students are put at risk of developing depression/anxiety/EDs as a result of high stress levels. 

This culture is devastating is unaddressed and over-parenting a child can make it worse, if their successes and failures are taken on by the parents, they may put too high a value on results and be afraid of failure.

• Have an open posture. Be relaxed, sit or stand upright and place your hands by your sides. 
• Use a firm handshake. But don't get carried away - you'll likely come across as rude or aggressive.
• Maintain good eye contact. Try to hold the other person's gaze for a few seconds at a time. 
• Avoid touching your face. There's a common perception that people who touch their faces while answering questions are being dishonest.

1. You forget 90% of your dreams.
2. Your dreams are like a mirror. They reflect your innermost feelings about the world and the people around you.
3. Psychology says, when a person appears in your dreams, they want to see you.
4. 70% of our dreams contain secrets.
5. There is about a 52% chance that your dream come true.
6. People with higher IQ levels dream more than an average.
7. A study found that before finding a man of her dreams, the average woman will experience four disaster dates and two heartbreaks.

1. Structure your day so that there is some feeling of control.
2. Learn a new skill.
3. Stay in touch with your friends and loved ones.
4. Exercise regularly.
5. In case you skipped the previous point, exercise regularly.
6. Respect the space and privacy of others.
7. Go out and get some fresh air.

People prefer to spend time with others who have a clear choice about what they like to do.

Most people don’t get this intuitively and think that if they are open to anything and are flexible, the other person would be pleased. According to new research on small joint decisions, the opposite is true.

• Reflective journaling
• Mindfulness and gratitude
• Identifying and balancing negative thoughts
• Accepting and managing emotions
• Forming healthy interpersonal relationships, including forgiveness.

“While good leaders care about business impact, great leaders focus more on psychological impact”

-Narayanan Palani

Desire Paths and the psychology behind them can reveal many other examples: using software not as intended, making choices not previously predicted by a designer, or driving on a route different than what the GPS recommended. Desire Paths are just one example of how humans will use space and resources to fit their schedules and preferences. 

Since 1960, psychology continues to develop new ideas and perspectives. Recent research in psychology looks at many aspects of human experience, from biological influences on behavior to the impact of social and cultural factors.

Today, psychologists focus on a specialty area or perspective, drawing from diverse theoretical backgrounds.

As the nature of this profession involves a diverse range of topics, a community psychologist performs many different roles and duties like

• Finding out and addressing community problems
• Finding new ways to help disadvantaged individuals
• Developing community-based programs
• Bridging the gap between the individual and the community group.
• Understand the social issues rampant among minority groups.
• Promoting participation and diversity by evaluation of organizations and governments.

In psychology, self-knowledge is accurate information one possesses about oneself.

This includes knowledge about our emotional state, personality traits, relationships, opinions, beliefs, values, needs, goals, preferences, social identity and behavioural patterns.

The beginnings of psychology differ significantly from contemporary conceptions of the field. Modern psychology covers a range of topics, looking at human behavior en mental processes from the neural level to the cultural level.

Psychology defines ego as a neutral concept which is one of many aspects of ourselves. The ego is then simply one’s individuality, the thoughts, behaviours and experiences that make a person unique. It is the part that perceives reality, making sense of all the information around us.

Sigmund Freud divided the human psyche into three parts: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the primal, wild part of our mind, the ego is the ‘conscious mediator’, the rational part of our mind making all the decisions, and the superego is the conscience.

The researcher added, “Modern masculinity is evolving. It becomes culturally more and more acceptable for men to admit they want to look physically attractive and attend to their attractiveness.” With regard to study limitations, she noted, “Although our study is innovative, as it utilizes a diary design (i.e., participants filled the diary each day for seven days, reporting all the activities they performed on the given day that were aimed to increase their attractiveness), the sample size warrants caution when drawing any general conclusions."

Psychology-related words and phrases tend to creep into our everyday vocabularies. Unfortunately, many of them have been twisted in our minds, and we now use them to refer to the wrong thing—or, in some cases, science has moved on and we’re talking about something woefully outdated. Here are some of the worst offenders from a review of 50 “psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid,” as identified by authors who study psychology.

The Diamond Approach recognizes that psychological blocks and childhood traumas can hinder spiritual development. By addressing and understanding these issues, individuals can remove barriers to spiritual insight.

The main difference between the cross-cultural psychology and the other branches of psychology refers to the fact that cross-cultural psychology analyses the effects of culture on human behavior, whereas the other types of psychology focus more on how people themselves influence the human behavior.

Our self-perception and beliefs are powerful tools in shaping our ideal body. The way we view ourselves and what we believe about our capabilities directly influences our ability to achieve physical goals. A positive self-image and a belief in our potential can be the driving forces behind successful body transformation.

Humans are victim to something called confirmation bias: the tendency to interpret facts in a way that confirms what we already believe. So no matter how many facts you throw at your uncle trying to sway his political opinions, there's a good chance he isn't going to budge. It's one of the psychology facts you'll just have to accept that you can't change.

Men look more mature with age and more attractive as time passes.

But there's a catch, you must work on yourself.

Women however cannot look as attractive when they were in their teens and 20s in comparison their 30s and 40s.

Time to gear up and find out some uncomfortable truths about lying.

If you put information and intelligent first at all times, then money keeps coming in.

A Sigma male is someone who isn't interested in either being a leader or a follower. He is not the loud or aggressive person who tries to get everyone's attention in the room, nor is he the shy and introverted person who pretends not to exist in the room.

1. Internal Distraction
2. External Distraction

Psychology is about more than just information and facts. It's about gaining a deeper understanding and increasing our self-awareness.

• Information and data (can refer to the information gathered in psychology through talks, observations (interviews), and numerical data (from experiments and surveys) as data.
• Deeper understanding
• Self-awareness

• Make a seemingly noble gesture. Create good feelings all around. People want to believe they’re genuine.
• Create a pattern that serves as a smokescreen.Psychologically, people expect behavior to follow patterns. when they identify a pattern, they feel comfortable anticipating the next step.
• Exploit the human tendency to mistake appearance for reality

Psychology is not just about information and facts, but it's about gaining a deeper understanding and awareness of ourselves and others. It goes beyond facts and data, aiming for a more profound understanding. That's why I find it fascinating.

Psychology is not just about mere facts, data, or information. It delves into deeper understanding and aims for a more profound gaining of awareness. That's what makes it more than just a subject to study, but a fascinating journey towards self-discovery and growth. 🧠💭

Are you more likely to receive help in a room with 3 people, or a room with 30 people? The answer may be surprising to some.

ACT targets a person’s tendency to avoid things.

• It introduces the idea of achieving a state of mind where people are able to notice the problematic thoughts, feelings, or behaviours but not be overwhelmed or consumed by them (the “acceptance” part.)
• It encourages people to identify values that are important to them and figure out ways their day-to-day life can reflect these values (the commitment part).

1. Autonomy: Choosing what we want to do by ourselves.
2. Competence: Experiencing the satisfaction of completing our aims, goals or desires.
3. Relatedness: Feeling connected to others.

Being confined to a single place robs us of all our three basic psychological needs.

The first important role cross-cultural psychology has is to rectify most of the biases that people have in the field.

Furthermore, this branch of the psychology is used to understand the influence that cultural differences have on people's perception of each other.

Most people believe deep down that they have a true self that is morally good.

In an experiment, people were asked that if they could enter another body, which traits would most likely come with them. They consistently mentioned that they would retain traits related to their morality.

“There is no doctor better than cheerful thought for keeping the body healthy”

Your body reacts to your mind and will, therefore, be a direct reflection of your thoughts, and disease and health, like circumstance, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body and strong, pure and happy thoughts build a strong and graceful body. Your body is delicate and responds readily to your thoughts. A change of diet will not help you without changing your thoughts. If you want to protect your body, guard your mind.

One of the most effective ways to change your behaviour is to change your identity: Changing the way you see yourself.

Our perception of who we are—our identity or self-image—has a dramatic effect on our future actions.

Self-image is a cognitive shortcut that helps our brains make otherwise difficult choices in advance, thereby streamlining the decision-making process.

Because we are immersed in our emotions’ effects every moment of our lives, we tend to talk about them only when they’re exceptionally strong.

Psychoanalysis emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour.
Sigmund Freud found this school of thought. He believed that the mind was composed of three elements that interacted to create complex human behaviours:

• Id consists of primal urges.
• Ego is the part of personality that deals with reality.
• Superego is the component that holds all of the ideals and values we internalise from our parents and culture.

Major thinkers include Anna Freud, Carl Jung, and Erik Erickson.

Carl Jung was born in 1875 in Switzerland. He became the world-renowned founder of analytical psychology that focuses on a person's inner life to help understand how they think.

• One of the major attractions of becoming a psychologist is the opportunity to help others.

If you enjoy working with people, a career in psychology is a great choice. While the job can be stressful at times, many psychologists describe their jobs as very gratifying and fulfilling.

The word “sad” or “sadness” comes from a Middle English word that commonly refers to “firmness, toughness, permanence, solidness, and maturity.” 

Today we know it as an emotion that describes sorrowfulness, hopelessness, disappointment, and other woeful feelings. When we feel sad, our mood is dampened, and our energy is low. However, there is more to sadness than just feeling, read on to see why. 

4. Understand Human Behavior - The Law of Human Nature: Study human behavior to gain insights and predict others' actions. "By understanding human nature, we can navigate social dynamics with greater wisdom and effectiveness."

Have you ever spent money on something you knew was stupid, silly, or ill-advised? Have you ever known what you “should” do with your money, and then not done it? Do you procrastinate about important financial decisions, afraid you’ll make the wrong move? And then beat yourself up about it?

Here are two pieces of good news. You’re normal. And these are issues that can be solved.

We all have beliefs about money. Many of those beliefs were formed when we were young, maybe before we even knew what money really was. Sometimes those beliefs get in the way of our financial peace of mind.

When psychology developed as a science that was separate from biology and philosophy, they did not know how to describe the human mind and behaviour.

Different schools of psychology emerged that represent major theories within psychology. At first, psychologists identified with only one school of thought, but today, most psychologists draw on ideas and theories from various schools.

Freud believed that behaviour and personality came from the interaction of conflicting psychological forces that works at three levels of awareness:

• Preconscious. It consists of anything that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind.
• Conscious mind. It contains all the thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes we are aware of at any given moment.
• Unconscious mind. It is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that we are not consciously aware of. In includes unacceptable or unpleasant feelings, such as pain, anxiety, or conflict.

According to the triangular theory of love developed by psychologist Robert Sternberg, the three components of love are intimacy, passion, and commitment.

The main difference between psychology and ethics refers to the end results the two lead to.

While what people would do in certain situations, from a psychological point of view is one thing, what they should do is something completely different, which relies more on making the right decisions.

At the core of effective marketing lies a deep understanding of consumer psychology.

Marketers strive to unravel the mysteries of human behavior, tapping into the motivations that drive purchasing decisions.

From the psychology of color influencing perceptions to the impact of social proof on decision-making, the art of marketing is deeply rooted in decoding the intricacies of the human mind.

It's one of the most widely used and well-known talking therapies. It is based on the assumption that the way a person feels is closely related to the way a person thinks and the way they behave.

To change a person’s feelings, a psychologist providing CBT will help that person engage in different activities that can help to change thinking and behaviour patterns.

Psychotherapy is bound by the rules of confidentiality. Only you can release your health records to an outsider. 

• The actual self is what a person believes to be now, based on current attributes and abilities. 
• The ideal self is comprised of the attributes and abilities a person would like to possess one day— goals, hopes, and aspirations. 
• The ought self is who someone believes they should have been according to their obligations and responsibilities.

Most psychologists view color therapy with skepticism and point out that the supposed effects of color are often grossly exaggerated. Also, one’s feelings about color are often deeply personal and rooted in their own experience or culture.

Much of the evidence in this emerging area is anecdotal at best, so more scientific research is needed to gain a better understanding of color psychology.

The mind is the entity that carries out all our psychological processes . In it flow complex and wonderful motivational, emotional, behavioral, and perceptual systems. It’s important to clarify that the mind and brain aren’t the same entity. The first wouldn’t be able to exist without the second.

The mind emerges the moment a brain reaches sufficient biological sophistication. The future of psychology needs this vision, in which the mind and the brain are understood as connected, but the mind carries out its own functions.

Positive psychology will not prevent life's problems but will give a lens through which one can view difficulties. Finding the silver lining in every cloud lays the foundation by which resetting is made possible.

Positive psychology will not necessarily prevent illness, but their approach can be beneficial when combined with other treatments.

Men and women have differences in biological makeups and it also involves their difference in confidence. Women have a biological tendency to seek acceptance and avoid conflict, while men tend to take more risks under pressure. This shows that women might appear to lack inner confidence.

However, despite being perceived as such, studies show that if both given a scientific quiz, men and women provide the exact same results whether they underestimate themselves or not.

Most of these addictive mobile games are casual ones, and raked in $50 billion dollars of annual revenue in 2018 alone, more than what Hollywood’s global revenue was in that year.

Core gaming has dedicated followers and are complex, requiring commitment and skill. They require years of commitment and people are passionate about them, with some being lifetime members.

These games use highly advanced psychological tricks, studying the behaviour of smokers, to get people to spend on their platform.

• Psychologists, in general, provide assessment and therapy in a group format or individually. The purpose is to improve a persons' well-being.
• Clinical psychologists typically focus on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness.
• Clinical neuropsychologists asses and treat people with brain disorders that affect memory, learning, attention, reading or problem-solving.
• Psychiatrists are doctors who diagnose and treat people with mental illness and prescribe medications where needed.

Signs of a disengaged, disinterested or unhappy audience:

• Arms folded in front of the body.
• Minimal or tense facial expression.
• Body turned away from you.
• Eyes downcast, maintaining little contact.

Being aware of these signs can help you to adjust what you say and how you say it, so you can make him feel more at ease and receptive to your viewpoint

• Time: We think differently about events that are far in the future, compared to activities in the near future. For events in the distant future, we use abstract terms that lack concrete action.
• Space: We use abstract terms to describe events within a physically-near space than events that happen in a space further away.
• Social distance: When we describe someone that is different to us, we use abstract qualities (them and us).
• Hypothetically: We use abstract words and terms to describe events that may not happen compared to events that are more likely to happen.

• A person likes to kick things in front of him when he is angry, but if he is in front of someone else's Porsche, he may probably do nothing.
• Have you discovered the pattern of these things?
• When a person is angry, most of the time he will not choose to vent by hurting himself. This interesting human behavior also shows a truth:

Makeup does more than alter a woman’s attractiveness, it also plays a role in her ability to form new relationships.

While straight men look at a woman’s makeup or lack thereof to help determine her attractiveness, straight women use makeup to help judge other women’s personalities.

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

Most SF starts with the assumption progress is going to be fully technological. 2001, the Stanley Kubrick movie, explores the idea that technology can only take us so far, & altering our consciousness is the real way fwd.

In 2001, the rise of the human from the apes happens through the obelisk, an awakening event. And while humans evolve their tech to the point of creating a general AI, HAL9000, it turns out that the AI will inherit our human flaws. 

The ending of the movie, the psychedelic scene, is a statement that we have to upgrade our consciousness to go to the next stage.

The "science of happiness" was born as a result of Martin Seligman's (the father of positive psychology) endeavour to approach psychology beyond the idea of restoring normality in individuals and to look at happiness and contentment as ways to not only restore normality, but also to prevent and protect as well as potentially cure.

Positive psychology has three main areas: Generation of both short and long term healthy pleasures, joy obtained through the connection with others and happiness that comes from a meaningful life.

John Donovan, author of "The way of man", says masculinity is a combination of 4 traits: honour, strength, courage & mastery. Vincent Harinam proposes a similar triad:

1. Courage: being afraid of doing something but doing it anyway
2. Personal Responsibility, verging on extreme ownership: taking responsibility for not only your problems but group and family also.
3. Conquest: having a goal bigger than yourself

All of the above are based on the meta-skill of emotional control. Does not matter how you feel when you get up in the morning .... there is a job to be done, and real men do it.

John Dewey - America's profound philosopher , said that deepest urge in human nature is

" Desire to be important "

• Classical conditioning: A behavioural technique where a natural stimulus is paired with a previously neutral stimulus. The previously neutral stimulus eventually cause the response without pairing it to the natural stimulus.
• Operant conditioning: A behaviour training technique where punishments or reinforcements influence behaviour.
• Unconscious: The container for feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories.
• Id: The personality component made up of unconscious psychic energy used to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires.
• Ego: The unconscious part of the personality that moderates the id's demands, the superego, and reality.
• Superego: The part of personality composed of our internalised ideals that comes from our parents and society.

The very idea of human nature is now somewhat in trouble. Both scientists and philosophers are increasingly uncomfortable with the notion. Some of them even reject the notion. But Pigliucci thinks, “They are seriously mistaken in doing so.” Until the mid-1800s, people in the West thought an all-powerful God had specially created humans. They accepted Aristotle’s argument that humans are special because they are built in the image of God.

light and bouncy, soft and fluid, dynamic and determined, or precise and bold

light & bouncy: You may appear fidgety, restless, and have a bounce in your step. It is hard to focus and you probably have a challenging time standing still.

soft & fluid: Grace, longer steps than average, and sitting and standing in an S curve. You will find these people to seem interested as they often tilt their head to one side.

dynamic & determined: slightly shifted forward almost ready to leap. Move with intention looking eager.

precise and bold: poise and posture. Upright and motionless. Deemed proper.

The human mind works in two ways: Consciously and unconsciously. It’s the unconscious mind that’s the most fascinating, as much of what you do every day is automatically carried out by it. Thinking of the term “unconscious” almost instantly brings the theories of Sigmund Freud to mind.

The truth is that this mental layer brings together all those automatic tasks that we carry out frequently and that don’t require active and conscious information processing.

The 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it satisfying. We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards. The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. To get a habit to stick you need to feel immediately successful—even if it’s in a small way. The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time.

• Psychological manipulation is the exercise of undue influence through mental distortion and emotional exploitation, with the intention to seize power, control, benefits, and privileges at the victim’s expense. 
• Healthy social influence occurs between most people, and is part of the give and take of constructive relationships.

“When you are chronically stressed, your body continues to divert energy from long-term needs such as digestion, reproduction, healing injuries, and fighting off illnesses to respond to the constant stream of apparent emergencies.”

Stress will cloud your mind and keep you from being productive. However, if you help rejuvenate your mind and body, you can get into the right mindset to do what you need to do.

The most important emotions in relation to money are fear, guilt, shame, and envy.

• Common fears include the fear of not having enough, the fear of looking stupid, the fear of provoking envy, and the fear of being exposed or humiliated.
• You might feel guilty because you have more than your friends, or you haven’t been particularly charitable, or you’ve had money come too easily.
• Shame is one of the most common and powerful emotions associated with money and personal finance. It is a prime reason people avoid doing what they know they should. It's natural to want to avoid exposure in relation to something you're ashamed about.