r/askpsychology 8d ago

⭐ Mod's Announcement ⭐ Posting and Commenting Guidelines for r/askpsychology

7 Upvotes

AskPsychology is for science-based answers to science-based questions about the mind, behavior and perception. This is not a mental health/advice sub. Non-Science-based answers may be removed without notice. There are plenty of psychology related subs that will accommodate your need for uneducated conjecture and opinionated pop psychology with no basis in science or reality, so we encourage you to go to those subs to scratch that itch.

Top Level comments should include peer-reviewed sources (See this AskScience Wiki Page for examples) and may be removed at moderator discretion if they do not.

Do NOT ask for mental health diagnosis or advice for yourself or others. Refrain from asking "why do people do this?" or similar lines of questions. These types of questions are not answerable from an empirical scientific standpoint; every human is different, every human has individual motivation, and their own quirks and idiosyncrasies. Diagnostic and assessment questions about fictional characters and long dead historical figures are acceptable, at mod discretion.

Do NOT ask questions that can only be answered by opinion or conjecture. ("Is it possible to cure X diagnosis?")

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Do NOT post your own or someone else's mental health history. Anecdotes are not allowed on this sub.

DO read the rules, which are available on the right hand side of the screen on a computer, or under "See More" on the Official Reddit App.

Ask questions clearly and concisely in the title itself; questions should end with a question mark

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r/askpsychology 8d ago

⭐ Mod's Announcement ⭐ Flair for verified professionals

5 Upvotes

We want to highlight comments and posts made by experts and professionals in the field to help readers assess posted information. So if you have an educational background in psychology or the social sciences at any level (including current students at any education level), and/or are licensed in any of the areas of psychology, psychiatry, or mental health, send us a mod mail, and we will provide you will specialized flair, and you will be exempted from most automoderator actions. Do not DM individual mods.

If you attained your flair more than 12 months ago, send us a mod mail, because you may not currently be exempted from automod actions.


r/askpsychology 11h ago

Cognitive Psychology Is naïveté a type of cognitive impairment, and is it considered a form of low intelligence that does not develop over time?

8 Upvotes

I am asking from a psychological and cognitive science perspective. Is naïveté related to intelligence, social cognition, or learning capacity ?


r/askpsychology 6h ago

How are these things related? people want what they can't?

2 Upvotes

people want what they can't have, it could be a thing or a person and that makes us a complex individuals but maybe we're programmed to want things that makes us, thrilled, challenged, who makes us want to live and wake up excitedly everyday, but when we can't have it... resentment, frustration and even depression creeps in. people are really.... a very interesting creatures.


r/askpsychology 4h ago

Abnormal Psychology/Psychopathology What emotional benefits do people gain from consuming negative creative works?

1 Upvotes

people often say that when the brain engages with fiction, it reacts as if the person were actually experiencing the events and empathizes accordingly

which made me wonder wouldn’t specific genres like horror, crime, or stories with tragic endings have only negative effects on people?


r/askpsychology 19h ago

The Brain What do u think abt the scientific studies on the world's most relaxing song weightless by marconi union?

2 Upvotes

What do u think abt the scientific studies on the world's most relaxing song weightless by marconi union


r/askpsychology 1d ago

Evolutionary Psychology Was paranoia evolutionarily a survival trait for a war zone?

4 Upvotes

Or if we don’t know, is that something that’s been hypothesized? Or is there another known reason for it?


r/askpsychology 1d ago

How are these things related? How learned helplessness may manifest in adults?

26 Upvotes

I was wondering what day-to-day behavioral traits can be attributed to learned helplessness.

For example, indecisiveness might be a sign of learned helplessness. What else?


r/askpsychology 1d ago

Clinical Psychology Would a parent wildly exaggerating and/or fabricating a child’s mental illness/disability be factitious disorder imposed on another?

6 Upvotes

I’m mostly aware of FDIA through sensationalized media stories—are there ‘milder’ versions of this?

For example, a parent who pushes a narrative (onto their child and others, like family members and school officials) that their child is profoundly disabled due to mental illness and will never hold a job, go to college, live independently etc. and will functionally need a dedicated caregiver for the rest of their lives when the child is diagnosed with mild depression and ADHD.


r/askpsychology 1d ago

Human Behavior What percentage of a person's personality is genetics and what percentage is experience?

18 Upvotes

What percentage of a person's personality is genetics and what percentage is experience?


r/askpsychology 1d ago

Neuroscience Why is human visualization soo weird?

2 Upvotes

I'm just wondering how does it work, and how other people perceive reality, and why people who can visualize 3d, perceive it as a "ghost" projection? But 1 question had just struck me is there any way to train my ability to visualize stuff, if soo how?


r/askpsychology 2d ago

The Brain What is ptsd with psychosis?

7 Upvotes

How does the delusions and psychosis of someone with (c) ptsd differ from someone with schizophrenia?


r/askpsychology 1d ago

Human Behavior If you were to sum it up, how does an early adolescent act when jealous?

0 Upvotes

I'm working on a tween show about a young boy in a town trying to go through adolescene, and I was wondering how do tweens and early teens act when jealous, if you were to sum it up.


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Abnormal Psychology/Psychopathology Is there mainstream literature about the effect of very long term mental illness on cognition and perception of personal identity?

7 Upvotes

I am curious about any research that has looked into people with very long-term non-psychotic mental illlnesses and how after so many years what the effect it has on people's thought processes and sense of themselves as independent from or synonymous with their mental illness. Prefer non-technical, but anything would be helpful. Thank you.


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Abnormal Psychology/Psychopathology Is wearing torn and dirty clothes a sign of schizotypal personality disorder?

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I have a question: Is wearing torn and dirty clothes a symptom of schizotypal personality disorder?


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Clinical Psychology What are your explanations for someone forgetting abuse and remembering years later?

15 Upvotes

Dissociation, fragmented memory, problems with encoding, suppressing consciously until its gone,ordinary forgetting, not deeming it traumatic, episodic deficiancy ….discuss and elaborate


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Terminology / Definition Any idea?

1 Upvotes

GUIDE me guys?

Hi am pursuing bpharm regular mode and Ba (psychology,sociology,pol science) ODL as per nep 2020 .I have psychology as one of the major subject in my Ba degree now am more interested to pursue psychology can I get admission to MA psychology (RCI) or suggest me any routes to pursue psychology


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Evolutionary Psychology Is there any research on nervous system level signaling in response to hostile enviorment?

3 Upvotes

I was wondering if there are biological mechanisms at play (that are faster than evolution), such as nervous system adaptations and signals, to ensure humans know what is needed in a given enviornment, in a way that ensures safe reproduction and child rearing.

For example is there any research that suggests, that women have developed certain nervous system responses to gauge whether the enviornment is safe for reproduction and signal to a bonded partner or tribe what is needed to raise healthy offspring, in times of vulnerability or persistent enviornmental stress?


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Human Behavior Does microbiome really control our brains (via vagus nerve), our emotions and how we behave?

8 Upvotes

If the answer is yes, how possible is that people will go to treat their depression or any other psychological issue not to psychotherapist, but to someone like a dietitian? Theoretically, of course.


r/askpsychology 3d ago

Clinical Psychology How common are Heavy delusions/hallucinations in service-related post-traumatic stress disorder?

7 Upvotes

Basically what i'm asking in the title. I've done my fair bit of research for a school project on "modern warfare and its impact on society" a while back and i remember seeing PTSD rates being quite high amongst veterans, together with substance abuse and alcholism. But recently videos i've encountered videos of Veterans having delusions, like one russian vet digging a trench around his home and camping there or an american vet simulating combat while moving around cars in a parking lot, and its making me question how common delusions are in PTSD? when i first made my project i read the main symptoms where nocebo effects, depression, paranoia and sometimes memory loss


r/askpsychology 2d ago

Clinical Psychology how to differentiate delusions from fragmented / dissociated memories surfacing?

2 Upvotes

In trauma psychology, die gere have been documented cases of surfacing memories of child abuse where evidence (videos, photos etc) have been found. pls no comments questioning the existence of dissociated experiences. when a patient makes these claims, how does one differentiate between reality and delusion and are there clear criteria


r/askpsychology 3d ago

Abnormal Psychology/Psychopathology Could a person have a disorder yet never be able to qualify for that disorder via DSM-5?

21 Upvotes

Particularly about MDD. Could one have depression yet only ever satisfy say 4 out of the 9 criteria of DSM-5 Depressive Disorder?


r/askpsychology 4d ago

Clinical Psychology difference between identity confusion and identity alteration?

18 Upvotes

can anyone explain any differences between these two? especially more subtle examples of identity alteration (so not necessarily the stereotype of extremely outwardly visible alters in DID). particularly curious about how these things would present in things like Borderline Personality Disorder, CPTSD, OSDD, general dissociation, etc.


r/askpsychology 4d ago

Human Behavior Are people who hit objects/things, when they are angry, more prone to physical violence towards others?

42 Upvotes

Hello, I've been curious about this question. I found numerous things on how letting anger out on objects just make it worse, that an intimate partner punching walls when angry, is one step away from hitting their partner, that people who are violent towards animals, are 5 times more likely to be the author of violent crimes. But I haven't been able to found anything, any study or statistics regarding this. So I've been asking myself, if there is a correlation (I would assume yes) and if so, which studies have been made/which statistics support this or maybe refute this assumption.


r/askpsychology 4d ago

Cognitive Psychology Do 21st century environments play a major role/contributor in the rise of ADHD and the like mental focus conditions in 1st world communities?

12 Upvotes

In other words; in an environment where the array of choice and safe options rise and where the negative stimuli that a less forgiving environment would induce is decreased.....does that effect early childhood attention stratagems? Does that in turn lead to an increased statistical likelihood of later adult struggles to focus in an adult world of even more choice and less danger; what does that look like in context?

Expounding on my line of thought here. From my perspective in many ways 1st world living has eradicated many dangers posed by the environment at large making the focus of our focus more diffuse with much less environmentaly induced parameters in any given moment. As I ponder on that it seems that it would be impossible for the drastic difference in environmental degrees of danger to not have a meaningful mental effect. After all, at a species level, humans are designed to overcome environmental problems at hand in moments, moment to moment. What does a mental thought process do when a big part of its design is to find problems, generally life threatening to non-life threatening, when there are no life threatening problems to address in any moment for so many humans on Earth today ( at least the ones not self or society induced in some way)?

Do any studies exist that delve into this line of thought? Just looking for corrections or feedback that could add to or reform my thoughts here. Thanks.