Wilhelm Reich : Listen, Little Man!

http://www.listenlittleman.com/

"Listen, Little Man!" is a book written by a truly great man named Wilhelm Reich. I first read this book when I got out of high school at the age of 17. Having never read a complete book throughout all of school (I was always quite bright, though I certainly did not take kindly to being forced to do things against my own will) this was the first book I ever read from cover to cover. I have since become an avid reader and I have read this book dozens of times. In fact, I still read it frequently. I strongly believe this is one of the best books ever written, it completely changed my life and helped make me the man I am today. This book changed my life all because of one single thing, the most important thing I have ever done in my life... The book made me look at myself. For once in my life I saw myself as I truly was... I have never been the same since, and at the young age of 21, though I am still living and learning, I can truly say I am free. That is not to say I am completely free, but I am free to be honest with myself. I am free to think for myself without asking "what will my neighbor think of me?" I am free to fully live like I once did as a child, as all children live before they are forced to become "civilized." That is not to say I am free from cooperation and responsibility, I am not insolent. It does mean I am free to go swing on a swing, or to go play in the snow without reservation, and if some "civilized" neighbor disapproves of my motility I know that they only act that way because they are dead inside and cannot stand to see others truly living (because they know deep down they could, and should, be doing it too). Most importantly, I am free to be honest with myself, and with others, and that, my friend, is the foundation of true freedom. For that, I say thank you Wilhelm, thank you for showing me what life and living truly is, thank you for showing me what life is truly about, and thank you for caring about me at a time when I didn't even care about myself.  
Thank you.
Your friend,
Christopher 

Read more : http://www.listenlittleman.com/ 

How The Mind Really Works : 10 Counterintuitive Psychology Studies

http://www.spring.org.uk/2012/02/how-the-mind-really-works-10-counterintuitive-psychology-studies.php

Ten psychological findings that challenge our intuitive view of how our minds work.

Some critics say psychology is just common sense, that it only confirms things we already know about ourselves.

Ironically this can be difficult to argue with because once people get some new information they tend to think it was obvious all along.

One way of battling this is to think about all the unexpected, surprising and plain weird findings that have popped out of psychology studies over the years. So here are ten of my favourite.

1. Cognitive dissonance

This is perhaps one of the weirdest and most unsettling findings in psychology. Cognitive dissonance is the idea that we find it hard to hold two contradictory beliefs, so we unconsciously adjust one to make it fit with the other.

In the classic study students found a boring task more interesting if they were paid less to take part. Our unconscious reasons like this: if I didn't do it for money, then I must have done it because it was interesting. As if by magic, a boring task becomes more interesting because otherwise I can't explain my behaviour.

The reason it's unsettling is that our minds are probably performing these sorts of rationalisations all the time, without our conscious knowledge. So how do we know what we really think?

Continue reading here

Darian Leader: What is Madness?

http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141955780,00.html

Madness, in our culture, is defined by visibility. From the popular press to TV soaps and films, the depiction of madness always borders on the extreme: violent outbursts, fits, hallucinations.

But what if madness is not exactly what we think it to be? What if it is the rule rather than the exception? And what if its defining features are not visible and dramatic but, on the contrary, highly discreet, shared by average citizens who will never come to psychiatric attention? What if, in other words, there is a difference between being mad and going mad?

Beginning and ending with the case of Harold Shipman - a mass-murderer so apparently 'normal' that some of his patients said they would still be treated by him even after his conviction - psychoanalyst Darian Leader explores the idea of discreet madness, and argues that it is only through revising our concept of what madness is that we will have the tools to help those who have gone mad to rebuild their lives.

Benign Bigotry: The Psychology of Subtle Prejudice

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item2712693/?site_locale=en_GB

Kristin J. Anderson, University of Houston-Downtown

http://www.benignbigotry.com/Site/Introduction.html

While overt prejudice is now much less prevalent than in decades past, subtle prejudice - prejudice that is inconspicuous, indirect, and often unconscious - continues to pervade our society. Laws do not protect against subtle prejudice and, because of its covert nature, it is difficult to observe and frequently goes undetected by both perpetrator and victim. Benign Bigotry uses a fresh, original format to examine subtle prejudice by addressing six commonly held cultural myths based on assumptions that appear harmless but actually foster discrimination: 'those people all look alike'; 'they must be guilty of something'; 'feminists are man-haters'; 'gays flaunt their sexuality'; 'I'm not a racist, I'm color-blind' and 'affirmative action is reverse racism'. Kristin J. Anderson skillfully relates each of these myths to real world events, emphasizes how errors in individual thinking can affect society at large, and suggests strategies for reducing prejudice in daily life.

The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do

http://judithrichharris.info/tna/tna2larg.htm

This groundbreaking book, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times notable pick, rattled the psychological establishment when it was first published in 1998 by claiming that parents have little impact on their children's development. In this tenth anniversary edition of The Nurture Assumption, Judith Harris has updated material throughout and provided a fresh introduction. Combining insights from psychology, sociology, anthropology, primatology, and evolutionary biology, she explains how and why the tendency of children to take cues from their peers works to their evolutionary advantage. This electrifying book explodes many of our unquestioned beliefs about children and parents and gives us a radically new view of childhood.

The Time Paradox

The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life

by Philip Zimbardo & John Boyd

The Time Paradox is not a single paradox but a series of paradoxes that shape our lives and our destinies. For example:

Paradox 1

Time is one of the most powerful influences on our thoughts, feelings, and actions, yet we are usually totally unaware of the affect of time in our lives.

Paradox 2

Each specific attitude toward time—or time perspective—is associated with numerous benefits, yet in excess each is associated with even greater costs.

Paradox 3
Individual attitudes toward time are learned through personal experience, yet collectively attitudes toward time influence national destinies.

The Science of a Meaningful Life:

Building Compassion, Creating Well-Being

Dacher Keltner, PhD
Paul Ekman, PhD

Course Description

This one-day seminar will cover strategies for building resilience, reducing stress, and strengthening relationships with colleagues, clients, family, and friends. Drawing on cutting-edge research from psychology and neuroscience, renowned UC Berkeley professor Dacher Keltner will highlight the strong connections between happiness, compassion, and altruism, showing how a meaningful life isn’t just good, but good for you. His presentation will reveal the health and social benefits that come from practicing trust, empathy, gratitude, kindness, and other positive behaviors. For instance, cultivating feelings of gratitude have been shown to boost people’s health, make them happier, and improve their relationships. He will also provide a deeper understanding of people who have trouble forming relationships, such as those with social disorders like autism.

The seminar will feature a short presentation by legendary psychologist Paul Ekman, hailed as one of the 20th century’s most influential psychologists. Building on his groundbreaking work on emotion and facial expressions, and on his recent collaboration with the Dalai Lama, Dr. Ekman will discuss various forms of empathy and compassion, including the prospect of “global compassion”—concern for and commitment to people beyond one’s immediate family or community. His talk will further help attendees understand the paths—and the challenges—to developing a meaningful life.

Attendees Will Learn To:
• Be conversant in the latest research on social and emotional intelligence, drawing from neuroscience and positive psychology

• Understand how to apply this research to personal and professional relationships

• Empathize and communicate more effectively with family members, friends, clients, colleagues, and others by being more attuned to their social and emotional cues

• Be better equipped to diagnose different disorders like depression and autism

• Develop effective ways to handle stress, build resilience, and cultivate happiness in their personal and professional lives

Greater Good Magazine

Science for Raising Happy Kids

Born to Be Good : The Science of a Meaningful Life

http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=11960

A new examination of the surprising origins of human goodness.

In Born to Be Good, Dacher Keltner demonstrates that humans are not hardwired to lead lives that are "nasty, brutish, and short"—we are in fact born to be good. He investigates an old mystery of human evolution: why have we evolved positive emotions like gratitude, amusement, awe, and compassion that promote ethical action and are the fabric of cooperative societies?

By combining stories of scientific discovery, personal narrative, and Eastern philosophy, Keltner illustrates his discussions with more than fifty photographs of human emotions. Born to Be Good is a profound study of how emotion is the key to living the good life and how the path to happiness goes through human emotions that connect people to one another.