Jon Ronson: Strange answers to the psychopath test | Talk Video | TED.com

Jon Ronson: Strange answers to the psychopath test | Talk Video | TED.com: Is there a definitive line that divides crazy from sane? With a hair-raising delivery, Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test, illuminates the gray areas between the two. (With live-mixed sound by Julian Treasure and animation by Evan Grant.)

Big Think Interview with Tal Ben-Shahar | Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think

Big Think Interview with Tal Ben-Shahar | Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think: "Question: What distinguishes the field of positive psychology?
Tal Ben-Shahar: Positive psychology essentially focuses on what works. So it applies to research; most research in psychology looks at schizophrenia, depression, anxiety; whereas, positive psychology says let's look at the things that work in life. Let's look at love, let's look at happiness, let's look at joy, job satisfaction, and so on. Positive psychology also focuses on what works when it comes to practice. So for instance, a therapist, the first implicit or explicit question that he or she would ask, the client would be what's wrong, what's not working in your life. A positive psychologist would first ask what is working, what is going well in your life and then build on that and then deal with what is not working based on what is working. Same in organizations; a consultant would usually ask what's the problem in your organization, what do we need to improve. A positive psychologist coming in to a company would first ask what is working well in their organization, what are the companies strengths, what are the virtues and then build on that."

The Solitary Self by Mary Midgley - Acumen Publishing

The Solitary Self by Mary Midgley - Acumen Publishing: "Renowned philosopher, Mary Midgley explores the nature of our moral constitution to challenge the view that reduces human motivation to self-interest. Midgley argues cogently and convincingly that simple, one-sided accounts of human motives, such as the 'selfish gene' tendency in recent neo-Darwinian thought, may be illuminating but are always unrealistic. Such neatness, she shows, cannot be imposed on human psychology. She returns to Darwin's original writings to show how the reductive individualism which is now presented as Darwinism does not derive from Darwin but from a wider, Hobbesian tradition in Enlightenment thinking."

Council on Renewal | Spirituality, Psychology, Economics

Council on Renewal | Spirituality, Psychology, Economics: "t’s worth stepping back on occasion to consider the progress that has been witnessed in particular academic fields. Astronomy took a giant step forward centuries ago when it finally realized the sun was at the center of the solar system. Geology adapted to the fact of a round earth. The continuous evolution of Physics boggles the mind. Engineering perpetually pushes into new frontiers."

self esteem and crisis management - Urgent Evoke

self esteem and crisis management - Urgent Evoke: "There are elements of self esteem that are harmful for crisis situations.

There is supported reason to believe that self-esteem is related to thought suppression. Thought suppression is 'the process of deliberately trying to stop thinking about certain thoughts'. An essential element of self-esteem is positive self evaluation. The current western culture** regards self-esteem as something we are all capable of and should strive for."