|
Comparative Suffering
Comparative suffering is a psychological phenomenon in which individuals evaluate the legitimacy or significance of their own suffering by comparing it to the suffering of others. This tendency can lead people to either minimize their own pain or invalidate others’ experiences based on perceived differences in severity. Comparative suffering is discussed across disciplines including psychology, moral philosophy, religion, and mental health, with both historical and contemporary relevance. Psychological and moral basis The concept of comparative suffering has deep psychological and moral roots. One framework for understanding this is the comparative suffering hypothesis, which posits that revenge becomes emotionally satisfying when it restores a balance of suffering between the victim and the offender. This hypothesis suggests that observing the offender's suffering—regardless of its cause—should suffice to satisfy the desire for revenge. However, empirical evidence challen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motivation, motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the Natural science, natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the Emergence, emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010. A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as Behavioural sciences, behavioral or Cognitive science, cognitive scientists. Some psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude (; ; "harm-joy") is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, pain, suffering, or humiliation of another. It is a loanword from German. Schadenfreude has been detected in children as young as 24 months and may be an important social emotion establishing "inequity aversion". Etymology Schadenfreude is a term loanword, borrowed from German language, German. It is a compound of ("damage/harm") and ("joy"). The German word was first mentioned in English texts in 1852 and 1867, and first used in English running text in 1895. In German, it was first attested in the 1740s. The earliest seems to be Christoph Starke, "Synopsis bibliothecae exegeticae in Vetus Testamentum," Leipzig, 1750. Although Proper noun, common nouns normally are not capitalized in English, schadenfreude sometimes is, following the German orthography#Spelling of nouns, German convention. Psychological causes Research ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Psychology Concepts
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from the Latin word ''socii'' ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian ''Socii'' states, historical allies of the Roman Republic (although they rebelled against Rome in the Social War (91–87 BC), Social War of 91–87 BC). Social theorists In the view of Karl Marx,Morrison, Ken. ''Marx, Durkheim, Weber. Formations of modern social thought'' human beings are intrinsically, necessarily and by definition social beings who, beyond being "gregarious creatures", cannot survive and meet their needs other than through social co-operation and association. Their social characteristics are therefore to a large extent an objectively given fact, stamped on them from birth and affirmed by socialization processes; and, according to Marx, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the cognitive skill, usually developed through exercises, of sustaining metacognitive awareness towards the contents of one's own mind and bodily sensations in the present moment. The term ''mindfulness'' derives from the Pali word ''sati'', a significant element of Buddhist traditions, and the practice is based on '' ānāpānasati'' , Chan, and Tibetan meditation techniques. Since the 1990s, secular mindfullness has gained popularity in the west. Individuals who have contributed to the popularity of secular mindfulness in the modern Western context include Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thích Nhất Hạnh. Clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on mindfulness for helping people experiencing a variety of psychological conditions. Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaslighting
Gaslighting is the manipulation of someone into questioning their perception of reality. The term derives from the 1944 film ''Gaslight (1944 film), Gaslight'' and became popular in the mid-2010s. Some mental health experts have expressed concern that the term has been used too broadly. In 2022, ''The Washington Post'' described it as an example of therapy speak, arguing it had become a buzzword improperly used to describe ordinary disagreements. Etymology The term originates in the 1938 British play ''Gas Light'' by Patrick Hamilton (writer), Patrick Hamilton. The play was adapted into a 1940 film in the UK, ''Gaslight (1940 film), Gaslight'', which was remade in the US as the 1944 film ''Gaslight (1944 film), Gaslight''. Set among London's elite during the Victorian era, ''Gas Light'' and its adaptations portray a seemingly genteel husband using lies and manipulation to isolate his heiress wife and persuade her that she is mentally ill so that he can steal from her. One ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychological Resilience
Psychological resilience, or mental resilience, is the ability to cope mentally and emotionally with a crisis, or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. The term was popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by psychologist Emmy Werner as she conducted a forty-year-long study of a cohort of Hawaiian children who came from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. Numerous factors influence a person's level of resilience. Internal factors include personal characteristics such as self-esteem, self-regulation, and a positive outlook on life. External factors include social support systems, including relationships with family, friends, and community, as well as access to resources and opportunities. People can leverage psychological interventions and other strategies to enhance their resilience and better cope with adversity. These include cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, building psychosocial factors, fostering positive emotions, and promoting self-compassion. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suffering
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence (psychology), valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness. Suffering is often categorized as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved. Suffering occurs in the lives of Sentience, sentient beings in numerous manners, often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its orig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toxic Positivity
Toxic positivity (excessive positivity or positive toxicity) is dysfunctional emotional management without the full acknowledgment of negative emotions, particularly anger and sadness. Socially, it is the act of dismissing another person's negative emotions by suggesting a positive emotion instead. Definition Toxic positivity is a "pressure to stay upbeat no matter how dire one's circumstance is", which may prevent emotional coping by feeling otherwise natural emotions. Toxic positivity happens when people believe that negative thoughts about anything should be avoided. Even in response to events which normally would evoke sadness, such as loss or hardships, positivity is encouraged as a means to cope, but tends to overlook and dismiss true expression. The concept of unrealistic optimism was explored by psychologists at least since 1980, and the term ''toxic positivity'' first appeared in J. Halberstam's 2011 '' The Queer Art of Failure'' with " ..to poke holes in the toxic po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empathy
Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are not limited to social, cognitive, and emotional processes primarily concerned with understanding others. Often times, empathy is considered to be a broad term, and broken down into more specific concepts and types that include cognitive empathy, emotional (or affective) empathy, wiktionary:somatic#Etymology, somatic empathy, and spiritual empathy. Empathy is still a topic of research. The major areas of research include the development of empathy, the genetics and neuroscience of empathy, cross-species empathy, and the impairment of empathy. Some researchers have made efforts to quantify empathy through different methods, such as from questionnaires where participants can fill out and then be scored on their answers. The ability to imagin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moral Philosophy
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied ethics, and metaethics. Normative ethics aims to find general principles that govern how people should act. Applied ethics examines concrete ethical problems in real-life situations, such as abortion, treatment of animals, and business practices. Metaethics explores the underlying assumptions and concepts of ethics. It asks whether there are objective moral facts, how moral knowledge is possible, and how moral judgments motivate people. Influential normative theories are consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. According to consequentialists, an act is right if it leads to the best consequences. Deontologists focus on acts themselves, saying that they must adhere to duties, like telling the truth and keeping promises. Virtue et ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emotional Validation
Emotional validation is a process which involves acknowledging and accepting another individual's inner emotional experience, without necessarily agreeing with or justifying it, and possibly also communicating that acceptance. It is a process that fosters empathy, strengthens relationships, and helps resolve conflicts. Contrarily, emotional invalidation occurs when an individual's emotional experience is rejected, ignored, or judged, often through words or actions indicating that their emotions are unwarranted or irrational for the situation. Affecting factors Emotional validation is recognized as an important tool for developing empathy, strengthening bonds, resolving conflicts, and providing effective comfort during the grieving process. Research has shown that it helps regulate the emotions of both the validating person and the validated person, facilitating conflict resolution. Furthermore, emotional validation has been observed to enhance children's emotional self-awareness ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Self-compassion
In psychology, self-compassion is extending compassion to one's self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering. American psychologist Kristin Neff has defined self-compassion as being composed of three main elements – self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. * Self-kindness: Self-compassion logical consequence, entails being warm towards oneself when encountering pain and personal shortcomings, rather than Avoidance coping, ignoring them or hurting oneself with self-criticism. * Common humanity: Self-compassion also involves recognizing that suffering and personal failure is part of the shared human experience rather than isolating. * Mindfulness: Self-compassion requires taking a balanced approach to one's negative emotions so that feelings are neither suppressed nor exaggerated. Negative thoughts and emotions are observed with openness, so that they are held in mindful awareness. Mindfulness is a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
