Exploring the forces that shape the human psyche
The famous psychologist Erik Erikson came up with the stages of psychosocial development. The gist of his theory is that as we progress through life, from the day we’re born to the day we die, we go through some developmental stages. There’s a challenge to overcome in each of these stages, a conflict to resolve. …
Relationships are complicated. If you think quantum mechanics is complex, wait till you get into a relationship. When two minds collide and enter into a relationship, all sorts of chain reactions get triggered. It’s not just two minds colliding; it’s a collision of intentions, perceptions, misperceptions, assumptions, interpretations, misinterpretations, and behaviors. A mish-mash of these …
A person suffering from Entitled Dependence Syndrome depends on others in an exaggerated way. The key phrase here is ‘exaggerated’ because humans, being social species, are by nature dependent on other humans. However, when this dependency crosses a certain threshold, it turns into entitled dependence. Humans tend to form reciprocal relationships with others, meaning their …
Enmeshed families are families where there are no psychological and emotional boundaries between the family members. The family members seem to be psychologically enmeshed or fused together.1 While enmeshment can occur in any relationship, it’s common in parent-child, especially mother-son relationships.2 The enmeshed child fails to develop a separate identity from their parent. They’re exactly …
Children experience trauma when they find themselves in a threatening situation. They’re particularly vulnerable to threats because they’re helpless and haven’t yet developed the ability to cope with frightening events. When children experience less than ideal circumstances at home or in society at large, they face Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). However, not all adverse childhood …
There’s a process vs. content distinction in almost everything we do. Keeping in mind the difference between process and content can help you become more effective in everything you do. Content is simply the ‘what’ of things, and process is the ‘how’ of things. It’s often easier to come up with a ‘what’ than it …
“I miss you, not mentally but physically.” When my girlfriend said that to me recently, it left me scratching my head. I mean, I understood what she meant, but I’d never thought about ‘missing’ that way. People usually only say, “I miss you”. The fact that she specified a modality of ‘missing’ had me thinking. …
The ladder of inference is one of the most useful mental models I’ve come across to become a better thinker. Inference means deriving general conclusions from specific instances. The ladder of inference shows us the steps we take to make inferences and then act on those inferences. The ladder consists of six rungs with selected …
Learning is the process of moving from a state of not knowing to a state of knowing. Learning typically occurs by understanding new information, i.e., gaining knowledge or developing a new skill. Humans learn in a variety of ways. Some things are simple to learn while others are hard. The stages of learning described in …
Intuition and instinct may seem like the same concepts. In fact, many use these terms interchangeably. But they differ in important ways. An instinct is an innate behavioral tendency shaped by evolution to promote survival and reproductive success, mostly, in the present moment. Our instinctive behaviors are triggered in response to some environmental stimuli. Instincts …