The Psychology of Revenge

"The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden's Death" was my  article written by Dr. Pamela Gerloff. This article took the stance of someone who opposed feeling happy about the death of another human--no matter who inhumane he may have seemed. 

The death of Osama makes many question themselves on how they view life as a principle: do those who disregard life deserve to have theirs taken? Should the law be upheld when dealing with characters such as this? As Dr. Gerloff stated, "Regardless of the percieved degree of "good" or "bad" in any of us, we are all, each of us, human. To celebrate the killing of a life, any life, is a failure to honor life's inherent sanctity."

QUESTION: Considering Bin Laden and his actions toward America, do you believe one can find closure in "getting justice" or "getting even"?

The Problem With Perfection

The problem with perfection is written by Mel Schwartz. This article is written by a psychotherapist, and in this article the topic of wether perfection is a burden or good thing. 

Some people  who try to be perfect may feel trapped or have a burden on them causing uncessary stress. Other people who try to be perfect may believe that seeking perfection is a good thing because it allows them to set high goals for themselves. no matter the side effects of pursing pefection, such as stress. 

People who strive to be perfect want to be flawless, without any defects, a person may also want their performance with any activity to be at a level of excellance that cannot be exceed by others. To some people perfection is vital to there happiness, others do not strive for perfection, they strive to make themselves happy, whether they are perfect or not, every person is different. 

Question: Do you believe a person who is trying to achieve perfection is putting uncessary stress on themselves? Or do u believe perfection is a common goal that many people should try to achieve?

Lies: A Taint of Death

In today's society, we tend to put out trust in people we don't know that well. For example, when we ask for directions we are trusting that the person would give the right directions. Or even when we are at the doctors, we are putting our trust into the doctor that he or she will give us the right medicines and treatments.

But once that trust is broken, we become more cautious of what to believe. Like if a close friend or boyfriend/girlfriend breaks your trust, you treat them differently. You will mostly likely question the things they are doing , where they are or what they said. Its hard for them to gain your trust back.

Question:

Do you think this is true? Do you think we tend to trust others too easily?

When's The Best Time To Get A "Yes"?

The article was about whether or not people more inclined to say 'yes' to a question throughout different parts of the day. According to the article, more people are likely to say yes earlier on throughout the day and after eating. The percentage of people that will say 'no' is directly related to how hungry that person is.

This article interviewed a judge, and as shown by the graph, the judge said 'yes' directly after breaks where he ate food. Food breaks are shown with a dotted line and this graph starts immediately after breakfast.

Question:
Is there really a better time to ask someone to make a decision? Why or why not. If yes, when do you think this time is?

Worry, Anxiety, and Worse

People worry about many things everyday, the smallest things in their mind always have something big if we go deeper into it. Worries and anxieties are parasitic states when you drain your mental and emotional resources by thinking of potential calamities and you gain nothing healthy in return. 

 

The good thing is that we can always control that, if we really would want to. There is a state of mind where you recognize that you can directly command only yourself. When you are in charge of yourself, that is when you know that you can do better than what you have already done. 

 

Many people also have a problem with catastrophizing, where it is taking a potentially bad situation and making it even worse. This is what kills many people in their thought and where they think of way too many things that could go wrong.

The question is...
Do you think that worrying is just a waste of time? Why?

If you do something too much, is it an addiction?

This article deals with addictions and how to differentiate between a repetitive behavior and an actual addiction. 

There are habits and everyday things we do that can be an addiction; or it can merely be something of the norm. Drinking, gambling, and eating problems, for instance, aren't necessarily addictions. A specific setting can sometime trigger an increase in these things, but don't directly relate to a deep emotional factor. If you drink or do certain behaviors with friends, it can sometimes just be an excessive behavior. 

The difference between a habit and an addiction is usually willpower. However, because these two things are very similar, there has been a lot of question of how to actually diagnose an addiction.

Question:

What is the difference between doing something excessively and doing something as an actual addiction? Do you think it is easy for people to claim others have addictions when they really don't? Or, just the opposite, do you think people who actually have addictions go undiagnosed?

Life Happens, But What About the Stress It Generates?

This article suggests an idea of how to deal with the normal stresses of every day life by identifying them, listing them and then working to reduce them.  

You would create the list by placing the more stressful items at the top and the least at the bottom of the list.  The article gives the advice of startng on the bottom of the list to work out the issues causing the stress.  If the issue is connected to other people in your life it also suggests that you enlist their help in clarifying the stress and working it out.  

Working from the bottom of the list is intended to kee you from becoming overwhelmed and once you complete a few items, you will feel you have accomplished something.  It also describes that your goals of accomplishing things should be realistic because if it isn't then you set youself up for feelings of frustration and failure.  Important ideas are to plan a time line, stay positive and pause from time to time to pat yourself on the back for your progress.

Questions

Do you ever get stressed?  When you find you are stressed do you think a technique like this could work? What do you do when you get stressed out ?