What are the most helpful things you have discovered about psychology?

BeachHouseGuy

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caz

That it is filled with people who seek to understand the mind but have no real understanding of it at all, Having very little they still suffer.

genkaku

@girllikesam -- How about giving us your views when you ask a question? It might encourage a desire to answer.

federica

I would concur. the next time you decide to start a thread with no post body, I'll dump it.
If you wish to ask a question, do so, and elaborate.
A comma will not suffice.

Thanks.

Tosh

It's my current topic of study. I've learnt about the six main minds, the traditional list of 51 mental factors, the six groups of mental factors and that sort of stuff, but I think the useful stuff is dealing with negative emotions, such as anger.

Jeffrey

Any tips on dealing with anger, Tosh? I find that taking just a small margin more time in my response. Leave a pause. This is in a verbal argument. It gives time for the momentum of not getting that animal adrenaline going downhill on the friend you are angry at. You see other possibilities.

Tosh

Yes, if you can catch it before it takes over you, you can short circuit the anger by telling yourself, "This is all internal, and nothing what-so-ever to do with the external". It's short, but simple, and a bit confusing when you do it, because the natural kind of thinking is "It's my daughter's loud music that's making me angry!", when really, it's me that's making me angry.

I'll get my course book out and stick some stuff out of that tomorrow.

AMH

projection, at times what others see in you is what they are denying in themselves (positive or negative)

Tosh

Ah, yes, that's another one, Aheerdt. I see other people depending on what mood I am in. For example if I'm in a happy mood, my rowdy teenage daughter seems pleasant. But if I'm in a bad mood, my rowdy teenage daughter seems unpleasant.

Again, like anger, my teenage daughter is a 'creation' depending on my state of mind.

If I can remember that, so when I see my rowdy teenage daughter as unpleasant, I can realise the problem is on my side, and it helps me to be more mindful I don't react negatively.

Epicurus

Psychology types and how people are cognitively (MBTI) and motivational(Enneagram) really different between each other. In tandem with buddhism it can definitely help one speed up the process of knowing oneself.

AMH

Ahh yes Epicurus, I recall reading the MBTI book for the first time and realizing that other people were actually NOT trying to irritate me by refusing to acknowledge things i knew through high intuition. It was just that not everyone functioned that way or had that skill (somedays not a fun skill). I had been told my whole life when I felt very different from others that I was nothing 'special'. I know what my parents were trying to do but I didn't understand. So turns out I am in a group that is a 1-3% of the population group. Makes a lot of sense! (INFJ if anyone knows their type)

Epicurus

You should check enneagram. Enneagram is much more intimately related to spiritual growth. In fact there are some studies out there relating meditation to enneagram. The basic idea is that there are 9 types of motivations and each person is more motivated by one of those 9 than the others. That need is there due to a perceived lack of a certain quality. For example, I'm a 9, and thus "need to peaceful in order to be happy" (other needs are being in control, being attractive, being knowledgeable...etc). This is due to a perceived lack of peace in the exterior when my ego was first coming into being as a kid. The beauty of the system is that it recognizes the ego's doing in the whole matter of suffering. It's not that I have less peace in the exterior than any other person...but I'm specially sensible to it. Anyways....I'm not good at explaining but it's VERY good aid in tandem with buddhism and meditation.


I'm an ENFP myself, and believe me, I know your pain. Your type is the rarest and imo the closest one to buddhahood lol

BeachHouseGuy

Sounds interesting Epicurus

AMH

Really, I wasn't sure i was the rarest type. It IS an interesting thing to live with, the males seem to have a harder time with that sensitivity (I was on an email group for years). I had not heard the buddhahood deal before but we share a lot of good dudes, like Ghandi and Mothere Theresa I think.

I will check out the enneagram.

pweic

@girllikesam
Psychology is a science by itself with many many subfields, MBTI and Enneagram are just two among the hundreds. And lately psychology and neuroscience seems to be merging. There are many very helpful things for Buddhist study and meditation. But if you really want only one advise, mine would be:

There are many different systems running in your brain at any one time, for example
- some are totally beyond your knowledge (e.g. reticular formation in brain stem that controls your modes of say sleep, search, fight),
- some you can only feel the effects but dun know how they arrive at that (e.g. basic emotional systems like fear, lust, play and seeking),
- some tell you about the world but is not 100% faithful (e.g. visual processing),
- some would make up story that you take as real (e.g. the left brain interpreter and long term episodic memory),
- some hardwire your social life subconsciously (e.g. attachment model and neuroception).

To make it worse you can only be mindful of one of them at anytime, some you can never be mindful of. All these systems often fire at the same time and influence one another, what you think as a simple decision, e.g if you should reply to me, is the result of one system overpowering others. When you meditate and look inside, realize that its like a zoo, some sections are even out-of-bound, and your awareness is the only manager there. You have to study each part and learn its language to understand the whole thing.

Tosh

I think one of the most useful things I've found by studying this so far is a better understanding of how our world is actually created by our minds; or maybe how our perceptions of the world create our experience, and that we cannot change the world, but we can change our perceptions:

Shantideva wrote:

Where would I possibly find enough leather
With which to cover the surface of the earth?
But (just) leather on the soles of my shoes
Is equivalent to covering the earth with it

Likewise it is not possible for me
To restrain the external course of things
But should I restrain this mind of mine
What would be the need to restrain all else?

prettyhowtown

Ahh yes Epicurus, I recall reading the MBTI book for the first time and realizing that other people were actually NOT trying to irritate me by refusing to acknowledge things i knew through high intuition. It was just that not everyone functioned that way or had that skill (somedays not a fun skill). I had been told my whole life when I felt very different from others that I was nothing 'special'. I know what my parents were trying to do but I didn't understand. So turns out I am in a group that is a 1-3% of the population group. Makes a lot of sense! (INFJ if anyone knows their type)

I'm INFP. And I agree with you. MBTI is fascinating and very useful in tandem with Buddhism. I had a majorly difficult time accepting myself before I basically started to study both simultaneously. It's easier to be kind to myself now, but I'm still working on that.

Fenix

ISFP
Sees much but shares little

link: http://changingminds.org/explanations/preferences/mbti.htm

Tanda

Yes MBTI discovery gave me shocking revelations that the rest of the world does not think like me. What is so obvious for me is not obvious for others and Vice versa. From the internet based models I diagnosed myself as INTP but don't know how accurate that is. And I have not found a cure.

AMH

Interesting that we have various types but a trend toward I (introverted) people. I have seen this on some other boards for other subjects, maybe all the extroverts are out doing other things besides making cyber connections!

I still much admit that I REALLY struggle with my place in this world. INFJ's crave strong relationships but then it is difficult for us being in a small group. I have often had this vision of being the 'wise woman' at the edge of the community where I could do my own things (one week art, the next gardening, the next a novel, ya know) but be a respected part of the community. As I get older I am finding that my long term friends and family DO really want to be around me because of the person I am. As we go into the holiday season I am hearing that peole want to make sure I am at certain celebrations before they decide which one to go to (after a few decades as the black sheep it feels good).

Tanda

Vilayanur S Ramachandran's research about brain plasticity tell us how much we are a prisoner of this biological thing called body, the nervous system, upbringing, cultural influences and all. What we thinks of as 'I' is the cumulative result of so many known and unknown factors. If you are searching for 'truth' you must first peel of layers and layers of these perceptual and judgmental influences. I guess that when all the layers are successfully peeled of what remains is pointing to Hinduism's ADVAITA. ( That is my humble take. No scholarly pretensions)

praxis

Integration, recently.

"Letting go" in the spiritual sense can mean passing over, in some cases I think. Those who are expert in letting go should not be reactive or rigid, should they?

johnathan

Thanx @Epicurus for sparking my curiosity into MBTI and Enneagrams. I have learned much more about myself in the last month than I have previously in almost 36 years ( Birthday coming up on the 30th )

I am a textbook Type 9 with a 1 wing (Tritype 9-2-7) Instinctual stacking: sp/sx
I have been at my healthy range (like a healthy 3) and have been in my unhealthy range (like an average to unhealthy 6) and can confirm that the Direction of Disintegration (stress) and the Direction of Integration (Growth) are very accurate for at least type 9. I am currently in an average range coming up recently from an unhealthy range.

As a 9 I can confirm that its emotional center is anger/rage (coincidentally I originally introduced myself to this forum with a thread post about anger that I was having difficulty understanding where the anger was coming from and my inability to control it.) Mind you, as a 9, if you were to know me at the time, you may not have realized I was always angry as it is an internal process for 9's that they only in their most unhealthy states allow to be shown to others (allow is not correct, they just lose the ability to keep it hidden from others)

My MBTI is ISFP (Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, Perception)

I later came to discover that the Correlation Data Between MBTI and Enneagram Typologies indicates that Type 9 and ISFP are comparative.

I would recommend looking into enneagram types, especially, and INFP types to help explain behaviors in yourself that you do not understand.

still_learning

I learned that I can reprogram the way I think.

I used to have a lot of negative thoughts. Through months of telling myself to not think that way whenever those thoughts arise, I was able to stop it. It wasn't some kind of blunt force reprogramming either. I didn't want to have anything repressed. Each time a negative thought arose, I would logically explain to myself why I shouldn't think that way. I would explore where those negative thoughts were coming from and whether that was valid.

It was hard work, but I slayed most of my demons. Now, I feel really good most of the time.

johnathan

I would recommend looking into enneagram types, especially, and INFP types to help explain behaviors in yourself that you do not understand.

INFP types should have read MBTI types

Jason

If anyone's interested in checking it out, Ajahn Sujato wrote a paper for the upcoming Buddhism & Australia Conference titled "How Buddhist traditions are transforming – and being transformed – through their relation with Western psychology."

swaydam

Here are some psychology things I've been thinking about.

I think our personality type is largely a result of childhood traumas. Each of us has experiences several traumas after the first one of being separated from the womb (actually you can be traumatized in the womb too. Like my grandmother tripped and fell down some stairs when she was pregnant with my mother.)
I heard that those who are c-sectioned from their mothers tend to be more intuitive. This is probably because being in the womb is a very introverted feeling state.

Also, there are different blood types. Supposedly those of a (RH) negative type also tend to have greater intuitive development.

According to Howard Gardner there are multiple types of intelligences.
Spatial
Linguistic
Logical-mathematical
Bodily-kinesthetic
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Naturalistic

As far as personality types, I find the Five Factor Model...
But back to the trauma thing, I think everyone is basically a traumatized amnesiac. Not remembering their origin, afraid to to look into it because it means ego death.

The egotistical state is not bad... its just outdated software. The software is a program of survival. Its primitively based on the theory that what is pleasurable is good, and what is unpleasurable is bad. Babies are entirely selfish and pleasure driven. Its fine at the time. Eventually one is to learn that there is being born again as an adult with a new way of functioning in the world. One uses higher technology like the mind to make decisions instead of only biological instinct. One realizes one is not the body or the false self that resulted from trauma and societal conditioning.

I'm also learning some stuff about psychology from sociology I'm taking now.
Here is about statuses.
People have ascribed status which comes from how society labels a person because of their race, birth-place, class, etc. There is also achieved status one gets from working up the ladder. There is also a "master status" which is based on a persons most "significant" role in society. People have role conflict when they have conflicting roles with opposing duties/values.

swaydam

I really like jumbling lots of stuff together. Hopefully it doesn't seem like too much or way confused or whatever. oh well