Psychology: Controversies and Myths

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, is an entactogen that increases empathy, distorts one’s perceptions, and can increase a user’s pleasure from sensory experiences (NIH). It is considered a Schedule I drug by the FDA, meaning it has no clinical uses and has a high likelihood to be abused. However, research is being conducted into possible therapeutic uses for treating PTSD … [Read more...] about MDMA and Psychotherapy

In my previous blog, I described how primitive concepts are innate. In this blog, I will go into certain abstract concepts, like “goodness,” and “helping,” that young children are able to understand without having a proper linguistic terminology. While morality may develop with age, infants do have a core sense of morality shown through (a) moral goodness, or empathy, (b) moral … [Read more...] about Innate Moral Core: Part 2 (Morality in Preverbal Children)

Morality (the sense of whether an action or person is “right” or “wrong”) is considered a defining feature of humanity. The typical conception of morality in children is that they are born amoral (without moral sense) or immoral (a moral sense different from adults). Developmental psychology theorizes that children acquire a moral sense through various developmental processes … [Read more...] about Innate Moral Core: Part 1 (Introduction to Innate Concepts)

When pondering the mind, consciousness is a difficult problem to fully understand. Consciousness is defined as the quality or state of being aware, especially of something within oneself (www.merriam-webster.com). If a person, or organism, has a conscious experience, it means there is something it is like to be that kind of person or organism. To perceive your own … [Read more...] about Consciousness

Some of the main questions that psychologists want to understand are “why do we think the way we do?”and“how do we reach conclusions?” One of the ways we reach conclusions is through inductive reasoning. Scientific observations typically use this type of reasoning. For inductive reasoning, observations are made, data are collected, and conclusions are drawn from the data. In … [Read more...] about The Fallibility of Inductive Reasoning