#public-assumptions

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fromThe Atlantic
3 hours ago

How Some People Became So Averse to Hype

Anna Holmes defines 'hype aversion' as a reflex against being told what to like, suggesting that popularity can create pressure rather than signal quality. This feeling can lead to a deliberate choice to resist mainstream culture.
Media industry
Design
fromDesign Milk
1 day ago

OUTSIDERS Investigates the Space Between Society and Solitude

Modern design challenges conventional public seating to enhance social interaction and presence in urban spaces.
History
fromPsychology Today
18 hours ago

Empire of Sticky Labels

The Holy Roman Empire's label persisted long after its actual power and legitimacy eroded, illustrating the slow evolution of reputation.
fromwww.theguardian.com
7 hours ago

It's official: scientists aren't funny. But it doesn't have to be this way | Helen Pilcher

The findings confirm research that I conducted more than 20 years ago. Under the guise of the Comedy Research Project, Timandra Harkness and I performed a randomised clinical trial to assess whether or not science can be funny.
Humor
Women in technology
fromScary Mommy
19 hours ago

Study Finds Men Who Want #TradWives Also Have High Levels Of "Hostile Sexism"

The #tradwife movement is supported by men with hostile sexism, who view women negatively and expect traditional homemaking roles.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
11 hours ago

There's a specific kind of tiredness that has nothing to do with sleep. It comes from years of translating yourself into a version that other people could handle, and the exhaustion lives in the gap between who you are and who you've been performing so consistently that even you forgot there was a difference. - Silicon Canals

Workplace burnout often stems from the exhaustion of pretending to be someone you're not, rather than from overwork itself.
fromEurekAlert!
1 day ago
Online Community Development

Why some people change only when enough others do

Understanding individual thresholds for change and social networks can help overcome resistance to adopting new behaviors like climate change solutions.
Right-wing politics
fromTruthout
23 hours ago

No Kings Must Mean No War: Foreign Policy Is Least Democratic Space in Politics

The majority of Iranian Americans oppose the war on Iran, despite media portrayal of pro-monarchy sentiments.
fromThe Conversation
2 days ago

AI's fluency in other languages hides a Western worldview that can mislead users a scholar of Indonesian society explains

The response was in Indonesian but shaped by values that centered individual autonomy over the consensus-building, social harmony and collective family dynamics that tend to matter more in Indonesian social life.
Philosophy
Careers
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago

8 status symbols that used to mean success but now just signal insecurity - Silicon Canals

Status symbols have shifted from markers of success to indicators of insecurity and financial struggle.
Writing
fromThe Nation
3 days ago

My Years-Long Fight to Say "They"

The author reflects on their journey of writing about their experiences as a Jehovah's Witness and the challenges faced in publishing.
Law
fromPoynter
3 days ago

Like journalists, prosecutors shaped a distorted view of crime. They can help fix it, too. - Poynter

Prosecutors and journalists both contribute to misleading public perceptions of crime, but prosecutors possess crucial data to tell a more accurate story.
Social justice
fromwww.theguardian.com
4 days ago

Is calling a woman auntie' ageist harassment or a mark of respect? It's a trickier question than you think | Lola Okolosie

Respecting how individuals wish to be addressed is essential, as demonstrated by the tribunal ruling in favor of Ilda Esteves against Charles Oppong.
Digital life
fromwww.bbc.com
4 days ago

What could six fictional voters teach us about how social media really works?

Exploring online content through six fictional voters during the Senedd election reveals diverse political perspectives and the influence of social media algorithms.
Books
fromThe Atlantic
5 days ago

How Long Can You Live Your Ideals?

Pat Calhoun chooses parenthood over radicalism, paralleling Elsa Haddish's struggle between her militant past and raising her daughter safely.
Education
fromSilicon Canals
5 days ago

The class divide that nobody maps is the one between people who were taught to call authorities when something goes wrong and people who were taught that calling authorities makes everything worse. Both groups are navigating the same systems with completely opposite instruction manuals. - Silicon Canals

Childhood experiences shape how individuals interact with authority and systems, influencing their responses to crises throughout life.
fromThe Atlantic
1 week ago

Homophobia Is Back. It's Different Now.

LaBeouf hasn't anchored a box-office hit in more than a decade, and little of his 2020s art-house work has drawn buzz. The most notable thing he's starred in lately was a clip of him on a podcaster's couch, hunched and diminished, talking about his fear of gay people.
LGBT
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

Social Malpractice in the Age of Cultural Compliance

Socially engaged art faces challenges in a world increasingly hostile to independent thought and public expression.
fromApaonline
2 days ago

The Feminine as Structural Problem

The deeper I go, the more feminist I become! Yet my experience of academic philosophy has largely disclosed the opposite: a discipline that solemnly declares its devotion to openness proves curiously unsettled by me as a woman.
Philosophy
Right-wing politics
fromWIRED
3 days ago

The Promise of 'Woke 2' Is Fueling a Leftist Fever Dream

Donald Trump's 2024 victory was seen as a rejection of 'woke' ideology, leading to a culture of offensive speech without fear of consequences.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
2 days ago

Psychology says the reason aging people feel like they don't matter isn't about what they've lost - it's that society defines mattering as productivity and visibility, and the moment you step outside those narrow roles, your value becomes invisible even to people who love you - Silicon Canals

Retirement and aging can lead to feelings of invisibility and worthlessness due to society's narrow definitions of productivity.
Digital life
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

3 Ways to Assign Social Meaning in the Digital Age

Belonging is essential for fulfillment, especially in challenging times, yet the digital age complicates genuine connections.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago

People who were labeled 'too sensitive' often became adults who read rooms before anyone speaks, and the difference between those two things is about 20 years of misunderstanding - Silicon Canals

Sensitivity can evolve from a perceived weakness into a valuable skill for understanding emotional dynamics in various situations.
Women in technology
fromenglish.elpais.com
6 days ago

Yes, there were women in the Frankfurt School: Feminists, militants and researchers

Seven women played crucial roles in the Frankfurt School, challenging the misconception of their secondary status in the Marxist Work Week photo.
Social justice
fromSlate Magazine
1 week ago

I Always Thought I Was an Accepting Person. Then an Influx of Immigrants Moved In-and My Reaction Startled Me.

Acknowledging and confronting personal prejudices is a crucial step towards becoming a better ally.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day ago

The people who say 'I'm fine with whatever you want to do' in every social situation aren't easygoing. They've simply never been in an environment where stating a preference didn't start a negotiation they couldn't afford to lose. - Silicon Canals

People who appear easygoing may actually be practicing conflict avoidance as a survival strategy learned from past experiences.
Scala
fromMedium
2 weeks ago

Rage Against the (Plurality of) Effect Systems

Open-source effect systems provide genuine benefits for safe parallel programming but create systemic problems through their pervasive, infectious nature that spreads throughout entire codebases.
Mindfulness
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Ideas We Aren't Ready to Understand-Yet

Collect ideas you don't understand but sense are important, as they trigger deeper cognitive processing and eventual insight through incubation.
Education
fromSilicon Canals
2 weeks ago

I asked a group of people in their 70s what they'd un-learn if they could and every single one named something they were taught before age 10 - not a fact, not a skill, a belief about themselves that was installed by a specific person in a specific room, and the fact that it's still running 60 years later without their permission is the thing that made half the room go quiet - Silicon Canals

Beliefs installed in childhood by authority figures persist into adulthood, shaping decisions and self-perception for decades without conscious awareness or permission.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
3 days ago

People Don't Just Update Beliefs, They Test Them

Understanding psychological change requires recognizing the role of control and mastery in actively pursuing change despite familiar limitations.
Psychology
fromFast Company
4 days ago

Stop trying to 'educate' people into changing. Science proves it doesn't work

False assumptions hinder change; simply providing information does not guarantee behavior change.
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

If a woman who always wore makeup suddenly stops - not on a bad day, not when she's ill, but permanently - most people assume she's let herself go. What's actually happening is almost always one of these 7 shifts, and the last one is the one her family should pay attention to. - Silicon Canals

According to Mary Duh, a Physician Assistant in Dermatology at Mayo Clinic Health System, 'Makeup can be infected with bacteria after only one use.' Every time we reapply that favorite lipstick or dip back into our foundation, we're potentially spreading bacteria all over our faces. By avoiding foundation and blush, the skin is allowed to return to its natural oil balance and hydration.
Health
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
2 days ago

Psychology says if someone secretly dislikes you they'll almost never say it out loud - but their body will, in the microseconds before they've decided what their face is supposed to be doing, and learning to read those moments is one of the more uncomfortable social skills available to anyone willing to develop it - Silicon Canals

Microexpressions reveal true emotions faster than conscious control, providing insights into feelings that words may conceal.
Digital life
fromThe Atlantic
3 weeks ago

Awareing Ourselves to Death

World Monitor aggregates over 100 real-time data streams into a dashboard resembling a situation room, presenting global information overload as intelligence without clear actionable purpose.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 days ago

There's a specific exhaustion that belongs to people who spent decades being exactly what everyone needed them to be - and then one day realized they couldn't remember what they needed - Silicon Canals

People-pleasing leads to losing one's identity and can result in profound exhaustion and disconnection from self.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
3 days ago

Why We Don't Change-Even When We Know What's Wrong

Insight alone is insufficient for change; real experiences are necessary to challenge ingrained beliefs and expectations.
Philosophy
fromThe Nation
2 weeks ago

In Defense of Being Performative

Democracy requires citizens to actively perform civic engagement; dismissing performative politics misunderstands that democratic participation is inherently performative and essential for democratic survival.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

New Research: Some People Really Do Fall for Corporate BS

Employees impressed by corporate gibberish perform poorly in decision-making and confuse it with business savvy.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

A Science for Social Coherence?

In the practice of psychiatry, we like to think we have better radar than most doctors for identifying incoherent thinking in our fellow humans. Incoherence is one of the crucial signs for potential disasters in the central nervous system-delirium, psychosis, mania, intoxication, stroke, encephalitis. And yet, now in the waning years of my career, I confess that I've practiced this skill of identifying incoherent thinking with only the vaguest definition of coherence, and no measure.
Medicine
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

Why Some Scientific Debates Never End

Complex questions involving values cannot be definitively settled by evidence alone, as different priorities lead experts to emphasize different findings from the same data.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 days ago

People who go quiet when they're hurt instead of raising their voice learned somewhere very early that their anger wasn't received as information. It was received as an inconvenience. So they stopped sending the signal and started absorbing the damage, and they've been doing it so long they sometimes mistake silence for calm - Silicon Canals

Silence during conflict often indicates deeper emotional pain rather than composure or passive aggression.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 days ago

The Fear of Being Canceled Activates an Ancient Alarm

Therapists are observing a new anxiety disorder characterized by a fear of public shaming and ostracism, termed akyronophobia.
fromBig Think
1 month ago

How our view of "fundamental" has evolved over time

In antiquity, many opined about "the elements" in combination. Around 2500 years ago, Leucippus and Democritus founded the idea of atoms. Perhaps everything, they opined, was composed of indivisible building blocks. In the late 1700s, hydrogen and oxygen were discovered. Circa 1804, John Dalton revived atomism to explain chemical behavior. Then in 1869, Mendeleev developed the periodic table: organizing the atoms.
Science
Philosophy
fromThe Philosopher
2 weeks ago

On Cancelling and Repair Revisited

Restorative justice in academia requires perpetrators to genuinely restore victims rather than merely rehabilitate their own reputations through aggressive legal tactics.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Beyond Suspicion: Why We Doubt Greatness-and What It Says About Us

Mental mastery and team trust are crucial for success in cycling, transcending past performance and skepticism.
Business
fromFast Company
1 month ago

Yes, everyone can be creative

A culture of creativity can be deliberately built through organizational systems, not an innate gift reserved for a few.
Philosophy
Society exists as a real entity distinct from individuals, comparable to how organs form a brain; denying society's existence while acknowledging individuals is logically inconsistent.
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Politics of Looking Away

Like us, you may feel paralyzed in the face of the relentless images of violence we see every day. Suffering children, military occupations, the devastated neighborhoods, the cries of parents mourning their dead-these scenes haunt us. Whether it is happening in Palestine or Minneapolis, we are witnesses to suffering, and that witnessing takes a heavy toll. Clearly, the devastating situations in the West Bank and Gaza and in Minneapolis differ
Social justice
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

The Cosmic Closet: Why We Misjudge Others' UFO Beliefs

Most people believe intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, but hesitate discussing it due to perceived social stigma rather than actual skepticism.
US politics
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

When Everyone Agrees, Nobody Sees

A multicultural military harnesses immigrant experiences and diverse perspectives to strengthen national defense and improve collective decision-making.
#indoctrination
Philosophy
fromBig Think
1 month ago

The philosophy of indoctrination and how to fix it

Indoctrination occurs when beliefs are sealed off from questioning through prepackaged instructions that frame scrutiny as irrational or immoral, preventing rational evaluation of counterevidence.
Philosophy
fromBig Think
1 month ago

The philosophy of indoctrination and how to fix it

Indoctrination occurs when beliefs are sealed off from questioning through prepackaged instructions that frame scrutiny as irrational or immoral, preventing rational evaluation of counterevidence.
History
fromThe Atlantic
1 month ago

The Commons: The Unfinished Revolution

The American Revolution reshaped political power but preserved many social hierarchies, and inclusive historical portrayals recognize marginalized contributors.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Gossip, Power, and the Stories We Tell

Gossip evolved as verbal grooming enabling humans to maintain large social networks and evaluate trust and cooperation through shared social information.
Higher education
fromwww.mercurynews.com
1 month ago

Opinion: Sociology is taking it on the chin. Here's how we can preserve this critical field of study.

Sociology faces politicized attacks, curricular exclusion, and erosion of departmental standing despite teaching critical thinking, inequality analysis, interdisciplinary synthesis, and scrutiny of power.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

The Importance of Watching the Watchers

The brain's need for explanations drives surveillance, which governments exploit to control populations through information gathering and monitoring.
Law
fromAbove the Law
2 months ago

Is This The Year For Critical Ignoring? - Above the Law

Political anxiety, professional unease, LinkedIn-induced insecurity, and looming bar-exam reform shape an unsettled start to 2026 for legal professionals.
Science
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Beliefs About a Person's True Self Affects Our Evaluations

Observers infer a person's true self from decision conflicts, tending to view instinctual preferences as reflecting that true self.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks ago

People who apologize when someone else bumps into them aren't just being polite. They're running a program that was installed so early they don't even hear it anymore, and it sounds like: your comfort matters more than my space. - Silicon Canals

Chronic over-apologizing stems from childhood conditioning where caregivers' emotional states were prioritized over the child's own needs, creating a nervous system reflex that persists into adulthood.
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Psychological Theories Follow Social Trends

Psychiatry and psychology mirror prevailing societal values and historical ideologies, shaping theories, treatments, and research priorities across different eras.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 month ago

The Humanities Challenge: Expanding the Circle of Philosophy

Philosophy offers transformative insights and vision into human life, and public humanities must evolve beyond traditional academic formats to make philosophy accessible to broader audiences through innovative, engaging methods.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 month ago

"When You See This Sign...": The Power of Silence in Propaganda

Silence functions as a strategic propagandistic tool alongside language, enabling ideologies to spread through what remains unsaid rather than explicitly stated.
Social justice
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Truth and Prejudice

Xenophobia in media and policy damages immigrant health and fuels prejudice; diversified news sources and cross-group social engagement help reduce stereotyping.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
4 weeks ago

Are We Hard-Wired to Be Xenophobic?

Out-group animosity stems from both upbringing and evolutionary survival pressures, but can be managed through conscious awareness and behavioral control.
#conspiracy-theories
fromFuturism
2 months ago
Psychology

Researchers Just Discovered Something Extremely Unflattering About People Who Believe Conspiracy Theories

fromFuturism
2 months ago
Psychology

Researchers Just Discovered Something Extremely Unflattering About People Who Believe Conspiracy Theories

Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

How and Why We Use, Downplay, or Ignore Evidence

The scientific method, though imperfect, remains the best tool for critical thinking and for defending democratic justice against misinformation and cognitive biases.
Philosophy
fromThe Philosopher
2 months ago

On Being and Appearing: Social Reproduction and the Family Form

The family operates as the social form of appearance that conceals and shapes unwaged reproductive labour within capitalist value relations.
fromApaonline
2 months ago

Why We Should Doubt that Academic Philosophy Benefits the Broader Public

A professional philosopher outside the academy walls can act as a popularizer (the goal here is to make philosophy more accessible to the general public), an applied ethicist (the major task is to offer an analysis of various specific moral issues that arise within a society), and a public intellectual (I limit this role to questions that have political connotation). Of course, there are overlaps between these roles and they certainly do not exhaust all possible forms of public engagement of a professional philosopher.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

If Justice Doesn't Exist, Then Numbers Don't Either

A drawn circle is at least something physical. You can see it, touch it, erase it. The skeptic can still say, "Circles are grounded in physical reality. Justice is different; it's just an idea in your head." So let's talk about the number two. Point to it. Not two apples, not two fingers, not a numeral on a page-that's just a symbol.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Break Free Of Your Own Reality Bubble

The word umwelt comes from biology, coined by ethologists studying animals in their natural habitats. It refers to the world as an organism can perceive it, based entirely on its sensory equipment. A bat's umwelt is built from echo. A dog's from scent. A tick's world is dominated by a single chemical cue that tells it when to drop from a branch onto a passing mammal.
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Why You Can't Rely on Your Own Morality Alone

What does it mean to say that you are restrained solely by your own morality, by your own mind? The conscience is often described as an inner voice telling us what to do when others may be opposed. A moral compass is that which distinguishes between right and wrong, good and bad. Our conscience, our moral compass, sets the groundwork for doing the right thing.
Philosophy
Philosophy
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Embracing Intellectual Humility in Political Conversations

Intellectual humility recognizes knowledge limits, seeks other perspectives, and restrains certainty, tribalism, extremism, and contempt in political judgment.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Psychology of the Collective Unconscious

A shared, inherited collective unconscious shapes human emotions, recurring archetypal imagery, and convergent dream themes across cultures, especially during times of stress.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Power of Beliefs: How to Stop Surrendering Your Agency

When Serena Williams strode onto the Wimbledon grass, her legendary power was never in question. Her serve was crushing. Her backhand was unstoppable. But she wouldn't go to the net. She'd see a short ball, the kind that screams "approach," and she would hesitate to volley and miss the point. Serena was not playing at her full potential because of a story in her head.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Outer Pride, Inner Shame

Shame is a painful perception of self as failing, inadequate, impotent, defective, unattractive, or unlovable. Pride is a pleasant perception of self as successful, accomplished, potent, admirable, attractive, or lovable. Inner perceptions of self implicitly guide thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Rarely do we consciously consider ourselves to be failures, successful, lovable, or unlovable. Inner self shame manifests only when shameful behavior is exposed-that is, when we're caught.
Psychology
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