Hacker News with Generative AI: Psychology

Do ambiguous images provide psychological insights? Testing a popular claim (peerj.com)
Social media posts and websites claim that the way in which people perceive ambiguous images reveals insights into their personality and thinking style.
Psychology, Perception, Image Interpretation, Social Media, Research
13 points by thinkingemote 9 hours ago | 8 comments
Physical attractiveness outweighs intelligence in partner selection (psypost.org)
Women and their parents report that intelligence is more important than physical attractiveness in a long-term partner, yet when forced to choose, they both favor a more attractive mate—even when the less attractive option is described as more intelligent.
Psychology, Relationships, Human Behavior, Gender Studies
53 points by handfuloflight 1 day ago | 40 comments
Excessive Criticism Is a Sign of Internal Conflict (Projecting) (kupajo.com)
Excessive criticism is a red flag that signals internal conflict.
Psychology, Self-Help, Relationships
12 points by kolyder 2 days ago | 3 comments
Why can't we remember our lives as babies or toddlers? (theguardian.com)
Life must be great as a baby: to be fed and clothed and carried places in soft pouches, to be waved and smiled at by adoring strangers, to have the temerity to scream because food hasn’t arrived quickly enough, and then to throw it on the ground when it is displeasing. It’s a shame none of us recalls exactly how good we once had it.
Psychology, Memory
248 points by bookofjoe 3 days ago | 258 comments
Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking (2020) (psyche.co)
Talking out loud to oneself is a technology for thinking that allows us to clarify and sharpen our approach to a problem
Cognitive Science, Psychology, Thinking, Problem Solving
25 points by yamrzou 3 days ago | 0 comments
The human mind is in a recession (ft.com)
The human mind is in a recession.
Economics, Psychology, Human Behavior
45 points by anjel 4 days ago | 52 comments
Like It or Not, AI Is Learning How to Manipulate You (venturebeat.com)
I reminisce because in 1980 a skilled human could observe these AI agents, decode their unique personalities and use those insights to outsmart them. Now, 45 years later, the tides are about to turn. Like it or not, AI agents will soon be deployed that are tasked with decoding your personality so they can use those insights to optimally influence you.
Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Manipulation, Human-Computer Interaction
6 points by bonkerbits 4 days ago | 1 comments
Facing the Music or Burying Our Heads in the Sand? (nlm.nih.gov)
Defenses that keep threatening information out of awareness are posited to reduce anxiety at the cost of longer-term dysfunction. By contrast, socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that preference for positively-valenced information is a late-life manifestation of adaptive emotion regulation.
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Aging, Emotion Regulation
12 points by bobongo 5 days ago | 3 comments
AI Mistakes Are Different from Human Mistakes (schneier.com)
Humans make mistakes all the time. All of us do, every day, in tasks both new and routine. Some of our mistakes are minor and some are catastrophic. Mistakes can break trust with our friends, lose the confidence of our bosses, and sometimes be the difference between life and death.
Artificial Intelligence, Human Error, Psychology
29 points by sorokod 5 days ago | 8 comments
In a showdown of psychotherapists vs. ChatGPT, the latter wins, new study finds (fortune.com)
Couples therapy can be helpful—but so can an AI chatbot, researchers found.
Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Chatbots, Research
29 points by dr_dshiv 6 days ago | 17 comments
Head Games – a humiliating list of all the ways your brain can deceive you (futilitycloset.com)
This is beautifully well done — a humiliating list of all the ways your brain can deceive you (click to enlarge).
Psychology, Cognitive Science, Human Brain, Neuroscience, Deceptions
9 points by beardyw 7 days ago | 0 comments
The Hallucinatory Thoughts of the Dying Mind (nautil.us)
Delirium exposes the gap between the ideal and the reality
Death, Consciousness, Neuroscience, Psychology
25 points by dnetesn 8 days ago | 2 comments
Decisions are temporary, so make the call and move on (basecamp.com)
Done. Start to think of it as a magical word. When you get to done it means something’s been accomplished. A decision has been made and you can move on. Done means you’re building momentum.
Productivity, Decision Making, Psychology, Work
3 points by notpushkin 8 days ago | 0 comments
The hallucinatory thoughts of the dying mind (mitpress.mit.edu)
Delirium is one of the most perplexing deathbed phenomena, exposing the gap between our cultural ideals of dying words and the reality of a disoriented mind.
Death, Neuroscience, Psychology, Medicine, Cultural Studies
179 points by anarbadalov 10 days ago | 131 comments
The "Need for Chaos" Voter (forkingpaths.co)
New research has discovered a new personality trait called "need for chaos." They just want to watch the world burn and they're happy to help democracy end in flames. We must understand them.
Politics, Psychology, Research
12 points by ColinWright 11 days ago | 10 comments
Explaining Glasser's 'Quality World' (thebetterplan.org)
“Learning what is in a person’s ‘Quality World’ and trying to support it, will bring us closer to that person than anything else we can do.” (p. 51).
Psychology, Self-Help, Relationships
7 points by yamrzou 11 days ago | 0 comments
Sleep on it: exploring the psychology of sleep amidst contemporary challenges (nature.com)
Throughout history, poets, scholars, and scientists have acknowledged the profound link between sleep and psychological well-being. The wisdom of “sleep on it”, ingrained in both Western and Eastern traditions, highlights the crucial role sleep plays in restoring and enhancing cognitive functions. In today’s fast-paced, highly-interconnected, technology-driven world, where cognitive demands are ever-growing, quality sleep has become both more vital and more elusive. This collection delves into the evolving role of sleep in maintaining psychological well-being amidst contemporary challenges.
Psychology, Sleep, Science, Health, Technology
6 points by rntn 12 days ago | 0 comments
We're performing for an audience of machines (christopherireland.substack.com)
We are kept angry, reactive, and sure we’re right. Because that reaction is profitable and mutes our power.
Social Media, Psychology, Human Behavior
22 points by berkburb 13 days ago | 5 comments
René Girard and the Mimetic Trap (onepercentrule.substack.com)
This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Part 2: The Mimetic Intelligence Trap is here
Philosophy, Sociology, Culture, Psychology
8 points by drcwpl 13 days ago | 0 comments
Context-switching is the main productivity killer for developers (techworld-with-milan.com)
Have you ever wondered what the biggest productivity killer for developers is? There are many, but one stands out—and it’s often underestimated.
Software Development, Productivity, Psychology
29 points by gpi 14 days ago | 1 comments
The Sad Math of Ads (jamesdamore.com)
Advertising permeates modern life, drowning us in messages of inadequacy and promises of salvation through consumption.
Advertising, Consumerism, Psychology
42 points by TaurenHunter 14 days ago | 34 comments
Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed (scientificamerican.com)
No matter what you believe, I’m willing to bet you’ve been feeling a lot of outrage lately.
Psychology, Social Media, News Consumption, Current Events
757 points by headalgorithm 15 days ago | 905 comments
Bonobos recognize when humans are ignorant, try to help (arstechnica.com)
A lot of human society requires what's called a "theory of mind"—the ability to infer the mental state of another person and adjust our actions based on what we expect they know and are thinking.
Animal Behavior, Psychology, Primates
3 points by LinuxBender 17 days ago | 0 comments
I'm a neuroscientist. Here's how gambling can change your brain (sciencefocus.com)
Neuroscience, Gambling, Brain, Psychology, Science
8 points by nabla9 18 days ago | 3 comments
Fake thinking and real thinking (joecarlsmith.com)
“There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall?” 
Thinking, Philosophy, Cognition, Psychology
88 points by surprisetalk 22 days ago | 18 comments
Ask HN: Are there "story-based" and "fact-based" people? (ycombinator.com)
I'm trying to process some conflict I've experienced, both in jobs and in my personal life. One synthesis I'm converging on is the idea that there are "story-based" people, and "fact-based" people. I self-identify as "fact-based", so I'm trying to articulate this while adjusting for my bias towards fact-basis :)
Psychology, Human Nature, Personal Development, Conflict Resolution
19 points by brw12 22 days ago | 32 comments
Our phones are killing our ability to feel sexy (2024) (catherineshannon.substack.com)
Scrolling on our phones is killing us. This is a statement of fact that needs no citation (besides, research isn’t really my thing). The massive suck of our phones and the never-ending, algorithmically-driven internet has been covered at greater length by better-informed writers. We all know our phones are destroying our attention spans, our dopamine reward systems, our relationships. We know they’re numbing our feelings and experiences. That’s all I’ll say about the general badness of phones and the internet.
Technology, Social Commentary, Digital Addiction, Psychology
237 points by marban 22 days ago | 233 comments
Revisiting Sex and Gender in the Brain (thetransmitter.org)
To understand how to study the influence of sex and gender in the brain in not only a scientifically accurate but socially responsible manner, we need to think of “sex” as a complex, multifactorial and context-dependent variable.
Neuroscience, Gender Studies, Psychology
5 points by domofutu 23 days ago | 0 comments
One word that explains why the world feels 'deeply off' for so many people (upworthy.com)
A new study from the folks at Insure.com has done the math and estimated that the average mother’s “salary”, a fair wage to compensate for all the hours worked — that normally go completely uncompensated! — would be $140,315.
Psychology, Economy, Parenting
16 points by unclebucknasty 25 days ago | 22 comments
Total Isolation: What Happens to Your Brain After 30 Days Spent Alone (2019) (inverse.com)
Imagine being confined to a small, dark room, with no social interaction whatsoever for 30 days. Not many people would jump at this opportunity. But, in November 2018, a professional US poker player, Rich Alati, bet $100,000 that he could survive 30 days alone and in total darkness.
Social Experiment, Psychology, Human Behavior, Isolation
11 points by squircle 26 days ago | 1 comments