h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

THIS IS ONE OF THE CENTRAL AREAS OF PSYCHOLOGY, TAKING INFORMATION AND MAKING SENSE OF IT....UNDERSTANDING THE WORKINGS OF THE HUMAN MIND!?! IS IT POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND ANYONE COMPLETELY!?!?
HOW WE THINK MOTIVATES OUR ACTIONS....WE EACH OF US DEVELOPE DIFFERENT BEHAVIOURAL CONCEPTS BASED UPON OUR OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCES THROUGHOUT LIFE...NO 2 INDIVIDUALS ARE THE SAME HENCE THE TERM "INDIVIDUAL".
THE WAY IN WHICH WE TREAT OTHERS IS PART OF THE SAME PROCESS, THIS IS KNOWN AS PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS, IN OTHER WORDS WHEN WE MEET NEW PEOPLE WE MEASURE THEM BY OUR OWN PERSONAL CONSTRUCTS AND DECIDE WETHER WE LIKE THEM OR NOT ETC....THERE ARE MANY AREAS TO BE EXPLORED IN COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING I FIND IS COGNITIVE DISSONNANCE, THE STUDY OF HOW PEOPLE WILL CHANGE THEIR BELIEFS AND/OR ATTITUDES TO SOLVE PERSONAL DILEMMAS! FESTINGER,RIECKEN AND SCHACHTER CONDUCTED A FAMOUS STUDY IN 1956 WHICH SHOWS CLEARLY HOW A LARGE GROUP OF CULT MEMBERS ADAPTED THEIR BELIEFS IN ORDER NOT TO LOOK FOOLISH, ANOTHER WAY TO AVOID COGNITIVE DISSONNANCE IS TO USE SCAPEGOATING, WHER BY WE BLAME OTHERS FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED.
TO UNDERSTAND COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES MORE FULLY WE NEED TO LOOK AT ALL ASPECTS OF THE HUMAN PSYCHE AS THEY ALL OBVIOUSLY PLAY A PART IN OUR BEHAVIOR. COGNITION IS DIVIDED INTO THREE MAIN AREAS EACH CONTAINING SEVERAL ISSUES, THESE ARE THINKING, PERCEPTION AND MEMORY. WE HAVE CONCEPTS OF EVERYTHING WE COME INTO CONTACT WITH...THE PSYCHOLOGIST ROSCH HAS PRODUCED PAPERS ON THE THREE MAIN AREAS OF COGNOTION AND CONCEPTS USING A SYSTEM OF HIERACHY TO EDEMONSTRATE THE DIFFERENT LEVELS AND IS WELL WORTH READING.
PERCEPTION! HOW WE LOOK AT THINGS AND HOW WE CAN BE INFLUENCED BY WHAT WE SEE! ANY ONE INTERSTED SHOULD READ GESALTS PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTION,
OTHER GOOD READING :
BURR,V.AND T.BUTT, INVITATION TO PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY ( WHURR 1992)
TURNER, J., SOCIAL INFLUENCE (OPEN UP 1991)
HARRIS, P., CHILDREN AND EMOTIONS (BLACKWELL 1988)

Dear Crazy Liverpool Lass

Did you notice that you have received no responses? I suppose you may have forgotten, or you may have spilt coffee into your keyboard so that the key stuck, but when you type with "caps lock" on, it tends to put people off. At best, it can put them off reading what you have to say, and therefore off conversing with you; and at worst, it can put them off you. Re-read some of your own comments, as well as the original article, and you may come up with a working hypothesis as to why this is so.

Or you could accept a well-known piece of "folk-wisdom" among Netizens, that writing all in caps is the visual equivalent of SHOUTING AT SOMEONE -- and most of us recognize that impulse to escape/avoid people who shout at us.

Pity. Some of the ideas you raised, while not entirely relevant to the original article, were interesting enough that it would have been nice to see what other people had to say.

Peace,

LG