Future-gazing fiction alerts us to disasters that otherwise might feel too close for comfort.| Psychology Today
Fantasies are imaginary, daydream-like scenarios that individuals play out in their heads. Whether conscious or unconscious, fantasies serve several psychological purposes and are a normal part of most people’s interior world.| Psychology Today
Repression is a defense mechanism in which people push difficult or unacceptable thoughts out of conscious awareness. Repressed memories were a cornerstone of Freud’s psychoanalytic framework. He believed that people repressed memories that were too difficult to confront, particularly traumatic memories, and expelled them from conscious thought.| Psychology Today
Education can shape an individual's life, both in the classroom and outside of it. A quality education can lay the groundwork for a successful career, but that's far from its only purpose. Education—both formal and informal—imparts knowledge, critical thinking skills, and, in many cases, an improved ability to approach unfamiliar situations and subjects with an open mind.| Psychology Today
Shame is an emotion that involves negative self-evaluation—believing that something is wrong with you as a person. You may believe that you haven’t lived up to certain standards and feel unworthy or inadequate as a result. Shame often operates outside of conscious awareness, making it challenging to identify and overcome—but healing and growth are always possible.| Psychology Today
From attraction to action, sexual behavior takes many forms. As pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey put it, the only universal in human sexuality is variability itself.| Psychology Today
The term social media is generally used to describe internet-based websites and applications where users can participate in conversations, connect with other people, share their thoughts, and otherwise engage in social networking in a virtual environment. Between them, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok attract billions of daily users around the world.| Psychology Today
Embarrassment is a painful but important emotional state. Most researchers believe that the purpose of embarrassment is to make people feel badly about their social or personal mistakes as a form of internal (or societal) feedback, so that they learn not to repeat the error. The accompanying physiological changes, including blushing, sweating, or stammering, may signal to others that a person recognizes their own error, and so is not cold-hearted or oblivious.| Psychology Today