In this video I talk about Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and how it can help explain why the genes for major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are still in the gene pool. I explore five possibilities including: the positive advantages of contemplation (”positive rumination”), a more realistic sense of life, higher creative expression, […] The post Video #36 The Evolutionary Advantages of Mood Disorders first appeared on Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D..| Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
Apparently there’s an old wives’ tale that if you turn a mattress on a Friday you’ll have bad dreams. Stupid, right? And how about this one: I have a friend who went to a college where the students had a superstition about a certain brick in a sidewalk on the campus: if you ever step … Continue reading "Superstition Has Rational Evolutionary Roots"| Neurotoxin
(1) This may be rhetorically helpful in resisting lawless judicial “rulings”: In the military, soldiers are required to obey “all lawful orders.” No one is obligated to obey…| Neurotoxin
After 3 years the time has finally arrived. I pushed the button on the official publication of The Rational Male – Religion on January 4th, 2021. I know, I know, it’s been a long time, and try as I might I think the blog suffered a bit for it. The good news is I’ll be getting back to my writing...|
Explore psychological processes that guide language and how they change our way of talking in this overview of the basic concepts in psycholinguistics.| Cognition Today
Starting on June 7th 2021 I’m going to be teaching my second seminar on the science of sex differences, an eternal flame in the culture wars and a debate I’ve engaged with myself. IR…| DIANAVERSE
People often ask me for evolutionary psychology reading recommendations. I taught a couple of seminar series on evolutionary psychology for laypeople. Below see my seminar welcome email plus highli…| DIANAVERSE
Good Reasons for Bad Feelings by Randy Nesse examines emotions and mental illness from an evolutionary psychology perspective. I was really excited about reading this book because Nesse’s Why…| DIANAVERSE
When you ask people what experiences have shaped them, they commonly mention being bullied at school or an unkind offhanded remark a parent or teacher made. In my experience, people are much less l…| DIANAVERSE
The funnest conference I have ever attended was the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine meeting (ZAMM) back in 2018. Spearheaded by Athena Aktipis, there were talks on everything from first aid to Vodou. Ba…| DIANAVERSE