Daniel Sumner

I wouldn't say that any particular parenting style is the 'reason' for delinquency. This may be falling into binary thinking and looking for causation which is notoriously difficult. However, research has been done in monkeys etc to show what effects various deprivations of affection can have on the infant monkey and often impacts their own parenting. At most we may say that delinquency occurs with greater frequency in certain types of situation. Within this careful wording, we thus make sure that we allow for other factors to influence delinquency and don't lay all of our psychological eggs in one basket.

The etymology is useful here, and comes from Latin phrases meaning pre- and 'judge'. I think the word etymology really helps here, in a sense it has all the sense of assessing someone before encountering them. You have already formed a complete system of thought (usually negative) that you ascribe to an individual or group of individuals. This prejudice has an unintended side effect - it's very difficult to rid one's self of the prejudice even when meeting with a stigmatised individual. Thus, no matter what the other individual says or does, they cannot fully extricate themselves from the prejudice of the other, nor is it their job to do so.

An anthropologist studies in broad terms, cultures and societies of different groups of people. Their interest would be on many different facets of cultural development including rituals and day-to-day living of the individuals within a given society no matter how large the group or how small. The etmyology of the word anthropology comes from a Greek word 'anthropos' meaning human being.

Yeah he definitely exhibited the signs and his family and friends recognised these symptoms, but I guess didn't suggest psychopathy at the time which isn't all that surprising since who would be ready to call their spouse or child a psychopath😁

The links are interesting, I'm glad there's ongoing work to explore the nature of the relationship that exists. As the abstract hints, the difficulty lies in knowing what came first, the depression leading to increased substance use or the substance use leading to the depression. Given the apparent ease of depressive symptoms in other research, my opinion is that increased depression leads to increased use - a sort of self-medication. Though with any mind-altering drug there is the capacity for unintended side effects and so any use of cannabis has to be thoroughly explored for safe dosage. And this question of whether it relieves or worsens depression needs to be answered.

I think everyone should learn about the neuroscientist James Fallon, so this is a fantastic post and question. In brief, James Fallon was interested in whether there were structural differences between the brains of psychopaths and non-psychopaths. So they took a mixture of scans including ones of Fallon for a control group. They discovered key structural change sincluding change in both prefrontal cortex and the limbic system and these were pretty conclusive. What was interesting was that Fallon spotted on one of the scans a pretty drastic demonstration of brain topographical and functional anatomy clearly at the extreme end of psychopathy. After checking the file, Fallon discovered it was his own scan, and after asking friedns and family and running an assessment, Fallon discovered he had high tendencies and exhibited psychopathic traits. Fallon then had to ask what was so different between him and other psychopaths who go on to commit atrocities. Initially sceptical of the power of environement over behaviour, Fallon went on a voyage of self-discovery and found that it was the positive early envionment provided by and supported by his parents that helped Fallon not give into the worst traits of psychopathy. Though when Fallon asked friends and family, they all conclusively agreed and gave innumerable examples of how his behaviour was akin to that of psychopaths. Fallon the neuroscientist thus is a psychopath, though a friendly one. It's a fascinating case and Fallon is witty a great speaker.

Oh thanks very much, yeah I absolutely can do. 😁

This is a really informative post thanks. One interesting condition is RISP or Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis. Normally the body paralyses the body during sleep, but in certain rare instances the body remains paralysed while the individual is waking. In this condition, while not yet fully awake they can experience bizarre ideas and a variety of mythologies have arisen such as a malevolent hag sitting on one's chest preventing them from moving. The brain mind struggles to understand why the body can't move, and thus creates some terrifying explanations, this is made even more so since the individual hasn't fully awoken.

It's a fantastic book and there were more than a few times I had to re-read a paragraph or two. 😁

These are great tips. I think as you say having a consistent nghtly routine as well as watching caffeine intake after a certain time really helps. I certainly have a nightly schedule involving reading and music or a podcast helps to facilitate some down time that prepares me for sleep. Unfortunately, with the stresses of occupation, family etc it's hard for people to create this nightly routine. I think employers have a part to play in ensuring employees get the necessary sleep that theyneed to function at their best.

Good question. I certainly don't think scrapping anything is the way to go, as the same human tendencies and flaws will be in any system. However, there are obviously several issues of racism, bigotry and brutality which accompanies the privilege of carrying a badge. Finer psychological tools for assessment would be usefu;, not merely to measure things like resiliance but also for measures on communication skills and the ability to decrease rather than increase tensions in a given situation. But interventions require input, substantial economic input into cultivating the type of police force that a nation can be proud of.

This was a new term for me too, but it makes a lot of sense. It's hard to think of solutions, I suppose the solutions might not be all that different from treating normal narcissism. But I can imagine narcissism is incredibly hard to treat. But yeah, I had no idea about how those with high national narcissism would work against and conspire against their fellow citizens.

Thanks and yep things are looking grim for the US at the moment. But I was quite taken by this story of Kenneth and Mamie Clark working in marriage and as a team utilising psychological research and applying it to civil rights.

Absolutely, I guess there's a trade-off for this temporary patch just long enough for you to survive the trauma. I'm looking forward to further research to elucidate this finding.

Certainly it appears like pseudoscience now! In essence, Sheldon had a hypothesis and then did what he could to get an interesting finding, in many ways he might have believed that he was doing proper research, and decieved himself.

You're not missing much, and you're absolutely right not to see the sense int he idea. W.H Sheldon's work has been discredited on a variety of grounds, not just scientifically but also on the basis of ethical grounds. Unfortunately, his work still remains popular outside of scientific and academic circles, just an illustration of how a bad idea can remain potent long after it's debunking. It was impossible for cultural norms not to influence the studies by Sheldon, and there were lots of ethical lines crossed especially when it came to the acquisition of nude photos used for the research.

Good question: Forensic psychology as a field has as its core aims to understand the psychology of criminal behaviour and to apply these to real life problems. Whether that be through assessments for individuals within the criminal justice system or to advise police procedures. Psychology directed towards medicine - would be directed at the treatment of mental health issues and/or wellbeing. CBT for instance would be a common technique for addressing mental health. Although these techniques may also be used within the prison system.

Generally, the job role of the forensic psychologist is not to 'catch' the bad guys. But rather to supply psychological insights of both suspects still loose and those already inside the penal system. Due to television shows, movies etc the roles of a consultant or forensic psychologist are often blurred to the point of being unrecognisable. So the answer to the question is difficult to provide.

Yeah I see where you're going with the example. That's a good way of looking at it :)

Forensic entomology employs the use of insect behaviour and lifecycles to help answer questions that apply to forensic settings. Some of the questions might relate to when or how long a dead body has occupied a space. Knowledge of when insect or larvae hatch or change and the timeline helps assist in determining length of time a dead body has been in the open. Entomology itself finds its roots within the Greek 'entomon' and meant "cut up in pieces" or "having a notch cut at the waist" (Etymology online 2022). Entomology should not be confused with etymology whice refers to the origin of words.