Psychology Now (Vol 9)

Understanding human behaviour and mental processes, whether our own or those belonging to others, is essential if we want to make better decisions and lead happier lives. Why do we feel certain emotions in specific situations? Why do we behave in particular ways? And what can we do to overcome the things that hold us back? Delve into the world of psychology and build a better relationship with your mind. Learn how to be kind to it, unlock its full potential and use it to your advantage. In the pages that follow, we explore what’s meant by emotional hangovers, how to deal with catastrophic thoughts, and why we grieve people we never even met. We also look into cancel culture, attention-seeking, anger, passive aggression, adolescent psychology, ghosting, entitlement mentality, depression…

Psychology is a rich and varied subject area that includes many different branches of speciality. Some of these work quite closely together, while others are incredibly distinct in what they do. For example, some psychologists will work closely with patients, using their knowledge in clinical or neuropsychology to treat a wide range of difficulties. Others, such as forensic psychologists, work within the legal system. And health psychologists look at the area of healthcare that overlaps with psychology. In comparison to this, other branches of the discipline are more academic in focus, looking at how human beings socialise with each other or behave. Research is carried out into how people develop across the lifespan, and others look at the way that psychology is related to things like education or sport. Here…

Developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is now one of the world’s most popular therapies used to treat a wide range of conditions. Beck was inspired to create this new form of therapy after noticing that cognitive distortions were being experienced by many of his patients – examples like catastrophising and black and white thinking which you might recognise today. At the same time, Albert Ellis was developing a similar therapy known as rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), which had more of a philosophical focus and the aim of identifying and challenging irrational thought processes. Fundamentally, CBT is based on the interaction between our thoughts, feelings, behaviours and emotions, taking inspiration from both cognitive and behavioural psychology, to understand how small changes can change the…

A pivotal theory positioned somewhere between behavioural and cognitive psychology, the social learning theory was developed in the 1970s, building on the classic conditioning and operant conditioning ideas put forward by behaviourism. Unlike the behaviourists, Bandura believed that humans were active in their decision making, and his theory is based on the idea that people learn by observing and copying the behaviour of others around them. This kind of learning is mediated by cognitive processes, which is how the theory captures the cognitive approach as well. This social learning approach was tested by the infamous 1961 Bobo doll experiments. As with other psychological studies from this era, a test like this would never be replicated today, however, at the time it was a landmark study of great importance. The experiment…

Do you always tend to focus on the worst-case scenario? Play a game of ‘what if?’, moving from one terrifying possibility to another? This type of negative mindset is known as ‘catastrophising’, characterised by a tendency to focus on the worst possible result to any situation. It doesn’t usually start out with complete catastrophe; often the initial worry can be small and proportionate. For example, if you make an error at work, you might legitimately be concerned about how to correct the mistake and explain it to your manager. And then you might ruminate on it, creating scenarios in your mind where you get in trouble for the error, are called into a meeting, lose your job and then struggle to pay your bills, leaving you in a desperate situation.…

One area that has been more widely researched is the role of catastrophising in those who suffer from chronic pain, often called ‘pain catastrophising’. This is when those who experience regular pain exaggerate the outcome of this pain in their mind or have negative thought patterns towards their actual or perceived pain, limiting what they’re able to do or what they can cope with. For example, someone who has a chronic back problem might catastrophise the pain to the point that they feel unable to do exercise, even if exercise has been prescribed to help with the underlying cause of the pain, making the problem worse and increasing pain levels further. Numerous studies have shown a link between pain catastrophising and worsening chronic pain outcomes, including one that highlighted pain…