Psychology
Exploring "Why" questions about Psychology
480 articles
Why did Mark Twain hate the writings of Jane Austen so much? And should I know if my writing is as bad instinctually?
Austen is actually an incredibly *good* writer, whose style unfortunately is now very antiquated. [This blog post](_URL_0_) suggests Twain was being sarcastic, and actually appreciated Austen. But Twa
Why does buying stuff (non-essential) make us happy?
It depends on what kind of stuff you're buying, but essentially, it's because products are advertised as lifestyle components rather than things. E.G. You're not buying a Mercedes Benz, you're prestig
Why do people feel the need to use a “throwaway” account if reddit accounts are anonymous anyway?
Because little clues add up, and if you piss off one nut-job, they can cause a lot of real-world problems. Also, throwaways have less importance on points, so you can ditch it and go outdoors and do o
Why don’t things like the Westboro Baptist Church and the such get arrested for hate speech?
No, there are no hate speech laws. You are entitled to say anything you like provided that it is not a direct threat.
why is it not possible to mentally “think yourself” into having feelings similar to the effects of MDMA?
Meditation can work. I will focus on an object until I can feel my pulse through my finger tips and my heart beat is kinda rocking me back and forth. Then I go for a walk.
Why is it we feel very motivated towards the night and when waking up in the morning we don’t have the same drive?
So you're in bed about to sleep and you start thinking of things you want to do tomorrow. Let's just say that one of your goals is to read that book thats been sitting on your bookshelf. You'll feel r
Why do parents use jealousy tactics to make babies eat, how does this work?
I don't think that it's jealousy tactics but merely making the baby feel comfortable to know that the food is safe to eat. Adults do it all the time when testing a foreign food. They hesistate until s
Why can’t the government create a program similar to the WPA during the Great Depression to provide thousands of jobs while getting long-needed construction projects done?
We totally could! It would just require raising taxes (to pay for all those salaries) and increasing the size of government (adding all those new government jobs). Those are both toxic political ideas
Why did all of the love and fascination for Jennifer Lawrence go away basically right after her nudes leaked?
She hasn't had any movies come out lately (and no, I'm not counting Serena because it sucked and there was no publicity gauntlet). She'll come back when the Mockingjay Pt. 2 publicity machine really g
why isn’t happy hour one single hour?
Because it is hard to drink enough in one hour to wash the smell and taste of Corporate America off of you.