Category Archives: Psychology

Medbed Fantasies and Trump’s Dementia

Posted on Monday 29 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate, Heather Cox Richardson, and Robert Reich on Trump’s AI video about “medbeds”; Reich explicitly links it to Trump’s dementia; Short items about the Michigan mass shooter, government enforcement of Turning Point Clubs; tariffs on foreign-made movies; and banning the … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Psychology | Leave a comment

Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres

Posted on Sunday 28 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Steven Pinker’s new book, and how he applies its ideas to understand the Charlie Kirk matter; Right-wing The Daily Caller explicitly calls for violence; Trump seems to believe in “medbeds,” a science-fictional idea born of MAGA fantasies; And rumors about … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

What Astonishes Me

Posted on Thursday 25 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A UK journalist’s characterization of Trump, and America; Why voters keep shrugging off the corruption of Trump and his staff; Robert Reich’s characterization of the current occupant of the Oval Office; And how what astonishes me is how so many … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology

Posted on Monday 22 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Three more core principles today, illustrated by an essay by a “former creationist” and how she found “following the science” clashed with her culture — and how this conflict is borne of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

How Transgenders Trigger Conservatives

Posted on Friday 19 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Some psychological traits are considered to be conservative, others progressive, even though the individual traits themselves don’t necessarily have much to do with one another. NY Times, opinion by Lydia Polgreen, 19 Sept 2025: The Fallout From Charlie Kirk’s Killing … Continue reading →

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MAGA and the Charlie Kirk Cult

Posted on Wednesday 17 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Apparently “leftist” means not demonizing gays and transgender people, as Christians do; How Charlie Kirk’s discourse favored conflict, not informed debate; Some MAGA guy wants to perhaps kill 500,000 people in response to Charlie Kirk’s murder; And Karoline Leavitt thinks … Continue reading →

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Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

Posted on Saturday 6 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life” (Norton, hardcover, 2011, 252pp, including 47pp notes, additional reading, and index.) (UK title The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life, also 2011) I … Continue reading →

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The Disappearance of Linus

Posted on Wednesday 27 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Distracted the past couple days by the disappearance of Linus. I mentioned this on Facebook last night. Maybe he’ll come back. Click for much larger image. I posted this on Facebook, yesterday the 26th. Our beloved Linus, who appeared exactly … Continue reading →

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Conservative Motivations and Magical Thinking

Posted on Monday 25 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Recalling how conservative motivations echo Hutson’s 7 laws of magical thinking; Examples of banning flag burning, removing the rainbow crosswalk in Orland, and French Gallic culture; Hemant Mehta examines why the Jehovah’s Witnesses have relaxed their prohibition against higher education; … Continue reading →

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Everything Old and Simple; Conservatives, the Conceptual Ceiling, and Cognitive Dissonance

Posted on Thursday 21 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Conceptual ceiling and conservatives; Thoughts about how humanity might survive, via deliberate cognitive dissonance: “One mindset to maintain the tribe and ensure near-term survival; another to solve problems that threaten long-term survival.” Which one is right? Both are, in different … Continue reading →

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