Category Archives: Psychology

Shades of Autism

Posted on Sunday 5 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew O’Hehir at Salon describes Trump’s war on reality, concerning Venezuela; Bits from JMG about Democrats, the Pope, a debate trophy named for Charlie Kirk; how Trump lies about Portland burning to the ground; and how the GOP doesn’t want … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Psychology, reality, Thinking | Comments Off on Shades of Autism

Tearing Down

Posted on Saturday 4 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How the current administration loves to fire people; Trump’s license to kill, from a man who wants the Nobel Peace Prize; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s hate, and Russell Vought; A Trump memo that casts atheists as terrorists; how other … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Tearing Down

More on why what’s going on is going on

Posted on Friday 3 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on the decline of American democracy, since Nixon; Francis Fukuyama blames social media and the internet as the prime cause, over eight others, for the global populist wave; Adam Frank on why young men are losing faith in … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on More on why what’s going on is going on

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 | Comments Off on Medbed Fantasies and Trump’s Dementia

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 | Comments Off on Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres

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 | Comments Off on What Astonishes Me

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 born of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology

How Transgenders Trigger Conservatives

Posted on Friday 19 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two truths of Trumpists: nothing is ever their fault, their obsession with contamination; Heritage wants to designate trans people as terrorists; Republicans seem to have no principles except protecting the tribe: once they defended free speech, now, not so much; … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on How Transgenders Trigger Conservatives

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 →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on MAGA and the Charlie Kirk Cult

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 →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT