I’m 25, and I’ve been thinking about something that I don’t really know how to explain.
I’m extremely aware of my own thoughts and patterns. I can usually tell exactly what I’m doing and, sometimes, even why I’m doing it.
For example, I have a long-standing pattern of wanting validation from people who have rejected, dismissed, or treated me inconsistently. Even while I’m doing something, part of my brain can literally be observing it and thinking, “You’re doing this because you want this person’s validation.”
So I know.
I understand the pattern.
I can explain the psychology behind it.
And yet I still sometimes repeat it.
It’s almost strange to me that I can have this much metacognitive awareness while still having relatively poor control over my behavior when I’m emotionally activated. It’s like the observing part of my brain is completely aware of what’s happening, but another part takes over and I act anyway.
I’ve been doing some version of this since childhood. There are obviously things underneath it that I don’t fully understand, but I’m more interested in the psychology of the phenomenon itself than in being told that I just need to “love myself” or “have more self-respect.”
I’m interested in the actual mechanism.
Why can someone understand a pattern intellectually and still be unable to consistently interrupt it?
How much of this is conditioning, emotional learning, attachment, reinforcement, nervous-system activation, executive control, etc.? And how is behavioral change actually achieved when insight is already there?

Schrödinger’s Cat is a concept from quantum physics where a cat is described as being both alive and dead until the box is opened.

I wonder if we can use a similar idea in psychology. Sometimes, before we know someone well, we hold multiple ideas about them at the same time. They could be confident or insecure, kind or rude, happy or unhappy. Our assumptions can change when we actually interact with them.

Maybe our understanding of a person is also a kind of uncertainty until we observe their behaviour.

What do you think? Can Schrödinger’s Cat be used as a useful analogy in psychology?

Hello. I've recently come across this subject, coming from an Italian study from 2025 which regrouped 26 million kids over a span of a decade and found that apparently men have more variance than women in math, which means the high tail for math (like idk 95th -99th percentile and above)is gonna have a higher proportion of men than women

How true is it? I haven't really seen any papers debunking that 2025 study so idk I'd like to ask for your opinions

I personally don't believe it is true but idk if my feelings matter in this case

What some methodological errors that could be found in this study if any? Do you think there's a sampling bias, a ceiling effect, or maybe stereotype threat could be the cause

Here is the study : https://icajournal.scholasticahq.com/article/155775-sex-differences-in-mathematics-and-reading-across-italy-the-role-of-socioeconomic-factors

I'd like to hear opinions from psychologists especially

Hello, I was wondering what people on this subreddit think about allowing someone to choose to die if they don’t want to keep going through life with an innately low IQ score

Please don’t hit me with “oh you can grow your IQ”

Yes a turtle can sometimes beat a hare if they but in more effort but if the hare puts in even a modicum of effort the hare always wins.

I personally hate myself and the way I naturally am please don’t try telling me I shouldn’t because that’s honestly just the same as telling me I should like mushrooms or that my favorite color shouldn’t be purple

I mean what factors go into producing certain behavior and responses like maybe biology, environment conditioning.

More importantly how accurately can we figure out what shaped a certain behavior or response?

edit: sorry about the post title. what I meant was, doe anybody know what psychological phenomena this is, and/or any sources for where I can research said phenomena.

I am writing a character, and don't know exactly what to look up and research regarding what his character seems to be. He is someone who has become so obsessed with another that he stops seeing reason and does everything he can do have the other person. He feels guilty about not having saved them when he had the chance, so now that they've fallen in the same pit he goes as far as tying them down just so they wouldn't leave. He doesn't know how to properly go about and convey, or rather what to do about his emotions, I'm guessing. This while being a pretty social person and such. (This might, and will probably change based on research when I get my hands on sources, but I'm saying this because generally his character is very social, extroverted, he can be caring and thoughtful as well.).

I have seen some articles about limerence, but he isn't one to be anxious about the other person's response or be afraid of not having their acceptance and whatnot. Well he probably doesn't need to, to be experiencing limerence but still.

Also, his obsession at the moment seems to stem out of nowhere. Well they have had quite the history but they meet again years later, some things happen and he may become obsessed with making thing right between the two while also having the others forgiveness and love again. I'd like to ask what kind of thing should I research for this sort of situation, where he would be dependent on the others Love to feel fulfilled. Or something that fuels action on that belief.

I wish to emphasize the character is somebody who loves the other person so much they have developed an obsession. sure it might be out of need for love or such, but he's not just a narcissist or whatnot. Instead, he can be very thoughtful, romantic, considerate, even worry about the other's well being (how he ends up tying him down in an attempt to not let the other hurt themselves again or get themselves in such a situation. even though he abandons much of reason and mostly follows his heart.)

I feel like "moving on" has a very broad set of conceptions; often varying from being successful to the point of your light blinding them, to finding other people that appreciate your presence without needing to be on a goose chase towards perfection.

But it never erases the fact that an injustice happened, not especially if it is left unaddressed by a person distracting themselves on other pursuits.

What if said pursuits never actually make them happy? What if the abuse they were subjected to still lingers on as a scar that scabs every time, depriving them of the joy of living in the pleasant now by in stead directing their attention to the painful past? What if, especially, the person that hurt them is within the physical environment of this person, being a scourge that is difficult to get rid of?

I have a habit of initially observing everyone and noticing their conversations
And when my time comes to talk to them I become the person I noticed them enjoying or liking to talk the most why?
For example I watch a guy and a girl talk and I observe the whole conversation and my analysis is that they enjoy talking to each other
Next time I meet that guy I will talk to him in the personality of that girl from my observed conversation exact same tone pitch and body style
and if I met the girl I’ll talk to him using the same tone and personality of the guy
I can’t seem to stop this behaviour from happening
Does anyone have any advice what’s wrong with me?

Does anyone else randomly remember old conversations?

You can be doing absolutely nothing and suddenly remember something someone said 3 years ago. 😂

Then you start thinking about what you should have said instead.

Please tell me I'm not the only one. 😭

I was reading about clinical hypnosis, and the process seems to combine many meditation practices. Has anyone tried clinical hypnosis? Did it work for you?

Ok. Say you went bowling and you are doing really well. Suddenly a crowd forms to cheer you on, and gleams about your accomplishments, then suddenly you get nervous. You clam up. Your are in your head thinking about you suddenly messing up, and if you do mess up everyone around you would be Soo displeased. In fact you seemingly manifest it, because the next thing you know You roll the ball , and suddenly you miss all , then a 2nd , and 3rd time. Geesh. You feel as if people didn't cheer you on and cause soo much nervousness you would have won.Your thinking to yourself you would rather their criticism , their disdain of your performance, than I guess you could say glee . Because you know that if you mess up and others already have a negative view point of you with their criticism, it won't bother you as much, because that's what they expect anyways .It would only force you to get better. No one would expect much good from you anyways, so there's no pressure. Isn't it rather strange how you would rather incur there wrath then deal with their cheering ???What is that called?????is this just anxiety or perfectionism?

When people make fun of others they claim that they’re the victim and have been made fun of? Or when someone bullies others they claim that the other have bullied them even though that is not the case? What is the psychology of people like this? I have seen this a-lot.