Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “Time heals.” And in many cases, there is some truth to it. Even after very difficult experiences, we are often able, little by little, to return to everyday life. The past cannot be changed, and memories may stay with us for a long time, but the mind gradually adapts to what has happened. Yet this is not always the case. The 2001 film K-PAX tells the story of one such unusual situation. What happens when we are unable to come to terms with what has happened? Why does the mind sometimes try to escape reality rather than face it directly? Let’s explore these questions through one of cinema’s most unusual psychological stories...
Imagine two people saying the same phrase: “I’m glad to see you.” One says it with a smile, looks you in the eye, and sounds genuinely pleased. The other says exactly the same words in a flat voice, barely looking up from their phone. Formally, both have said the same thing, yet one is easy to believe while the other may leave us wondering how sincere they really are. Why does this happen? Because during a conversation we perceive much more than the meaning of words alone. We notice intonation and facial expressions, follow someone’s gaze, gestures, posture and movements, and even pay attention to the distance they try to maintain from the person they are speaking to. All of these signals are generally referred to as nonverbal communication. Can a person’s behavior really tell us what they are thinking and feeling?...
Neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, is one of the best-known and at the same time most controversial approaches associated with psychology. The term is familiar even to people who have little interest in psychology. Some have encountered it in self-help books, others in negotiation and sales training, and still others in stories about “hidden influence” over other people. Over several decades, NLP grew from an unusual idea developed by a small group of researchers into an entire industry of books, courses, and seminars. Attitudes toward it remain divided: some see it as a useful collection of practical tools, while others are highly skeptical. To understand why NLP became so popular — and why it has generated so much controversy — it is worth looking at where it came from and what its creators were trying to offer...
Migration is an extremely relevant topic today in many countries around the world. Some people emphasize its benefits — that newcomers help fill labor shortages, study, work, and pay taxes. Others, by contrast, feel irritation or anxiety: “there are too many of them”, “they are changing our culture”, “it is impossible to find a decent job”. Perhaps everyone is right in their own way. But why does the same phenomenon provoke such different reactions? If we look more deeply, it becomes clear that the issue is not only — and often not mainly — about migrants themselves. Basic psychological mechanisms come into play here, mechanisms that have helped us survive for centuries. In this article, we will look not at politics but at psychology: where the feeling of “otherness” comes from, why it is so persistent, and what can be done about it...
We often say “I’m a humanities person” or “I’m a tech person” as easily as we say “I’m an early bird” or “I’m an introvert”. These words are familiar to many of us and help make sense of the different habits people have and the different ways their personalities show themselves. But what if we stop for a moment and look more deeply into this familiar explanation? What is really hiding behind it? Why don’t I like numbers, why don’t I want to understand people better, why do I avoid trying something new in certain situations and prefer to act within familiar patterns? Why don’t we try the unknown, open up new possibilities, or give ourselves another chance? It would be interesting to find out whether this is really about some fixed “type of mind” — or whether something quite different is going on...
Many of us probably remember that strange childhood feeling: the day has only just begun, yet so much has already happened that by evening it seems as though not a few hours but a whole little life has passed. Summer holidays could feel almost like a separate era. They were filled with friends, courtyards, trips, boredom, discoveries, and all sorts of small dramas and joys that are not always easy for an adult to understand. But with age, this feeling gradually changes. An ordinary week begins, the days pass one after another, and suddenly it is Friday. The weekend is over before it has really begun. The month has only just started, and somehow it has already flown by. We live, work, meet people — and suddenly discover that life has already passed its midpoint. Of course, time itself does not change its pace. But our inner sense of time is clearly more complicated than an ordinary calendar. Sometimes time drags, sometimes it contracts, and sometimes it seems to disappear altogether. Why does this happen? Let’s try to understand it together...
All of us are familiar with the word “interview”. It seems simple enough: one person asks questions, the other answers. But in practice, this word covers very different forms of communication, both in meaning and structure. Sometimes it is a free discussion whose purpose is simply to hear the other person’s story. Sometimes it is a strict procedure with predefined wording, where any deviation from the script is considered a breach of the accepted rules. And sometimes it is a conversation that can deeply affect us and change the way we understand what is happening. We tend to think of an upcoming interview as a standard, predictable procedure. We have been invited “for an interview”, so there will be questions we need to answer. But questions can be asked for very different reasons. To avoid confusion, it is useful to understand what types of interviews exist, how they differ, and why so many different formats are needed in the first place...
Imagine a perfectly ordinary situation. You are in a hurry, there is almost no time left, and suddenly you realize that you cannot find something you need — your keys, a document, glasses, a flash drive, anything. You are sure you know where you left it, so naturally that is the first place you look. You open the cupboard, scan the shelves, move things around, look deeper inside. With every passing minute, irritation grows. “It can’t be, I remember putting it here!” You look around carefully once again. The cupboard is almost turned upside down, your thoughts start racing, and time is running out. Then someone nearby calmly says, “There it is.” You look — and discover that the object has been lying right in front of you, in the most obvious place, the whole time. You are stunned: “How could I miss that?” In reality, the situation is much more interesting. The problem is not that we are bad at searching...
Have you ever asked yourself why learning seems easy for some people but difficult for you? Some people seem able to grasp new things immediately, quickly understand them, and remember what the teacher has just said. Others try just as hard, read a lot, repeat the material, and return to the same topic again and again, yet it still feels as if their brain is constantly slowing them down. An unpleasant explanation may then come to mind: “Maybe I’m just not smart enough.” In the vast majority of cases, that explanation is completely wrong. Learning is an extremely complex process involving brain physiology, psychology, all our previous experience, and our current condition. In this article, we will look at why people learn so differently, what role the brain plays in learning, what belongs to psychology, and what is influenced by the surrounding circumstances...