Skip to main content

Psychology

Below are the articles under the tag psychology.

Articles

Hope: A Stabilizing Force During Times of Upheaval

Hope: A Stabilizing Force During Times of Upheaval

30 June 2024 | Lyndsey Eksili | Issue 160 (Jul - Aug 2024)

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu In the sometimes-stormy landscape of life, hope, a treme…

To Believe and “Sacrifice”: A Scientific Reason

To Believe and “Sacrifice”: A Scientific Reason

30 April 2023 | Sumeyra Tosun | Issue 153 (May - Jun 2023)

Throughout history religion has, and continues to, occupy a powerful position in people's lives. Despite doubts raised by philosophers and scientists…

Dunning-Kruger Effect: Audacity Born Out of Ignorance

Dunning-Kruger Effect: Audacity Born Out of Ignorance

28 February 2023 | Fatma Gunduz | Issue 152 (Mar - Apr 2023)

“The fool’s heart is on the tip of their tongue; the wise’s tongue is in the extreme bastion of their chest.” M. Fethullah Gülen [1] Throughout huma…

Voices and Monsters

Voices and Monsters

31 August 2021 | Jan Kaneen | Issue 143 (Sep - Oct 2021)

Postpartum psychosis is a rare mental health condition that affects one or two in every 1,000 new mothers. Research suggests it is an overt presentat…

Understanding and Defeating Depression

Understanding and Defeating Depression

01 September 2020 | Isilay Yatkin | Issue 137 (Sep - Oct 2020)

Depression can have a profound impact on a person’s psyche as their mind slowly cascades down a slippery slope towards irrationality. It can cause th…

Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Being Awake in Your Sleep

Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Being Awake in Your Sleep

01 May 2020 | Horatio I. Davis | Issue 135 (May - Jun 2020)

Dreams are some of the most odd, and sometimes most uncomfortable, experiences for us. They can sometimes also be so realistic that we do not even kn…

Selfishness or Selflessness?

Selfishness or Selflessness?

01 March 2020 | Mustafa Ridvan Donmez | Issue 134 (Mar - Apr 2020)

To attain happiness and to avoid mood disorders, which should we pursue The messages of modern society are all too familiar to us: buy more, eat…

How to Overcome Bad Habits

28 February 2017 | Amin Uighur | Issue 116 (March - April 2017)

Human feelings, thoughts, and behavior are a result of the complex and dynamic connections between our brain, ego, and soul. These connections are no…

Micro Expressions: The Truth Is in the Face

31 August 2016 | Zuleyha B. Ozturk | Issue 113 (September - October 2016)

Have you ever seen someone who, for a split second, looked happy when they weren’t supposed to? What you saw was a masked micro expression. Micro exp…

Nature vs. Nurture - Between Being Born With It or Being Taught To Be It

30 June 2016 | Taufik Mohammad | Issue 112 (July - August 2016)

One of the classic questions psychologists have asked regarding human behavior is whether our behaviors are innate or imparted by one’s environment…

The Nature of Change - Exchange of Letters with My Future Self

30 April 2016 | Elizabeth Allen | Issue 111 (May - June 2016)

To my future self, I think we are all searching for something in our lives. No one seems to know exactly what that something is, but we all are seek…

Creativity as a Process of Reliance in God

31 October 2015 | Zekeriya Ozsoy | Issue 108 (November - December 2015)

No two consecutive generations in human history have ever lived under the same circumstances. The innovation of new technologies and cross-fertilizat…

Antisocial Personality Disorder

30 June 2015 | Alaeddin Hekim | Issue 106 (July - August 2015)

His scores are dropping. He does not attend most of the classes. He does not like any of the rules. He asks all the time, "Why are we supposed to obe…

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and Skepticism

31 December 2014 | M. Tarik Ozgur | Issue 103 (January - February 2015)

What is Skepticism? Skepticism, loosely defined, is the idea that one can never be certain about any piece of knowledge one may possess at any given…

The Psychology of Morality

30 April 2014 | M. Tarik Ozgur | Issue 99 (May - June 2014)

When the captain of a sunken ship commands the lowest ranking crew member among the survivors in the lifeboat to be killed and used to sustain the li…

Jefferson's Qur'an

30 April 2014 | Huseyin Senturk | Issue 99 (May - June 2014)

Thomas Jefferson occupies a special space among the Founding Fathers as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third preside…

Are You Alone?

28 February 2014 | Hamza Aydin | Issue 98 (March - April 2014)

Loneliness is a serious public health concern, akin to both obesity and smoking. Why is it not treated as such? Through faith, we can combat this g…

Interview with the Two Brain Lobes

31 December 2013 | Seth Mette | Issue 97 (January - February 2014)

If you want to know why some of us are so poetic, while others are strictly straightforward, then read on this unprecedented discussion and see how…

Addiction of Status

31 December 2013 | Hasan Aydinli | Issue 97 (January - February 2014)

Though less known than drug addictions, status addiction can cause serious harm to individuals and society. One of the essential mistakes some p…

The Philosophy of Science

31 October 2013 | Eren Tatari - Yamina Mermer | Issue 96 (November - December 2013)

Science deals with descriptions of phenomena;, it does not deal with the explanation of matters beyond. Explanation is the realm of metaphysics and i…

Dispersing Hopelessness from the Depressive Thoughts: Is There Any Way?

31 August 2013 | Mucteba Muezzinoglu / Nate Emru Kiydal | Issue 95 (September - October 2013)

Depression is a major medical illness that causes feelings of dispassion and lessens productivity in individuals. It is usually manifested as a feeli…

Passive Aggression A Bleeding Wound in Our Spiritual Life

30 June 2013 | Hasan Aydinli | Issue 94 (July - August 2013)

“What did she mean with that look? Was she upset with the mess I left behind home? Is she angry with me?” Passive-aggression is frustrating to most p…

Islamic Philosophy of Science

30 April 2013 | Eren Tatari - Yamina Mermer | Issue 93 (May - June 2013)

Attempting to answer questions of agency, causality and universality from an Islamic perspective is called the “Islamic philosophy of science.” In an…

How Many Tsunamis May I Survive?

28 February 2013 | Seema Arif | Issue 92 (March - April 2013)

Postmodernism includes theories that recognize and aim to create diversity. This creates the following dilemma: to what an extent will this “heteroto…

Little Professor Syndrome

31 December 2012 | Safiye Arslan | Issue 91 (January - February 2013)

Autism—and its milder cousin Asperger’s—affects 1 in 150 children across the US. Speculation goes that people like Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin…

From Continence to Virtue: Cultivation of Moral Character

31 August 2012 | Sophia Gallant | Issue 89 (September - October 2012)

Can people be held accountable for what they feel and wish from a moral point of view or is it only their resulting actions that matter? Is it equall…

Birth through Belly?

30 June 2012 | Arslan Mayda | Issue 88 (July - August 2012)

Considering the way human beings are born, some people believe that there can be a "fault" in the design of human body. It is asserted that some norm…

Poor Memory and Its Causes

30 April 2012 | Hakan Coruh | Issue 87 (May - June 2012)

Memory is one of the purposes of the brain, and it is described as the ability to protect acquired information consciously and connect it with the pa…

Compatibility of Modern Psychology and Muslims

29 February 2012 | Sumeyra Tosun | Issue 86 (March - April 2012)

"Surely God changes not the conditions of a people, unless they change what is with their selves." Qur'an (13:11) In the twentieth century, like oth…

Divergent Thinking and the Religious Texts: The Case of Islam

29 February 2012 | Zekeriya Ozsoy | Issue 86 (March - April 2012)

The concept of divergent thinking was first mentioned by prominent psychologist J. P. Guilford (1950), who defined it as "thinking in multiple ways."…

Different Approaches to Interpersonal Conflict

31 October 2011 | Osman Senkaya | Issue 84 (November - December 2011)

"...set things right (adjust all matters of difference) among yourselves to allow no discord..."1 Approximately three decades ago, the Camp David…

Delay of Gratification and Spirituality

31 October 2011 | Zekeriya Ozsoy | Issue 84 (November - December 2011)

We are living in a world in which everything changes very quickly; throughout the world immediacy rules. Industrial companies want to produce more go…

The Anchoring Effect How Our Prior Knowledge Affects Our Perception

30 June 2011 | Y. Alp Aslandogan | Issue 82 (July - August 2011)

Evaluations and decisions play an important role in our social life. As we want our evaluations to be accurate and decisions to be fair, so we also w…

Cognitive Dissonance and the Psychology of Sin

28 February 2011 | Selnur Hatice Yerli | Issue 80 (March - April 2011)

Peter was a successful banker and the vice president of one of the biggest banks in the state. He was also a very intelligent guy who can “magically”…

Critical Thinking

31 August 2010 | Ertan Salik | Issue 77 (September - October 2010)

The Fountain Magazine recently published an interview with Nobel Laurate Ahmad Zewail, in which he answered a question about critical thinking. In hi…

Existential Questions: Can We Avoid Them?

30 April 2010 | Eren Tatari | Issue 75 (May - June 2010)

I recall a conversation that I had with my best friend in high school. I was deeply troubled by the death of my sister, who passed away a few years a…

A True Understanding of Self for Self-Actualization

28 February 2010 | Zekeriya Ozsoy | Issue 74 (March - April 2010)

Psychologists have been using the concept of “self-actualization” to describe those who are immensely successful in realizing their potential (Maslow…

First Journey to Light

31 December 2009 | Seth Mette | Issue 73 (January - February 2010)

Recognized scholar of his time by many contemporaries, and author of the great Risale-i Nur collection, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi lived in the last quar…

Psychological Projection: Islamic and Freudian Views

31 December 2009 | Taufik Mohammad | Issue 73 (January - February 2010)

Projection is a term applied by Sigmund Freud for the act of projecting one’s feelings, attitudes, etc. onto other people. Projection is one of many…

Two Perspectives on Nature

31 December 2009 | Huseyin Faruk Coskun | Issue 73 (January - February 2010)

We have a book written in golden letters lying in front of us. The decoration of the pages is attractive and impressive.. the small diamonds that a…

Memory and Forgetfulness

31 December 2009 | Arslan Mayda | Issue 73 (January - February 2010)

Adam forgot, so did his children. How does our brain store information? How is it possible to make learning faster and easier? Is there any way…

Coping with Life's Problems: Western and Islamic Perspectives

31 August 2009 | Taufik Mohammad | Issue 71 (September - October 2009)

God burdens no soul except within its capacity… (Al-Baqarah, 2:286) This verse is not strange to any Muslim. God has promised that He will never…

The Abyss of Modern Thought

31 August 2009 | Mustafa Torun | Issue 71 (September - October 2009)

Without attributing any value to previous eras, modern thought claims that the only true knowledge is its own, that is, knowledge that is based on ra…

The Good, the Bad, and the Happy

30 June 2009 | Bill Sayoran | Issue 70 (July - August 2009)

How do we discriminate between right and wrong? What are the mechanisms for executing moral actions? Why do individuals ever commit self-sacrifice? W…

Tips on Child Education

30 April 2009 | Zeki Aydin | Issue 69 (May - June 2009)

Preparing children for life is an art. There are many things that parents should know and do about this. One is to make children have the self-confid…

Memoirs of a Former Gossip

31 December 2008 | Sumeyra Tosun | Issue 67 (January - February 2009)

What you are about to read is the diary of a former gossip who felt bad about her "uncontrollable" negative behavior and so tried to modify it. Those…

A Historical Review of Dreams

31 August 2008 | Muhammed Toprak | Issue 65 (September - October 2008)

There are two questions concerning dreams, which have always puzzled human beings. One concerns the actual meaning or significance of dreaming. The o…

Sources of Happiness

30 June 2008 | Salih Uslu | Issue 64 (July - August 2008)

Happiness is a subjective concept that evades accurate definitions or objective measurements. Social scientists, philosophers, and ordinary people ha…

Like It or Not, We All Like the Same Thing

30 April 2008 | Yigit Alarcin | Issue 63 (May - June 2008)

There were some little puzzles that kept my mind busy all the time when I was a child. Some were very primitive questions, yet I could not answer the…

The Sinning Forelock

30 June 2005 | Mesut Sahin | Issue 51 (July - September 2005)

One of the most amazing studies ever conducted on brain function occurred after an industrial accident. The subject of this study was a 25 year-old f…

Trust: An Essential Emotion in Interpersonal Relations and Cooperation

31 March 2005 | Harun Avci | Issue 50 (April - June 2005)

George Eastman, the founder of the Kodak Company, took close-up photographs of wild animals in Africa with a simple camera in 1935, which he then sho…

Children and Violent Computer Games

30 September 2004 | Hasan Aydinli | Issue 48 (October - December 2004)

Suddenly he got up from where he was sitting and started to shout. He was furious just because he couldn’t kill the man who was firing at him. He sat…

Emotional Intelligence

31 March 2004 | Dr. Steve Sablack | Issue 46 (April - June 2004)

Research has shown that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) alone is not a guarantee of success in life. Today, you need a high IQ plus a high Emotional Quoti…

A New Approach To Management : Creating A Winning Team And Coaching

30 September 2003 | Sait Onal | Issue 44 (October - December 2003)

All the experts are talking about reinventing this and reorganizing that. Yet, for the rest of us, accepting change day-to-day can be daunting. At le…

Painless Love

30 June 2003 | Alphonse Dougan | Issue 43 (July - September 2003)

Love is an innate human trait. To love and to be loved are among the most basic human needs. But while love is probably our greatest source of pleasu…

Measuring Intelligence

31 December 2002 | Alvin C. Roseyard | Issue 41 (January - March 2003)

Intelligence is such an elusive and relative concept that even the experts cannot agree on its nature. Definitions range from quick thinking under st…

The Rise and Demise of Consciousness

31 December 2002 | Firat Kocol | Issue 41 (January - March 2003)

The Rise and Demise of Consciousness', '', 'In the very near future, neuroscience researchers will be able to pinpoint the exact area of the brain re…

Increasing Brainpower

30 September 2002 | Alvin C. Roseyard | Issue 40 (October - December 2002)

Brainpower can be defined as intellectual ability combined with intelligence, creativity, and learning ability. The brain is made of living tissues t…

Love: The Fuel of the Universe

31 March 2002 | The Fountain | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

Love is the most essential component, most vivid light, and greatest power in every living creature. It can defeat any enemy. Loveless spirits h…

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

31 March 2002 | Tu Hoang | Issue 38 (April - June 2002)

I think that most people really do not understand childhood fairy tales until they are adults. But by then these stories often are not revisited. Jos…

Passing from Self-Other to Us

30 June 2001 | Mustafa Ulusoy | Issue 35 (July - September 2001)

Therapists deal with emptiness, meaninglessness, and loneliness.(1) Patients say that emptiness is a painful and discomforting subjective experience…

An Essay on Color

30 June 2001 | Melih Mert | Issue 35 (July - September 2001)

Light reveals a world of colors by painting everything it touches. Our plain and soulless furniture gains meaning. Our brown bookshelf, gray study…

Reality and the Afterlife

30 June 2001 | Fatih Guner | Issue 35 (July - September 2001)

What is reality? What is illusion? Do we have free will, or is our life somehow preprogrammed? Such questions have vexed humanity from the beginnin…

Autism

31 December 2000 | Rabia Savas | Issue 33 (January - March 2001)

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects some children either from birth or infancy, and leaves them unable to form normal social re…

On Intelligence, Effort, and Success

31 March 2000 | Suleyman Uludag | Issue 30 (April - June 2000)

This article discusses the sources of differences on intelligence and their effects on desirable outcomes in people's lives. The questions of whether…

Dreams: A Spiritual Approach Part II

31 March 2000 | John Young | Issue 30 (April - June 2000)

People have interpreted dreams since the creation of humanity. Prophets and Messengers always accepted and acted upon them, for a Prophet's dreams ar…

Understanding Dreams

31 December 1994 | A. Fredericks | Issue 9 (January - March 1995)

Are dreams merely electro-chemical currents passing through the brain? Is there meaning to be found in what we see while asleep at night? Is waking r…