Cultural Psychology

Hypnosis as Cognitive Dissonance

Kevin Goodman — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:03:12 PDT

The video below is a presentation of my Master’s research given at Skidmore College’s annual Masterwork’s Roundtable. Audience members asked a couple of interesting questions for which I have elaborated responses and will add to the comments’ section later in the week. Please note that the presentation uses copyrighted video, used within research-educational fair use guidelines (attributions [...]

How To Know If You’re Being Lied To

Kevin Goodman — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:48:26 PDT

Popular books on body language and even police manuals on interrogation have proposed a number of nonverbal indicators of deceit such as covering the mouth, self-touching, gaze aversion, blinking, etc.…But most scientific research on the matter suggests there is no basis for these claims. The fact of matter is that most people are poor lie-detectors [...]

Kevin Goodman — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:48:09 PST

If I were to give an award for the single best idea anyone ever had, I’d give it to Darwin, ahead of Newton and Einstein and everyone else. In a single stroke, the idea of evolution by natural selection unifies the realm of life, meaning and purpose with the realm of space and time, cause [...]

The Logic of Investigation

Kevin Goodman — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:05:22 PST

Carl Ratner—whom I’ve had the pleasure of studying with—writes in his book, Cultural Psychology and Qualitative Methodology that qualitative research is akin to a criminal investigation. His point is essentially that the evidence and the logic must corroborate the claim to the extent that it can convince a logically minded jury—whether a grand jury or [...]

Inspiration: The Pragmatic Maxim

Kevin Goodman — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:13:16 PST

“It appears, then, that the rule for attaining the third grade of clearness of apprehension is as follows: Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have. Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object.” Charles Sanders Peirce

Indigo Children = Narcissists By Proxy

Kevin Goodman — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:20:44 PST

A man once told me his daughter was rejected from American Idol because she was “too good,” elaborating, “They need bad ones for entertainment.” The last times I got my hair cut, which was a long ago (because I shave my head now), the stylist talked the entire time about how certain she was that [...]

Psychological Strategies for Winning No-Limit Texas Hold’em Sit and Go Tournaments: Part 1

Kevin Goodman — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:00:17 PST

No limit Texas Hold’em is a psychologically exhilarating game so it is only natural that it is my recreational game of choice. While I don’t have any World titles, I have played a statistically significant game over the last year. In fact, I’ve turned 10,000 chips into 150,000 chips over several months of six or [...]

Kudos to History Channel For Leaving Roswell!

Kevin Goodman — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:21:25 PST

Boo: Why I Believe in Ghosts (Kind Of)

Kevin Goodman — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:03:57 PDT

Before the serious minded and literalists take me too serious, bear in mind that All Hallows and Samhain are upon us and such a topic is only appropriate though I’ll likely disappoint the supernaturalists. This weekend and last, teenagers and young adults in communities across North America have and will go legend tripping. They have and will [...]

In Defense of Aristocracy: A Social Psychological Perspective on Experts

Kevin Goodman — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:01:12 PDT

When I say aristocracy, I don’t mean a “power elite” but rather, I mean, “those who excel in a professional or cultural field.” A defense of aristocracy may seem anti-egalitarian but—politically—I do not see it as such. Equality in terms of ability, looks, symbolic capital, social capital, and financial capital simply does not exist but [...]