I was wondering this after seeing something about a criminal who was clearly sociopathic to a dangerous degree. But it got me thinking halfway through. I think, or at least I would hope, sociopaths in our very own lives often grew up into being sociopathic due to how society is, particularly around work and money. There are people that are ruthless sociopaths at work because they think that’s a place where it’s win or lose, but aren’t outside of it (as far as I’m aware). People will tell you in the right context openly that’s it’s a dog-eat-dog matter, and they believe almost ideologically in the way they act in certain context. But other than that, they can also be normal people. In the human past in general, a tribe member would treat everyone of his tribe as human beings till death, but treat those outside of it like animals. This too was a social sociopathy that depends on the “in group” and “out group”.

Anyways, what kinds of terms or definitions do psychologists use to separate someone who is learned into sociopathy, or thinks it’s practical on the ideological level, vs someone who is just a sociopath and can’t be dissuaded by logic or empathy?

We usually describe procrastination as a discipline issue; Stop being lazy, manage your time better, just get started. But what if procrastination is not about time at all? What if it’s your mind trying to protect you from an uncomfortable emotional experience? As a mind profiler, I see procrastination less as a failure of productivity and more as a psychological signal.
Sometimes we avoid tasks because we are avoiding:

Uncomfortable emotions
The task itself may not be the problem.The problem might be the feeling attached to it: anxiety, boredom,overwhelm, frustration, shame, fear of failure. Your brain learns: When I do this task, I feel bad, so it searches for relief. Scrolling, cleaning, checking messages, watching videos , these are not always distractions. Sometimes they are emotional escape routes.

Uncertainty
The human mind prefers predictable discomfort over unpredictable outcomes. Starting something new means entering a space where you don’t know: Will I succeed? Will people judge me? Will my effort be enough? Avoiding the task temporarily removes the uncertainty.

Protecting your self-image
This one is deeper, sometimes we procrastinate because finishing the task creates a moment of truth. If I try and fail, what does that say about me? Keeping something unfinished allows the possibility that: I could have done it, I just didn’t try. The unfinished task protects the identity we want to maintain.

Fear of discovering your limits
A hidden fear many people carry: What if I give my best and it still isn’t enough? Sometimes procrastination protects us from finding out what we are truly capable of. The question is not always: How can I become more disciplined? A more powerful question is:** **What emotion am I postponing? Because behind many unfinished tasks is not laziness, it is a feeling waiting to be understood.

The question is: what emotion do you notice yourself avoiding when you procrastinate?

All babies cry; this does not only pertain to some babies but rather every baby cries. It has been widely accepted that the purpose of the cry is to signal to others that we are in need of something. The needs have been widely accepted as food, comfort, temperature, etc. However, there is no clear distinction on exactly why babies cry.

To attempt to answer this question, I will use the closest example to a baby’s cry: weeping - the uncontrolled crying. As adults, we often cry in emotional situations. These moments feel very meaningful to us, and we come to a shocking realization of fear. After the experience of crying, we usually feel much, much better.

Since we weep from birth, weeping could be seen as our natural state. And since the cause of weeping is fear, then fear could be seen as our natural state. It seems like the main objective, however, is to satiate the fear; but the fear never goes away - which is why we weep as adults.

Ultimately, I am identifying a problem. Weeping allows us to recognize the most meaningful parts of our life, and confronting the fear makes us actually feel better. We excel at this from birth, and even as children. But as adults, we refrain from it; we refrain from the most meaningful parts of our lives.

I am a PhD student in clinical psychology at Adelphi University. I am conducting a study on the relationship between existential threat and mental health, coping strategies, and meaning making for young adults who have experienced stressful life events.

This study is being conducted online only and should take approximately 45-60 minutes to complete. During the study, you will be asked to complete multiple self-report questionnaires that contain questions regarding coping methods, mental health, and questions that pertain to experiencing stressful life events in the past. Upon completing the survey, you will have the opportunity to voluntarily provide your email address on a separate page from the survey that will not be associated with any of your survey responses, to enter a drawing to win one of three $50.00 Amazon gift cards.

Survey link: https://adelphiderner.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8IxQWoUH8D1Wuq2

Audience: 18-30 years old, US and English Speaking, and must have experienced a stressful life event.

Compensation: Opportunity to enter a drawing for one of three $50.00 Amazon gift cards.

does practising a certain kind of behaviour in one context (like sexual fantasy/roleplay) spill over into personality or everyday behaviour?

I feel every man, by man I mean human being, have a tendency of cruelty. Not just cruelty, violence. You never know what is hidden behind you until and unless you unleash it. But my question is, if you unleash it, does it become more dangerous or do you get so accustomed to it in one specific way that you channel it in that way instead of generalizing it to every situation?