by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Dec 15, 2025 | Psychology, Psychology of Politics
We tend to think of mental illness as a biological fact like a broken leg or a virus. We assume that schizophrenia or depression looks the same in 2024 as it did in 1024. But history tells a different story. If you look at the timeline of psychosis and the specific...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Dec 10, 2025 | Psychology of Media and Culture
The Ontological Crisis of the Moving Image There is a moment in Paddy Chayefsky’s Network where Howard Beale, the mad prophet of the airwaves, screams about the dehumanization of experience itself. Written in 1976, Chayefsky was already seeing what we have only...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Sep 16, 2025 | Color Psychology, Psychology Topics and Articles
Color affects human behavior in ways that often defy our understanding of perception, culture, and consciousness. While popular psychology often simplifies these effects, rigorous scientific inquiry reveals a complex landscape where wavelengths of light influence our...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Sep 16, 2025 | Psychology Topics and Articles
Mirrors are so commonplace we forget how profoundly they alter consciousness. Only humans and a few other species recognize themselves in mirrors, yet this ability creates psychological effects that transcend simple self-awareness. Mirrors reduce cheating, treat...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Sep 15, 2025 | Psychology Topics and Articles
The amount of empty space in design triggers profound psychological responses that determine perceived value, trustworthiness, and quality. Yet the same minimalism that signals luxury in one context signals cheapness in another, through mechanisms that defy simple...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Sep 15, 2025 | Psychology Topics and Articles
Smell is our most ancient sense, yet its influence on behavior remains profoundly mysterious. Invisible scents shape everything from trust to purchasing to moral judgments through pathways that bypass conscious awareness entirely. Unlike vision or hearing, smell...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Sep 15, 2025 | Psychology Topics and Articles
The experience of waiting defies objective time measurement in ways that continue to baffle researchers. A five-minute wait at the DMV feels eternal, while a 45-minute queue for Space Mountain flies by. This isn’t just about fun versus bureaucracy; the...
by Joel Blackstock LICSW-S MSW PIP no. 4135C-S | Oct 26, 2024 | History of Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Biographies: Historical Figures in the History of Psychology, Recovering from Abuse
Challenging Freud and Pioneering Feminine Psychology “The perfect normal person is rare in our civilization. There is no such thing as absolute normality within a complex culture. The tremendous psychological stresses and strains of present-day life fall too...
