Questions tagged [psychology]

For questions relating to the thoughts and decision making processes of beings.

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The Topography of Madness: Why would my lighthouse be designed with noisy, maddening switches? [closed]

My world is dead and mostly unexplored. And at the end of the known world, there is a beacon which serves that singular purpose: warning anyone approaching that beyond this point, there is nothing ...
Vogon Poet's user avatar
  • 8,129
4 votes
12 answers
4k views

What are the practical reasons for a species of humanoids to all wear sexy, revealing clothing?

Many cultures throughout human history have depicted skin, but few have done so explicitly for the purpose of being sexually enticing, especially not in their everyday routines. Hence, I've been ...
user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
113 views

What are some good Methods to Extinguish Forced Psychological Conditioning?

Premise: Suppose sometime in the future you have an evil empire (morally ambiguous scientocracy) with the capability to rapidly induce extremely potent and enduring psychological conditioning in human ...
40EridaniB's user avatar
7 votes
9 answers
3k views

What factors would determine the behaviors of post-scarcity society?

I'm looking for something more like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but extended beyond the purely physical. I'm not looking for a list of things people would do, or "Here's what I would do", ...
Robert Rapplean's user avatar
3 votes
7 answers
895 views

How could real-time sentence translation work if using a "common middle ground" language?

Previously I'd developed a concept for a translation process that uses a common language, but is perceived (using technology or some other sort of device/substance that can alter mental processing) to ...
inkwell87's user avatar
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4 votes
7 answers
338 views

How to make my hyperfast-immersion language-learners still be fooled by code-words & cyphers

In a story I'm writing, I have a group of beings who can learn any language by just listening to voice-recordings* of someone speaking that language over-and-over again** (almost like a highly ...
Jarren_Takar's user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
117 views

Should world leaders be screened for psychological suitability? [closed]

So, in this sci-fi futuristic universe, I am trying to solve what i call the Basic Problem of Human Leadership, which is thus: 1 in any Democratic system, both good and bad people are able to come ...
user98816's user avatar
  • 8,329
-3 votes
5 answers
194 views

Objectively most efficient way to increase focus?

If resistance is how long you can go doing physically exausting stuff before you die or get overtraining fever then focus is the analogue to magic, your ability to perform magically exhausting stuff ...
user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
879 views

What psychological strategies could be used for keeping an anti-military crew as close to military doctrine as possible?

I hope this question isn't too broad to be answered and clear enough (which I have a hard time figuring out by myself). Context: In this Earth-like world the society is still quite retrograde in the ...
Fulano's user avatar
  • 189
-1 votes
2 answers
96 views

What specific experiments would psychologists perform in a school? [closed]

It's the future America: the US is ruled by an elite band of Psychologists, who function as the political and moral leaders of the country. The Psychologists wish to institute a system of universal ...
Theresa Kay's user avatar
  • 2,127
-2 votes
1 answer
273 views

Creating an Abyss [closed]

I want to create a setting for my story that amplifies the themes of regret and the things we leave behind and feels like it has a grander purpose in the universe. I am drawing inspiration from the ...
The man who sold the world's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
217 views

How would it be established that a space explorer is insane?

Outer space is weird, often in ways that are bad. Some of the explorers who return are broken inside*: We want to explore space, and it's obviously most efficient if veterans can be re-deployed, but ...
Tom's user avatar
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10 votes
7 answers
4k views

How to limit the anger of an unwilling person? [closed]

In my world, people get stronger, faster, and more durable the angrier they are. There is no upper limit to strength. Therefore, in order to limit the strength of an opponent an attacker must limit ...
user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
242 views

How does having blue blood affect the color perception of a species (on a subconscious level)? [closed]

In color psychology, red provokes the strongest emotion of any color. The increased heart rate can be associated with either blushing and passion or power and danger. So in general, you could say that ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
4 answers
496 views

Is it reasonable to assume the near-extinction of women?

The world of Ruquelis has some problems. It is populated by men, women and winged lilim as in this question: How to get the Lilim to breed true?. People on Ruquelis reincarnate according to the ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 52.7k
-3 votes
2 answers
164 views

Will this "miraculous" change have a long-term effect on technology? [closed]

In a fictional world, the following changes suddenly happen to all humans (and future newborns) for no apparent reason: Their temper becomes better. They now enjoy socializing with each other more ...
Vegetable New Man's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
353 views

Future therapy/treatment for veterans of near future/ further future mass casualty conflicts

The setting I am working on is near future in a sense and involves veterans dealing with the aftereffects and trauma of war. However, in this setting war is extremely deadly even if not always fatal. ...
FIRES_ICE's user avatar
  • 2,843
6 votes
4 answers
427 views

Health effects of spending a decade under vampire mind control

The vampires in my setting have the ability to control human minds when looking them right in the eyes. While lots of them generally only use this ability to make humans forget masquerade-breaking ...
Cyrus Drake's user avatar
  • 7,927
24 votes
19 answers
8k views

Why can't immortals use the "make humans ignore this" symbol as an invisibility cloak?

My setting involves a masquerade (though in this setting the term used is "The Veil of Ignorance") where numerous immortal humanoid beings live in secret amongst humanity as a 1-in-1000 ...
Cyrus Drake's user avatar
  • 7,927
1 vote
3 answers
423 views

When given the option to win $1M or die with the press of a button, what known winning probability would cause the most deaths?

Let's say every person at this very moment gets the option to press a button that will either let them win a million dollars or die (painlessly). They all know what the probability of winning is, and ...
user80961's user avatar
  • 283
4 votes
4 answers
956 views

Why would some species from the Homo genus be much more likely to be autistic than Homo sapiens?

In my world, there are three species from the Homo genus that make together a clade called "aquatic humans": merfolk (Homo maritimus) (their scientific name means "marine human"), ...
mammifereviolet4694's user avatar
7 votes
5 answers
462 views

Why would a species take until ~50 years to 'mature' and stop being teenagers?

I'm writing fiction in a shared world that I have some control over, and for my own benefit I'm trying to figure out a reason why the Dwarves in this world wouldn't be 'mature' until they'd reached 50....
AncientSwordRage's user avatar
7 votes
7 answers
1k views

Why would neurodivergent people be sacred individuals?

In my world, there are magical humans often called wizards (their scientific name is Homo magicus) (so, they are still humans, just not Homo sapiens). They are traditionally a very religious race. ...
mammifereviolet4694's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
261 views

What would be the effects of having no barrier between the conscious and subconscious? [closed]

A little background... I have a story idea revolving around "Agent ROY-G-BIV" (the name is a reference to the 7 colors of the rainbow), a self-propagating form of electromagnetic radiation ...
Brinstar77's user avatar
  • 1,487
-1 votes
2 answers
70 views

Self-propagating radiation that turns humans into walking radio towers that are part of a 'collective unconscious'; feasible, or no?

A little background... I have a story idea revolving around "Agent ROY-G-BIV" (the name is a reference to the 7 colors of the rainbow), a self-propagating form of electromagnetic radiation ...
Brinstar77's user avatar
  • 1,487
9 votes
6 answers
4k views

Can loneliest loneliness kill in a post apocalypse?

My story occurs in the near future after a nuclear holocaust, the human population is reduced to mere thousands spread out all over the world. A mysterious disease seems to infect the survivors of the ...
user6760's user avatar
  • 46.4k
8 votes
4 answers
248 views

Why would artificial beings originally created as pets think that this made them the perfect beings without beings worse pets?

For the longest time, I was unsure as to why the aliens in my story would have the anatomy they do; They were created through genetic engineering, so how they evolved is not an issue, but their ...
Choroflorocarbon's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
3k views

Can a brain in a jar be killed or have a reduced lifespan from psychological trauma alone?

I have an original world, Hell, who I credit H. P. Lovecraft for the inspiration. I am not asking a question about any of Lovecraft's published worlds. Inspired by The Whisperer in Darkness I have ...
Vogon Poet's user avatar
  • 8,129
4 votes
6 answers
348 views

Psychological Consequences of a Symbiotic Relationship with a Sentient Symbiont that was supposed to be Consensual, but was not?

PREMISE: A sentient race of neural parasites is in a civil war between the Symbiotes, who've used their extensive knowledge of genetic engineering to alter themselves into symbiotes, and the Parasites ...
Brinstar77's user avatar
  • 1,487
12 votes
7 answers
2k views

How can this prison induce Stockholm syndrome?

(please see note re: name controversy at the end) My world needs a captivity environment that convincingly tends to cause Stockholm syndrome in its captives, leading them to willfully serve their ...
Vogon Poet's user avatar
  • 8,129
1 vote
0 answers
68 views

Government assisted suicide process, can it work and what should be the steps? [closed]

Imagine a country similar to the USA but one that is not completely opposed to suicide. This country believes there can occasionally be situations where death can be preferable to living in pain (be ...
dsollen's user avatar
  • 33.4k
15 votes
9 answers
2k views

Is a harsh environment conducive to the evolution of a peaceful society?

The aliens I am writing are a very soft-hearted civilisation, lacking many of the aspects that make us (humans) pretty vile creatures depending on the perspective. This harmonious behaviour seems like ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
4 answers
473 views

The Jumbled Jaunts of Jormungandr: How predictable is the Snakebot of Doom being? [closed]

Jormungandr, the Snakebot of Doom has left New York. The world's armies and air forces have been decimated and cannot stop it. It has moved on from New York, and has flattened the following North ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 52.7k
6 votes
3 answers
618 views

How would a medieval society treat and view Giants?

Giants in my world are fairly human-looking, besides being 14ft tall on average. Giants are unable to normally communicate (due to their constant heavy breathing) but instead communicate through ...
Wilbur Wummins's user avatar
15 votes
19 answers
3k views

Why to not create a warrior species if you can?

Inspired by the question Creating a Species purely for Warfare, there are plenty of reasons why someone who has the capability to create their own warrior race/species would want to do so... a rapidly-...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 52.7k
7 votes
4 answers
265 views

Eternity - psychological process behind forgetting one's name

Premise I am designing a kind of eternal corridor whereby healthy people are thrown into to spend ages there. Bodily functions/subsistence needs are nullified: they don't feel hungry or anything. ...
Arash Howaida's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
1k views

Feasibility of a Cannibalistic Army? [closed]

Among humans cannibalism has been practiced as a funerary ritual within numerous cultures across the world, and also as a way of ritualistically degrading defeated enemies, as was done most notably ...
NixonCranium's user avatar
  • 11.5k
7 votes
7 answers
203 views

Is there a medical condition or neurological disorder that makes it so a person cannot make facial expressions?

I have a character who cannot smile, frown, express anger on their face, or make other expressions but can still move facial muscles to blink, eat, blush, puff cheeks and still feels emotions like ...
Crimson Bloom's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
324 views

Is use of virtual reality to explore taboo activities a good idea? [closed]

Let us suppose that virtual reality affecting all senses in a way virtually indistinguishable from reality exists. Using this virtual reality, it would be possible for people with extreme, taboo ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 52.7k
4 votes
5 answers
1k views

Would crossbreeding between humans and trolls always be taboo?

In the world in question, we have anatomically and psychologically normal humans living in a variety of societies. We also have trolls. Trolls are a hominid species more closely related to humans ...
Monty Wild's user avatar
  • 52.7k
17 votes
9 answers
2k views

Seeing oneself in an abstract painting

It is known that people, when looking at some complex patterns have the tendency to find human faces in them. My character goes to a museum exhibition of abstract art. She finds herself in front of an ...
user3653831's user avatar
2 votes
6 answers
1k views

How do I justify the existence of a gynoid army?

A gynoid is just the term used to refer to female androids or “fembots”. Gynoids are typically female-styled robots and are usually more human-like compared to regular androids, with the accompanying ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
1 vote
4 answers
173 views

Why do villains keep going after overwhelming power if there’s such a high death risk? [closed]

An evil overlord for whatever reason hears about a powerful artifact that would make him unstoppable. Because of this he scours the land to find it. Due to lacking manpower he turns his attention to ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
-3 votes
2 answers
202 views

What is a realistic psychological response to magic? [closed]

So I think about this a lot based on seeing things like clichés or unrealistic reactions - how would someone actually react to magic? In some media, the character is in unbelievable denial - you've ...
WasatchWind's user avatar
  • 3,157
4 votes
15 answers
4k views

What is an expedience of sci-fi gliders? these machines flying near the very ground

What is an expedience of sci-fi gliders? these machines flying near the very ground. It doesn't matter what they call them there (in different way). No matter what specific principle they fly - what ...
 Пилум's user avatar
7 votes
6 answers
420 views

How long before my feral amnesiac with a superhuman memory regains the ability to speak?

A significant character in my story is a young man, late teens early twenties or so, who shortly before the story began had his mind wiped almost completely. All memories, all knowledge, and all ...
Cyrus Drake's user avatar
  • 7,927
4 votes
5 answers
501 views

How would asexual reproduction (via mitosis) affect human cultural development?

I’m writing a humanoid race with perfectly symmetrical bilateral anatomy. This trait is shared by almost all complex life on their world and has shaped the way they reproduce; via mitosis. I’ve ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
4 votes
6 answers
808 views

Reptilian beauty standards

This isn’t limited to lizard folk but humanoid reptiles in general. The most common mistake I see when designing females of a reptilian race is to give them human breasts and proportions, despite them ...
LiveInAmbeR's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
8 answers
470 views

What would really happen if an adult's mind was dumped into his five year old self's brain?

We’ve all read those Isekai mangas... or at least I have... but how realistic would they really be put into practice? Say a normal average dude suddenly gets caught in some weird temporal event that ...
Teanna Schmaeh's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
262 views

What's necessary for people in a besieged city to grow up emotionally healthy?

The underground city of Anwei is the last human refuge from the invasion of alien robot zombies. The enemies are very patient, and they are willing to besiege the city for decades if necessary. ...
KeizerHarm's user avatar

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