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 ...
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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 ...
user104995
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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 ...
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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", ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
user100394
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
user99163
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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"), ...
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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....
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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-...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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