Motivated reasoning is what happens when the brain, instead of being a noble truth-seeking machine, turns into a spineless yes-man wearing a clown suit. It doesn’t care about facts. It cares about feelings. Comfort. Ego. Being right, even when it’s dead wrong.
Tag: Psychology
Hinduism
Hinduism isn’t one neat doctrine — it’s a sprawling philosophical ecosystem with many paths, texts, and traditions. At its heart, it teaches that the self (atman) is not separate from the universe (Brahman), and that liberation (moksha) comes from realising this unity.
Classical Conditioning
Your brain’s talent for connecting dots that don’t belong together.
Classical conditioning is what happens when the brain links two things — not because they make sense together, but because they just keep showing up at the same time.
It’s how a dog learns to salivate at the sound of a bell, because the bell always meant food.
It’s how a human flinches at an email notification, because it usually means more work or a passive-aggressive crisis.
Habitual Thinking
Also known as: Let’s not bother with thinking at all, shall we?
Habitual thinking is what happens when the brain stops asking questions and just runs whatever script it used yesterday.
And the day before.
And the day before that.
It’s not thinking.
It’s mental muscle memory — like making tea and forgetting if you’ve already boiled the kettle.
Literalism
For People Who Think Metaphors Are a Type of Cheese.
Literalism is what happens when someone takes every word at face value, like their brain was built by a committee of pedantic robots with no imagination.
Say “I’m dying of boredom,” and the literalist looks concerned and starts Googling symptoms.
Unconscious Bias
Unconscious Bias: The Crap Your Brain Believes Without Asking You First
Unconscious bias is when your brain, without consulting you, decides how to treat people based on lazy, outdated stereotypes it picked up from TV, society, or your uncle at the dinner table in 2006.