2022

Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Psychology of a Party Pooper

“Friends and family who suffer the lack of abundance, joy, love, fulfillment and prosperity in their own lives really have no business imposing their self-limiting beliefs on your reality experience.” • Anthon St. Maarten How to spot a party pooper A party pooper can’t wait to walk all over your dreams like a four-year-old tracking mud all over your freshly mopped kitchen floor. They just can’t resist the urge to kill your ambition. Have you ever told someone about your dreams or ambitions and almost immediately regretted doing it? You might have been hoping for excitement and support but all you got was a laundry list of ‘reasons’ why your dreams can never come true, or how insane and unrealistic your goals are. A party pooper usually arms themselves with anecdotal examples of some person they know personally, or maybe read about on Facebook, who tried doing the very same thing you are attempting and it didn’t work out for them. Surely, you don’t want to end up like that guy. Just quit while you’re ahead. Save yourself the heartbreak. Sometimes a party pooper will subtly attack your self-confidence. “Are you sure this is the right decision?” They will mention how hard it’s going to be. “It’s gonna take a really long time to reach that goal”. “For that kind of money, they’re going to expect a lot out of you”. Then there’s the party pooper who reminds you why your dream is not worth pursuing. “You won’t make any money doing that”. They might suggest you take a more ‘practical’ or ‘sensible’ route. After all, a dream is not worth pursuing unless it’s practical, right? Then there’s the old, reliable party pooper fallback argument: normalcy. Apparently, there’s this group of ‘normal’ / mediocre people that we should all aspire to emulate. “Why don’t you just get a normal job like normal people do?” The problem is, the world is not changed by ‘normal’ people. It’s the ambitious dreamers who change and create the future. Why they do what they do A party pooper is a broken person. Past failures have broken their ability to dream. They are like a child who got burned by a hot stove once and now they’re forever scared to venture into the kitchen again. Sometimes this fear is not based on past experience but on believing the naysayers in their life. These individuals have been taught to fear change or anything that falls beyond the realm of what society considers ‘normal’. They have substituted inspiration with fear as their guide. A party pooper allows fear to stifle their own dreams and then project their own fears on others. They consider their ‘rational’ fear a sign of wisdom and think it’s wise to forego a potentially fulfilling life while clinging to their ‘righteous’, ‘rational’ life of fear. Fear of loss. As the saying goes; once bitten, twice shy. Sometimes the experience of a great loss causes some people to withdraw from life. They become so averse to failure or loss that they completely avoid any undertaking that carries a risk of failure. These people usually project their fear of loss on others who attempt to accomplish great things. When naysayers rain on your parade, sometimes they deeply believe they are doing it for your own good. They feel they are protecting you from the heartbreak of loss or failure. Fear of being alone. Close friends of the suddenly ambitious and inspired individual may feel like they are losing a friend/ spouse/ colleague. Their ambitious friend will soon no longer travel in the same circles because successful people tend to hang out with other successful people. This creates a feeling of resentment and rejection. Fear of being judged. Mediocrity and failure is made more bearable by the knowledge that you are not alone in your failure. When everyone around you sucks, there is less pressure to work harder or excel. The is comfort in the anonymity of mass failure. However, when one person begins to ascend the ladder of success, it puts a spotlight on the failures of the rest. Your success, despite coming from a similar background to your peers, highlights their comparable inability to achieve the same status and success. Fear of death or injury. Sometimes a party pooper has genuine concern for your safety. A good example is when one plans on joining the military, the police force or becoming a firefighter. These are dangerous professions and it is understandable that friends and family may be genuinely concerned for your safety. How to deal with a party pooper When faced with naysayers and dream killers, the first thing to do is sit down with them and have an honest, non-judgmental, calm talk. Be careful not to fly off the handle and start accusing every one of being against you. Find out what their real concerns are. If they are genuine, try to allay their fears by explaining your line of reasoning. Try to find a compromise where possible. If you still don’t see eye to eye with the party pooper after a heartfelt talk, and you still strongly feel you should pursue your dream, you may choose to ignore your naysayers and carry on. You can’t win every battle and you can’t please everyone. At the end of the day, no one can chase your dreams for you. You have only one life to live. Live it to the fullest potential. Sometimes the party pooper doesn’t really have a genuine concern for you. Some people are just jealous and hateful. It’s okay to completely cut these people out of your life. If you can’t do that, at the very least resolve not to share your plans and ideas with them. Don’t serve your dreams to a jealous naysayer on a silver platter so they can stomp all over them. Then go out and be great! Related articles across the web. Source by Brian Jonathan

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Discover How Reverse Psychology Can Help You To Get Your Ex Back!

Although it might seem like a ridiculous way to get your ex back, you have to understand that reverse psychology is one of the most effective ways to get back together again. Just what is this method and how will it work? It might be a big word that sounds complicated, but reverse psychology is one of the easiest ways to bring two people together after a break up. Right now, your ex is expecting you to sit at home in a depressed state and cry your eyes out all the time. Of course, this is exactly how you feel and what you want to do. This is where reverse psychology comes in. You have to give your ex the impression that you are over the break up, and more than ready to get back into the social world again. To make reverse psychology really effective, don’t make any contact with your ex for a while. The only thing your ex must know about you is that you are having a good time. Doing this is the only thing that might prove to be hard to do because you really don’t feel like socialising and being happy – far from it. However, force yourself to do it, and you will be amazed at the results. You see if you are out enjoying yourself with your friends, your ex is going to want to know what the heck is making you behave this way. Sooner or later, curiosity will get the better of your ex and he/she will have no option BUT to call you to find out directly from you what is going on. Using reverse psychology in your situation will make your ex feel that you are so happy to be single again, that you are thinking of getting involved with someone else. This is the last thing that your ex wants to happen. The trick to using reverse psychology to get your ex back is to not let your ex know what you are up to. This means that your friends are not to know either because they WILL tell your ex what is going on. If you have tried other ways to get your ex’s attention and failed, then really, try reverse psychology – it works so well, and you are very likely to get your ex back into your life again. Source by Monique Delancy

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Bruce Schneier and the Psychology of Security

The acronym RSA is among the most recognizable in the information security industry. It stands for Rivest, Shamir and Adleman, the fellows who developed the public-key encryption and authentication algorithm and founded RSA Data Security, now known simply as RSA Security. RSA’s annual security summit is arguably the most prestigious information security conference held each year. It is a “must-attend event” for companies that work in all the many fields under the “security” umbrella, from biometrics to cryptography. The RSA Conference is a high-powered assemblage of software developers, IT executives, policymakers, bureaucrats, researchers, academics and industry leaders, who come together to exchange information and share new ideas. The topics range widely from trends in technology to the best practices in biometrics, identity theft, secure web services, hacking and cyber-terrorism, network forensics, encryption and numerous others. At the 2007 get-together, Bruce Schneier, among the security industry’s most inventive and outspoken experts, spoke on a topic that so fascinated and excited the audience and the industry that it was still being discussed at the 2008 event a full year later. Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Counterpane, a firm he founded that was later acquired by BT (formerly British Telecom), Schneier is known for his cryptographic genius as well as his critiques of technology use and abuse. In last year’s groundbreaking address, Schneier spoke about security decisions versus perceptions. He argued that, by and large, both are driven by the same irrational, unpredictable, subconscious motives that drive human beings in all their other endeavors. He has undertaken the gargantuan challenge of analyzing human behavior vis-à-vis risk-management decisions, and is reaching into the fields of cognitive psychology and human perception to facilitate this understanding and develop practical security applications for airports, the Internet, banking and other industries. Awareness comes first Schneier asserts that security managers, their business colleagues and their respective corporate user communities are subject to the same drives and passions as other humans doing other things. That means they are as likely as anyone else to make critical decisions based on unacknowledged impressions, barely-formed fears and faulty reasoning, rather than on objective analysis. “Security is a tradeoff,” Schneier told an overflow audience at his RSA 2007 session. “What are you getting for what you’re giving up? Whether you make that tradeoff consciously or not, there is one.” He gave an example of such a trade-off by predicting that no one in the audience was wearing a bullet-proof vest. No hands were raised at this challenge, which Schneier attributed to the fact that the risk was insufficient to warrant wearing one. In addition to this rational thinking process, he averred that other, less rational factors doubtless influenced the many individual decisions not to wear a vest – such as the fact they are bulky, uncomfortable and unfashionable. “We make these tradeoffs every day,” said Schneier, going on to add that every other animal species does, too. In the business world, understanding how the human mind works will have a tremendously powerful effect on the decision-making process. Human psychology comes into play in matters concerning salaries, vacations and benefits. There is no question, he added, that it plays a crucial role in decisions about security as well. Decision-making and “security theater” Schneier has put a great deal of time into his study of human (and animal) psychology and behavioral science. Everything he has learned, he told the conference attendees, leads him to believe that the decisions made about security matters – whether by security firms or the responsible departments of other kinds of companies – are often “much less rational” than the decision-makers think. The study of decision-making has led Schneier and others to take a new angle on the continuing argument over the effectiveness of “security theater.” The term refers to those measures – most airport measures, in fact, according to Schneier – that are designed to make people think they’re safer because they see something that “looks like security in action.” Even if that security does absolutely nothing to stop terrorists, the perception becomes the reality for people unwilling to look deeper into the issue. Sadly, Schneier said, there are many people who are unwilling to look more deeply into anything, preferring the false security of ignorance. There is a “feeling versus reality” disconnect, Schneier asserted. “You can feel secure but not be secure. You can be secure but not feel secure.” As far as airport security is concerned, it has been proven again and again that it is not particularly difficult for terrorists (or your aunt, say) to bypass airport security systems. Therefore, the only thing the system can do is catch a very dumb terrorist, or decoy – but more importantly, the “theatrical approach” makes the American air traveler think that the security regime is accomplishing more than it actually is. The TSA is not completely without merit. It is accomplishing something, doing at least some good work, as most any large organization would. The issue is not the little bit of good, but the large amount of pretense, plus the ultimate cost in both dollars and a devalued cultural currency. The TSA are three letters nearly as reviled as IRS, which is quite an accomplishment for a seven-year-old. What we need to learn Schneier is focusing his studies on the brain these days. The more “primitive” portion of it, known as the amygdala, is the part that simultaneously experiences fear and produces fear reactions. The primary, overriding reaction is called the “fight-or-flight” response, and Schneier pointed out that it works “very fast, faster than consciousness. But it can be overridden by higher parts of the brain.” Somewhat slower, but “adaptive and flexible,” is the neocortex. In mammals, this portion of the brain is correlated with consciousness and evolved a set of responses that would confront fear and make decisions to promote personal and, later, group safety. The nexus, or overlapping area, between psychology and physiology is still being “mapped” and is far from being clearly understood, but it

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Making Sense Of Male Psychology – How Men Fall In Love

Are you scratching your head trying to make sense of male psychology? Do you seem to understand everyone who is important in your life except the man you are involved with? Are you frustrated with the fact that you work so hard on your relationship but never seem to get much out of it? Well if you feel that way, you’re in good company because there are many women who have a lot of trouble trying to make sense of male psychology. Men Are From Mars, Women From Venus One of the reasons that this is so challenging is because of how men view relationships and the fact that it’s so different from how women do. There have been lots of books written about this very issue and if you read enough of them you’d see that trying to make sense of male psychology boils down to the simple fact that men are a whole lot different from women. And because of that, the way they deal with situations and interact with other people including the women they love, is different from the way a woman would. If you can get your head around that fact and accept that that’s just the way it is, your level of frustration will decrease. And then maybe you can even learn to accept these differences and use them to make your relationship better. Men like excitement and action. They feel more comfortable when they are doers which make them naturally take on the role of the decision maker and leader in a relationship. What Men Expect From You To keep a relationship on an even keel, the smart woman will accept this about her man and work around it. Instead of insisting, quietly guide him to come around to your way of thinking. He really doesn’t always want his own way but because he’s competitive, he doesn’t want to just give in to you either. Your relationship will flourish if you can keep things interesting. So don’t let things become too predictable. Instead be spontaneous and open to the fun and unique parts of life. Tease him and flirt with him and be generous with compliments. You’ll get so much more out of your man if he feels loved and appreciated. Let him know how much you need and depend on him so he feels like a real man in your eyes. Men are basically “what you see is what you get” kind of people, so if you want to deliver a message to a man, be clear and direct. In other words tell him exactly what you mean so he’s not forced to guess and so that you’re not disappointed when he can’t read your mind. Trying to make sense of male psychology can be a real challenge and it will probably be a work in progress for as long as you’re together. If you need help figuring out how men view relationships, you’ve arrived at the right place. Source by Evangeline K Harris

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Cat Psychology – What Is Required to Train Your Cat Well?

People, before you start training you cat you need to know couple things about cats: Cats are not fond of training in general They don’t care whether they please you or not. The things that you will need the most while training your cat are: patience, rewards, consistency, positive reinforcement, and first and foremost TIME. If you have these ingredients, your training sessions will be successful. Both you and your cat will have to contribute something. Yours will be time and patience and your cat will have to learn the lesson. If you want to teach your cat use the litter box or play in the proper way and place, prepare for the task. Everybody knows that cats are independent by nature. Some people seem to not see the difference between independence and a lack of ability to learn. Remember that your cat needs to be mentally stimulated and have physical exertions to stay healthy. Play with your cat to help him have enough exercise. A good idea would be to consult your cat doctor or read some books about cat psychology and behavior. There are things that you need to know before you start the training. If I would have to mention two keywords for cat training they would be: bribery and rewards. Cats don’t do things you want them to do simply because you’ve asked them to do so; they need to get something from it for themselves. It’s like they would be asking: “what’s in it for me”. Some of the rewards you can acquire our are: food, affection, rubs. By using rewards you are working with the cat’s natural instinct to help you achieve proper behavior. Cats are different than dogs. Their ability to focus on the one activity is smaller than dogs. Your training session shouldn’t be any longer than 15 minutes per day. It’s the best to do the training before mealtime when your cat is hungry. I will give you couple tips that you can use to be sure your training will be more successful. If you yell at or beat your cat, you will not achieve anything else but getting your cat scared of you. If your cat is afraid he will not learn anything. User rewards instead of punishment. Use your voice. Your cat has a very well developed sense of hearing. Don’t repeat commands more than two times or else it will not be effective. Your session should be short and enjoyable for you and your cat. Use your cats name when you are giving a command. When your cat does something well remember about the reward and praise. The food you are using as a reward during training sessions should be better than what your cat usually eats. Let your cat choose for himself when he does the trick. Don’t force your cat to perform in front of your friends. Cats remember well so don’t give up. Practice patience with your cat and it will pay off. Cats are wonderful creatures. Just love them and you will see the results. Source by Sandy Stone

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Online Psychology Degree – What to Look For in a Bachelors Program

A Bachelors Degree in psychology is actually one of the more common majors available to people who are looking to complete their degree online. There are many colleges and universities who offer psychology degrees online. The key when trying to decide on which online degree program to use is to find a school that is reputable. Here are some of the main factors that are important: Reputation – You may think initially that a school’s reputation is not that important. However, when you go to get a job after school or if you decide to continue your education with graduate school, you may find it difficult for your school to be acceptable to employers or graduate school programs. The better reputation your school has the more favorably you will be looked upon by prospective employers. Accreditation – There are a few different types of accreditation, but the most important one is regional accreditation. Once a school has regional accreditation, the credits are much more easily transferable to another school. Regional accreditation also gives the school credibility. However, regional accreditation is just a starting place. You will still need to make sure that the school has a good reputation otherwise. Cost – University degrees online vary in price from $100 per credit to $500 per credit or more, depending on the school. It’s important to shop around for a price that you can afford. Also, make sure to find out whether or not the school has financial aid for those enrolled in an online program. Some schools do not offer financial aid for those enrolled in an independent study program. Source by CL Haehl

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

The Psychology Behind Japanese Tattoos

The art of Japanese tattooing has gained great popularity over the years. From the days when it was associated with the Yakuza, it has come a long way in representing the whole of Japanese culture and tradition. Japanese art always has something for everyone. Whether you want a cherry blossom design or wish to go for a fierce dragon, you will find it all in different styles, colors and designs. Ranging from a koi fish to a mortal combat scene, Japanese tattoos have a variety of meanings associated with their art. History and significance of Japanese tattoos There is a rich and strong historical background behind all Japanese tattoos. There are designs inspired by old figurines on tombs and some historical documents indicate that Japanese men used to have their faces and bodies decorated in various colors and styles. Then later in Japanese history when Chinese culture left its influence on Japan, tattooing became taboo and was reserved for criminals and outcasts. Traditional Japanese tattoos used to symbolize different types of character in people. Currently, Japanese tattoos are famous for ranging from small tattoos to brilliant large-sized designs that can cover an entire arm of the person having it tattooed. Japanese tattoo designs and symbolism There are various types of Japanese tattoo designs that are famous among people for their special significance. Some of these are the following: Cherry Blossom: These are symbolic of life and are also known as Sakura. Though cherry blossoms are fragile it is considered to be their beauty that they are able to survive and bloom even in harsh conditions. Japanese culture believes that life should be lived to the fullest and the awareness of death should govern good living. That is the power of a cherry blossom tattoo, and one should take good care of it when it is tattooed onto the body. Koi Fish: Koi fish are brightly-colored fish that are related to the spiritual significance of the Japanese culture and are very famous in tattoo designs. It is believed by Japanese people that koi fish go upstream to reach the gates of heaven where they become dragons. Koi fish are representative of power, ambition, strength, luck and individuality. If a tattoo has to symbolize a person’s struggle in life, then a koi fish tattoo is the perfect way to do that. Dragons: Being an important part of the culture of Japan, dragons symbolize wisdom, strength, freedom, power and courage. They even symbolize supernatural powers at times. It is important to choose the right colors for dragons, though, as each symbolizes something different. So, you can get dragons designed in a variety of ways after checking their significance with your artist. Hannya Masks: This is a traditional design where the meaning of demonic masks comes from kabuki plays. These tattoos represent good luck and are believed to ward off evil. There are several other Japanese tattoo designs that you might like, but make sure you know their meanings and significance before getting any of them tattooed. Source by Kristen Dunn

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

The Psychology of the Infomercial

Infomercials are a multi-billion dollar business ($150 billion in 2009) and a world wide phenomenon. The first infomercials ran strictly between the hours of 2-6am overnight. However, with the emergence of 24/7 cable t and dedicated shopping and infomercial channels, they’ve begin to become ingrained in the popular culture. They’ve made instant stars out of their most visible and charismatic “pitchmen” such as Ron Popeil, Billy Mays, Anthony Sullivan, Mrs Cleo, Mike Levey and numerous others. Even television and movie stars are re-invigorating their careers by sitting in as pitchmen. To understand the psychology that drives the production of the infomercials we see today, the ones that have an uncanny means of mesmerizing and luring you into the pitch after only a few seconds, we have to think in terms of human psychology, and particularly the stimulus-response reaction that regulates dopamine levels in the brain: Infomercials are designed and scripted to increase dopamine levels in your brain. Infomercials take you on a thrill ride aimed right at your need to have the smartest solutions to common problems – They inform you about a problem you never had (or never really considered much of a problem), follow that by laying out an incredibly clever solution, and a flow of ever more fantastic product benefits, bonuses, and giveaways, all leading to the thrilling climactic reveal of an unbelievable low price. And they try their best to get you “buy in the next few minutes” because it only take 5 to 6 minutes for your dopamine levels to drop. It’s all about the psychology of selling. Slick production and hype on the level of the Hollywood blockbuster all in 30 minutes or less – the folks who produce infomercials can make a so-so product look simply Amazing! Actually about half of the infomercial products that are marketed on television deliver on their promise, 30 percent still deliver but are too expensive, and the rest are practically useless or junk. The infomercial is here to stay. The economic numbers are just too great to ignore. For example, the ShamWow spot was produced on a mere $20k budget, but has garnered millions in sales as a result of the infomercial’s appeal, and the charismatic delivery of its now infamous pitchman, Vince Offer. The infomercial represents the extreme manifestation of capitalism, instant gratification for $19.95 (plus a small shipping and handling charge). You gotta love it. Source by Winston Wolf

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

Use Sports Psychology for the Development of Mental Toughness

The role of sports psychology shows how crucial it is for coaches and athletes to practice psychological skills for peak performance. Top athletes around the world from basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer, tennis and golf will use sports psychology to gain their mental edge. Sports performance specialists play a key role in keeping up the emotional health of athletes. Often, athletes -especially the most successful ones -find it difficult to keep up their emotional health due to psychological stress. It’s been observed that athlete’s psychological stresses commonly include: imbalance, ranging from tiredness, injury due to gastrointestinal disorders, sleep disorders, and tenderness and muscle strain. Unfortunately, most athletes remain reluctant to confide themselves in a Sports performance specialist due to the alleged stigma. Nonetheless, many sports practitioners recognize the importance of consulting sports performance specialists, a psychologist, or a therapist for relief or to develop the requisite mental toughness. Working with a sports psychologist is the only way to help athletes become aware of the possibility of a causal psychological requisite for a complaint and investigate into their emotional status as an integral part of their medical history. A sports psychologist is, therefore, invaluable in conducting a non-judgmental questioning, so as to unveil inter-personal issues that may exist. Such examples are with the athlete’s trainer, team mate, family member, or stress with regard to a forthcoming competition. For concrete results, it is advised that psychological performance education should be integrated in an athlete’s holistic competition preparation practice, performed correlatively with other exercise tools. This will involve a teamwork effort among the training team, the athlete, and the sports psychologist. Consult a sports psychologist, who is capable of teaching skills to help you to improve your learning process and motor skills, deal with competitive stress, and adjust the requisite level of awareness for peak performance. Make sure that your sports performance specialist will design a training program that will help you to stay focused despite the many disturbances in a competitive setting. Source by Todd Stofka

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Multiculturalism, Culturism, Diversity and Dr. Putnam

The Psychology of Kissing

On the analysis of a kiss, science of kissing, types of kisses and the social basis of kissing.. Kissing is one of the oldest human activities. It is the expression of affection, liking or love for another person. If you go back to the history of kissing, public kissing may not have existed a few hundred years ago and still not permitted in some cultures, but we can safely assume that kissing has existed for thousands of years even if it was done privately as it is a very natural form of human emotional expression. Students of psychology will usually try to analyze kissing from a psychoanalytic perspective. A kiss is an oral activity, like smoking or eating, it involves the mouth and can be traced back to the oral stage of psychological development. To an extent the oral fixation theory may be true. This means some people are addicted to activities of the mouth, derive pleasure from sensations in the mouth and are thus also addicted to kissing or related activities of the mouth. Oral fixation describes certain personalities, but in this article, I will focus largely on the analysis of a kiss and the science involved. Kissing involves neural and hormonal activity and several recent researchers have indicated that dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and sex hormones are released during romantic kissing. Dopamine and serotonin are chemicals (neurotransmitters) and oxytocin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland. When emotions are involved, the amygdala and hypothalamus in the brain are activated and the activation of amygdala and hypothalamus, release of chemicals and stimulation of the pituitary and sex glands during kissing create attachment and gives a feeling of euphoria in romantic relationships. In non-romantic relationships, kissing creates affection and emotional attachment and is usually experienced among friends, family members, social relationships and so on. A kiss on the cheek is a type of social greeting and is common in many cultures. A kiss can be interpreted in many ways and the attributes of a kiss could be analyzed according to the length or duration, depth, position or location, facial expression before and after a kiss,and these elements when analyzed will finally help derive the covert or overt motivations of kissing. Since kissing is done on the human body, we have limited spatial coordinates to begin with. No one will hopelessly or passionately kiss a tree or a wall, although that kind of activity can also be analyzed. Let’s start with the top of the head. A short, brief fleeting kiss on the top of the head indicates affection. Parents kiss their children on the head or forehead. When bosses or colleagues kiss on the head, that can look patronizing and even odd. Forehead kissing is common among family and older relatives often kiss children or young people on the forehead. Brief kissing on the cheek is accepted as social custom among some cultures and is seen as a mark of formality or formal friendliness and camaraderie. Brief kiss on the cheek is often a mark of rapport, affection among workers and support or encouragement. As soon as the kiss moves to other parts of the body, the analysis gets more complex. Apart from the head or the cheek which is considered affectionate, kissing on the eyes, nose, ears or chin would be considered romantic. Kissing on the nose has an element of affection involved but on the chin, it is more intimate. The first principle is that the further down the kiss goes, the more intimate it becomes. So, a kiss on the leg is obviously far more intimate than a kiss on the hand. The lip kissing is of course, very intimate and we are not considering it within this principle. Kiss on the hand is actually a more traditional and formal romantic expression. In ancient times, men proposed women by kissing the hand. It is formal romanticism. The second principle is that the longer it gets, the more intimate it becomes. So, intimacy through kissing is about space and time. The third principle is that the spatial and temporal aspects will determine the motivation of the kiss. This means a kiss can indicate many expressions including love, romance, sexual attraction, affection, formal support and the type of kiss or the motive will be largely determined by the spatial and temporal attributes of the kiss. A long kiss on the front of the neck is bolder than a kiss on the back of the neck. The kiss on the inner surface of the skin such as the palm or inner wrist or elbow is more intimate than kiss on the outer surface and so on. Public kissing on the inner surface of the body may look a bit desperate, so must be done privately. What about the temporal aspects? A man sits beside you in the park, speaks with you for a while, gives a brief kiss on your fingers and walks away. It is strange behavior but does happen. That is the uncertain kiss. Long term lovers will engage in more prolonged kisses. Prolonged mouth to mouth kisses create attachment and even a level of trust. The mouth, tongue, lips have large number of nerve endings and are extremely sensitive, thus mouth to mouth kissing gives heightened pleasure. Romantic kissing is of course a prelude to sexual relations. Let me go to the third principle from which you derive the motivations of kissing. Why did a friend kiss you in a certain way? As long as the kiss is not too long and is on the cheek or face, that is an indication of support, encouragement and affection. Kissing may not have sexual meanings and connotations. Affection between two people is quite possible, even if they are not lovers. Whether of the same or opposite sex, two people can feel great love, affection and support for each other and kiss each other on the head, cheek or face and such expressions are often natural, especially in teamwork.

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