Scientific American Editor-in-Chief Mariette DiChristina and Dr. Robert Epstein lead a volunteer exercise called "soul gazing" as part of the March 10th, 2010 event "How to Fall in Love and Stay That Way." The talk focused on the psychological, physiological, chemical and social effects of love, including the latest science on fostering emotional intimacy.
Dan Gilbert presents research and data from his exploration of happiness -- sharing some surprising tests and experiments that you can also try on yourself. Watch through to the end for a sparkling Q&A with some familiar TED faces.
Psychodrama is a creative form of group action that may be used for therapy, fun, creativity, exploration of community and social issues or exploration of cultural and philosophical issues. It can be deeply personal as well as deeply engaging.
Perecptual positions is a communications model that encourages a person to move between the perspective of self, the other individuals, and the group. It has numerous overlaps with psychodrama where a similar fluidity is required for developing the capacity to be a group leader and psychodrama director. This is a short readbale article which introduces the subject in a personal narrative style.
The purpose of the peer practice groups is for all members to practice psychodrama directing without supervision (at the time) and to practice reflective writing in close proximity to a session. Over time, we envisage the writing taking on the quality of a professional report on an event in the session. Sessions include warm-up, enactment and sharing. The aim of the group is to foster peer connections, collaborative learning, and to gain confidence in practicing the psychodrama method.
Leadership is variously defined around the world. Here at Psychodrama Asutralia we see it as "based on the development of abilities over a long period of time. It is not based on the acquisition of techniques or skills." The following quote succinctly captures our unique and respectful approach to leadership
Authors: Timothy D. Wilson,David A. Reinhard, Erin C. Westgate, Daniel T. Gilbert, Nicole Ellerbeck, Cheryl Hahn, Casey L. Brown, Adi Shaked
In 11 studies, the researchers found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think, that they enjoyed doing mundane external activities much more, and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative.
Warm-up is a psychodramatic concept proposing that an individual’s total functioning state in the moment is readable in a comprehensive and accurate manner. Reading of a person’s warm-up may allow it to be utilised while working with them in a wide variety of ways. Each person has their own individual warm-up in response to their context, at each moment.
The following are the ongoing brilliant work of the Choice Blindness Lab. You can see their early collaboration (2008) at the bottom from a BBC production where they had people change their minds and then deny it and argue for their opposite viewpoint. Subsequently there are two good papers (2012 & 2013) where they go a bit further and get people to make statements about their morals and political viewpoints and then argue from the opposite perspective and, again, the subjects deny they have changed their minds and around 80% don’t even notice they have.
