I know that the job of a moderator is an extremely difficult task. You need an extremely vast amount of knowledge in a field as big as Psychology and Neuroscience. So, I think giving moderators a good amount of slack is necessary. But, I think that the closing of questions is going overboard.
- How would erasing memories affect personality?
- How to remember distinct keywords?
- What are the psychological differences between people with a lot and little sense of humor?
- How can there exist people who think that there is such a thing as “free will”?
- How hard-wired is our emotion perception?
- How to keep yourself concentrated over something?
The above is the last 6 closed questions. Below, I'll describe how they are relevant to Psychology.
- The erasing of memories is a currently debated topic in psychology as a method of overcoming depression. I guess the more appropriate word is the repression of memories but the writer meant the same thing. Many experts in the field believe this once supported method is actually something that is harmful to depression and it's something that shouldn't be suggested. I don't know why and it would be nice if someone explained it.
- How to memorize distinct words? This is not some trite question. There is actually a bit of research on this topic because it involves learning and memory. For example, the best way to learn a fact is to teach it to yourself on day 1. Then, day 3, day 7, day 15, day 30, day 60... This has been researched as the best schedule to use to harden the myelin that creates memories. (I might be off on the actual day numbers but it'll be pretty close.) Then, there are techniques directly related to the physiology of memory creation. Research has shown that a drastic increase in blood pressure or heart rate, repetition, etc. increases the thickness of the myelin. This aligns with evolution because if something dangerous happens, of course, our heart rate will race and our blood pressure will shoot up. We will never forget it or do it again. I can think of several more memory techniques that deal intimately with serious psychology.
- The psychological difference between a lot and little sense of humor? That's a huge topic. People with little sense of humor has been found to be more reserved and introverted. They also have been found to identify with minorities and the disenfranchised more. It also has a big impact on possible depression. I would think this is an important question related to psychology.
- Free Will. Ok. I agree that this is probably not a pertinent topic here but at least explain to the kid that it's more a physics question because so and so. It's actually a very important question (not within Philosophy) but in Quantum Physics.
- Emotions. This is also a heavily researched topic. It's not one that I'm all too familiar with. I do know small things that babies are hard-wired to interpret facial expression (I think, I can't remember). The reason why older games with characters do not work is that they lacked facial expressions. It's actually the biggest part of social interaction and we didn't know about it. Games tried to use realistic actor voices, realistic sounds, and storylines but they didn't work. They spent a lot of money on an animation movie a few years ago and it bombed and they didn't understand why. Now we know. It was the lack of facial expressions and it makes movies real. So, games have made it a mission to include a lot of facial expressions that are accurate. And, it's worked.
- Keeping Concentration. This is called grit and it's a field of psychology that is being pioneered by Angela Duckworth at UPenn. The first thing the person should do is get a lot of sleep. There is no such thing as sleeping too much. Many parents say that kids sleep too much when they sleep in. That's not true. They simply slept late and are making it up. This applies to everyone. You literally cannot sleep too much. Your body will wake up and will want to stand up. And, that is how you know you slept enough. When you wake up, you immediately want to stand up. If you feel drowsy, you should go back to sleep and get some more. So, when you study, there is no way to be drowsy. Then, the person will have to tackle the desire to do something else. And, that is where grit comes in. Research is currently being done at this minute on figuring out if you can increase grit or not. (Actually, psychology is such a new field that almost everything is something new and unexplored.)
So, why are these questions being closed when they are so relevant to psychology? And, relevant to psychology that is also featured in mainstream debates? I do think the questions might be too easy but there aren't any answers for the same questions in any past threads. I actually started visiting this site recently because someone suggested that this site would be filled with more mature, knowledgeable people but I haven't really seen evidence of that. But, perhaps, there would be if they were allowed to answer these types of questions and earn badges if possible. (I don't know how to get a badge.)
What do you guys (everyone, including the moderators) think?
