The Chaotic Life

Patterns and randomness in how we live

by David Pincus

What causes pain?

Pain comes from the Latin "Poene," which means to punish. Indeed, when we are in pain, it does feel like a punishment. But pain does not equal punishment. It has nothing to do with punishment, nothing whatsoever. Read More

And the Oscar Goes to...Our Brains?

Fractals fractals everywhere, it really makes you think. Yet one more place where fractal patterns have turned up appears to be within the structure of Hollywood films - and just in time for the Oscars! In the February 5 issue of the journal Psychological Science (published by The Association for Psychological Science), Researchers James E. Cutting, Jordan E. Read More

Complexity, Coherence, and Halloween

Halloween cleans our bodies, our minds and our spirits, and prepares us for the coming of traditions of goodness -like Thankgiving, Christmas (and other holidays), and the New Year. Read More

Resources on Nonlinear Science in Psychology

For anyone who has found themes in psychology of science being split off from practice or truth; you may find a path to something more satisfying at www.societyforchaostheory.org Read More

Fractal Brains: Fractal Thoughts

Researchers have shown that the brain has a fractal organization, which likely gives us much of what we consider human. These findings may help to connect us in a very fundamental way to the rest of the natural world. Read More

Time...again: The meaning of time scales in biopsychosocial health

It seems that there is a common principle in life - flexibility = health. But beyond that, integration across time-scales is key too. When parts of ourselves become disconnected to other parts in time, dis-ease (imbalances) may occur - as those parts become isolated and stagnant. Read More

On Time

First some questions: What is time? In a physical sense? In psychological terms? What does time do? How does it work? Can it be transcended? Read More

An Essay on Time

First some questions: What is time? In a physical sense? In psychological terms? What does time do? How does it work? Can it be transcended? Time in many ways is like space. In physics, time and space are woven together, like a fabric upon which all matter lies. At the limits, near the speed of light, movement in time is yoked to movement in space. Read More

Life 101: Control and Chaos in Everyday Life

The lessons learned in river boating apply throughout life. One of life's greatest lessons lies in the way in which we cope with periods of relative calm and turbulence, with simplicity and with chaos. Read More

The Charlie Brown Christmas Blog

Hi chaospsychology readers. First I apologize for taking so long between blogs. I'll spare you the details. And some qualifiers and caveats up front before this entry, which will consist of some reflections by a Jew on the depth and personal significance of Christmas. If I offend, it is unintended - and if I must defend myself, I will claim ignorance. Read More

Chaos Catastrophe and our Economy: A Collapse of Confidence

It appears that the free market is a confidence game, and that when confidence falters, chaos can run wild. So here is the view of one confident chaopsychologist... Read More

New Physics + New Psychology = New Questions

Chemistry emerges from physics, biology emerges from chemistry, psychology emerges from biology, sociology emerges from psychology, and so on, with various emergent branches within and across each of the different disciplines. At SCTPLS, we have the tradition of passing nested Russian dolls on to each new society president as a symbol of this outlook. Parts interact to create new irreducible wholes, which serve as parts for new irreducible wholes and so on. Apparently, this occurs not only across scales from small to large - parts of an inseparable whole, but also across great distances of apparent space - where the here is connected to there; and finally across time, where one finds that future and past are also inseparable. Read More

One Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch

Let's turn to the universal experience of "BAD APPLES" - as in "One bad apple spoils the bunch." Bad apples are those acquaintances, family members and co-workers whose mere presence can suck the life right out of you. They also kill the ‘good energy' of the larger group. Read More

Chaos theory and Batman: Part III

And now for the third and final installment of our introduction to chaos, complexity and randomness as portrayed by the primary characters in the movie Batman.... Read More

Chaos Theory and Batman Part II

Okay, so where we left off in part I: we now know the basics of what chaos is, from "chaos theory," and we are wondering if this really relates to the character Joker, from the new Batman film. And on a broader level, I want to explore whether or not this type of chaos is bad, as people (Westerners at least) do typically think that chaos is bad. Is ‘deterministic chaos' like the force of the evil Joker, the bad Anarchist (there are good anarchists by the way - like Noam Chomsky)? Read More

Chaos Theory and Batman: The Dark Knight Part I

Anyone who knows the comic will know about the characters and what they represent: 1) The Joker = chaos, 2) The Batman = order; 3) Two Face = pure chance. There are many lines in the film which "spank your face" with these metaphors, and if the acting was not so good, the joker's lines could have easily been over the top in making the deeper, existential questions within the film too obvious and contrived for most moviegoers. Read More

Welcome to The Chaotic Life

Many of you will have heard of the concepts of: "Chaos Theory" "The Butterfly Effect" or maybe even "Emergence" "Fractals" "Complexity" or "Catastrophe" theories. Each of these is an example of a nonlinear dynamic. My challenge in this blog will be to make nonlinear dynamics understandable and interesting to you. My experience thus far has been that everything in psychology is a part of a nonlinear system. So we will be able to talk about nearly any topic here. That will help to keep things interesting.

Dr. David Pincus is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

more...

About The Chaotic Life

The world is nonlinear, dynamic, and complex. Our inner worlds and relationships are perhaps even more complex. The Chaotic Life aims to bring ideas from nonlinear science and clinical psychology together, in a looser and more down to earth format than academic journals or formal writing allow.