Psychology Yesterday

Stories from the behavioral past

Lawrence R. Samuel Ph.D.

The Mystery of Writing

Many writers recognize that their unconscious plays a big part in whatever they ultimately put down on paper.

Is There Such a Thing as a Soul Mate?

For the past century, American popular culture has embraced and reinforced the powerful notion of the soul mate.

A Brief History of Writer’s Block

While writer’s block has probably always existed, the psychological syndrome did not receive much attention within literary circles until the latter part of the 20th century.

10 Myths That Shape How Americans Think and Act

Myths directly shape how Americans think and act, making them essential components of our individual and collective psychology.

12 Ways to Be Happier in 2020

My proposed 12 essential ingredients of happiness, based on a deep dive into the subject.

The Past, Present, and Future of Death in America

The louder conversation about death and dying during the past half-century has not made Americans any more comfortable with the subject.

Dropping the "L" Bomb

Expressing one’s love by saying those three little words goes a long way to assuring one’s partner they have something real and special.

Is Romantic Love Going Extinct?

The low marriage rate among millennials reflects a “down with love” attitude, something that presents major social and cultural implications for the future.

In Praise of Averageness

It’s time we reevaluate the merits of averageness and consider the possibility that being un-extraordinary is not such a bad thing after all.

How Did Halloween Become a Monster Holiday?

Halloween is a way our society expresses its interest in, and vents its fears of, what may lie outside of or beyond our known world.

Can Two People Decide to Fall in Love?

A direct challenge to the idea that each of us is destined to fall in love with just a single individual.

Is Love an Art or a Science?

Americans and the French approach love much like their cooking, believed one visitor to the United States.

Is Love at First Sight Real?

For decades, researchers have tried to figure out whether “LAFS” was real or just a nice romantic notion.

Is Love Just a Marketing Strategy?

Over the decades, marketers have appropriated love as a device by which to package their own stories.

Why Do We Choose to Be in Love?

The story of love in America is a complicated one, filled with contradictions and ambiguity.

Should You Not Tell a Loved One That He or She is Dying?

Death is a fundamental and obviously important part of life, and each of us should have the opportunity to know when it is knocking on our door.

Why Do Americans Celebrate Difference, Not Commonality?

Americans have an especially powerful collective psychology that is both underappreciated and undervalued.

Think Yiddish, Act British

We now take our me-oriented society for granted, but much of it can be traced back to the meteoric rise of psychoanalysis over the course of the 20th century.

Freud in Hollywood

Watching films from the 1950s and 1960s gives us some clue about how popular psychoanalysis was in Hollywood at the time.

Less Than Happy? Blame Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s pithy phrase set in motion a nearly two-and-a-half-century chase for happiness that many Americans have found to be a losing proposition.

Don’t Know Much About History

Collective memory is one of the very few things we have in common and a major component of personal identity.

Father’s Day is Underrated

Although it still plays second fiddle to Mother’s Day, Father’s Day has evolved into a holiday that I maintain is deeply entrenched in America’s collective psyche.

Is the American Dream Real or Purely Imaginary?

Much like other powerful mythologies, the American Dream is psychologically entrenched in everyday life.

When and Where Did America Go Wrong When It Comes to Death?

If the American health care system is broken, our way of death is completely wrecked, the result of decades of sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to dying.

A Great Adventure Into the Unknown

If a sixth sense were discovered, it would undoubtedly carry huge biological, social, and cultural implications.

Are You a Sheep or a Goat?

The history of the supernatural is divided into two basic camps: believers (or “sheep,” as researcher Gertrude Schmeidler called them in 1943) and non-believers (“goats”).

The Psychology of Death

If the science of death remains a riddle, the psychology of it has been one of our greatest conundrums as well.

The Sherlock Holmes of Psychology

Ernest Dichter was intent on identifying what he termed the “soul of things,” fully believing that the stuff of everyday life held “psychic content.”

Is Death Just a Different Form of Consciousness?

While in space in February 1971, astronaut Edgar Mitchell had what he called a “peak experience,” a sudden feeling of euphoria mixed with immense fatigue.

That Elusive Mood in Your Mind

“Happiness has less to do with what you have than with what you want."

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