This website is dedicated to my writings and research in psychology, with a focus on several subjects:  Memory, Trauma, Violence, Restorative Justice, and the Self.   More generally, this website draws connections between psychological research and meaningful problems in the world, establishing a dialog between research and everyday life.

 

The website links to my Psychology Today Blog, “Defining Memories,” which addresses a range of psychological subjects, including memory, forgiveness, violence, ethics, and wine. New blog posts appear every month.

 

The Liberal Arts are conveyed in the TED Videos and the Favorite Links.  The TED videos are meant to teach current subjects in and around psychology, including happiness, personality, and decision making.  Favorite Links will send people to a diversity of websites about creative, contemporary activities in art, architecture, music, literature, movies, psychology, biology, philosophy, and sustainability.

 

Two of my books are featured on the website – for those interested in more in-depth qualitative research in psychology. One book is a revealing study of the memories of Holocaust survivors. The other book explores how ordinary people commit extraordinary acts of violence and how perpetrators and victims manage in the aftermath.

Subject of the Week – Our Selves

“I think there’s something idiotic about the self, that every day you have to get up and be the same person.” – Wallace Shawn

 

Most of us talk to our selves – and listen as well.  When we are alone, mostly undistracted by media or worldly events, the conversations we have with our selves can fill our consciousness.

 

None of this seems out of the ordinary. The voices we hear are spoken by us – even if they portray different characters from our lives.  Our parents, our siblings, our children, our friends and lovers.  The familiarity of the voices and the consistencies of our own responses help define our interior lives. They form our consciousness.

 

But what happens when the voices seem to come from elsewhere?  When they become intrusive and demanding?  We can still adapt, but the problem grows more profound and considerably more complex.

 

The podcast linked below explores the experience and consequences of talking to other selves that seem as real as other people.

 

http://www.npr.org/2013/12/20/255831250/is-it-possible-to-live-with-the-voices-in-your-head

Robert N. Kraft

Professor of Psychology
Otterbein University
 

tweet   @professorkraft

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