Tag Archives: Psychology

The Archetypal Influences of Film: Revelations from the Collective Unconscious and Interdimensional Realities

Humanity is faced with serious decisions. Will it follow the dangerous path toward transhumanism, or will we commit to the unfolding of a greater intention: the discovery of a more meaningful power, purpose, and truth within each one of us, the call to Individuation? Carl G. Jung discovered unifying themes, regardless of whether they came from a hidden tribe in the Amazon, African desert, or a major world religion and called it the Collective Unconscious. He named specific Archetypes manifesting from this realm. This Archetypal journey is Alchemical in nature as described in ancient writings by early Alchemists and Mystics. Mystics have always pointed toward an inner process leading us to spiritual individuation and unity. Ultimately, this is a psychospiritual quest. Along this journey we can be motivated by archetypal influences of compassion and fierceness. As we assimilate these initiatory qualities, we come nearer to the knowing of the authentic spiritual power within us. Many modern movies and television series are doing a better job of illustrating this journey than most religious traditions. The battle between good and evil (what benefits compared to what destroys or prevents consciousness and related development) is real as are the images and stories of interdimensional realities expanding our understanding of new possibilities. They manifest via media and entertainment forms. The themes and messages are influential at both conscious and unconscious levels, preparing people for the end of an old paradigm and the beginning of the next. The threat of Transhumanism is addressed in this article as it moves humanity away from the work of individuation (Carl Jung) and Self-Actualization (Abraham Maslow). The emphasis toward wholeness includes love and human feeling. Transhumanism, focused on efficiency through artificial intelligence, is a threat to the path of becoming an authentic, courageous and compassionate human being. Thus, movies and series depicting superheroes, aliens, portals, and alternative realities are rapidly increasing at a time when many people have lost direction. This article supports their messages.

Why the future might not be where you think it is

Ruth Ogden is Professor of the Psychology of Time, Liverpool John Moores University.

“I have been an academic at Liverpool John Moores University since 2009. My research explores all aspects of how people experience the passage of time. I am particularly interested in understanding why time passes more quickly during some activities and more slowly during others, and how significant changes in life and society affect temporality.”

From control towards vulnerability

Claire Morgan is an Irish artist, born in 1980 in Belfast.

“Being alive can be beautiful and horrific. Every living thing is in this state of constant transition. I am intrigued by those simultaneous senses of spiritual communion and unpalatable intrusion that come about through awareness of our connectedness, and of our vulnerability.

My practice has been focussed on how we humans understand and interact with the rest of the natural world, and our unwillingness to acknowledge our absolute lack of autonomy or control. I look at humans as animals, and the complexity of our intellectual dislocation from the landscape that sustains us. We behave as individual entities with fixed identities, but the reality is less clear.”

How our unconscious visual biases change the way we perceive objects

Beverley Pickard-Jones is a Lecturer in Psychology at Bangor University.
“My primary research revolves around the exploration of priors in visual perception across different age groups. By employing visual illusions as investigative tools, I seek to contribute to a deeper understanding the intricate workings of perception and cognition. I also research pedagogy in higher education and am particularly interested in how to harness the power of technology to augment learning.”

Fractal patterns in nature and art are aesthetically pleasing and stress-reducing

Richard Taylor is an expert in chaos theory, fractals, and the relationship between art and science. At the University of Oregon, he is a professor of physics, psychology and art, and the director of the Materials Science Institute. Richard’s research focuses on “bioinspiration” in which artificial systems benefit from using nature’s patterns (fractals and chaos). His two biggest projects are 1) using bio-inspired retinal implants to restore vision to victims of retinal diseases and 2) using bio-inspired fractal images to reduce people’s stress levels. He also uses computer analysis to study and authenticate art works. Richard is considered the leading expert on the artist Jackson Pollock.

On ‘PRESENCE: The science and true stories of the unseen other’

Ben Alderson-Day is an Associate Professor at Durham University and member of the Developmental Science research group at Durham. He is the co-founder and co-chair of the Early Career Hallucinations Research (ECHR) group, a network of over 250 ECRs in 24 countries conducting research on hallucinations and related topics. His most recent research has concerned “felt presence”: the sensation that someone is present without any sensory cues. In this interview, he discusses his latest book ‘PRESENCE: The strange and true stories of the unseen other’ (Manchester University Press, March 2023).

Looking back from beyond the Moon: how views from space have changed the way we see Earth

Dr Alice Gorman is an internationally recognised leader in the field of space archaeology. She is an Associate Professor in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, where she teaches the Archaeology of Modern Society.
Her research focuses on the archaeology and heritage of space exploration, including space junk, planetary landing sites, off-earth mining, rocket launch pads and antennas.
She is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association of Australia and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
Her book ‘Dr Space Junk vs the Universe: Archaeology and the Future’ (2019) won the Mark and Evette Moran NIB People’s Choice Award for Non-Fiction and the John Mulvaney Book Prize, awarded by the Australian Archaeological Association. It was also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, and the Adelaide Festival Literary Awards.

Eye movement science is helping us learn about how we think

Szonya Durant is a Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London and Director of the Virtual Reality Lab, joint between Psychology, Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Royal Holloway University of London.
“My research is focused on human visual perception and attention, using eye tracking, fMRI, EEG, virtual reality and computational modelling. My background is interdisciplinary training in Mathematics in areas of Biology for my PhD, which resulted in my work on empirical and computational investigations of space and time representation in humans. My recent work is concerned mainly with spatial exploration and representation in 3D space. This has included projects on attention guidance in 360 degrees with tech production companies. I have recently received funding for a project using eye tracking combined with agents to guide attention in multi-tasking situations. I have recently supervised PhD projects on the use of depth if field to guide attention, using eye tracking data from social media to predict personality and situation awareness in remote operators. I am also working on the biological mechanisms involved in combining eye and head movements in 360 degree visual search.”

Cross-pollination among neuroscience, psychology and AI research yields a foundational understanding of thinking

Paul S. Rosenbloom is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of Southern California.
“Before I retired, I was also Director for Cognitive Architecture research at the Institute for Creative Technologies. I have pursued research in artificial intelligence for most of the last 45 years, focused on integrated cognition/intelligence; that is, on how to combine the core mechanisms necessary to yield general human-like intelligence. I am a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Cognitive Science Society.”

Christian Lebiere is a Research Faculty in the Psychology Department at Carnegie Mellon University, having received his Ph.D. from the CMU School of Computer Science. Since 1991, he has worked on the development of the ACT-R cognitive architecture and was co-author with John R. Anderson of the 1998 book ‘The Atomic Components of Thought’. Most recently, he has been involved with John Laird and Paul Rosenbloom in defining the Common Model of Cognition, a community-wide effort to consolidate and formalize the scientific progress resulting from the 40-year research program in cognitive architectures.

John E. Laird is the John L. Tishman Professor of Engineering, University of Michigan.
“My major research interest is in creating human-level artificial intelligent entities, with an emphasis on the underlying cognitive architecture. As part of my research, I study both artificial and natural intelligence.”