Psychologyspeaking topic
The dizziness of freedom: Kierkegaard described anxiety as the vertigo brought on by the endless possibilities opening up in front of us. Why does the freedom to choose frighten us instead of putting us at ease?
— Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- Bowlby's attachment theory: does our very first relationship in infancy set the template for our adult love lives?
- The Stockdale paradox: the prisoners of war who survived were the ones who accepted the most brutal facts of their situation while never letting go of the faith that they would get out. Hope and realism look like opposites, so why is holding both at once the key to survival?
- Context-dependent memory: in the famous diver experiment, words learned underwater were recalled better underwater. Are environmental cues the key to memory?
- The manosphere teaches men to see relationships as competition and status. Does thinking in those terms make real love impossible?
- The sunk cost fallacy: staying in a relationship because 'I've already given it five years, I can't let that go to waste'. Why do we let the time we've already spent hold our future hostage?