Questions tagged [psychology]
Psychology is the science that deals with mental processes and behavior. It can also refer to a character's personality and motives.
27
questions
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
A short story about a woman who pretends to have dissociative identity disorder
I read this short story only a few years ago in a collection of SF stories that might have been much older.
A woman who does not have dissociative identity disorder (DID) is fascinated by DID. (The ...
- 22.1k
16
votes
1
answer
358
views
Analog story circa 2010 - scientist invents a machine that can detect consciousness in human - and finds many people aren't conscious
In the story, a scientist invented a machine that detected "internal consciousness" in people. He tested it with a drug that left someone apparently awake but who would have no memory of ...
- 56.4k
5
votes
1
answer
87
views
YA fiction set in late 80's America about a boy and metal numbered cubes [duplicate]
I read this story in around 88-90. I remember that it had a blue cover, and a boy with the head of a professor on it.
The story was about the boy who was having trouble at home and he meets a ...
2
votes
1
answer
165
views
Extremely disturbing short story with glow in the dark faces on a child’s bedroom wall [closed]
I definitely read this in an anthology at some point, but I can remember nothing else about it, except the general plot, which has never left me. Trigger warnings for the following like you wouldn’t ...
- 37
25
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Early 1980s short story (in Asimov's, probably) - Young woman consults with "Eliza" program, and gives it anxiety
In this story, a young woman has a conversation (via typing) with a primitive psychoanalysis program (much like Eliza) which feeds her sentences back to her ("It's all been just so much lately&...
- 56.4k
4
votes
1
answer
716
views
Vulcan Nerve/Shoulder Pinch part of a larger system of martial arts that apparently use "psychic" abilities?
The nerve pinch has been seen multiple times. Although Spock spoke once of trying to teach Kirk the technique, I wonder if there is some aspect that means an untrained human can't do it or even a ...
- 16.4k
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Dissociative identity disorder and Coventry
I read this story at least 10 years ago, but it might be older than that. I don't remember whether it was a full novel or a novella, but I think it was "too rich" to be a short story or a ...
- 22.1k
4
votes
1
answer
684
views
Dragon's egg -- fear of heights?
Not sure this can be answered, but I recall and the synopsis in Wikipedia mentions the extreme fear of heights that creatures who live in 67 billion Gs have.
It is reasonable that such creatures would ...
- 16.4k
12
votes
1
answer
175
views
Sci-fi short story about compensation for stress
People have monitors that measure stress levels. If they interact with someone who causes them stress, money is transferred to compensate. Visual indicators allow others to know if they are causing ...
- 121
16
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Seeking a short story about psychologically curing a human serviceman of his obsession with an alien female's affection
This was a short story, written in English. I read it in a hardback anthology I checked out from a library in Indiana no later than 1986 (and I suspect it was a couple of years earlier). I think the ...
- 27.6k
8
votes
1
answer
312
views
I'm trying to identify a short story I read in the early 1980s about an escape artist and his nemesis prison designer
The protagonist is a famous escape artist who enters voluntarily in a prison-escape challenge with the designer of an 'escape-proof' prison. The prison is just a machine hooked up to the mind of the ...
- 81
5
votes
0
answers
113
views
Looking for short story/novella I read in the early 1980s about people hibernating in winter
A man finds himself in a farming society. The people run out of food every winter and hibernate. The man has a hard time the first couple of years and wakes starving in the middle of winter. ...
- 61
15
votes
1
answer
1k
views
A story about suppression of the ultimate secret to resolving all human disagreements
This is a short story that I read in the 1990s in a hardback anthology I checked out from a public library. I think that it was one of those volumes that collected the highlights from one year's worth ...
- 27.6k
8
votes
4
answers
2k
views
ADHD in the Percy Jackson universe
I've seen the films but haven't read any of the books.
Did Percy Jackson get treated for ADHD prior to his finding out about himself being a demigod? If so how? If not why?
How do Percy Jackson and ...
- 3,588
4
votes
1
answer
136
views
Help i.d.'ing a sci-fi read ca. 1966, re- a pink "thing" that entered a psych-astronaut's mind?
The plot had to do with "astronauts" who travelled to other worlds telepathically rather than physically. On one such exploration, the protagonist encountered a big pink "thing," which somehow sort ...
- 51
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Short story about an astronaut that has to harvest/collect the body fluids of an alien for a panacea
Short story read in the 60's or 70's, an astronaut has to enter an alien ship and collect the tears/sweat? of an alien to use as a wonder drug for humans. The alien has some sort of presence which ...
- 69
8
votes
2
answers
213
views
Book with a self-improving neuronal computer [duplicate]
In my youth (I'd guess about early 90's) I read a book written from the point of view of a young female psychologist who gets an employment offer from an ultra-rich wunderkind. When she arrives at her ...
- 231
6
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Gorn psychology and physiology
I caught an old episode of the original Star Trek, "Arena," in which Captain Kirk comes extremely close to the Gorn he is fighting:
My question is, what prevented ...
- 3,590
-2
votes
1
answer
350
views
Do we have enough information to determine Severus Snape's Meyers-Briggs type?
One of recent SFF.SE answers alleged that Snape is an INTJ, and there was a disagreement of whether we can really know that.
Do we have enough information to determine Severus Snape's Meyers-Briggs ...
- 344k
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Short story about a psychologist with a punishment/reward machine learning you need punishment to reform malcontents
I'm pretty sure that this is an older story, but parts of it have really stuck with me. I read it somewhere in the 1990s, but I think it came from a collection that my parents owned, so it might be ...
- 233k
13
votes
1
answer
559
views
Trying to identify a short story about a psychologist
I cannot remember title nor author, but a plot summary is:
A man wakes up in a strange room, goes to the door and find it locked. There is a computer terminal in the room. He sits at the terminal ...
- 301
14
votes
5
answers
83k
views
What is wrong with Lizzie (the young blonde girl)?
Spoilers:
So what was wrong with her?
Did she develop some kind of "zombiphilia"?
Is it also related with Carol's training in the past?
Related question: She was also shooting zombies sometimes, ...
- 1,154
13
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Was Voldemort a Sociopath?
We know that Voldemort was evil, and we know that he 'knew not' the Power of Love (TVTropes link, standard warning applies).
We know that he was cruel. We know he killed and tortured but does he ...
- 106k
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Sci-fi novel that contains a drug that allow to re-live past episodes of your life
I am looking for the title of a SF novel (I think from the 70's or 80's) that includes a drug allowing its users to relive past events of their own lives. At some point there is a cult using this drug ...
- 141
19
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Want to identify a short story about a fake spaceship/station
In this story an astronaut is questioned regularly by a psychiatrist. He thinks he's on a spaceship, but he's actually in an experiment. The astronaut also thinks the psychiatrist is part of the crew, ...
- 193
16
votes
6
answers
4k
views
Have there been any canonical references to the holodeck/holosuites being used for virtual physical 'partnerings' with holodeck-produced constructs?
Carnal release is a valid stress relief; and unless the Federation uses hormonal suppressants, it doesn't take a 'perv angle' to realize that the holodecks may be considered for this.
I can also see ...
- 6,295
-1
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Which Myers-Briggs personality is Hermione? [closed]
In one of my answers ( Why is Hermione's Patronus not as powerful as her other magic spells? ) I stated that Hermione is INTJ (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging) on a Myers-Briggs Type ...
- 344k