Stories about psychology
4 Buddhist wisdom stories about psychology from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- He died of the blunt knife and the running tapStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Told as a famous psychology experiment: a condemned man in England is told his hanging is changed to having his throat cut; blindfolded, a blunt knife is drawn across his throat…
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a guy in jail in England over 100 years ago he was about to be executed by hanging And some psychologists, some scientists had permission to do this really gross experiment on him. They went to his cell the night before his execution and told him the law had been changed he still had to die tomorrow morning but this time not by hanging he would have his throat cut. And they let this poor man think about that all night. In the morning at dawn as happens with executions they came for him tied his hands securely behind his back put a blindfold over his eyes led him to the place of execution A priest gave him his last rites or whatever they did for him and then they took a knife and they cut his throat and he fell down and died. That's what he thought. He had his eyes blindfolded. What had really happened it was just the scientists and the prison governor or whoever it was, the superintendent took him to the wash rooms and one of them pretended to be the priest And when they finished reading out the sentence they took a knife which was so blunt you couldn't even cut butter with it and they drew it across his throat. He felt the steel on his throat. At the same time the other scientist just turned on a tap in the wash room, and he heard liquid coming out and he felt the steel on his throat and he fell down and died not a scratch on him. A very famous psychology experiment
- Paddington crash — those who skipped counselling did betterStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Paddington rush-hour crash; free counselling offered; follow-up finds (adjusted for severity) those who declined counselling often fared better — anecdote on not forcing talk.
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Paddington Station there was a fault in the signals and an incoming uh rush hour train uh slammed into an outgoing train. They were on the same track. These sorts of things should never happen, but of course Murphy's law always happens. If it can happen, it does happen. Rarely. So, there was this huge train crash outside of Paddington Station. Many people died and more people were injured. And many people were traumatized witnessing this. But the interesting part of this anecdote was that you know the British government they did offer free counseling to anybody who was involved in that tragedy. And then some very smart psychologists they did a follow-up. They got as many people as they could who'd been through that counseling. And those people who refused to go through the counseling. It was all offered to them for free. And of course they adjusted their findings to you know how seriously they were injured or how close they were to that tragedy, what they actually saw. And their results were so convincing. The people who depe
- The fourth cookie always went to the supervisorStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A psychology experiment split volunteers into threes: two wrote a report, one checked it. When five cookies arrived for three people (Western etiquette leaves the last), the…
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It was a cookie experiment. If those of you who know the cookie experiment it was actually quite revealing about the nature of human beings and what happens when they get into positions of authority. As you all know, a lot of troublesome people are those in positions of authority who boss you around and bully you. And of course, psychology experiments are very revealing because they take ordinary people and see what they do in in special situations and ordinary situations which reveal some of the nature of the human being. Not just special human beings, not uh failed human beings, but ordinary human beings. Because what they did, they had u these volunteers and they split them into groups of three. And they gave each of these little teams sort of a little job and a report to to write out. And two of the three were tasked with writing the report out and the third was supposed to check them. That's all just to check to make sure they wrote the report properly. So that third person was tacitly in a position of authority. And the main part of the experiment was when they brought a plate of cookies and some coffee in because it was hard work. They didn't realize that this was actually the main part of the experiment. It wasn't just a treat because they brought like was it five cookies in and there's only three people there. And apparently western psychology means that no one ever takes the last cookie. That's a no no. But it was the fourth cookie which was the interesting one. Who would take the fourth cookie? And that would always be the person who was checking everybody else. The supervisor, the one in authority, they would always think that they deserved that fourth cookie. And the other interesting thing was when they ate those two cookies, well, everyone else ate one, they would they would uh uh spill all sorts of cookie chips all over the place. They would have no proper sort of etiquette and eating because it was realized that for them in positions of authority, rules did not apply to them and they deserved more than anybody else
- “They're all Buddhists” — the expensive clinicStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A very wealthy Kuala Lumpur businessman tells Ajahn Brahm he paid a fortune for therapy at a famous US clinic, even meeting the founder of the mindfulness movement — and came…
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This incredibly wealthy businessman, you know, he came up to me and he said he'd just been to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland where all the film stars and pop stars, you know, go. It cost fortune to go to that clinic for therapy. Had depression, anxiety, I forget what it was, some addiction. And he went to this place cost him an absolute fortune. He had actually because he had money he had a personal in interview with John Kabbertson the guy who founded the mindfulness movement. And when he came back he said ajan bra all these guys here they're all Buddhists every one of them. And he said they teach the same thing as you do only not as clear. And he said I'm crazy. I spent all this money going to United States and I can hear better from you. He said, "Yeah, I teach these guys. You go to the source and it's really cheap when you come here.