David Navon (1994) From Pink Elephants to Psychosomatic Disorders:
. Psycoloquy: 5(36) Paradoxical Cognition (1)
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Psycoloquy 5(36): From Pink Elephants to Psychosomatic Disorders:
FROM PINK ELEPHANTS TO PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERS:
PARADOXICAL EFFECTS IN COGNITION
Target Article by Navon on Paradoxical Cognition
David Navon
Department of Psychology
The University of Haifa
Haifa, Israel
RSPS311@UVM.HAIFA.AC.IL
Abstract
Several paradoxical effects in cognition are discussed.
One type is "evasions" -- of a thought, a perception, or a response
-- that may cause the presence of precisely what is meant to be
avoided. Another type is "lay interventions" that channel
information to mental processes that do not know how to deal with
it, often resulting in aggravation of the problem meant to be
solved by the intervention. Some psychosomatic effects may be due
to lay interventions. Paradoxical effects may stem from attempts to
bypass, or substitute for, the normal functioning of subsystems of
the mind.
Keywords
attention, automatic processes, consciousness, controlled
processing, incidental learning, motor set, pain, panic attacks,
paradoxical effects, positive feedback, psychosomatic disorders,
recall failures
References