Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

frontiersin.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 354 posts

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#101

Post by twic »

adrian_b wrote: post #96
tantalor wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has nothing to do with psychology. It's standard terminology used in medicine. > Symptoms cannot be seen and do not show up on medical tests. Some examples of symptoms are headache, fatigue, nausea, and pain. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-term...

It is a standard terminology that is recent and only in English. It has nothing to do with the original meanings of the words "symptom" and "sign" in English and other languages (where "symptom" is any sign of a disease, while "sign" is any sign of anything). The standard medical terminology in other languages is "subjective symptoms" and "objective symptoms". In my opinion, whoever has chosen these artificial and ar…

At least one NHS content editor uses "symptom" to mean objective symptoms [1]:

> Symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) in adults can include:

> - a high temperature or shivering (chills) – a high temperature means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)

As do, slightly implicitly, all four of the UK chief medical officers [2]:

> The individual’s households should also self-isolate for 14 days as per the current guidelines and the individual should stay at home for 7 days, or longer if they still have symptoms other than cough or loss of sense of smell.

[1] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/...

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/statement-from-the-uk-chi...

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#102

Post by lisper »

Another term to avoid IMHO: "jingle jangle fallacy". It's catchy, but both the word "jingle" and the word "jangle" have established meanings in English neither of which has anything to do with what is being referred to here. To say nothing of the fact that the "jingle jangle fallacy" is not a fallacy, it's just bad choice of terminology.

Much better words than "jingle jangle fallacy" are "ambiguous" (for one word that has multiple meanings) and "redundant" (for multiple words that have the same meaning) terminology.

(I find it supremely ironic that this needs to be pointed out in an article whose central thesis is that wise choice of terminology is important.)

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#103

Post by dmerks »

ndr wrote: post #86

> (27) The scientific method. Many science textbooks, including those in psychology, present science as a monolithic “method.” [...] Contrary to what most scientists themselves appear to believe, science is not a method; it is an approach to knowledge (Stanovich, 2012). Specifically, it is an approach that strives to better approximate the state of nature by reducing errors in inferences. Mmmh is this Psychology opti…

Probably refers to epistemology, a branch of philosophy related to theories of knowledge

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#104

Post by [deleted] »

altruios wrote: post #74
MichaelCollins wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good example of this from the article: "alcohol use disorder (formerly called alcoholism)"

pedantically, I find alcohol use disorder more accurate to my internal definition of condition and disease. What we call things matter: as even slight changes in wording affect how people perceive things - so great care should be use when deciding what vernacular we should adopt generally.

[deleted]

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#105

Post by LAC-Tech »

andsoitis wrote: post #10

What do others here think about casual use of the word "crazy" in a work setting. For instance, "that's a crazy idea" or "they're crazy to think ...."

I think I'm tired of constantly worrying if what I say naturally is becoming yet another "thing I can't say among my betters without them looking down on me". Is there a list I can subscribe to?

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#106

Post by mcBesse »

ndr wrote: post #86

> (27) The scientific method. Many science textbooks, including those in psychology, present science as a monolithic “method.” [...] Contrary to what most scientists themselves appear to believe, science is not a method; it is an approach to knowledge (Stanovich, 2012). Specifically, it is an approach that strives to better approximate the state of nature by reducing errors in inferences. Mmmh is this Psychology opti…

The article doesn't suggest that at all, as far as I can tell. None of what you quoted indicates that is.

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#107

Post by LAC-Tech »

raxxorraxor wrote: post #44
lupire wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the difference. Both "Politically Correct" and "Psychiatrically Correct" are addressing the same concern of misconceptions due to inaccurate or misleading language. You can be houseless but not homeless, and still need help with your housing.

No, political correct is most often the opposite. It tries to obfuscate. Certainly not gain precision.

You're looking at it too literally.

Enforcing others to change their language is mostly about power. Any feel good explanations of why it needs to change is justification for executing that power.

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#109

Post by khazhoux »

alexb_ wrote: post #11
andsoitis wrote: post #10

What do others here think about casual use of the word "crazy" in a work setting. For instance, "that's a crazy idea" or "they're crazy to think ...."

I think it's crazy that we spend time thinking about minor bs like this instead of spending that effort trying to solve actual problems. This type of stuff is great for people who want to feel like they have made a positive change without actually having accomplished anything of value.

> I think it's crazy that we spend time thinking about minor bs like this instead of spending that effort trying to solve actual problems.

False dichotomy. We all (you included) already spend plenty of time thinking about "minor bs". A discussion about language will probably use up less time in your week than you spent deciding what to get for lunch.

Personally I don't have any problem with the word "crazy"... but I don't mind thinking about it for a minute.

Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid

#110

Post by uxp100 »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #92

> (47) Empirical data. “Empirical” means based on observation or experience. As a consequence, with the possible exception of information derived from archival sources, all psychological data are empirical (what would “non-empirical” psychological data look like?). Nonsense. There are plenty of types of data that are not empirical. For example, data from simulations is not empirical data.

Can you elaborate on what type of psychological data simulations you are thinking of?
Post reply on HN