Sharing – Why We Oversimplify Psychology

It’s simple, really. We try to find simple explanations for complex problems because we want simple answers:

So we oversimplify psychology, simply because we need to. Complexity is heavy and uncomfortable. Simple explanations reduce emotional load and give us something to hold onto when things feel unclear.

But what feels clear is not always what is most accurate. In psychology, that gap is where the work actually begins.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mood-lab/202606/why-we-oversimplify-psychology

As Whitney says, and I agree, the real work is in the complexities. That goes for our own mental health issues, healing from abuse, and social issues regarding these topics. We aren’t going to solve the mental health crisis by getting people to exercise more. It might help some people, but that one explanation will not work for everyone. We are all much more complex than that simple “fix” would lead us to believe, but believing it reduces the cognitive load of figuring out how to help millions of individuals. Get more exercise, or get off social media, are well-meaning bits of advice, but the mental health crisis in the US is more complicated than that. We need programs that reduce financial insecurity, violence, and hatred and offer support for all the various ways we’ve all been traumatized in our lifetimes.

That’s much more complicated. That’s going to require a lot more mental effort, so it’s only natural that we choose easier answers, but those easier answers don’t help solve the issues. They just make us feel good about doing something, especially when that something doesn’t require much of us.