Do patients know what they want?

Scott Alexander on two kinds of psychiatrist

Bad word

Neckbeard is not a useful insult.

Thanx to andrewducker

Isness

I attempt to practice General Semantics, a mental discipline that seeks to protect us from the bewitchment of language by remembering that “the map is not the territory” and “whatever you say it is, it isn’t.” One part of that approach is that the delusion that we have understood something when we have labeled it is stronger when we use nouns than when we use adjectives. Thus, I am pleased to learn that

Conservatives prefer using nouns, new transatlantic research suggests. The research also established that conservatives generally, to a greater degree than liberals, tend to refer to things by their names, rather than describing them in terms of their features. An example would be saying someone 'is an optimist', rather than 'is optimistic'.

Thanx to andrewducker