Essays

Essays on psychological clarity, emotional regulation, identity, and the conditions that allow people to think, relate, and live with coherence.

Some truths can’t be compressed; they need space to become clear.

These essays are not reactions or hot takes. They examine the psychological structures beneath everyday experience — how attention, emotion, identity, and meaning actually function under modern conditions. Drawing from psychology, lived experience, and cultural analysis, each piece is written to clarify what’s happening beneath the surface, not to entertain, provoke, or reassure.

RJ Starr 8/25/25 RJ Starr 8/25/25

The Collapse of Shared Reality: Why We No Longer Agree on What’s Real

The collapse of shared reality isn’t just a political problem—it’s a psychological reckoning. This essay explores why belief is less about facts and more about emotional need, identity, and trust. When people no longer agree on what’s real, the path forward isn’t correction—it’s psychological repair.

RJ Starr 8/10/25 RJ Starr 8/10/25

Cognitive Entanglement: Recognizing How Thoughts Can Become Intertwined with Identity, Limiting Flexibility and Clarity

Cognitive entanglement occurs when thoughts stop functioning as tools and start acting as identity markers. In this state, beliefs harden into self-definition, limiting flexibility, distorting perception, and reducing clarity. This essay examines how thought becomes fused with identity and how to reclaim psychological freedom.

RJ Starr 6/23/25 RJ Starr 6/23/25

Why Your Brain is Addicted to ‘Maybe’ (And How to Break Free)

Why do we get stuck refreshing, replaying, and rereading when nothing changes? This essay unpacks the neuroscience of uncertainty, the dopamine trap of anticipation, and the Zeigarnik effect that keeps unfinished situations lingering in our minds—offering grounded, psychology-based tools to break free from the mental loops of “maybe.”

RJ Starr 2/21/25 RJ Starr 2/21/25

Magical Thinking and the Mind

Magical thinking arises from the mind’s need for patterns and control. This article explores how superstitions fulfill emotional needs, how threat-detection systems favor false positives, and why unchecked magical thinking can distort risk perception and fuel conspiracy beliefs in modern life.

RJ Starr 12/1/24 RJ Starr 12/1/24

The Hidden Psychology Driving the Decline of Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is declining not from lack of intelligence but from environments that discourage it. This article explores how cognitive overload, algorithmic curation, and social reinforcement erode deep analysis, and how intentional effort can help reclaim thoughtful engagement.

RJ Starr 11/19/24 RJ Starr 11/19/24

Heuristics and Schemas: Mental Shortcuts and Frameworks

Heuristics and schemas are cognitive shortcuts that aid quick thinking but often lead to biases and errors. This article explores how these mental frameworks shape perception and decision-making, and how recognizing their influence can help us think more deliberately and accurately.

Emotional intelligence isn’t just a workplace skill or buzzword. It's the foundation of how we stay human in an overstimulated world. It’s how we create safety, connection, and clarity in the relationships that matter most.
Overthinking is rarely about insight. It’s about emotional avoidance disguised as analysis. True understanding begins not in your thoughts, but in your willingness to stay with what’s uncomfortable without trying to fix or escape it immediately.
Self-awareness is not a luxury or a personality trait, it’s a psychological infrastructure. Without it, we repeat patterns, misread situations, and lose the ability to act with intention instead of reaction.
Boundaries are not about pushing people away. They’re how we take emotional responsibility for what we can handle, what we value, and how we want to be treated in relationships that actually matter to us.
Emotional maturity isn’t measured by how little we feel. It’s shown in how we carry big emotions without letting them hijack our behavior. It’s the quiet strength of presence, not performance.
You don’t have to erase your past to heal, you just have to stop letting it silently write the present. Healing is a return to authorship over your life, not a denial of what shaped you.
Clarity often feels like calm. Not because everything is perfect, but because you’re no longer performing, pretending, or explaining yourself to people who never learned how to listen with care.
Self-trust is not about always knowing the answer. It’s about knowing you can stay present, even when you don’t. It’s a psychological anchor in a world that rewards dissociation and speed.
When we can name what we’re feeling without shame, we begin to reclaim agency over our inner life. Language is a psychological bridge between experience and understanding; it lets us carry what we used to avoid.
You are not “too much.” You are simply carrying the emotional weight of people who never learned to sit with discomfort, so they handed it to you instead.

Essays

Essays on psychological clarity, emotional regulation, identity, and the conditions that allow people to think, relate, and live with coherence.

Some truths can’t be compressed; they need space to become clear.

The Collapse of Shared Reality: Why We No Longer Agree on What’s Real

Cognitive Entanglement: Recognizing How Thoughts Can Become Intertwined with Identity, Limiting Flexibility and Clarity

Why Your Brain is Addicted to ‘Maybe’ (And How to Break Free)

Magical Thinking and the Mind

The Hidden Psychology Driving the Decline of Critical Thinking

Heuristics and Schemas: Mental Shortcuts and Frameworks

Emotional intelligence isn’t just a workplace skill or buzzword. It's the foundation of how we stay human in an overstimulated world. It’s how we create safety, connection, and clarity in the relationships that matter most.

Overthinking is rarely about insight. It’s about emotional avoidance disguised as analysis. True understanding begins not in your thoughts, but in your willingness to stay with what’s uncomfortable without trying to fix or escape it immediately.

Self-awareness is not a luxury or a personality trait, it’s a psychological infrastructure. Without it, we repeat patterns, misread situations, and lose the ability to act with intention instead of reaction.

Boundaries are not about pushing people away. They’re how we take emotional responsibility for what we can handle, what we value, and how we want to be treated in relationships that actually matter to us.

Emotional maturity isn’t measured by how little we feel. It’s shown in how we carry big emotions without letting them hijack our behavior. It’s the quiet strength of presence, not performance.

You don’t have to erase your past to heal, you just have to stop letting it silently write the present. Healing is a return to authorship over your life, not a denial of what shaped you.

Clarity often feels like calm. Not because everything is perfect, but because you’re no longer performing, pretending, or explaining yourself to people who never learned how to listen with care.

Self-trust is not about always knowing the answer. It’s about knowing you can stay present, even when you don’t. It’s a psychological anchor in a world that rewards dissociation and speed.

When we can name what we’re feeling without shame, we begin to reclaim agency over our inner life. Language is a psychological bridge between experience and understanding; it lets us carry what we used to avoid.

You are not “too much.” You are simply carrying the emotional weight of people who never learned to sit with discomfort, so they handed it to you instead.

Professor RJ Starr

Integrating psychology, culture, and meaning to understand the forces shaping modern life.

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