psychology

The thoughts on ruthless leadership by Italian politician and writer Niccolò Machiavelli resonate today. 

Revenue from tattoo removal services have increased 440% over the last decade. How can we learn to live with regret?

Research shows the groups have different tastes when buying science books. For the most part.

There is an old adage, “take stock of the company you keep”. As it turns out, we are more tolerant of people who have similar negative personality traits as us.

Cognitive abilities peak at varying ages, say researchers from MIT and Harvard.

A team of researchers analyzed 1,280 suicide notes written between 2000 and 2009 to seek a new prevention strategy. 

Why is it so hard to agree with some people? They are literally wired to value different things than you.

A new study explains why and how people choose to avoid information and when that strategy could be beneficial.

Researchers study the “paradox of happiness” to find out how get into “flow activities” that would make us happiest.

They have the same feelings as normal people. It’s how they make decisions that’s different.   

Here’s one use for all that harvested personal data that you might not object to. Algorithms and big data are no longer just for profit; they can bring us self-awareness and growth.

Reading popular science articles is a fun pastime for many people, and can help everybody understand the world of science. But is there a downside to making this information so easy to understand?

Two recent studies reveal the effects of LSD on the brain.

It’s time to get real about key ideas that run our lives, which have been taking laughable liberties with human nature – and with the logic of livable liberty.

A new study makes a surprising finding on the intelligence of psychopaths, often portrayed as evil geniuses in popular culture.

A study analyzes the relationship between how fast people speak and how much information they actually relate.

In 1972, eight mice were placed in a utopia. Full of food, water, bedding, and space for 3000 mice. Within three years there were no survivors.   

New research reveals that people find those who use profanity more honest and trustworthy.

Tim Ferriss shares a bounty of strategies to help you really and truly overcome procrastination. And if it doesn’t do it for you, hey, at least you just killed 10 minutes.

Sean Curry takes aim at the rapidly evolving “gourmet” food industry that is warping our expectations, mindsets and first-world privilege to a scary new level. 

Psychologists suggests tactics for confronting offensive speech.

A recent study from Yale University find that dogs are better at resisting peer-pressure and filtering useless information than human beings – but there’s value in that human flaw.

Forget multi-vitamins, pick up a happy spouse instead. This study suggests the enormous upward effect of having a partner who has a happy nature.

Does smiling make you happier? These and many other popular claims in psychology are not standing up to scrutiny. Here’s what that means for science.

A new study reveals that people naturally fall into 4 different personality types while making decisions: Optimist, Pessimist, Trusting, or Envious. 

Want five or six extra days every year? Easy – choose streaming over network TV. Adults are sacrificing 130 hours, and kids 150 hours, to ads annually when they watch commercial programming. 

Think happy, be happy? Maybe not. Harvard psychologist Susan David examines the backlash effect of forced positivity in our lives.

1% of all Google searches are health queries. Cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken explains how artificial intelligence diagnostics lead to psychosomatic symptoms, and potentially explain the fourfold increase in iatrogenic death in the US since 1999.

Studies confirm that having experiences makes us happier than material possessions.

By comparing signatures in auction house transactions of over 400,000 paintings, researchers found that works by narcissistic artists sold for higher prices.