psychology

Dream interpretation is pop psychology, not settled science — but the classic readings of five common dreams run from Freud to the modern dream dictionary.

February 3, 2014 · 2 min read

Call a child 'shy' and they'll believe it. Labels — good or bad — become the boxes children grow inside. Here's why parents should drop the tags.

July 7, 2013 · 1 min read

A study of 40,000 Germans found that over-optimistic forecasts of future happiness predicted a 10% higher risk of death within a decade.

February 28, 2013 · 2 min read

Blind-tasting research says the price tag changes how wine tastes more than the wine does: what the studies on expensive vs cheap wine actually found.

July 16, 2012 · 1 min read

A 2012 study found moderate drinkers solved creative word puzzles faster than sober controls — a narrow effect on divergent thinking, not advice.

April 12, 2012 · 1 min read

Psychologists found that for complex decisions, people who slept on it chose better than deliberators — the 'deliberation-without-attention' effect.

October 2, 2011 · 2 min read

Attachment research shows the mother-son bond shapes boys' emotional intelligence and outcomes — and the 'separate to become a man' narrative is more

August 31, 2011 · 1 min read

Psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson's research-backed nine strategies for reaching goals — from getting specific to building your willpower muscle.

July 19, 2011 · 2 min read

A 2011 analysis of online emotion reportedly found anger peaking on Thursdays. The likely culprit: the accumulated frustrations of the working week.

July 5, 2011 · 1 min read

Facebook Addiction Disorder was a 2009 media invention, not a real diagnosis. Compulsive social media use is studied - but FAD was never in any manual.

January 6, 2011 · 1 min read

Marital drift — the slow divergence of two people sharing a house — is the least dramatic and most common reason long marriages end. Why it happens.

January 3, 2011 · 1 min read

See a yawn, catch a yawn — and you catch more yawns from people you're close to. The science of contagious yawning, and what it says about empathy.

November 12, 2010 · 2 min read