Experiencing Awe Makes People More Humble
An awareness of how vast and complex the world around us is seems to go hand-in-hand with an awareness of how small and limited we are as individuals. At...
The Psychology of a Good Pep Talk
You can’t have a good sports movie without an inspirational pep talk. But in real life, do these heartfelt motivational speeches really work? A group of psychologists and kinesiologists...
Creating a “Culture of Happiness” Can Make People Less Resilient
If you’re skeptical about the power of positive thinking, there’s a new study out that will give you something to, well, be positive about. It turns out that trying...
Sympathy May Be Part of a More General “Meta-Emotion”
Feelings of sympathy and compassion – what psychologists call empathic concern – may be part of a larger “communal emotion,” according to new work by researchers in Norway, Portugal...
Regret Over Missed Opportunities May Drive Risk Taking
Often it’s the things we didn’t do that we regret the most – not the things we did do but shouldn’t have. And when we take risks in life,...
Is Unethical Behavior Disgusting or Downright Infuriating?
Maybe unethical behavior makes your blood boil, or maybe it just plain disgusts you. Apparently, whether immoral actions provoke disgust or anger in you influences how you’ll respond. Psychologists...
Expressing Positive Emotions Linked to Better Heart Health
If you’re happy and you know it, tell someone. Unless that person’s having a bad day and you don’t want to rub it in. A new study from researchers...
Most People Think They’re Happier Than Average
We sometimes have trouble figuring out how to compare our own experiences with those of other people. That much is obvious from the study I wrote about earlier this...
Is Distraction a Healthy Coping Strategy?
It’s tempting to deal with problems by not thinking about them and instead distracting yourself with other activities. But is this a healthy way of coping? That’s not a...
Is “Grima” Its Own Emotion?
You know that special feeling you get when you hear the sound of nails on a chalkboard? In Spanish, it’s called grima. In English, well, we don’t have a...
