A blog about human brains and behavior for students of psychology.
If you want to feel more optimistic about what the future holds, sometimes it helps to look at the past. That’s because taking a minute to bask in nostalgic memories can make you feel more positive about what’s in store.
Meditation is one of those things like exercise that’s often brought up as a practical task anyone can make a habit of to improve their mental health. And just like there are different forms of exercise, there are also different
Have you ever wondered how some people can keep their cool even when they’re under extreme pressure? Or maybe you’re one of those people! A new study from researchers in China suggests that personality could be part of it. In
If you’re feeling thankful this Thanksgiving, you should be thankful that you’re feeling thankful. Being able to count your blessings is itself a blessing. That’s because psychology research has shown repeatedly that gratitude is associated with a range of good
If you want to listen to some music, you have plenty of options for how to do it: alone or with others, live or on a recording. And as it turns out, all these ways of listening to music are
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 least, that’s what a new study establishing a link between feelings
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 from Belgium recently delved into that question with a study of
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 to create a “culture of happiness” where people are expected to
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 and the United States. Psychologists have traditionally thought of empathic concern
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, often it’s because we realize that sometimes it’s worse to not
