A blog about human brains and behavior for students of psychology.
What makes a good parent? That’s a complex question, maybe an impossible one. But warmth doesn’t seem to hurt. A new study from researchers at Harvard University suggests that children who experience more parental warmth go on to flourish in
Many people who have near-death experiences report coming away with a new perspective on their lives. From a scientific standpoint, we don’t know much about how this works because it’s hard to study near-death experiences systematically. To quote the authors
Labels are a tricky part of mental health awareness. On one hand, no one wants to be reduced to a label. On the other hand, labels give us a language to talk about mental health. So does using labels for
Feelings of shyness can come with all kinds of thoughts. Worries, doubts, rumination. But a new study by researchers in Italy suggests it goes deeper than that: shyness might also have to do with how we think about thinking. Psychologists
Long-time readers of this blog will know that I can take the fun out of almost any holiday. For Thanksgiving, I’ve written about the advantages of being ungrateful and the inner lives of Turkeys. On Valentines day, I covered loneliness.
Buy a CD of music for relaxation, and there’s a good chance it’ll feature running water, chirping birds and rustling leaves. Instinctively, it makes sense to us that the sounds of nature should be refreshing for the mind. This idea
There are different ways we can talk about gambling. For example, we can talk about the way it’s similar to other compulsive and addictive behaviors. But one aspect we talk about surprisingly little is that gambling is, on some level,
Occasionally, people with autism have special abilities where they are able to far outperform others. They might be able to perform feats of memory, create incredibly realistic works of art, or tell you without hesitating that January 31, 2021 will
Some psychology studies provide practical insights with obvious applications in everyday life. Today brings an example of one of those studies, in the form of a paper titled Pursuing Sex With an Ex: Does It Hinder Breakup Recovery?, published in
If I asked you to list five traits you value in your friends, narcissism probably won’t make the cut. Yet narcissists are often able to make a good impression and draw people to themselves. A new study in the Journal
