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The Choices We Make May Be Random
Humans sometimes justify their choices after the fact. The line of reasoning goes something like this: “I chose this, so I must like it. I didn't choose this other thing, so it must not be so good.” In fact, decades of cognitive science research and centuries of philosophical and scientific postulations suggest that humans unconsciously decide to like (or dislike) something based on previously made choices. But Lisa Feigenson, a co-director of the Johns Hopkins University Laboratory for Child Development, wanted to understand the roots of this tendency.
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How to Make Your Financial Life Happier in 2022
Instead of setting an ambitious money goal in the new year, consider some smaller and more cerebral ways to make your financial life happier. This approach is likely to be especially helpful in 2022, after two years in which many have been under financial and other sources of strain. According to an online survey that the personal-finance site NextAdvisor conducted of nearly 3,000 adults in June, over half said they felt very or somewhat anxious about their finances.
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New Year’s Resolutions Are Notoriously Slippery, but Science Can Help You Keep Them
Every January nearly half of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. We resolve to eat better, exercise more, get organized, spend less money, and so on. Unfortunately, several studies suggest that most of these resolutions don’t stick. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you’ve made a resolution this year and would like help keeping it, you’re in luck: Ayelet Fishbach, one of the world’s foremost researchers on the science of motivation, has written a book designed for you. Fishbach is a social psychologist at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and author of Get It Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation.
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on how animals learn, sexual- and gender-minority mental health, acculturation and immigration, emotion in social learning, stigma and treatment success, motor performance and learning, prosocial behavior, and social networking and well-being.
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Psychic Numbing, Explained; Oneida Indian Nation Uses Art for COVID-19 Remembrance
More than 800,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. But the number of deaths barely seems to register for many. Psychologist Paul Slovic has studied a phenomenon he calls "psychic numbing" for years. And, in response to the pandemic's threat to Indigenous communities, Oneida Indian Nation located in central New York unveiled an art installation called "Passage of Peace." Oneida leader Ray Halbritter joins us to discuss. ...
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How to Help a Loved One Through Sudden Loss
Over the past several years, the husbands of three of my friends died suddenly at the age of 50. These experiences helped educate me on how to be supportive in the face of an unexpected loss. I couldn’t imagine that I would ever be on the receiving end of such support. But that happened when I lost my son, Garrett, to suicide in September 2017. Since Garrett’s passing, I have been amazed at the generosity of my community. One friend paid to have my home’s gutters cleaned and windows washed. Our family’s veterinarian refused to let us pay for her pet care services for a year. Another friend gave us keys to her lake house to use when we needed to get away.
