Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 14, 2022

Conscientious Guys Wow Women on the Dance Floor

Men who hit the dance floor may be revealing more than their ability to cut a rug, according to a new study that finds women judge men with conscientious and agreeable personalities as better dancers. The study builds on previous research that found women judge the dance movements of stronger...

Feb 9, 2023

Is 'lucky girl syndrome' trending on TikTok just old-school magical thinking?

A new technique for manifesting one's goals has gone viral on TikTok. So-called lucky girl syndrome may sound like a condition most people would like to have, but the psychology behind it is shaky at best and misleading at worst. To be a lucky girl, you must pronounce yourself to...

May 31, 2023

What is the science behind déjà vu?

You're walking somewhere you've never been before and suddenly feel as though you've strolled down the same road already. You're experiencing the well-known phenomenon déjà vu — but what is déjà vu, really, and why does the strange feeling happen? Déjà vu is a French expression meaning already seen, which...

Nov 3, 2023

Why does time slow down in near-death experiences? An expert weighs in.

Time is one of those things that most of us take for granted. We spend our lives portioning it into work-time, family-time and me-time. Rarely do we sit and think about how and why we choreograph our lives through this strange medium. A lot of people only appreciate time when...

Feb 18, 2024

'Scent therapy' helps unlock memories in people with depression, trial finds

People with depression may struggle to recall specific memories about their lives — for instance, a dinner party with friends or a visit to their favorite coffee shop. Now, a small trial suggests that scent therapy could help people with depression unlock those difficult-to-access autobiographical memories (AMs). The trial, described...

May 26, 2017

Shopping Hungry? Psychology Trick Could Stifle Bad Food Choices

It's a scenario you've probably experienced: You go to the supermarket hungry, and you end up with a shopping cart filled with foods you probably wouldn't buy if you weren't feeling famished. But researchers from the Netherlands may have found a way to make healthier choices when shopping hungry. It's...

Jun 2, 2017

Knowing Yourself: How to Improve Your Understanding of Others

Developing a better understanding of yourself may also improve your capacity to better understand the thoughts and feelings of other people, a new study from Germany suggests. Researchers found that adults who participated in a psychology-training program to enhance their perspective-taking — a term psychologists use to describe the ability...

Jul 5, 2017

Psychopaths' Brains Reveal Secrets of Their Immoral Behavior

Psychopaths, with their superficial charms but lack of empathy, may act the way they do because their brains are wired to overvalue immediate rewards, a new study finds. Psychopaths' brain wiring may also lead them to avoid thinking about the consequences of their potentially immoral actions, the study found. Psychopaths...

Aug 4, 2017

Watching Porn at an Early Age Linked to Poor Attitudes Toward Women

The age at which men first looked at porn appears to be related to their views on women later in life, but in surprising ways, a new study finds. The study analyzed information from 330 undergraduate men (ages 17 to 54) at a large Midwestern university, most of whom were...

Aug 12, 2017

Reputation Study Asks, Would You Rather Cut Off Your Hand or Be Known as a Nazi?

It's a puzzler, all right: Would you rather amputate your dominant hand or have a swastika tattooed prominently on your face? This sample question is just one of several hypothetical scenarios included in a recent psychology study designed to test how much people value their reputation within their community. Like...

Aug 17, 2017

Psychology of Hate: What Motivates White Supremacists?

The sight of torch-wielding, chanting white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, jarred the country over the weekend, a national distress that only deepened when a counter-protester died and 19 others were wounded in a car attack there on Saturday. An alleged white supremacist, James Alex Fields Jr., has been charged in...

Oct 10, 2017

Listen, Don't Look: Why Your Ears Can Tell More Than Your Eyes

When it comes to understanding how someone truly feels, it may be best to close your eyes and just listen, a new study shows. Empathy allows people to identify the emotions, thoughts and feelings of others. To do this, people tend to not only focus on the exchange of words,...

Oct 18, 2017

A Soft Touch Can Soothe Hard Feelings of Rejection

Feelings of rejection can be common — you may feel ostracized at work, rejected by a partner or even snubbed by friends — but a new study from England shows how a gentle touch can curb these feelings of being excluded from social interactions. In the study, researchers examined the...

Oct 30, 2017

What Your Nose Can Reveal About Your Emotions

From the sweet aroma of fresh-baked cookies making you feel warm inside to the subtle scent of flowers blooming in the spring perhaps leading to joyful feelings, your sense of smell has a strong bearing on your emotions. That's because there is a partial overlap between the areas in our...

Dec 5, 2017

Scientists Used Fake Hallucinations to Probe the Minds of People With Psychosis

Some people hallucinate, hear voices and lose touch with the world around them — but seem to get on with their lives just fine. Others have similar experiences, but they are so debilitating that these people have difficulty getting through their days without clinical help. Why the difference? The answer...