Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 14, 2020

Does subliminal messaging really work?

Subliminal messaging was born in a New Jersey movie theater in the summer of 1957. During the Academy Award-winning film Picnic, market researcher James Vicary flashed advertisements on the screen every 5 seconds. The interruptions were so fast — 1/3,000th of a second — that they were undetectable by the...

Mar 21, 2020

Was Freud right about anything?

Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous doctors to delve into the human subconscious. But is anything he said rooted in science? After all, one of his most memorable ideas suggested that we're all repressing our true desires to have sex with our parents. But Freud didn't use science...

Mar 22, 2020

Can you recover repressed memories?

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States was in the grip of a panic. Thousands of adults were recovering memories of horrific childhood abuse — memories they believed they had long repressed because they were too painful to bear. In all, 736 legal claims were filed, usually...

Jul 3, 2020

Why do some men take so long to poop?

If you've ever wondered why men take so long to poop, you may have found yourself asking if there's a medical reason. Why else would some men take so much longer than women to take care of their business? The answer, however, does not appear to be anatomical. In fact,...

Jul 6, 2020

What is the Dunning-Kruger effect?

Open up social media or flip on the news, and you will inevitably come across someone who genuinely believes they have the expertise to speak with authority on a topic which they actually seem to know almost nothing about. This may not be a simple case of gross overconfidence. Knowledge...

Jul 7, 2020

How the brain builds a sense of self

We are highly sensitive to people around us. As infants, we observe our parents and teachers, and from them we learn how to walk, talk, read — and use smartphones. There seems to be no limit to the complexity of behavior we can acquire from observational learning. But social influence...

Aug 23, 2020

Does your personality change as you get older?

Between adolescence and adulthood, you go through a host of changes — jobs, regrettable haircuts and relationships that come and go. But what about who you are at your core? As you grow older, does your personality change? Personality is the pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviors unique to a...

Dec 10, 2020

People sometimes prefer burning hot pain to thinking too hard

When faced with a challenging mental task, some people would rather endure literal pain than use their brain power. According to a new study, published Nov. 17 in the journal eLife, the prospect of performing a difficult mental task can be just as off-putting as the threat of a painful...

Feb 7, 2021

How does the rubber pencil illusion work?

If you want to see a rigid pencil turn to rubber, just ask an elementary-school student. In a favorite playground trick, an amateur magician picks up a pencil near the tip and lightly jiggles the whole thing up and down. When the illusion is performed correctly, the straight line turns...

Apr 25, 2021

Does the silent treatment work?

Whether your partner left you to do the dishes again or your closest friend made an insensitive comment at a party, confronting a loved one about their upsetting behavior is difficult. Rather than risking potential conflict, it can sometimes feel easier to rely on the silent treatment: become aloof, give...

May 7, 2021

No, men don't learn toxic masculinity from their fathers

For toxic masculinity, like father, like son, is only part of the story. New research suggests a different story: A man's lack of friends may predict whether he will embrace toxic masculinity, while the presence or absence of a male role model early in life doesn't play a role. So-called...

Jun 29, 2021

A new type of optical illusion tricks the brain into seeing dazzling rays

A new type of mind-bending visual illusion makes people see dazzling rays that aren't really there at all. The newly discovered illusion, nicknamed the scintillating starburst, is made up of a simple pattern of concentric wreaths on a plain white background. However, almost everyone who looks at it can see...

Aug 9, 2021

There are 2 types of narcissists. Here's what makes each tick.

Chances are you've met a narcissist. Someone who thinks they're better than everyone else, dominates the conversation and loves the limelight. But scientists are increasingly realizing that not all narcissists are the same — some are, in fact, extremely insecure. In our new paper, published in Personality and Social Psychology...

Nov 3, 2021

Personality traits & personality types: What personality type are you?

What personality traits makes someone who they are? Each person has an idea of their own personality type — if they are bubbly or reserved, sensitive or thick-skinned. Psychologists who try to tease out the science of who we are define personality as individual differences in the way people tend...

Oct 14, 2022

With Personality Traits, You Are Who You Like

Some personality traits are just likable. Agreeableness, for example, is marked by kindness and warmth — who could object? But although psychologists know a fair amount about how personality traits are generally perceived, they know a lot less about how a person's own personality influences how they handle the personality...