Humans shed nearly all their body fur millions of years ago, yet armpit hair survived. The armpit hair purpose turns out to involve scent signaling, friction control, and an evolutionary story far stranger than a razor commercial would have you believe.
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorYour best employees are probably breaking your rules right now. The science of constructive deviance workplace behavior shows why that might be exactly what keeps your organization running.
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorMcDonald’s has spent decades building a system that hooks children before they can spell their own name. From toys and playgrounds to food engineered for maximum craving, the science behind it is more disturbing than most parents realize.
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorA Los Angeles jury just handed down a social media addiction verdict that finds Meta and YouTube liable for hooking a child by design. With 2,500 lawsuits waiting in the wings, this is Big Tech’s tobacco moment.
Digital Privacy Opinion Psychology & BehaviorIf religious people genuinely believed in paradise, wouldn’t they welcome death? A provocative question with a surprising answer: decades of psychology research reveal that the relationship between faith and death anxiety is far stranger than either believers or skeptics expect.
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorFrom “thoughts and prayers” to rage-tweeting to “protecting the children,” humans have perfected the art of looking helpful without actually helping. Evolutionary biology and social psychology explain why.
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorIn French, writing “pantalons orange” without an S is correct but looks wrong to almost everyone. A 2019 study found that perceived errors damage an author’s credibility more than actual ones. What happens when being right is socially indistinguishable from being wrong?
News & Analysis Psychology & BehaviorA photograph viewed six times became a million-view sensation after a $50 million lawsuit tried to hide it. From Barbra Streisand’s backfired legal threat to banned books that sell more copies, the psychology and data behind the internet’s most reliable law.
Evergreen Psychology & BehaviorDecades of political psychology research reveal why democratic voters keep electing the leaders most likely to dismantle democracy, and economic anxiety is not the main driver.
Evergreen Psychology & BehaviorAutocorrect killed spelling. GPS killed navigation. AI intent prediction is coming for the ability to think clearly, and the trade is not as harmless as it looks.
Artificial Intelligence Opinion Psychology & BehaviorFour centuries of philosophy, five theories, one dopamine circuit: the science of why your brain treats a good punchline like a reward.
Evergreen Psychology & BehaviorYour brain treats a headline with the same urgency it once reserved for a predator. That is not a metaphor. It is neuroscience, and it explains why you cannot stop scrolling.
Evergreen Psychology & Behavior
