If 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.
Explainers 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.
Explainers 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 OpinionFour centuries of philosophy, five theories, one dopamine circuit: the science of why your brain treats a good punchline like a reward.
Explainers 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.
Explainers Psychology & BehaviorMost people who think they are bad at math are actually bad at reading its notation. The real barrier is not numbers. It is the symbolic language that wraps them.
Explainers Psychology & BehaviorNobody agrees on what consciousness is. After 2,500 years of trying, the definition still assumes only humans have it, and the evidence keeps proving that assumption wrong.
Ethics & Accountability OpinionThe soul has been defined by every civilization and defended by every religion. After three thousand years, nobody agrees on what it is, what it does, or whether it exists. That might be the answer.
Explainers Psychology & BehaviorYour brain is wired to see faces everywhere, and it is doing it on purpose. The neuroscience of pareidolia, from fusiform face areas to the Face on Mars.
Explainers Psychology & Behavior
