Is a triple cheeseburger the poor man’s limousine? According to a new study, consumers who feel powerless in society — often those with low socioeconomic status — may be likely to choose bigger food portions, given the …
Behavior
How the Brain Chooses: Secrets From Parkinson’s Disease
How do you make a tough choice? For most people, the answer is to pause and deliberate, as the brain puts the brakes on its initial impulses. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) used to treat Parkinson’s disease, however, can interfere …
Reality Check: Why Some Brains Can’t Tell Real From Imagined
How do you know what’s real? A new study suggests that people’s ability to distinguish between what really happened and what was imagined may be determined by the presence of a fold at the front of the brain that develops late in …
Feeling Out of Control? Why Certain Products Make You Feel Better
You know how you feel more in control of your life when your surroundings are neat and orderly? There’s something to that, according to a study by a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Norway’s Greatest Vulnerability Is Also Its Greatest Strength
The unspeakable horror of this weekend’s massacre in Norway is exaggerated exponentially by terrorist Anders Breivik’s abuse of one of civil society’s most distinctive features: the trust that the public places in law …
Why Women Are Better at Everything
Recently in the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch columnist David Weidner noted that women “do almost everything better” than men — from politics to corporate management to investing.
Stressed in the City: How Urban Life May Change Your Brain
I live in New York City, and for me, there’s nothing that compares to its culture, energy and convenience. I’m not alone in feeling this way — more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas.
Driving While Buzzed: No Amount of Alcohol Is Safe Behind the Wheel
(Updated) The blood-alcohol limit in the U.S. is 0.08% — a cutoff that implies that any blood-alcohol content (BAC) south of 0.08% is safe, or at least not illegal.
The Psychology of Real Estate: Why North Is Better Than South
So you’re searching online for a new place to live. You stumble across an affordable house in a nearby city that you’ve never visited. The house is in a neighborhood called North Town. A few minutes later, you find a similar …
The Psychology of Dictatorship: Why Gaddafi Clings to Power
Muammar Gaddafi continues to hold tightly to power even as NATO bombs rain down on Tripoli.
Want to Be Heard? Try Changing the Way You Talk
We all know that frequent verbal ticks, such as “like” and “you know,” can turn listeners off. But what about the pace, pitch and fluency of your speech? Are others more likely to tune in if you’re a high-talker, for instance, or
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Could Lactose Intolerance Be All in Your Head?
Most people who suffer from the telltale symptoms of bloating, gas, gut pain and nausea after consuming milk believe they have lactose intolerance. But a new Italian study suggests that only a third of such patients actually do. …
Don’t Tell Me: Knowing How Long Unpleasantness Will Last Makes It Worse
People are notoriously bad at predicting their future emotional state. Intuitively, for instance, we think that knowing beforehand how long an unpleasant experience will last — waiting on a crowded subway platform or having …
