Ever wonder why your willpower fails you just when you need it most? The results of a new long-term study, which first began more than 40 years ago with the now-famous marshmallow test in preschoolers, may offer some clues.
Psychology
Mind over Mind? Decision Fatigue Saps Willpower — if We Let It
Are the endless decisions of modern life leading to decision fatigue, depleting our willpower to the point that we end up making increasingly poor, even self-destructive choices?
Why Being Hard-To-Get Attracts Consumers (And Men)
Why would a person drive across town to get a bottle of wine rather than pick up a nice red down the street? Why would a guy at a bar seek out the woman across the room instead of the one right in front of him? According to a …
Casey Anthony Released: Can She Ever Lead a Normal Life?
What would you do if you met Casey Anthony in Target? She yearns to stroll the aisles of the chic big-box store, at least according to letters she wrote while imprisoned on charges of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
Does ‘Magical Thinking’ Help People Lose Weight?
For some people struggling to lose weight, researchers say it may help to engage in a little “magical thinking” as a way to cope with the stress of dieting and being overweight.
Q&A With a Family Therapist: How Kids Survive Family Secrets
As details continue to emerge about former Calif. governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelities, many are wondering how the revelations will affect his children — not only the four teenagers he has with estranged wife, Maria …
A Proposed New Definition May Make ADHD Easier to Spot in Adults
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is still thought of as a childhood condition, even while it persists into adulthood for many patients who are diagnosed as children. But now, psychiatrists say, a proposed new …
Apocalypse Now: Why Believers Will Grow Stronger If the World Doesn’t End
In case you haven’t heard, the world is about to end on May 21. According to 89-year-old radio host Harold Camping and his followers, who have been placing billboards and subway ads across the country, people must repent now and …
What Annoys You? An Examination of the Little Things That Drive Us Bananas
Do not lick your fingers when you’re done eating — if you’re licking your fingers, it’s time to accept that the bag of chips is finished. Move on. On that note, don’t crinkle the bag while you retrieve your snacks, and don’t …
Why Happiness Isn’t Always Good: Asians vs. Americans
Among journalists — and less so among psychologists — the subset of mental-health research called “positive psychology” has become powerfully influential. Positive psychology, which was more or less founded by a …
A Mother’s Murder-Suicide: Chilling but Familiar
(Updated) On Tuesday night, after an argument at home, a mother in the industrial town of Newburgh, N.Y., drove herself and her four children into the Hudson River, off a boat ramp several blocks from her home. Her eldest son …
To Live Longer, Granny, Get Your Fanny to the Mall
Feel like living longer? Grab a shopping cart.
Why Getting ‘High’ Increases Acts of Charity
Want to persuade people to give more? Then get them “high” first — physically that is. New research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology shows that people act twice as nice when they have just ridden up …