Various Psychology
A collection of diverse psychological research and behavioral studies.
Essentials
Gratitude helps break the cycle of always wanting more
Gratitude explains why new gains fade and complaints rise.
videoMedCircle: mental health interviews with psychiatrists & psychologists
Mental health interviews with world-class psychiatrists & psychologists, providing mental health advice packed with actionable takeaways and clear explanations of…
Virtual avatars rewire body perception and ease trauma through brain plasticity
When people use virtual reality (VR) to embody avatars, such as taller, younger, or more muscular versions of themselves, their…
videoClair Obscur: Expedition 33 turns grief and denial into a game
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a 2025 role-playing game by the French studio Sandfall Interactive, follows an expedition against the Paintress, who erases everyone above a yearly age. Its story is about grief and denial, carried by Lorien Testard's music.
We create a false self in early life to meet external expectations and cope with childhood experiences – James Hollis
James Hollis explores the psychological and spiritual upheaval of midlife as a necessary and meaningful rite of passage. Drawing from…
videoCycle hormones lift desire mid-cycle and sink mood in 3% of women
Estrogen and progesterone rise and fall on a fixed schedule each cycle. Daily diary studies tie sexual desire to ovulation, while severe premenstrual mood symptoms (confirmed PMDD) affect about 3% of women.
Thinking fast and slow shows why we misjudge risk
Thinking fast and slow explains why we trust vivid stories, framing, and first impressions too easily. Kahneman's work changed economics, but it does not prove that every intuitive judgment is wrong.
Classic Findings
Understanding emotional overreactions as echoes of past trauma improves adult communication
Emotional reactions in adult relationships can be disproportionate because they are linked to unresolved childhood trauma rather than the current…
Warm mothering predicts more open, diligent, and kind adults
In 2,232 British twins, more maternal warmth at ages 5 to 10 predicted more open, conscientious, and agreeable 18-year-olds, even between identical twins. The effects were small, with no link for extraversion or neuroticism.
Men’s mental health: care gaps and suicide risk in U.S. data
National U.S. surveys show that mental illness is common among men, that men who have a mental illness are less likely than women in the same situation to use mental health services, and that suicide deaths fall very heavily on males. Cultural pressure to stay tough and stoic is often discussed as one possible barrier to opening up and getting treatment, but the NIMH and CDC summaries cited here do not test or quantify that explanation.
The Peak-End Rule explains why we judge relationships by their most intense moments and how they end
The peak-end rule of love explains why we judge relationships by their most intense moments and how they end, ignoring the average of our daily life together.
Personal growth leads to spiritual awakening by expanding awareness beyond the ego
Developmental awakening maps the journey from ego to awareness. Learn how personal growth expands your perspective and leads to a spiritual waking up.
Nearly all languages follow one math rule, and no one knows why
Zipf's law says word frequency drops in a steady pattern by rank, and it holds across almost every language, from Mandarin to Hindi to an undeciphered medieval manuscript. No one fully knows why.
New Research
New Yorkers seek quick comfort from psychics when traditional therapy feels slow
Some New Yorkers frustrated by the price, waiting lists, and emotional work required in conventional talk-therapy are turning instead to…
A phone game now called Mood Bloom eased depression in 8 weeks
In a randomized trial of 101 adults with mild to moderate depression, a phone game now called Mood Bloom cut clinician-rated symptoms 7 points more than a waiting list over eight weeks. The trial had no sham app.
Crystal says ChatGPT did more for her trauma than her therapists
In a Business Insider essay, Crystal, 34, says a custom ChatGPT helped her face trauma after several therapists did not work out. Trials of supervised therapy chatbots show symptom drops, but none tested ChatGPT used this way.
Frank Barron found creative people combine opposite traits
At UC Berkeley in the 1950s and 1960s, psychologist Frank Barron found that highly creative writers, architects, and scientists combined opposite traits, preferred complexity, and paired troubled test profiles with high ego strength, an early idea of resilience.
Finding meaning when life seems nonsensical
Life often feels chaotic and devoid of inherent meaning, but embracing uncertainty and accepting that not everything has a clear…
A larger-than-usual brain network may raise the risk of depression
A new study has identified that the frontostriatal salience network, a brain region tied to reward processing and external stimuli…