Playing Hard to Get Can Work, Briefly. Then the Science Turns Against You
Not knowing if he liked them made women more attracted in one famous study. Fifty years of other research adds a catch worth knowing.
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Every Something Navy story is edited and checked against its original sources.
You Don’t Grow to Look Like Your Partner. You Probably Looked Alike From Day One
A face-recognition test of 517 couples married for decades found no drift towards each other. The resemblance was there at the wedding.
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Strangers in five studies liked their partners more than they guessed. In one, the gap lasted most of a university year.
Do Long-Distance Relationships Work? The Surprising Research on Couples Apart
Couples living apart often report more intimacy than couples who share a postcode. The harder test, research suggests, comes when the distance finally closes.
The Thank-You Letter You Keep Not Writing Is Worth More Than You Think
Gratitude journals deliver less than the hype. A short letter you never send may be the exception, and you can test it in a week.
Anxious, Avoidant or Secure? What Your Attachment Quiz Gets Wrong
Online quizzes promise to name your attachment style in five minutes. The science behind them is real, but it says something quite different about labels.
The Women Who Named Imposter Syndrome Never Wanted It Called a Syndrome
Two psychologists described it in 1978 as an experience, not an illness. How common is it really, who gets it, and what did the label get wrong?
Do Opposites Really Attract? A Century of Couples Says Mostly Not
Films and fridge magnets say opposites attract. Data on thousands of couples tells a different, more interesting story.
Procrastination Isn’t Laziness: It’s How We Dodge Bad Feelings, and How to Stop
Putting things off is less about time or effort than about escaping an unpleasant feeling. Here is what the research shows, and six tools that follow from it.
Why Being Ghosted Hurts So Much: What Psychologists Know About the Silence
No row, no reason, just nothing. Research on ostracism explains why ghosting stings, why people do it, and how to recover.