The Song Stuck in Your Head Follows a Pattern. Here’s How to Break the Loop
Nearly nine in ten people in one large survey get one weekly. Tunes named by 3,000 people show what makes a melody sticky, and why gum helps.
Psychology
How people think, feel and behave, explained through research and real life.
That Ache for the Past Was Once a Disease. Now It Seems to Keep You Warm
In 1688 a Basel dissertation called it an illness. Today’s labs find nostalgia eases loneliness and can make a cold room feel warmer.
The Wobbly Shelf You Built Feels Priceless. Psychologists Call It the IKEA Effect
People paid 63% more for a plain box they had built themselves. Stop two steps short of finishing, and that premium collapses.
That “I’ve Been Here Before” Feeling Has a Cause. Your Brain Is Checking Its Own Memory
Around two in three people have felt it. Lab studies using virtual towns and brain scans suggest déjà vu is a memory check, not a glitch in time.
You Buy a Red Car and Suddenly They’re Everywhere. Your Brain Changed, Not the Roads
A 1994 newspaper letter named it, and a gorilla experiment explains it: nearly half of us miss what we aren’t tuned to see.
The Better You Know Something, the Worse You Explain It. Blame the Curse of Knowledge
Tappers expected listeners to name half their songs. Listeners got 1 in 40. The same gap shows up in emails, classrooms and marriages.
Spilling Your Coffee Could Make People Like You More. There’s One Big Catch
A 1966 experiment found one clumsy blunder lifted a star’s appeal and sank an average performer’s. Here’s what decides which way it goes.
Reading About a Yawn Can Make You Yawn. Here’s What Scientists Have Found
One study made people yawn with a magazine article. Another made them stop with a cold pack. Here is what the evidence really says.
The Spotlight Effect: You Think Everyone Noticed. About Half as Many Did
From a Barry Manilow T-shirt to your face in the corner of a Zoom call, 25 years of research shows how little others clock, and how to dim the glare.
That Unfinished Task Nagging You at Night? Your Memory Isn’t the Culprit
A 2025 review of nearly a century of studies found no memory boost for unfinished tasks, but a 67% pull to go back. Here’s how to quiet it.