The Famous Jam Study Says Too Much Choice Freezes You. The Real Answer Is Messier
Across 50 later experiments, the average effect of more options was almost zero. Four conditions decide when a long menu really does stop you.
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.
The Laugh You Share Says More About Your Relationship Than the Joke Does
In one study, couples who laughed at the same moment felt closer and more supported. Listeners in 24 societies can hear friendship in it.
Left-Brained or Right-Brained? Scans of 1,011 Brains Found No Such Thing
Yet 91% of UK teachers in one survey thought hemisphere dominance helps explain differences between pupils. Here is what the science says.
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.
Open-Plan Offices Were Meant to Get You Talking. Face-to-Face Talk Fell 70%
When one big firm tore down its walls, staff sent 56% more emails. If you hot-desk a few days a week, that matters more now.
Money’s Tight and You Still Bought the Lipstick. Psychologists Have a Theory
Lipstick sales are said to rise in hard times. The data is messier, but the urge is real, and there is a smart way to indulge it.
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.
Mozart Won’t Make Your Baby Smarter. The 1993 Study Never Said It Would
It began with 36 students and 10 minutes of piano. It ended with free CDs for newborns. Here is what the evidence actually supports.
That Scary Screen Time Number on Your Phone Tells You Less Than You Think
Across 355,358 teenagers, tech use was linked to wellbeing about as much as eating potatoes. The bigger story is what, when and who.