Why Endings Matter So Much: Inside the Peak-End Rule
Your memory of a holiday, a hospital visit or a relationship is shaped by two moments. Here is how the peak-end rule works, where it comes from and where it breaks down.
Do Power Poses Actually Work? The Rise and Fall of a Famous Idea
A two-minute pose was supposed to change your hormones and boost your confidence. Here is what happened when scientists checked.
The Stranger on the Train: Why We’re So Wrong About Talking to People We Don’t Know
We assume strangers want to be left alone. A decade of experiments, from Chicago trains to London commuters, says we have it almost exactly backwards.
Phubbing: What Happens to a Relationship When Your Partner Keeps Checking Their Phone
Almost half of adults in one study said their partner snubbed them for a phone. Here is what researchers found it does to a relationship.
Why You Forget What You Walked Into a Room For: The Doorway Effect
Walking through a doorway can make you forget why you got up. What the original experiments found, what a larger 2021 study added, and how to stop it happening.
How Many Hours Does It Take to Make a Friend? A Study Counted
A University of Kansas study estimated it takes about 50 hours to make a casual friend and more than 200 to make a close one. What kind of time counts, and how to find it.
Phantom Vibrations: Why You Feel Your Phone Buzz When It Didn’t
Most phone users have felt a buzz that wasn’t there. What studies of doctors and students reveal about phantom vibration syndrome, and what makes it stop.
Does Having Your Phone Nearby Really Make You Less Smart?
A famous 2017 study said a silent phone on your desk drains brainpower. Replications and a 22-study meta-analysis tell a more nuanced story.
Why Couples Fight About the Dishes, and What Research Says Helps
Research links who does the dishes to relationship and sexual satisfaction. Why this chore carries so much weight, and how couples can stop fighting about it.
Enclothed Cognition: Can What You Wear Really Change How You Think?
A famous 2012 study suggested a lab coat could sharpen your attention. What later replications found about clothes, confidence and the mind.