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Posts

May 11, 2013

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12:38 AM | Searching for happiness: What makes life meaningful?
Recently I’ve been contemplating giving up on the modern world and moving to a cabin in the woods. I mean – what is with all of this technology, the 50+ hour work week, and guilt over the simple pleasures like spending time with friends and family on the weekends? Maybe I would be able to feel happier and more fulfilled if I turned my back on the world of today and instead started living a simple life. After all, despite the fact that technology has made our lives easier over the past […]

Wilson, Timothy D. & Gilbert, Daniel T. (2003). Affective Forecasting, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 35 345-411. DOI:

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March 25, 2013

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7:16 PM | 5 Ways Gratitude Can Backfire
Gratitude is good. Good for your health and well-being. Good for your relationships. In fact, I've written about the benefits of gratitude here, here, here, and here. But is gratitude always good? No. Although a focus on appreciating what you have instead of lamenting what you have-not is generally good advice, gratitude is not a panacea. Here are a few ways in which gratitude may be the wrong prescription: 1.       Overdosing on gratitude. When it comes to keeping track of your […]

Sheldon, K. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1 (2) 73-82. DOI:

McNulty JK & Russell VM (2010). When "negative" behaviors are positive: a contextual analysis of the long-term effects of problem-solving behaviors on changes in relationship satisfaction., Journal of personality and social psychology, 98 (4) 587-604. PMID:

Watkins, P., Scheer, J., Ovnicek, M. & Kolts, R. (2006). The debt of gratitude: Dissociating gratitude and indebtedness, Cognition & Emotion, 20 (2) 217-241. DOI:

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February 13, 2013

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4:37 PM | 4 Ways to Boost Gratitude on Valentine's Day
Today's post is the second in a two-part series on Gratitude. Yesterday I discussed research I've done on how gratitude helps us hold onto our relationships. Today I give you a few science-based tips for how to boost gratitude on Valentine's Day. Whether February 14th is your first Valentine’s Day together or your 35th, it is a great excuse to show gratitude for the one you love. This Valentine’s Day, try these science-based tips to make sure you get the most out of your […]

Flynn, F. & Adams, G. (2009). Money can’t buy love: Asymmetric beliefs about gift price and feelings of appreciation, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (2) 404-409. DOI:

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February 12, 2013

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5:06 AM | To Have and To Thank: Gratitude Helps us Hold onto our Relationships
In honor of St. Valentine, today's post is the first in a two-part series on why gratitude may be a key ingredient in successful relationships. Today I talk about some of my own research on gratitude. Then on Wednesday I'll be back with a few tips for how to make sure you and your partner get the most out of your gratitude on Valentine's Day. I had one goal when I started graduate school five years ago – to understand why some romantic relationships thrive while others fail. […]

Gordon AM, Impett EA, Kogan A, Oveis C & Keltner D (2012). To have and to hold: gratitude promotes relationship maintenance in intimate bonds., Journal of personality and social psychology, 103 (2) 257-74. PMID:

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January 15, 2013

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5:05 PM | Sour in the Sun? 3 Unexpected Ways the Weather May Affect Your Mood
Warm Weather = Happy Amie Last weekend I returned from the tropics to find myself outside the San Francisco airport basically barefoot in sub-40 degree weather. As I stood there shivering in disbelief, the shock to my system made me wonder about the effect of the  weather on my mood and well-being. Like Kate, I often find myself a little more blue as winter progresses and the sun sets early in the day. But in what other ways might the weather be affecting how we feel from one day to the […]

Huibers, M., de Graaf, L., Peeters, F. & Arntz, A. (2010). Does the weather make us sad? Meteorological determinants of mood and depression in the general population, Psychiatry Research, 180 (2-3) 143-146. DOI:

Keller, M., Fredrickson, B., Ybarra, O., Cote, S., Johnson, K., Mikels, J., Conway, A. & Wager, T. (2005). A Warm Heart and a Clear Head: The Contingent Effects of Weather on Mood and Cognition, Psychological Science, 16 (9) 724-731. DOI:

Tsutsumi, H., Tanabe, S., Harigaya, J., Iguchi, Y. & Nakamura, G. (2007). Effect of humidity on human comfort and productivity after step changes from warm and humid environment, Building and Environment, 42 (12) 4034-4042. DOI:

Howarth, E. & Hoffman, M. (1984). A multidimensional approach to the relationship between mood and weather, British Journal of Psychology, 75 (1) 15-23. DOI:

Klimstra, T., Frijns, T., Keijsers, L., Denissen, J., Raaijmakers, Q., van Aken, M., Koot, H., van Lier, P. & Meeus, W. (2011). Come rain or come shine: Individual differences in how weather affects mood., Emotion, 11 (6) 1495-1499. DOI:

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December 24, 2012

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6:53 PM | PYM: Holiday Edition
Looking for your perfect holiday? The holidays are upon us, which can mean family, fun, food, and cheer. But also, stress, anxiety, conflict, and caloric guilt. Psychology has a lot to say about how to promote the former and avoid the latter, so like last year, I've compiled posts from the previous year to provide you with tips on how to make your holidays a little bit brighter. On giving and receiving gifts: -It is not the thought that counts. There is a mismatch in our preference […]
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Psychology | Social Science

December 03, 2012

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4:25 PM | The secret to flourishing? It's in the numbers
Flourishing is in the numbers When it comes to human flourishing, science is getting pretty specific. Over the course of our daily lives, we have a variety of positive and negative experiences. And I think most of us would agree that we are likely to be happiest when we maximize the positive and minimize the negative. But researchers suggest that it is not just about having more positive and less negative in our lives – it is the ratio of positive to negative that matters. So what is […]

Fredrickson, B. & Losada, M. (2005). Positive Affect and the Complex Dynamics of Human Flourishing., American Psychologist, 60 (7) 678-686. DOI:

Losada, M. (1999). The complex dynamics of high performance teams, Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 30 (9-10) 179-192. DOI:

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October 29, 2012

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5:38 PM | The power of image: Does TV influence our view of the presidential candidates?
A family mesmerized by JFK during the first televised debate In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon engaged in the first televised presidential debate. Previously, debates had only been broadcast over the radio. One longstanding popular story about that first debate is that the medium through which people heard the debate affected who they believed had won. As the story goes, people who listened to the debate were more likely to believe that Nixon had won, whereas those individuals who […]

Druckman, J. N. (2003). The power of television images: The first Kennedy-Nixon debate revisited, Journal of Politics, 65 (2) 559-571. Other: 10.1111/1468-2508.t01-1-00015

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October 09, 2012

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4:12 PM | Gender Bias in Academics Continued: An Experimental Test in the Hard Sciences
Why are women underrepresented in the STEM fields? A recent advisory council to the President concluded that at the current rate of training scientists and engineers, we will have a deficit of 1,000,000 workers over the next decade. The council suggests that one way to close this gap is to increase training and retention of women. Women are drastically underrepresented in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). Some people have suggested that this underrepresentation is […]

Moss-Racusin CA, Dovidio JF, Brescoll VL, Graham MJ & Handelsman J (2012). Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PMID:

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September 17, 2012

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12:00 PM | What Do Letters of Recommendation Reveal About Gender Bias?
Source Over the past month I have been putting together materials to apply for professorships. Much like applying to college or graduate school, applying to jobs means updating your curriculum vitae, putting together statements summarizing your research and teaching experience, and gathering letters of recommendation to send out to hiring schools, all in time for a fall deadline that is fast approaching (gulp). This process is a bit stressful and comes with many questions and concerns (What […]

Madera JM, Hebl MR & Martin RC (2009). Gender and letters of recommendation for academia: agentic and communal differences., The Journal of applied psychology, 94 (6) 1591-9. PMID:

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August 20, 2012

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12:00 PM | The "Cohabitation Effect": The Consequences of Premarital Cohabitation
Source According to the U.S Census, nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. With such a high rate of divorce, a bit of skepticism and concern about entering into matrimonial bonds is appropriate. Premarital cohabitation allows couples to experience a “trial marriage” before making the real commitment. Cohabitation is increasingly becoming a natural part of the courtship ritual, a transition from dating to marriage. Indeed, according to a recent talk I attended, two thirds of […]

Stanley, S. M., Kline Rhoades, G. K. & Markman, H. J. (2006). Sliding Versus Deciding: Inertia and the Premarital Cohabitation Effect, Family Relations, 55 499-509. DOI:

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August 06, 2012

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9:20 PM | Behind the Scenes of Psychological Research: What Does the Future Hold?
Since starting this blog, I’ve told you about interesting and hopefully useful research findings. But today I wanted to take a step back and share with you a bit about what is going on behind the scenes of psychological research. We assume that findings we are telling you about—those which are published in peer-reviewed journals—are true, but it turns out that is not always the case. Recently, it has come to light that the way we conduct our studies may be leading us to find […]

Simmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D. & Simonsohn, U. (2011). False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant, Psychological Science, DOI:

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July 30, 2012

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12:00 PM | Wedding Bell Blues: Dealing with Post-Wedding Depression
First come marriage. Then what? You’ve been planning your wedding for months, possibly even years. The big day came, it was magical, and now it is over. Perhaps you think you should be in a state of newlywed bliss, but instead you are finding yourself feeling a little blue. If that is the case, you are not alone. One in ten women experiences depression in the first year of marriage, and the number of couples seeking post-nuptial counseling is on the rise. What is leading newlywed couples […]

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The Role of Rumination in Depressive Disorders and Mixed Anxiety/Depressive Symptoms , Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 11 (3) 504-511. DOI:

Kurdeck, L. (1998). The nature and predictors of the trajectory of change in marital quality over the first 4 years of marriage for first-married husbands and wives, Journal of Family Psychology, 12 (4) 494-510. DOI:

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July 09, 2012

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12:00 PM | After the Sacrifice: Doing it for the Right Reasons
This is the third in a three-part post on sacrifice in relationships. In Part I, I talked about the pros and cons of sacrificing for the ones we love. In Part II, I suggested some questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not to make a major sacrifice. Today, in Part III, I focus on sacrificing for the right reasons. So you've made the move So you’ve decided to make the cross-country move for your spouse’s new job, skip your important work event to attend […]

Impett EA, Gable SL & Peplau LA (2005). Giving up and giving in: the costs and benefits of daily sacrifice in intimate relationships., Journal of personality and social psychology, 89 (3) 327-44. PMID:

Clark, M. S & Mills, J. (1986). Keeping track of needs in communal and exchange relationships, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (2) 333-338. DOI:

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June 25, 2012

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12:00 PM | Is He Worth it? Six Questions to Ask When Sacrificing in Relationships
This is the second in a three-part post on sacrifice in relationships. In Part I, I talked about the pros and cons of sacrificing for the ones we love. Today, in part II, I suggest some questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not to make a major sacrifice. Part III will focus on sacrificing for the right reasons. What questions should you ask? We must all face situations in our close relationships that require us to make a sacrifice. Perhaps, your spouse receives a big […]

Van Lange, P., Rusbult, C., Drigotas, S., Arriaga, X., Witcher, B. & Cox, C. (1997). Willingness to sacrifice in close relationships., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72 (6) 1373-1395. DOI:

DRIGOTAS, S., RUSBULT, C. & VERETTE, J. (1999). Level of commitment, mutuality of commitment, and couple well-being, Personal Relationships, 6 (3) 389-409. DOI:

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June 11, 2012

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8:51 PM | The Pros and Cons of Sacrificing for the Ones We Love
This is the first in a three-part post on sacrifice in relationships. Today, in Part I, I talk about the pros and cons of sacrificing for the ones we love. In part II, I’ll suggest some questions you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not to make a major sacrifice. Part III will focus on sacrificing for the right reasons. Would you make the move? Your spouse comes home from work and excitedly tells you that he just was offered a promotion – in another state. Do you quit your […]

Van Lange, P., Rusbult, C., Drigotas, S., Arriaga, X., Witcher, B. & Cox, C. (1997). Willingness to sacrifice in close relationships., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72 (6) 1373-1395. DOI:

DRIGOTAS, S., RUSBULT, C. & VERETTE, J. (1999). Level of commitment, mutuality of commitment, and couple well-being, Personal Relationships, 6 (3) 389-409. DOI:

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Psychology | Social Science
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May 28, 2012

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12:00 PM | When Good is Bad and Bad is Good: Beyond "Positive" Psychology
What is the prescription for optimal living? The burgeoning field of positive psychology appears to have many of the answers: We should be kind and caring to others, forgiving of transgressions, gracious and compassionate in our daily lives, and upbeat and optimistic about the future. Following this simple plan should keep us happy and healthy.   But as with most things, it turns out that the answer might not be that simple. What’s good may not always be good, and what’s bad may […]

McNulty, J. & Fincham, F. (2012). Beyond positive psychology? Toward a contextual view of psychological processes and well-being., American Psychologist, 67 (2) 101-110. DOI:

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May 25, 2012

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12:00 PM | Friday Fun: A Week in the Life of a Grad Student
As a graduate student, I don't punch a clock or fill out a time card. Although I have a faculty advisor, I don't have a boss - no one is keeping count of my hours. Most of my work time is spent doing a variety of taks related to research or teaching, and these often change from week to week. I love the freedom and diversity of the academic life, but the lack of structure means that at the end of the week I'm often unsure of how exactly I spent my time. I like to get a good […]

Coker, B. (2011). Freedom to surf: the positive effects of workplace Internet leisure browsing, New Technology, Work and Employment, 26 (3) 238-247. DOI:

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May 14, 2012

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4:22 PM | It's lonely at the top: Power makes you mistrusting
It's lonely at the top Power is desirable – it helps us achieve goals, frees us from many social constraints, and allows us to be ourselves. But having power isn’t all peaches and cream, it’s also lonely at the top. Perhaps Leonardo DiCaprio summed it up best when he said “I had better success meeting girls before Titanic... there wasn’t a perception of her talking to me for only one reason.” And it turns out this isn’t just Leo’s problem. According to recent research by […]

Inesi, M., Gruenfeld, D. & Galinsky, A. (2012). How power corrupts relationships: Cynical attributions for others' generous acts, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, DOI:

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April 30, 2012

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4:18 PM | Fun Days, Hot Nights: Approach goals boost sexual desire
How many pennies are in your jar? Soon after I got engaged, a family friend who had been married for years told me about the Penny Game. According to this old wives’ tale, a new couple should put a penny in a jar each time they have sex during the first year of marriage. Then, starting the second year, the couple should take out a penny each time they have sex. How long will it take them to empty the jar? Well, according to the tale, after the first year of marriage, the couple will never [...]

Impett, E., Strachman, A., Finkel, E. & Gable, S. (2008). Maintaining sexual desire in intimate relationships: The importance of approach goals., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94 (5) 808-823. DOI:

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April 11, 2012

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12:00 PM | Rue and Racism: Intergroup dynamics and the Hunger Games
 Today we have the second installment of awesome guest blogger Maya Kuehn's posts on the psychology behind the Hunger Games. Check out the first installment here. Rue In the original, written version of The Hunger Games, it’s made fairly clear that both Rue and her fellow District 4 tribute, Thresh, are African American. Yet when faced with their ethnicity on the movie screen, many people have expressed great disappointment (to state it delicately) over these tragic characters not [...]

Cikara, M., Bruneau, E. & Saxe, R. (2011). Us and Them: Intergroup Failures of Empathy, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20 (3) 149-153. DOI:

Cikara, M., Bruneau, E. & Saxe, R. (2011). Us and Them: Intergroup Failures of Empathy, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20 (3) 149-153. DOI:

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Editor's Pick

April 10, 2012

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4:02 AM | Mind Games: The Psychology of the Hunger Games
Guest blogger, Maya, is back with a two-part post on the psychology of the Hunger Games. So sit back and enjoy another round of “at the movies with a psychologist.” Watching The Hunger Games come to life on screen (at, full disclosure, a midnight show), I found that actually witnessing the slaughter of several teenagers was more gut-wrenchingly graphic than it had seemed in the books. So when (PYM blogger and fellow social psychologist) Amie asked me whether the movie was gruesome, I had to [...]

Davis, M. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44 (1) 113-126. DOI:

Dutton, D. & Aron, A. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30 (4) 510-517. DOI:

Gross, J. & John, O. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85 (2) 348-362. DOI:

Sheppes G & Meiran N (2008). Divergent cognitive costs for online forms of reappraisal and distraction., Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 8 (6) 870-4. PMID:

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April 06, 2012

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2:59 PM | Friday Fun: It's all an illusion
As our eyes glance over the world around us we are able to quickly grasp a 3-D image of our environment. But can we always trust what we see? Just as we have mental shortcuts, we also have visual shortcuts that help us quickly take in the world around us. Sometimes though, those shortcuts can lead us astray. And when they do, its entertaining. So for today's Friday Fun, I thought I'd share a few of the more famous visual illusions that I learned about in my Sensation and Perception [...]
Psych Your Mind
Psychology | Social Science
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Editor's Pick

March 28, 2012

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6:09 PM | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PsychYourMind/~3/CQI3H4LwBTU/this-post-is-first-in-short-series-on.html
This post is the first in a short series on “What I learned in my undergrad neuroscience classes.” Today I describe a few fascinating neurological disorders. Have you watched episodes of medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy or House and wondered where they come up with some of their disorders? Are there really people out there who feel no pain, or who only have half a brain? There are. In undergrad I took a few neuroscience classes and learned fascinating details about neurological [...]

Kerkhoff, G. (2001). Spatial hemineglect in humans, Progress in Neurobiology, 63 (1) 1-27. DOI:

McNeil, J. & Warrington, E. (1993). Prosopagnosia: A face-specific disorder, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 46 (1) 1-10. DOI:

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March 19, 2012

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5:55 PM | There are two ways to right: The perils of naive realism
In honor of PYM's 1-year anniversary last week, I'm re-posting my very first post for PYM today. I also wanted to re-post it because, almost one year later, I found myself in a situation very similar to the one that prompted this post! Last week, after a few bad nights of sleep, I got into a stupid fight with my husband. Just as the last time, I was baffled at how a pleasant evening could suddenly end with us barely speaking to each other. In the midst of things, I returned to this [...]

Robinson, R., Keltner, D., Ward, A. & Ross, L. (1995). Actual versus assumed differences in construal: "Naive realism" in intergroup perception and conflict., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68 (3) 404-417. DOI:

Todd, A., Hanko, K., Galinsky, A. & Mussweiler, T. (2010). When Focusing on Differences Leads to Similar Perspectives, Psychological Science, 22 (1) 134-141. DOI:

Robinson, R., Keltner, D., Ward, A. & Ross, L. (1995). Actual versus assumed differences in construal: "Naive realism" in intergroup perception and conflict., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68 (3) 404-417. DOI:

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March 12, 2012

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7:30 PM | Why we sometimes make bad decisions: The anchoring and adjustment heuristic
How much to pay for the house of your dreams Imagine you are interested in buying a house and you've been out looking on the weekends. You find a 3 bedroom, 2 bath bungalow on a quiet street that already feels like home. The asking price is $475,000 (for those of us living in pricier areas, play along by imagining it's 1995). You want the house, but you don't want to pay too much. You've noticed other comparable homes in the area seem to go for anything from $350,000 to [...]

Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, Science, 185 (4157) 1124-1131. DOI:

Epley, N. & Gilovich, T. (2006). The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic: Why the Adjustments Are Insufficient, Psychological Science, 17 (4) 311-318. DOI:

Epley, N., Keysar, B., Van Boven, L. & Gilovich, T. (2004). Perspective Taking as Egocentric Anchoring and Adjustment., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87 (3) 327-339. DOI:

Janiszewski C & Uy D (2008). Precision of the anchor influences the amount of adjustment., Psychological science, 19 (2) 121-7. PMID:

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March 09, 2012

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5:38 PM | Friday Fun: Four factors that keep your relationship fun
For years, psychologists tried to understand why relationships fail. They targeted dysfunction, focusing on factors like negative emotions and bad communication. But it turns out that not failing is not the same as succeeding when it comes to relationships. Couples who experience a lot of negative interactions are more likely to divorce in the first few years of marriage, but couples who don't experience a lot of positive affect are likely to divorce farther down the road. So how can we [...]

Algoe, S., Gable, S. & Masiel, N. (2010). It's the little things: Everyday gratitude as a booster shot for romantic relationships, Personal Relationships, 17 (2) 217-233. DOI:

Aron, A., Norman, C., Aron, E., McKenna, C. & Heyman, R. (2000). Couples' shared participation in novel and arousing activities and experienced relationship quality., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78 (2) 273-284. DOI:

Gable, S., Reis, H., Impett, E. & Asher, E. (2004). What Do You Do When Things Go Right? The Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Benefits of Sharing Positive Events., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87 (2) 228-245. DOI:

Keltner D, Young RC, Heerey EA, Oemig C & Monarch ND (1998). Teasing in hierarchical and intimate relations., Journal of personality and social psychology, 75 (5) 1231-47. PMID:

CAMPBELL, L., MARTIN, R. & WARD, J. (2008). An observational study of humor use while resolving conflict in dating couples, Personal Relationships, 15 (1) 41-55. DOI:

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March 07, 2012

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4:47 PM | In Just 1 Hour: Reducing the Achievement Gap
Today we bring you a post by another amazing guest blogger, Michelle Rheinschmidt. Michelle is a graduate student at Berkeley and her guest post highlights some of the astounding effects that 1 hour and a few posters can have on academic and career outcomes!    Source We can probably think of a time when concerns about “fitting in” affected our behavior in adolescence, but what about in adulthood?   New environments, such as starting college or a new job), make people worry about [...]

Walton, G. & Cohen, G. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (1) 82-96. DOI:

Walton GM & Cohen GL (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students., Science (New York, N.Y.), 331 (6023) 1447-51. PMID:

Cheryan, S., Plaut, V., Davies, P. & Steele, C. (2009). Ambient belonging: How stereotypical cues impact gender participation in computer science., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97 (6) 1045-1060. DOI:

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February 22, 2012

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4:00 PM | Placing Trust in God and Nation
Guest blogger Olga Antonenko is back with another great post! This time she's talking about the link between God and government. Does the universe have meaning and structure?  Is there some kind of force or power that controls events and preserves order in our lives? These may seem like questions for philosophers or theologians, but some social psychologists have chimed in with their own evidence-based opinions. Their answer is a resounding … “Well, people certainly think so!” Most [...]

Kay, A., Shepherd, S., Blatz, C., Chua, S. & Galinsky, A. (2010). For God (or) country: The hydraulic relation between government instability and belief in religious sources of control., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99 (5) 725-739. DOI:

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February 20, 2012

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7:34 PM | Hazing: The pest that just won't go away
Paddle to the back side - a classic hazing strategy Would you join a new club if you knew it meant you had to sing an embarrassing song in public, do someone else’s laundry for them, or make prank phone calls? What if joining the club meant that you had to lay still as someone poured boiling water over you, drink alcohol until you threw up, eat dog food, have your physical flaws marked with red pen, or go on an elephant walk? I imagine most of us are strongly shaking our heads “no” as [...]
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