Mind & Behavior

Mind & Behavior

Study the science of how we think, feel, and act, with insights that help you better understand yourself and others.

A child in a yellow hoodie and blue boots holds a parent's hand, engaging in play as they walk on a log in a wooded area. The parent, clad in jeans and matching blue boots, guides the little adventurer through nature's playground.
Plenty of parents feel guilty about wanting to skip playtime, but there's no need.
A composite image featuring a classical Greco-Roman statue embodying stoicism on the left and a Buddha statue symbolizing Buddhism on the right, overlaid with beige, red, and gray geometric patterns.
People often say, "Let go," or, "Don't take things to heart." But where's the line with this philosophy?
An older man with glasses writes on paper, superimposed on a graph with a wavy purple line on a black grid background, evoking the Hemingway effect.
To maintain momentum and flow, the great novelist Ernest Hemingway didn’t burn himself out — but learned when to put his work down.
The image shows the words "Organizational Friction" in bold white text on a black background with red arrows crossing over them.
7mins
“When we face a problem, our natural tendency is to race ahead – but some friction is actually a good thing.”
A glowing, abstract representation of a brain, with intricate patterns and lights reminiscent of the innovative spirit behind the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024, set against a dark backdrop.
Artificial intelligence is much more than image generation and smart-sounding chatbots; it's also a Nobel-worthy endeavor rooted in physics!
An open book shows a portrait of a smiling woman on the right page and four blue arrows pointing outward on the left, leading your eyes to something bigger beyond its pages.
Anne Chow, former CEO of AT&T Business, lays out a new approach to inclusive leadership that takes “thinking bigger” to the next level.
A wooden box filled with assorted old black-and-white photographs and postcards.
Changing the narrative on false memories might be surprisingly simple.
Collage featuring a person sleeping at a desk, a hand holding a hotel bell, and sharks. The title "The Night Crawler" appears at the top.
Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
A book spread showing a painting of a person, eyes filled with curiosity, looking outside on the left and four brain scan images on the right, overlaid on an orange background.
Research suggests curiosity triggers parts of the brain associated with anticipation, making answers more rewarding once discovered.
A man rubs his eyes while holding his glasses in his left hand and wearing a white shirt, with a watch on his left wrist, perhaps tired from hours of Zoom science sessions.
Why “audio gaps" in video meetings wear us out — and why we need the meaningful relationships forged in communal workspaces.
A hooded crow, exemplifying the intelligence of smart crows, pecks at a nut it holds with its claws on a mossy stone ground.
New evidence suggests the corvid family has surprising mental abilities.
Silhouette of a person with their back to the camera, superimposed with daisies and a bright sun above, set against a clear blue sky, evoking a sense of wonder.
Monica Parker explains how creating opportunities for wonder can help foster a thriving, inclusive workplace.
A man with long hair, a beard, glasses, and a bandana on his head, reminiscent of David Foster Wallace, poses for a portrait against a plain background.
The writer’s tragic death at age 46 has led many to view him as a tortured artist. Here’s why this label is reductive.
Two men wearing glasses walk side by side outdoors in a sunlit park, with blurred greenery and other people in the background, discussing recent incidents of romance fraud.
Cecilie Fjellhøy, from the Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, shares her experience.
An open book with a black-and-white photo of a woman on the left page and a close-up image of a flower bud on the right page.
Late bloomers often find their moment of transformation when life throws them a curveball.
Two scenes: Top shows climbers on an ice-covered terrain, embodying fun and success. Bottom captures an airplane in flight against a clear sky.
Fun in business is no laughing matter — it can create a golden strategic advantage and bring serious success in the long term.
A diagram combines a 3D brain connectome with text and geometric shapes, with arrows pointing to areas labeled "The child bent down to smell the rose." A list and graph are shown on the left, illustrating how words in the brain are processed.
The findings show that even small areas in the brain may have the potential to represent complex meanings.
A person wearing safety goggles is using a tool to grind or cut metal, creating sparks in a dimly lit workshop.
6mins
Through woodworking, John Furniss, known as The Blind Woodsman, discovered a new purpose and a way to share his vision with the world.
Unlikely Collaborators
Three wireframe human heads are depicted against a dark background, their complex overlapping patterns evocative of the Johari window model, revealing multifaceted layers within each head's structure.
It's hard to know what other people know. But it's not impossible.
An illustration showing a side view of a human brain with colored dots representing neurons and text excerpts in three languages in circular insets.
In the brain's language-processing centers, some cells respond to one word, while others respond to strings of words together.