Mind & Behavior

Mind & Behavior

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

Cycling – active transportation or death trap?
opioid epidemic
"This fourth wave will be worse than it’s ever been before."
When it comes to vetting people for friendship, body odor seems to be a decisive factor.
A painting of an elderly man with long white hair and beard, wearing a red robe, surrounded by clouds with a halo above his head, set against a soft green sky—inviting reflection on beliefs and the types of atheism.
Just as there are many types of believers, there's not only one type of atheist.
John Templeton Foundation
Evolutionary psychology could explain those otherworldly feelings.
neuroplasticity
Long thought incapable of regenerating, we now know that brain cells can grow and reorganize. That, it turns out, is a mixed blessing.
When you imitate the speech of others, there’s a thin line between whether it’s a social asset or faux pas.
transhumanism
Proponents of transhumanism make big promises, such as a future in which we upload our minds into a supercomputer. But there is a fatal flaw in this argument: reductionism.
amygdala
Patients with amygdala damage rejected the widely accepted answer to the infamous "trolley problem," saying that it "hurts too much."
same-sex behavior
Turning off a gene called “Myc” has a surprising effect in male fruit flies: They start courting other males.
For over three decades, toxic proteins were believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease. However, recent studies suggest it might be metabolic reprogramming.
In the 1980s, some wardens started painting their cells with a shade of pink dubbed "Baker-Miller Pink."
It’s estimated that one-in-three women and one-in-five men have an episode of major depression by the age of 65.
Music and sounds only seem to reduce pain in mice when played at a specific volume.
It's common knowledge that syncing your circadian rhythm to a natural light-dark cycle could improve your health and well-being.
sleep sound
the human brain remains highly responsive to sound during sleep, but it does not receive feedback from higher order areas — sort of like an orchestra with “the conductor missing.”
The world is aging, and with age comes vision decline. New research may have found how to improve eyesight in an accessible way.
The serotonin theory of depression started to be widely promoted in the 1990s, coinciding with a push to prescribe more SSRIs.