Why we need rituals, not routines

How rituals can help you approach basic tasks more mindfully.

Drew Houston's Commencement address

'I stopped trying to make my life perfect, and instead tried to make it interesting.'

How to Feel Better Naked

Whether you want to find joy in your body, or just greater self-acceptance, these four strategies from psychologists and activists — and, yes, nudists — might help.

‘Just stop buying lattes’: The origins of a millennial housing myth

Financial gurus want young home shoppers to stop complaining and cut back on small luxuries. But there are broader affordability issues at play.

A history of the smile through art, culture and etiquette | Aeon Essays

How our toothy modern smile was invented by a confluence of French dentistry and Parisian portrait-painting in the 1780s

They Were Cigarette Smokers. Then a Stroke Vanquished Their Addiction.

Patients whose brain injury coincidentally relieved their nicotine cravings may help unravel the neural underpinnings of addiction, a new study suggests.

The Desirability of Storytellers

Among Filipino hunter-gatherers, storytelling is valued more than any other skill, and the best storytellers have the most children.

We don t do that here

The Dark Art of Pretending You Are Fine

I landed on a documentary about a guy who had a headache for years and never had a check-up. They found out later he had a brain tumor.

Sometimes It’s Not the Change They Hate — Users Know

There has been a lot of discussion in the design world recently about "change aversion." Most of the articles about it seem to be targeting the new Google redesign, but I've certainly seen this same discussion happen at many companies when big changes aren't universally embraced…

Why We Use Less Information Than We Think to Make Decisions

How much information do you need to make up your mind? Our research in various domains of decision making shows that we make decisions more quickly and based on less information than we think. This has important implications in an age in which information is plentiful.

The Greatest Privilege We Hardly Talk About: Beauty

The advantages of being attractive are exorbitant. Beauty might be the single greatest physical advantage you can have in life. And yet…

Why your favourite colour is probably blue

From a young age we are primed to choose a favourite colour, but strangely as we grow up our preference often changes – and it's largely due to influences outside our control.

Human Contact Is Now a Luxury Good (Published 2019)

Screens used to be for the elite. Now avoiding them is a status symbol.

Notes on Effective Altruism

The science of regrettable decisions

A doctor explains how our brains can trick us into making bad choices — and how to fight back.

Learn Street Epistemology To Deal With Difficult People at Work | Code Capsule

Learn the street epistemology conversation technique and how you can apply it at work.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/50-cognitive-biases-2.png

What makes hate a unique emotion – and why that matters | Psyche Ideas

How does hating someone compare with anger, contempt or disgust? A clearer picture of what makes it unique is emerging

Personas vs. Archetypes

Archetypes and personas used for UX work contain similar insights, are based on similar kinds of data, and differ mainly in presentation. Personas are presented as a single human character, whereas archetypes are not tied to specific names or faces.

The Endgames of Bad Faith Communication

Using interactions to shape user behavior patterns

Facebook Messenger: Long Press to Swipe

How to Learn the Trick of Confidence

Can ‘confidence-whisperer’ Nate Zinsser help Jamie Waters boost his wavering self-belief?

Decision-Making: Research Shows What Happens When We Wait for “Something Better”

Terrible at making decisions? A 2020 study reveals just how much our expectations drop while taking the time to decide on something.

The Most Prized Watch Brands You’ve Never Heard Of

The rising prices of Rolexes and Pateks have collectors turning to what one expert called “the dead brands society.”

Micromanipulation: The Covert Tactic That Narcissists Use in Arguments to Reassert Control

Here’s how to recognize its damaging effects.

How Artists Use Psychology to Price a Painting

Driven by buyers' need for consistency and explanation, the most popular pricing method uses a surprisingly simple formula based on size.

18 Cognitive Bias Examples Show Why Mental Mistakes Get Made

Here are 18 of the most common mental mistakes in business and investing. Make sure to learn from these cognitive bias examples to make better decisions.

Storming Reddit's Moat

A Guide to Reddit, Its Key Competitive Advantages, and How to Unbundle It

Scarcity in UX: The psychological bias that became the norm

Short analysis on the current state of affairs and a few tips to keep in mind.

A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon

Playing with reality

UX Crash Course: User Psychology

My mission for 2014 was to get more people started in User Experience (UX) Design. In January, hundreds of thousands of people did the original UX Crash Course and it was translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Korean by amazing volunteers. In May we continued with a User…

Do We Create Shoplifters? - Unintended Consequences

The history of technology is one of subtracting humans and replacing them with machines. Do the unintended consequences include creating shoplifters?

How to Gather Quantitative Data on User Behaviors

The quantitative methods we used were all time and cost-efficient, demonstrating that user research doesn’t require thousands of dollars and endless time.

UX Design Psychology Tricks for Design Excellence

Human brain processes information as well as how it forms certain patterns of behavior. Discover cognitive psychology tips for UX.

The User Experience of Public Bathrooms [APRIL FOOLS]

Public restrooms are plagued by unusable toilet-paper dispensers, difficult flushing controls, and poor stall-status visibility. Many of these issues can be addressed by following standard usability practices.

The Authority Principle

A perceived high-authority status of the person making a request can make people more compliant with that request. Applying this principle in UX can ease users' decision-making process.

Creepiness–Convenience Tradeoff

As people consider whether to use the new "creepy" technologies, they do a type of cost-benefit analysis weighing the loss of privacy against the benefits they will receive in return.

Sympathy vs. Empathy in UX

The majority of UX professionals practice sympathy instead of empathy for their users.

Medium

Everybody Experiences Imposter Syndrome — Strong Leaders Use it to Their Advantage By: Mike McDerment, FreshBooks Co-Founder and CEO Do you ever secretly fear you’re in over your head at your …

It turns out you can bullshit a bullshitter after all | BPS

That's according to a new paper in the British Journal of Social Psychology.

How Are You Fascinating?

Discover what others find fascinating about you in just 5 mins.

How to perform well under pressure | Psyche Guides

Ditch the tough talk, it won’t help. Instead cultivate your mental flexibility so you can handle whatever comes your way

My Favorite Liar

“It's my intention to work into each lecture one lie...” Remembering a favourite teacher whose unorthodox methods got his students' attention

How to learn the trick of confidence

Can ‘confidence-whisperer’ Nate Zinsser help Jamie Waters boost his wavering self-belief?

The rise of performative work

It’s not what you do. It’s how ostentatiously you do it

Your sense of right and wrong is interwoven with your personality | Psyche Ideas

Personality traits such as agreeableness and openness to experience can help explain differences in moral judgment

What Makes Group Decisions Go Wrong. And Right.

Why intellectual laziness doesn’t have to lead to groupthink.

Sensitive People Bring a Major Happiness Habit to the Workplace

Hint: It’s all to do with empathy.

Why are some people compelled to cheat at games? - BBC Future

When it comes to unfair tactics, some of us are just better at bending the rules. But, the urge to cheat at games is easier to understand when you examine how they are designed.