Why Rumors Travel Faster Than the Truth
In March 2018, a team of MIT researchers published one of the most detailed studies ever conducted on how information moves through a social network. They tracked roughly…
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Why Groups Often Think Worse Than the People in Them
The Puzzle of the Smart Group That Fails In April 1961, a small team of senior American officials approved a plan to land 1,400 Cuban exiles on a…
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Why Doesn’t Anyone Help? The Psychology of the Bystander Effect
In March 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked and killed outside her apartment building in Queens, New York. Newspaper reports claimed that 38 neighbors heard…
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Why Ordinary People Obey Authority Even When It Feels Wrong
In the summer of 1961, a rotating cast of ordinary New Haven residents walked into a laboratory at Yale University to take part in what they believed was…
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Why the Brain Mistakes Coincidence for Destiny
A woman thinks about an old friend she hasn’t spoken to in years. Ten minutes later, that friend calls. She feels a chill run through her. It seems…
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Why We Can’t Keep a Secret to Ourselves
A friend tells you she is leaving her job. Nothing has been signed, nothing announced, and she has sworn you to silence. For a week, you manage. Then,…
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Why Human Memory Can’t Be Trusted
In 1984, a college student named Jennifer Thompson was raped in her North Carolina apartment. During the assault, she made a deliberate decision: she studied her attacker’s face,…
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Why Recognition Feels Like a Basic Human Need
A promotion arrives, but the first thing many people do is check whether anyone else has noticed. A carefully worded text goes unanswered for hours, and the silence…
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Why Jealousy Is the Emotion We Work Hardest to Hide
Most people will admit to feeling angry. Many will admit to feeling anxious, sad, or even ashamed. But ask someone if they’ve ever felt jealous, and watch the…
