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Pessimism Is the One Thing Americans Can Agree On
Are Americans cockeyed optimists or incorrigible pessimists? Do they think that American society has improved or gotten worse in various ways—and how accurate are their views? You might imagine that the answer would be nuanced
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Laughter Really Is Contagious — And That’s Good
My three young daughters like to watch pets doing silly things. Almost daily, they ask to see animal video clips on my phone and are quickly entertained. But once my 7-year-old lets out a belly
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The 6 Most Important Things Science Learned About How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled Life in 2022
Go back 25 years or so and psychology was almost exclusively focused on investigating mental illnesses and the suffering they caused. Then in 1998 pioneering psychologist Martin Seligman took up his term as president of the American
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Up-and-Coming Voices: Artificial Intelligence in Psychological Science
Previews of relevant research by students and early-career scientists.
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The Emotional Benefits of Wandering
One of my greatest pleasures is to be what the French call a “flâneur”—someone who wanders randomly through a big city, stumbling on new scenes. The flâneur has a long and honored literary history. The
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Happiness Study Reveals a Critical Difference Between Two Types of People
HUMANS HAVE A complicated relationship with happiness. Consider this study on the subject: Scientists found that valuing happiness can lead to less happiness when you feel happy. It’s an emotional rollercoaster fueled by unhelpful expectations. Yet the relationship gets more