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We Still Don’t Believe How Much Things Cost
Deodorant was what changed Rob Cooper’s mind about the economy. After paying under $4 for his signature Old Spice Stronger Swagger for a decade, the 49-year-old was shocked last year to see it priced at $7.99. “My brain just cannot rationalize paying twice as much,” says Cooper, the Ambler, Pa.-based financial officer of a retail chain. “It doesn’t feel right.” Consumer-behavior researchers call Cooper’s expectation of $4 deodorant a reference price. A yearslong run of higher prices has unmoored many Americans’ expectations of what daily purchases should cost, from a cup of coffee to a package of paper towels.
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The Secret to Accomplishing Big Goals Lies in Breaking Them Into Flexible, Bite-Size Chunks
The prospect of learning a new language can be daunting, especially for an adult. Spending dozens of hours a year on lessons just to make slow progress on a new skill can seem out of reach—particularly when juggling work and family responsibilities as well. That was certainly how one of us (Milkman) felt about her decades’ long ambition to learn Spanish. That all changed, however, when a popular language-learning app presented a more attractive approach: complete one lesson—just six or seven minutes long—every day in order to eventually become bilingual.
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Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
In its earliest decades, the United States was celebrated for its citizens’ extroversion. Americans weren’t just setting out to build new churches and new cities. Their associations were, as Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “of a thousand different types … religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute.” Americans seemed adept at forming social groups: political associations, labor unions, local memberships. It was as if the continent itself had imbued its residents with a vibrant social metabolism—a verve for getting out and hanging out.
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Twins Are a Mirror to Each Other – And a Window Into the Mysteries of Genetics
In the ongoing debate over nature versus nature, twin studies have given a glimpse into the role of genes in behavior and decisions. Psychologist Nancy Segal shares stories of twins raised apart. ...
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How Are You, Really?
We know we should get a physical exam every year; we have annual reviews at work; some couples even do periodic relationship audits. And yet many of us don’t regularly check in with our emotional health — though it is arguably the most important contributor to overall well-being. The New York Times talked to experts in clinical psychology, positive psychology, flourishing, thriving, resilience and burnout about what contributes to a sense of well-being and how to evaluate it. Then we came up with a series of questions adapted from these conversations, as well as from prompts in four common psychological assessments. ...
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How to Actually Catch a Liar, According to the New Science of Lie Detection
We naturally detect lies all the time. It could be a dip in our partner’s voice alerting us to the fact that they’re concealing their emotions; a child’s eyes drifting back to the drawer containing a present they weren’t supposed to open; or an implausible story told by a colleague trying to explain why the company’s petty cash has gone missing. Yet we also often fail to detect lies. Why? Researchers have been trying to answer this question for over a century and the liars are still slipping through our fingers. But the latest research may help shine a light on where we’ve been going wrong.
