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Hope in a Time of Cynicism
America has become a country of cynics. At least, that’s what studies show. People don’t trust each other, the media or the government. Most Americans, about 80 percent, don’t feel confident their children’s lives will be better than theirs. About half the country thinks America’s best days are in the past. “Cynicism is vastly on the rise,” said Jamil Zaki, the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. It’s a dangerous trend — but Zaki and other experts say it’s reversible if people cultivate hope that another future is possible.
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A Better Way to Think About New Year’s Resolutions
... In the long run, resolutions that keep others in mind tend to have greater staying power. Studies have found that brute willpower alone lasts for only so long, and that people have a much harder time accessing willpower when stressed. This might help explain why a more individual New Year’s goal, such as losing 10 pounds by swearing off ice cream, may be more likely to fizzle. “If you fail in your quest, then the only person you have ‘let down’ is yourself,” Kurz said. Evolutionarily speaking, people might not even be built to set self-serving goals.
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Willpower Doesn’t Work. This Does
There is a children’s story I used to read to my daughters when they were 3 and 4 years old. It comes from Arnold Lobel’s “Frog and Toad” series and involves a big batch of cookies so delicious that the main characters can’t stop eating them. “We need willpower,” says Frog. “What is willpower?” asks Toad. “Willpower is trying hard not to do something that you really want to do,” says Frog. Even at their young ages, my daughters nodded in recognition when, earlier in the story, Frog says to Toad, “I think we should stop eating.
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Here’s How to Make Resolutions Stick, According to a Behavior Change Scientist
The Harry Potter audiobooks helped Katy Milkman make a foundational discovery about exercise behavior. A Harvard graduate student at the time, she was struggling to work out. Once a varsity tennis player, she no longer had teammates and apractice routine to motivate her, and she faced seemingly endless claims on her time. But she had Harry and Voldemort. “I came up with this hack,” she said, “which was that I only got to listen to audio novels when I was exercising. This was life-changing for me.
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Our Favorite Relationship Advice for 2026
Most couples — even the unicorns among us who claim they “never fight” — need regular relationship maintenance. And the effort comes with major payoffs: Strong romantic partnerships are good for your mental and even physical health. ... When we set personal boundaries, we are drawing a line between our needs and those of other people. That helps us maintain healthy relationships, said Catherine A. Sanderson, a professor of psychology at Amherst College. ... Another banger? “Let me try that again.” Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and host of “The Happiness Lab” podcast, suggests using the phrase — and does so herself — when things come out too harsh.
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A Better Way to Think About New Year’s Resolutions
... In the long run, resolutions that keep others in mind tend to have greater staying power. Studies have found that brute willpower alone lasts for only so long, and that people have a much harder time accessing willpower when stressed. This might help explain why a more individual New Year’s goal, such as losing 10 pounds by swearing off ice cream, may be more likely to fizzle. “If you fail in your quest, then the only person you have ‘let down’ is yourself,” Kurz said. Evolutionarily speaking, people might not even be built to set self-serving goals.
