In the late 1860s, Charles Darwin proposed that being grossed out could have an evolutionary purpose. Disgust, he wrote, was inborn and involuntary, and it evolved to prevent our ancestors from eating spoiled food that might kill them. Darwin hypothesized that the early humans most prone to revulsion survived to pass on More
… What researchers can say about our decision making process with some degree of certainty is that it can be negatively impacted by stress, especially when sustained over prolonged periods. “Stress decreases our working memory capacity, so we have fewer cognitive resources to wrap our heads around all the different More
Andrew Taylor keeps falling for drip pricing. He finds a low price on an airline ticket, car rental or hotel room — and then, once he starts the booking process, the cost rises until he reaches the final screen. But he buys anyway. “I think many of us know that More
In our information age, an unprecedented amount of data are right at our fingertips. We run genetic tests on our unborn children to prepare for the worst. We get regular cancer screenings and monitor our health on our wrist and our phone. And we can learn about our ancestral ties More
A sample of research exploring: cognitive bias modification to target two behaviors; positive affect as a buffer between chronic stress and emotional disorder symptoms; reward sensitivity and trait disinhibition as predictors of substance use problems; and culture as a mediator between appraisals and PTSD symptoms. More
A sample of research exploring: rewards, attention, and working memory; testosterone and emotional control in police recruits; and gene-environment interactions linking early adversity and romantic relationships. More
