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Decoding Emotions
We like to think that all humans are born with the same core emotions: anger, fear, joy, sadness and disgust. But what if that’s not true? This week, psychologist Batja Mesquita offers a different model of emotions
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How Universal Are Our Emotions?
There’s nothing like migration to reveal how things that seem natural may be artifacts of culture. When I left India for college in England, I was surprised to find that pinching my Adam’s apple didn’t
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The Happiness Data That Wrecks a Freudian Theory
Does success make us miserable? Sigmund Freud was one of the first to propose this peculiar form of distress in an essay he published more than a century ago. It was a theory built around
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Why Emotional Intelligence Takes a Dive Among the Affluent
For years, social psychologists knew those with high socioeconomic status read the emotions of others poorly. But a June 2021 study in Social Psychological and Personality Science found when people experience economic inequality, they develop a more
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Where Happiness Hides
We all think we know what will make us happy: more money. A better job. Love. But psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky says happiness doesn’t necessarily work like that. This week, we explore why happiness often slips through our
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Research Briefs
Research highlights from APS journals, including work on mirror neurons, social connection, and substance use.
