How good are we at reading crowds’ emotions? Research indicates that individuals tend to focus their attention on the faces that exhibit the most extreme emotions, leading them to overestimate the crowd’s actual emotional state. These findings have implications for public speaking as well as for controlling crowd demonstrations. More
New research published in the journal Psychological Science reveals that attitudes based on feelings and emotions can also stand the test of time. More
For those on the left and right who welcomed Biden’s election, the inaugural transition seemed like the moment to finally leave behind the psychological toll of the deception, bullying, and deadly incompetence that characterized the Trump administration. (Trump supporters were on a different path, moving from hopeful to distraught.) If More
Member/Author: Christiane Gelitz On television, it all looks so simple. For a fraction of a second, the suspect raises the corner of his mouth. He is happy because he thinks the investigators are wrong about where he planted the bomb. But when his interrogator mentions the correct place, the terrorist’s More
Why is it so hard to feel the difference between 400,000 and 500,000 COVID-19 deaths—and how might that impact our decision making during the pandemic? Psychologist Paul Slovic explains the concept of psychic numbing and how humans can often use emotion, rather than statistics to make decisions about risk. … More
Those thoughts, typed into a digital journal on May 30, could stand as an anthem for this tragic pandemic year, a cry recognized around the world without explanation or context. Yet there is plenty of context from this writer, richly detailed and in weekly installments: “We mourn time lost and More
