A few years ago, researchers in Germany set out to plumb the moral consciences of small children. They invited a series of 2- and 3-year-olds to play with a marble track in a lab. Close to the track—inauspiciously close—was a block tower that one of the adult experimenters claimed to More
When it comes to our relationship to the environment, we have a lot to feel guilty about. That has led many environmental organizations to leverage that uncomfortable feeling. Don’t recycle that bottle, and it’ll probably end up in the ocean, where fish will eat the degraded plastic and die. How More
We all make mistakes in the workplace at one point or another, but is there an optimal way to explain it to your supervisor? In a 2015 paper published by Europe’s Journal of Psychology, David and Hareli Shlomo and APS Fellow Ursula Hess investigated whether showing emotion (or the lack More
While it’s standard practice for supervisors to provide regular feedback to their subordinates, it’s far less common for employees to get the opportunity to candidly appraise their supervisors’ performance. A new study suggests that honesty may be the best policy for ensuring that leaders look out for everyone, not just More
The New York Times: Do you constantly feel guilty? Here’s some good news: Research has found that guilt-prone people make excellent colleagues and leaders because they contribute more than their fair share, and they don’t free-ride on others’ contributions. But there’s a catch, of course: Guilt-ridden workers are so afraid More
New York Magazine: A lot of us know someone who is a bit more guilt-prone than they should be, liable to nose-dive into a shame spiral over seemingly minor incidents. A new study hints at some of the effects this trait could have in the workplace or the classroom: Guilt-prone More
