The Atlantic: Sometimes opposing adages fight to a draw: “Better safe than sorry” versus “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” But when it comes to “Opposites attract” versus “Birds of a feather flock together,” the data are in: we end up with partners like ourselves. A study of 291 newlywed couples found More
New York Magazine: If you’re older than 9, it’s hard to resist the urge to roll your eyes when someone at the Thanksgiving table suggests, “Let’s all go around the room and share what we’re thankful for!” It’s a pretty corny holiday ritual you mostly do to keep your mom More
NPR: Somehow we’re squeezing 16 people into our apartment for Thanksgiving this year, with relatives ranging in age from my 30-year-old nephew to my 90-year-old mother. I love them all, but in a way the one I know best is the middle-aged man across the table whose blue eyes look More
The Boston Globe: HAVE YOU EVER found yourself on a date with someone who, on paper, isn’t what you were looking for at all? It turns out that daters’ preferences in principle can get blindsided by another factor: compassion. In an experiment, single, heterosexual college students were shown dating profiles of More
U.S. News & World Report: Todd Kashdan, a psychology professor at George Mason University, is one of those guys. The good kind. The type who, when the waiter brings the check, doesn’t miss a beat and offers his credit card before his friends do. But sometimes, one of Kashdan’s friends takes the gesture as a More
To submit a new book, email apsobserver@psychologicalscience.org. Processing Inaccurate Information: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives from Cognitive Science and the Educational Sciences edited by David N. Rapp and Jason L. G. Braasch; the MIT Press, August 22, 2014. Social Influences on Romantic Relationships: Beyond the Dyad edited by Christopher R. Agnew More
