We are more envious of someone else’s covetable experience before it happens than after it has passed, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “Enviable events lose some power over us once those events are in our past,” says psychological scientist Ed More
It used to be that if you wanted to feel what it was like to do something, you had to go out and do it. If your dream was to see the Grand Canyon from a raft, you’d head to the river. If you wanted to gaze up close at More
For all their box-office success, superheroes haven’t gotten much respect of late. A 2017 study reported that preschoolers who identify with superheroes tend to be more aggressive than their peers. Numerous pop-culture commentators, including Bill Maher, argue that these characters share some blame for the presidency of Donald Trump, citing superheroes’ advocacy of More
It’s been a pretty good year for University of Washington psychologist Kristina Olson. She became the first psychologist (and the first UW scientist) to receive the National Science Foundation’s prestigious $1 million Waterman award, and the first woman to win it since 2004. And now she’s been awarded a MacArthur More
With climate change on many minds, cities around the world have affirmed their dedication to improving sustainability efforts. To help with that, Google recently unveiled the Environmental Insights Explorer, which overlays emissions data and efficiency analyses atop a city’s Google map. So far, the tool’s beta version has been rolled out More
Rather than being “maximizers,” people seem to aspire to moderate ideal levels of traits, such as pleasure, intelligence, personal freedom, and longevity. More
