Writing a thank you note is such a simple and easy gesture, we may actually undervalue its power, especially in the business world. A study published last year in the journal Psychological Science finds that there are several ways in which we underestimate the impact of saying thank you. First, we miscalculate how More
Professionals who invest time in networking against their personal preferences may find that their work suffers as a result, a study suggests. More
When asked to answer questions quickly and impulsively, people tend to respond with a socially desirable answer rather than an honest one, a set of experiments shows. More
“Researchers have been making the case for 15 years that expressing gratitude can improve well-being, but we have yet to understand why in practice people don’t walk around in everyday life expressing thanks,” says Amit Kumar, a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, who has studied More
Every day around the world, an estimated three billion people go to work and 2.9 billion of them avoid making small talk with their co-workers once they get there. Their avoidance strategies vary. Some will keep their headphones in and their eyes low. Others will pantomime receiving an urgent message that requires an More
Heaps of research suggest that social relationships make people happier—but which relationships, specifically? A guilt-ridden afternoon with a mother-in-law might not have the same effect as drinks with a best friend. A “fair-weather friend” stands by your side only during good times. Recently a group of researchers set out to determine whose More
