Learned Helplessness
Adults PsychologyLearned helplessness can prevent people from achieving their goals, something I've experienced first hand.
Why Do People Obsess Over Sports?
Adults PsychologyWhats going on in your body when you're anticipating a big win?
Experiment Shows That All Of Us Are Naturally Altruistic
Adults PsychologyPut to work at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, Alan Alda finds out how children will help, and like it, while chimps are less inclined to offer enthusiastic assistance.
Jimmy Kimmel Lie Detective
Adults PsychologyThis Kid Is Given A Fake Lie Detector, And The "Truth" He Tells Will Make You Smile
How optical illusions trick your brain
Adults PsychologyOptical illusions are images that seem to trick our minds into seeing something different from what they actually are. But how do they work? Nathan S. Jacobs walks us through a few common optical illusions and explains what these tricks of the eye can tell us about how our brains assemble visual information into the 3D world we see around us.
Why is yawning contagious? - Claudia Aguirre
Adults Psychology*Yaaawwwwwn* Did just reading the word make you feel like yawning yourself? Known as contagious yawning, the reasons behind this phenomenon have been attributed to both the physiological and psychological. It's been observed in children as young as four and even in dogs! Claudia Aguirre visits the many intriguing theories that might explain contagious yawning.
What is Deja Vu?!
Adults PsychologyMost of us have felt it before, that strange sensation that you've been somewhere or seen something before, as if you already remembered what's happening. Are you psychic? Nope, that's just deja vu. Why does deja vu happen? Well, scientists aren't completely sure, but they've got a few good theories about it.
5 Weird Involuntary Behaviors Explained!
Adults PsychologyOur bodies do a lot of weird things, and many of them are completely involuntary. Why do we often jerk our bodies awake right before falling asleep? Why do we yawn, or hiccup? Why do some people sneeze when they look at the sun? And why does your eye twitch? This week we'll look at the science behind these crazy involuntary behaviors!
The science of stage fright (and how to overcome it)
Adults PsychologyHeart racing, palms sweating, labored breathing? No, you're not having a heart attack -- it's stage fright! If speaking in public makes you feel like you're fighting for your life, you're not alone. But the better you understand your body's reaction, the more likely you are to overcome it. Mikael Cho advises how to trick your brain and steal the show.
This "Be My Eyes" App Lets People With Sight Guide Blind People Over Video Chat
Adults PsychologyBe the eyes for a blind person in need of help remotely through a live video connection if you are sighted or be assisted by the network of sighted users if you are blind. Be My Eyes is all about contributing to and benefiting from small acts of kindness, so hop on board and get involved!
What's invisible? More than you think
Adults PsychologyGravity. The stars in day. Thoughts. The human genome. Time. Atoms. So much of what really matters in the world is impossible to see. A stunning animation of John Lloyd's classic TEDTalk from 2009, which will make you question what you actually know.
"Slap her": children's reactions
Adults PsychologyWhat happens when you put a boy in front of a girl and ask him to slap her? Here is how children react to the subject of violence against women.
Would You Take This Bet?
Adults PsychologyPsychological literature shows that we are more sensitive to small losses and than small gains, with most people valuing a loss around 1.5-2.5 times as much as a gain. This means that we often turn down reasonable opportunities for fear of the loss. However over the course of our lives we will be exposed to many risks and opportunities and this invariably means that taking every small reasonable bet will leave us better off than saying no to all of them.
8 traits of successful people
Adults PsychologyTen years of research and 500 face-to-face-interviews led Richard St. John to a collection of eight common traits in successful leaders around the world.
How does your brain respond to pain?
Adults PsychologyEveryone experiences pain -- but why do some people react to the same painful stimulus in different ways? And what exactly is pain, anyway? Karen D. Davis walks you through your brain on pain, illuminating why the "pain experience" differs from person to person.