Quirky Little Things

The science of the queer and the quotidian.

by Jesse Bering

"Bering in Mind" Has Gone Live

This is just a quick note to say that I will be posting somewhat less frequently on PT Blogs. I know, I know, you're crying your eyes out. But before you do anything rash, rest assured I'm not going far away. Read More

Potato Chip Gods

Anthropologist Stewart Guthrie's classic book Faces in the Clouds presents the fascinating thesis that religious thought is the accidental by-product of an evolved psychological system that's been designed to detect signs of other creatures in the natural environment. Read More

Religious People Aren't as Scientifically Naive as We Think

University of Michigan psychologist Susan Gelman and her colleagues have been exploring people’s causal reasoning about illness. These researchers have found that, at least when it comes to what goes on in our own heads, there’s not much of a conflict between religion and science. Read More

'Tis the Season: The Psychology Behind Christmas Cards

Stasis makes me antsy. As a consequence, I’ve cycled through a lot of different houses over the past few years. Rather strange houses. Read More

Let's Talk About the Dead

One of the more peculiar findings to emerge from my laboratory over the past few years is what I've termed the posthumous effect, the tendency to psychologically alter our perceptions of the recently dead in a favourable direction. Read More

Impostor!

I don't know what it says about me that as a thirteen-year-old boy my favourite television show was The Golden Girls, but like many fans I was saddened earlier this year to learn of the death of Estelle Getty, who played the sassy Sicilian octogenarian Sophia Petrillo in this long-lived series. Read More

Know Thyself, to No Avail

Yesterday I participated in ‘The Battle of Ideas Festival' in London, where along with three other panelists I debated the impossibly broad question "Does evolution determine human behaviour?" As usual, I'd not prepared enough for the talk, and found myself muttering some nonsense on-stage that the audience graciously suffered. Read More

Con Artists in the Crib

Evolutionary psychology isn't all about sex. It all extrapolates to reproductive success eventually, but in my opinion some of the most interesting proposed psychological adaptations are far removed from the textbook miscellany of waist-to-hip ratios, facial symmetries, mate retention, and sexual pageantry. Read More

No, Einstein Didn't Believe in the Afterlife....

Recently I published an article in Scientific American Mind entitled "Never Say Die: Why We Can't Imagine Death." The article summarises a body of research -- both my own and the findings of other researchers --that has led me as a psychological scientist to believe that the afterlife is a bizarre illusion promulgated by the human mind. My central argument, which I've also articulated Read More

I Hope You're Reading This, Lady (But You're Probably Not)

Here's a quick snapshot of my recent article on the psychology of afterlife beliefs in the current issue of Scientific American Mind....

Many of us remember fondly the classic 1956 film The Red Balloon by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse, in which a sensitive schoolboy (in reality Lamorisse's own five-year-old son Pascal) is befriended by a good-natured, cherry-red helium balloon.

You might think that suicide flies in the face of evolutionary theory. If the goal is to spread one's seed as much as possible then why on earth would anyone "defy nature" by intentionally removing themselves from the competition? Read More

Evolutionary Thinking is Hard Work

Because evolutionary theory serves to illuminate an otherwise imperceptible complexity, many students exposed to it for the first time report an experience not unlike a religious conversion, wherein they begin to see the world in an entirely new light and find meaning and purpose in the most unlikely of places. Read More

Jesus the Lucky Goldfish

As overseas uncles often do, yesterday I had a quick catch-up phone chat with my six-year-old nephew, Gianni (who, to set the scene, is currently waiting for both of his front teeth to come in). My sister had just explained to me that Gianni was eager to share something very exciting with me. Read More

What I Wish Every Student Knew

If there's one message I try to get across to new students who come to work with me, it's this: keep your eyes open. There are research ideas everywhere. And one other thing, your heart can lead you astray over the next few years, or at least cloud your vision. Be especially wary of that. Read More

Gays Get the Gut-Level Shaft

"I have a lovely psychiatrist who works with me and who tries to help homosexuals turn away from what they are engaged in." Read More

If You Don't Believe in the Afterlife, Why Are You Afraid of Ghosts?

Last night I caught myself in a lie. But it's a very complicated lie, and I suspect there's rich ground here for some new experimental ideas. Around 2 am, I woke up only to realise that the duvet cover had slipped off my feet, leaving my toes exposed. I experienced the most peculiar sense of discomfort by virtue of this fact... Read More

That Damn Dream Again!

I've experienced the same annoying dream, or some alternative version of it, at least once a week for many years now - probably since earning my Ph.D., in fact, in 2002. A new theory about dreaming may explain why. Read More

Speech Anxiety and the Illusion of Transparency

An illusion of transparency, whereby speakers believe that their inner anxiety and nervousness is more apparent than it actually is, triggers a vicious cycle of increasing stress that eventually undermines the speaker's performance. Read More

The Sneaky F*cker Theory (and Other Gay Ideas)

In my last post, I invited you to submit your questions to me about any aspect of human behaviour that you'd like to know more about but hadn't the time, energy, or know-how to track down the answers. Quite a few of you responded, on topics ranging from the best treatment for spider phobias to whether "evil" people are self-aware. There were many interesting questions for me to choose from, but because several questions dealt with one particular topic - the natural foundations of homosexuality - I've decided to focus here on that issue. Read More

It's Your Birthday Too?! No Way!!

If you really want to be a scoundrel and use your psychological know-how to persuade a stranger to do something they wouldn't otherwise do, here's a little trick of the trade: convince them that you share the same birthday. Read More

A Death in Zakopane

It's almost as if we each secretly believe that we're special, privileged, likely to be rescued from death no matter how grim things look. After all, death is what happens to those other people. Read More

Adam's Limp Wrist

Look closely at the very moment of creation in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and you'll notice something very interesting. Read More

Name and Shame

Have you ever noticed the pervasiveness of the "name and shame" strategy for promoting good behavior? It's usually a very effective one. Read More

Meet the Does

I find it absolutely astounding that so many people could live and die as if they never lived at all. Read More

"Explanation as Orgasm," Says Leading Researcher

Scientists who are intrinsically motivated to solve their complicated research problems, says developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, are like big children, perpetually chasing after the explanatory highs so endemic to a curious childhood. Read More

Dogs Are Social Lubricants

Gulliver might have only been an 8-week-old Border Terrier puppy, but he was able to accomplish something I'd never been especially good at, which is getting people to smile.

I’ve lived in Northern Ireland for a few years now and I still feel like a two-dimensional cartoon character. It seems all I have to do to conjure up images in peoples’ heads of George Bush, Britney Spears, and old episodes of Friends, is to open up my mouth and say a few lines with my stereotypically flat, Midwestern accent.