The Inertia Trap

When a person's moral identity is threatened, they are motivated to defend it. This can lead them to overestimate the degree to which past actions are a sign of their morality.

Having conflicting emotions can be unpleasant because it presents the world as a disorderly place. People may then be driven to seek order by finding connections among potentially unrelated events.

A new study illustrates how people who do bad things for small rewards can be judged more harshly than those who do bad things for large rewards. While such judgments are often perfectly rational, they may always lead to justice being served.

People sometimes derogate victims in order to maintain a belief in a just world. A new study suggests that this kind of cold-heartedness could also help people focus on the long-run.

A new study shows that seeking help causes you to be viewed in a positive light if you're high-status, but a negative light if you're low status.

When you refuse to do something for a moral reason, it poses a threat to the moral standing of those who have chosen not to refuse to do it. In order to mitigate the threat, they may respond by viewing you in a more unfavorable light.

The debate on racial profiling rightly focuses on those who are being profiled. However, a new study reveals how racial profiling can also have a detrimental effect on those who aren't being profiled.

When people ask for help and are turned down, they think the potential helper is unlikely to consent to another request. But a new study shows that's actually not the case.

A new study finds that students without a college educated parent don't alter their occupational aspirations even when they increase expectations about their level of education.

Both environmentalists and climate change skeptics continue to produce waves of films in a effort to bolster their cause. Unfortunately, a new study suggests that the films made by skeptics are more effective at changing attitudes than films made by environmentalists.

Attempting to persuade people about inequality can be tricky. Go too easy on those who you deem to exhibit racial prejudice and you can weaken your own beliefs, but attack them too harshly and you can strengthen their belief in the legitimacy of an inequitable system.

Political disagreements are increasingly being framed as conflicts over values rather than conflicts over resources. Unfortunately, people are less likely to make concessions when their values are at stake.

Bias

How Knowledge Can Make You Stupid

Eric Horowitz on April 24, 2013

By the age of 5 most children have developed the ability to understand that other people can hold beliefs that are different from their own. However, new research shows that even adults are unable to completely keep their own knowledge from biasing how they perceive the beliefs of others.

By the age of 5 most children have developed the ability to understand that other people can hold beliefs that are different from their own. However, new research shows that even adults are unable to completely keep their own knowledge from biasing how they perceive the beliefs of others.

Patients persuaded by pharmaceutical ads can become unsatisfied if doctors don't prescribe the drugs they ask for. The result is that doctors may have to choose between patient satisfaction and patient health.

Humans tend to be forgiving creatures, but psychology researchers have found that there are certain situations where it's hard to let bygones by bygones.

New research suggests that 6th graders overestimate the degree to which their classmates condone aggression.

Using evidence or data to communicate risk to the American public can be a fool’s errand.

A new study suggests that when somebody belongs to a different group, the quality of the argument they make may not matter.