Wild Connections

What blue-footed boobies and other animals tell us about human relationships

Jennifer Verdolin Ph.D.

3 Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Flexibility

Is your everyday routine ruining your ability to adapt? A few small changes can help increase your cognitive flexibility.

The Upside of Eating Together

How opening your home to others for a meal can foster a sense of community, support, and well-being.

Are You Feeling Neglected in Your Relationship?

Here is how you can take charge and bring about positive change—by thinking about animals!

Relationship Yellow Flags

When dating, the more attuned you becomes the easier it will be to pick up on these subtle signs of trouble.

Why Being Organized Matters

Do you struggle to stay organized? Or are you neat and tidy but live with someone who rarely cleans? A few adjustments can go a long way.

3 Strong Signs of a Developing Relationship

Is he or she truly into you? A few clear signals tell you all you need to know.

Strong Leadership

Some “leaders” try to accomplish things by force and fear. This is highly unstable and it doesn’t support cooperation. What are the signs, then, of effective leadership?

Simple Strategies for Dealing With a Lazy Coworker

Is there a way to address co-workers that don't pull their own weight and still come out on top. A few small changes can make all the difference.

How to Connect With Your Partner

There may not be one complete recipe for success, but with a few key ingredients, your relationship has a better chance of standing the test of time.

Negotiating Fairly

Do you find it hard to negotiate and compromise? A few tips can pave the way for success.

Grief, Interrupted

Are you unsure of how to be there for others while they are grieving? Here's what you can do to support and comfort those dealing with loss.

3 Strategies for Better Decision-Making

Uncertainty poses a problem for us and other species when it comes to making important decisions, but a few tried and true strategies can mitigate risks and maximize rewards.

Why Does Fairness Matter?

We are capable of detecting inequality instantly and are extremely sensitive to it, yet we insist that life isn’t fair. Is that reasonable?

The Experience of Fear

We, and other species, have evolved the ability to rapidly adopt an appropriate strategy to respond to life-threatening, fearful, or aggressive encounters.

Cultivating Empathy

It seems timely to ask the question: What is empathy and how can we get more of it?

Freedom

What does freedom really mean?

What to Do When Your Routine Becomes a Rut

When a routine becomes a rut you miss opportunities to try something new. Balance risks and rewards to avoid getting stuck doing the same old thing.

This Is Why Couples Shouldn't Hold Grudges

Conflict is always stressful, and animals show us that re-establishing positive interactions quickly afterward is crucial for a relationship to remain healthy.

What Partners Need to Understand About Cooperation

Are you as good at cooperating in your relationship as you think you are? A few activities can reveal how well you and your partner work together.

Why You Don't Need to Fear Rejection

Fear of rejection can be a major stumbling block for some when it comes to dating but does little to protect you. Rather than personalizing and internalizing this experience, a shift in perspective can help you deal with it better the next time around.

Why It's Time to Change How You Divide Your Time

We are constantly bombarded with how to achieve greater work-life balance. What if we pursued an optimal time budget instead? Other species do not allocate time evenly across activities. Instead they devote time according to priorities that maximize their success.

Reconnecting with Nature

Listening to and communing with nature affects our health, both physical and psychological. Whether is is taking a walk or listening to the sounds of other species, creating a sense of connection with the natural world is beneficial, restorative, and necessary for our well-being.

Can You Ever Mend A Broken Heart?

Animals and people can die of a broken heart. The pain and grief we feel when we lose a loved one activates some of the same brain areas as those that formed that love in the first place. Moving forward with the scars of loves we have lost can make us wary of opening up to new relationships.

Why We Need to Make Romantic Gestures

With Valentine's Day behind us many of us forget the importance of daily romantic gestures that can enhance our relationships and bring us closer to our partners.

Why Friendships Are So Vital

Lasting friendships are built on repeated actions that foster cooperation and support that can have immediate benefits which, over time, increase your survival and success. But not all friendships are created equal and it can be critical to determine what the true nature of your friendships are.

The Real Reasons Why We Groom

The Egyptians and Greeks were at the forefront of setting grooming trends, but is all this buffing, waxing, and mud just about beauty or could there be a practical and deeper biological explanation for some of the grooming practices we see in humans?

The Art, and Crucial Importance, of Flirting

Whether it's covert or overt, the art of seduction is a very important part of courtship. Despite what some may think, humans don't have the market on flirting techniques. It can be surreptitious or it can be brazen, but animals flirt in as many varied ways you could imagine.

Why You Need to Know How to Say No

For many, setting limits can create feelings of guilt. But when we look at animals we see very clearly that animals often say no and don’t appear to feel the slightest bit bad about it. Why is that?

Is It Only Natural for Us to Be Jealous?

Recently, psychologist Dr. Christine Harris and her colleague, Caroline Prouvost, published the results of a study confirming what many of us already suspected: dogs get jealous. What does this mean for us when considering jealous feelings in our own lives and relationships?

Where Are Your Manners?

Author Amy Alkon's new book delivers the day-to-day etiquette of living life in a way that values others. In this science-based, easy-to-read, and hilarious book, Alkon looks at where our rudeness comes from and provides tangible ways for all of us to deal with it.

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