Psychology Today

To determine whether narcissists really do use more "I-talk" (I, me, my, mine) than everyone else, 9 psychologists from 7 universities analyzed data from more than 4,000 people in 15 samples. They looked at face-to-face introductions and personal essays and Facebook pages and classrooms and small groups. They explain why they did not find what you thought they would.

We all have socially awkward experiences, but what makes a social interaction so uncomfortable? Research has pointed to 10 kinds of experiences that are especially likely to make people feel awkward, and 6 things people can do to escape from the awkwardness (without just walking away) and feel comfortable again.

For the first time, more babies are being born to cohabiting mothers than to single mothers. Both of those family types, though, are worse off economically than married-parent families. How should we think about that and what should we do?

New research shows the power of having different people in your life who are good at helping you with different kinds of emotions. People with a diverse portfolio of "emotionships" are more satisfied with their lives. People who put all their emotional eggs into one relationship basket get celebrated by all the sappy love songs but they are not necessarily better off.

There is a vast swath of unearned privileges that have gone largely unrecognized, even though they unfairly advantage about half of the adult population in the U.S.—marital privileges. People who marry enjoy social, cultural, economic, and political advantages that single people do not, simply because they are married.

For way too long, reporters who should know better have been perpetuating myths about the benefits of marrying based on working papers and press releases. Finally, someone challenged those claims instead of just repeating them.

In a study of lifelong single people in Ireland, 65 and older, those who had chosen to live single were happier and had fewer regrets than those who were single because of constraints. The single-by-choice seniors were contentedly pursuing their interests, volunteering, and socializing with friends and relatives.

Heard about the recent research supposedly showing that marrying makes people lastingly happier? It actually showed that in vast swaths of the world, married people are not happier than single people. It also replicated the finding that any increase in happiness among people who get married and stay married is just a short-lived honeymoon effect.

Overcome your limitations? No, embrace them. So says Meghan Daum in one of the many brilliant essays in her new book, "The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion."

Here are the 2014 Living Single posts that attracted the greatest number of page views, plus some other things, too.

For decades, teenagers and young adults have been telling researchers how lonely they feel. Guess what? In contrast to all the scary headlines you have been seeing about the increasingly lonely Americans, trends suggest just the opposite. What should we make of that?

You have probably heard countless claims about detecting deception made by Paul Ekman, the most famous deception researcher in the world. In my opinion, he is not the best deception researcher. Maria Hartwig is. I have asked her to tell us what we should and should not believe about cues to deception, and how well we can detect deception, in this guest post.

Social scientists have addressed one of the central questions of our lives: How do we become our best and truest self? The goals we set and the plans we make are critical, but how do we know whether we are pursuing the goals that will result in a meaningful and fulfilling life?

When people see their romantic partner as the center of their life, but are not so sure their partner feels the same way about them, friends get caught in the cross-hairs. People who are insecure about their romantic relationship act badly when their loved-one wants to hang out with friends—and that bad behavior threatens the relationship they care about the most.