Psychology Today

Online dating is the new singles bar, one in which your words won't be drowned out by the music. But which words should you use? There is some scientific evidence about relatively more effective ways to turn an online contact into a real huggable moment.

Psychopaths, narcissists, and sadists, oh my! Personality psychologist Del Paulhus has bucked the positive psychology trend, with a series of rigorous studies delving into the "Dark Side" of human personality. He has shown that four dark traits have distinct but often unexpected consequences in the workplace and in relationships.

If you were on your deathbed and had to offer a single bit of wisdom to your child, what would it be? I asked several sage psychologists, book authors, and old friends to share 2 or 3 kernels of wisdom I could pass on to my son. Maybe you can guess what one bit of advice came up most frequently. Though it sounds simple, it can be surprisingly difficult to follow.

If there were 2 or 3 kernels of wisdom you think a parent should pass on to his kid, what would they be? I would actually like to hear from you, and from some sage older person you regard as having lived a fulfilling life.

Maybe you don’t think of statistics as sexy. But Christian Rudder's new book "Dataclysm" might very well change your mind about that. He has mined the data from the clicks and messages of millions of online daters to reveal some surprising patterns of human choice, and he argues convincingly that Big Data can tell us things that traditional scientific methods can not.

This summer, I discovered a wonderful way to reduce the enjoyment you take from your job: Try to do as little as possible. And there’s research and theory to help us understand why!

Did you catch that guy’s smile? Probably. We are able to accurately recognize a smile in about 50 milliseconds (that’s a fleeting 1/20 of a second). Not only that, we can recognize a happy expression on someone who is standing half a football field away. A new paper explores research on the extraordinary vividness of happiness.

Facebook’s meteoric rise in popularity suggests that it offers us something we’ve always wanted. But like all benefits in life, Facebook comes with its psychological costs—many of them invisible. We review research suggesting 7 ways that Facebook may be hurting you. (coauthored by Jessica E. Bodford)

Having a partner with an anxious or avoidant attachment style can make for an unhappy and unstable relationship. But a recent article in Current Directions in Psychological Science suggests that there may be hope, if you match your style of social support to your partner’s attachment style. And frequent sex might also help.

Sophie or Valentina? Liam or Zoroaster? There’s an immense amount of obsessing that goes into choosing a child’s name. One big issue is whether to stick junior with a popular or unique name. Cultural psychologists have discovered that your choice reflects whether you hail from a frontier state or a more settled area.

Yesterday morning I posted a blog discussing my newfound love of France. Just a few hours later, I was robbed on the street by a %#€£¥ Frenchman! The experience raises interesting psychological questions—about stereotypes, about the relative pain of some events over others, and about coping.

Q: What’s the difference between a social constructivist and a mafia don? David Buss is a larger than life character, who has championed the integration of evolutionary biology and psychology. Besides being deeply thoughtful and influential, he is also funny.

Several of my friends and colleagues do not even know what a Reddit IamA is! Imagine that? They are probably still listening to Elvis Presley’s early recordings with the Jordanaires. Even E.O. Wilson, Steven Pinker, and Robin Williams are with it, man. If you're like them (and me, till a few days ago), here's the scoop...

People have no trouble believing their pet dogs are human (most even think that Fido will go to heaven!) Yet the same people balk at the reverse suggestion: that humans are animals! My Australian cattle dog Sammy discusses the problem here.