Psychology Today

Deadline gorillas. They chase us to get that assignment done or to fill in tax returns. Zap'em dead with hyperbolic discounting.

There's a natural fit between concerns and political values. Where liberals are the party of promotion, conservative are the party of protection. So why should democrats emphasize Ebola in their election campaign? Simply put, they shouldn't... ever, and paid the cost. The psychology of why this is so is covered here.

Smarter than SMART goals, this describes a research program to develop an online app that trains you how to make goals that have the maximum motivation and science theoretically allows.

New Year's Resolutions are one of the finest traditions that Western society has produced. And psychological research indicates that the very act of making one is one of the easiest ways to improve yourself, providing you do it the right way.

I’ve lied to myself plenty because it was easier to. At least at first. Confronting ones own lies is hard to do because if you believe them, you think there are no lies to confront in the first place.

To push themselves to the pain threshold and then far beyond, competitive cyclists employ a pretty nifty technique — micro goal-setting. Here are four tricks they use and the science behind them.

When temptation strikes, our willpower works overtime to try and drive the unhealthy / distracting cravings out of our head, or at least to stop us from acting on them. It doesn't have to be this hard, though. In fact, it doesn't have to be hard at all.

We all know what we need to do to shed the weight: eat less and exercise more. Knowing isn't the problem, it is doing. Science has come with a few new techniques to help us control our minds, so we can control our bodies.

What's the number one reason for procrastinating? Survey says: low energy. Tackling tasks or chores when we are already tired is a surefire recipe for putting stuff off. So if you are tired of feeling tired, read on.

In a world where we are ridiculously overcommitted to making sure everyone is equal in every way, a new study just published in Psychological Science contains some sobering news you might not like. It kills the myth that talent doesn't matter.

The queen of music takes on the queen of self-help in this Lady Gaga versus Rhonda Byrne's The Secret motivational slugfest. Both have record breaking stints on their respective charts, one in music and the other in books. In the end, though, only one can win.

Since the 1950s, the Debt Ceiling has been described as "a meaningless strait jacket." Like an alcoholic leaving the key in the liquor cabinet, politicians have voted away their previous debt resolution and installed a new higher limit, hundreds of times already, though undoubtedly each increase was going to be "just this once." Here's how to fix it.

What's at the core of procrastination?