Out of the Ooze

Navigating the 21st century with a stone-age mind

How Do We Name Adopted Children?

How do names help adoptive parents manage the balance between honoring a child's past and integrating them into a new extended family?

When Do Attitudes Predict Behavior?

The evidence is that attitudes can be good predictors of behavior—as long as we understand the constraints that they operate under.

Where Is That Fine Line Between Terror and Delight?

Why do we love exposing ourselves to things that terrify us? It may be just another form of play.

Why the Choice of Your Child's Name Matters So Much

When parents choose whimsical names for children, is it because they forget that the child will carry that name for an entire lifetime?

Psychology Explains Why War Heroes Are Not "Losers"

Heroes are held in such high esteem because they set aside any thoughts of their own well-being for the good of their group. However, is there more to the story?

A Snapshot of Life in a 19th-Century Insane Asylum

There was a movement to make the treatment of mental illness more humane during the 1700s and 1800s, but what did day-to-day life actually look like in the insane asylums of 1854?

Three Reasons Why Happiness Is So Elusive and Fleeting

Recognizing that happiness is a delightful visitor that never overstays its welcome may help us appreciate it more when it arrives.

COVID Parties? The Reckless Psychology of Being Young

The potentially deadly recklessness of young people has its roots in very old human psychology.

The Eternal Challenge of Conformity Pressure

Why do we all want to be nonconformists, just like everyone else?

Five Reasons Why Being Home All the Time Is So Hard

When the lockdown began, few of us grasped how long it might last and how dramatically we underestimated its emotional toll.

Why Face Masks Give Us the Creeps

The face mask controversy may have stumbled into that part of our psyche that gives us the creeps, especially during times of uncertainty.

Is Your Personality Stressing You Out?

We often blame external factors for our stress, but sometimes we need to look within ourselves.

How Does Your House Look Through the Eyes of a Burglar?

None of us want to believe that our homes are inviting targets for a robbery, and we think that we have taken adequate precautions. We should think again.

Why Small Talk Is a Big Deal

Some people hate small talk because they perceive it as a waste of time, but is it actually an important social skill?

Why We Love Big, Blood-Curdling Screams

We’re probably the descendants of individuals who were good screamers and were also good at reading the screams of their fellow humans.

Why Do We Intentionally Scare Ourselves?

Given how easily creeped out we are by haunted houses and horror movies, why do we intentionally seek them out?

Why Old People Hate New Music

The music from our youth holds a special place in our hearts. Why?

Why Lifelike Dolls and Robots Creep You Out

As something comes to look and act more like an actual human, it becomes more attractive to us, until it becomes almost exactly like a human but not quite.

Politicians Don't Laugh at Themselves Very Much Anymore

Self-deprecation is best practiced from a position of strength – when you feel confident about your status and believe that this lines up with others’ perceptions of you.

There are Different Kinds of Mass Shooters - and it Matters

Shooters driven by ideology and shooters driven by personal slights operate in different ways, but achieve the same horrific results. Understanding these differences is important.

Is a Lack of Intellectual Humility What Ails America?

What happens when everyone thinks they're smarter than everyone else? The inability to imagine that you are wrong may be undermining civil political discourse in America.

Hot and Bothered: Does Heat Make People Aggressive?

The relationship between heat and aggression is complicated. What does science have to say about it?

On the Nature of Privacy

Managing the access that other people have to us is essential for well-being. What type of privacy poses the biggest challenge in your own life?

My Experience with Transient Global Amnesia (TGA)

I got up at 5:30 a.m to walk my dog; the next 8 to 10 hours are a complete blank. I did not have a stroke or other malignant event; here's why I did not see it coming.

"Quasi-Courtship" Behaviors Can Energize a Workplace

Quasi-courtship behaviors energize our everyday relationships and can be a force for good in work situations where cooperation and creativity are key.