Ulterior Motives

How goals, both seen and unseen, drive behavior

Art Markman Ph.D.

Testing Growth Mindsets in Real Classrooms

New research explores growth-mindset interventions in real schools.

What You See Is What You Believe Is Happening

A core belief for most people is that what they see is really what is happening in the world. Research suggests you may see what you interpret to be happening.

How Beliefs About Poverty Can Affect Preferences for Policy

New research explores how the three types of beliefs people may hold about financial success affect their preferences for government programs to alleviate poverty.

Before You Decide on One Option, You Have to Find a Set of Options

Before you can decide on an option, you often have to generate a list of options to consider. New research explores how people generate that list.

Rewards Help Memory During Learning (But Not Later)

Finding out that some information is more valuable than others can affect your memory. But when do you need to find out about the rewards for that to work?

Are Younger People Really More Narcissistic?

Personality characteristics change slowly over the course of your life, but they do drift a bit. How does that affect people's level of narcissism?

A Personality Profile of Psychologically Healthy People

Much of the study of psychologically healthy people has focused on character strengths rather than personality traits. Recent research changes that.

The Geometry of Space Is Wired in the Brain

When people navigate a space, they have intuitions about the locations of other landmarks around them. That ability makes assumptions about the geometry of space that are wired in.

You Probably Don’t Compliment Other People Often Enough

People don't compliment other people as often as they think they should. Social psychology research explores why that is.

A Surprising Link Between Creativity and False Memories

When people are creative, they have to envision ideas that don't exist in the moment. Does that affect what people remember about experiences later?

Paying Attention to a Risk Makes It Seem More Severe

Understanding the risks of options is crucial for good decision-making. What you pay attention to has a big influence on what risks you think matter.

Acting Like an Extrovert Can Make You Happier

Studies have suggested that extroverts are happier overall than introverts. It is hard to know whether this reflects a causal link between extroversion and happiness.

Happy Memories Are Even Happier if They Involve People

An easy way to make yourself feel better when you’re sad or stressed is to think back to happier times, but all positive memories are not the same.

How the Chance of Success Affects the Effort People Put In

Many of the things you do in life can be improved with additional effort. Research suggests that we devote our effort to outcomes that are likely to be achieved.

Reducing Temptations with Distance

Research suggests that creating space can help you avoid temptations.

What Everyone Should Understand About the Big Five Personality Traits

Personality characteristics reflect fairly stable differences between people in their motivations. Traits are made up of more specific elements called facets.

Doing Creative Things Helps You Switch Perspectives

Many important things you do in life require you to understand the world from someone else’s point of view. What can you do to enhance this ability?

Is Math Anxiety Real?

There has been a lot of hand-wringing about the need for students to leave school with reliable math ability. Their anxiety too often gets in the way.

People Can Use Honesty to Justify Selfishness

All else being equal, we believe that we should choose to be honest with others. Yet new research suggests that honesty is a virtue used strategically.

Why Older Adults May Struggle with Negotiating

For many people, the typical stance they take when negotiating with others is competitive. Older adults may have particular trouble finding cooperative solutions in negotiations, a new study suggests.

What Types of Goals Do People Pursue?

What are the main kinds of goals that people tend to pursue? A recent paper analyzed the words in English that correspond to goals to answer this question.

Do Extreme Protests Affect the Popular Support of a Movement?

Protests may or may not spur companies or legislators to act. New research explores the effect they have on movements' ambitions to win popular support.

Cell Phones Harm Classroom Performance... a Bit

Anyone who has ever taught a class knows that multitasking is rampant, and smartphones are a big culprit. How bad is it to use a phone in class?

How Do You Make Morally Difficult Decisions?

Many choices in life involve some tradeoff that may also have a strong moral dimension. How do we deal with these two dimensions of decisions?

Happiness, Well-Being, and Other People

Humans are a social species, so it would make sense that being around other people generally makes us feel better than being alone. But what kinds of people make us feel happy?

Great Negotiations Start with Great Offers

When you negotiate, should you make the first offer? It could depend on whether you frame it in terms of what you're giving up or what you're requesting.

Why You Can See the Value of a Set of Objects at a Glance

When you have a lot of time to look carefully at objects, you can see a lot of detail. But what can you take away from a single glance?

People Trade Off Speed and Accuracy. Do Plants?

The slower you do something, the more accurately you tend to do it. Is that true for plants as well as animals?

Poor Sleep and Loneliness: A Vicious Cycle?

The feeling of being lonely is the sense that you have less social contact with others than you want. How does feeling lonely relate to the quality of your sleep?

Anxiety Hampers Learning About Untrustworthy People

In all facets of our lives, we have to figure out who to trust. Trust involves a level of vulnerability. Anxiety can make it hard to learn who to trust.

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