Coming up with innovative solutions is hard. Most people assume that being innovative is a fixed personality trait, so that you either have it or you don’t. However, research shows that while personality does play a role, innovation is something that can be taught, even to people who think that they have no natural aptitude …
Read moreHow to Be Innovative: on the Untapped Potential of Obscure Features
The pessimism bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood that bad things will happen to them. This bias distorts people’s thought process, and can be detrimental to your emotional wellbeing, which is why it’s strongly associated with various mental health issues, and most notably with depression. In the following …
Read moreThe Pessimism Bias: When Things Seem Worse Than They Are
The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid situations where they might encounter information that they perceive as negative. Though this represents people’s natural tendency to try and avoid things that could upset them, this form of thinking is problematic when it causes people to actively avoid acquiring information that …
Read moreThe Ostrich Effect: On the Danger of Burying Your Head in the Sand
A person’s self-control plays an important role in determining their success in life, and studies show that this personality trait can be measured at an early age, through a relatively simple experiment. Specifically, testing whether a kid is capable of waiting for a few minutes before eating a piece of candy is a fairly reliable …
The Google effect and digital amnesia are two related psychological phenomena, which have to do with our tendency to forget information that is available online or stored digitally. For example, the Google effect and digital amnesia could cause someone to forget a certain piece of information, if they know they can find it later by searching the …
Read moreThe Google Effect and Digital Amnesia: How We Use Machines to Remember
Research shows that there are various benefits to playing video games. These include cognitive benefits, such as improved reaction time, improved mental flexibility, and improved spatial abilities, as well as other types of benefits, such as reduced stress levels, increased self-esteem, and increased prosocial behavior. In the following article, you will first learn more …
There are so many things we have to remember to do every day, that we often end up forgetting quite a few of them. One way to remember them is to use memory cues, which are objects or events that remind us of things that we need to do. The following article will explain to …
Research suggests that chewing gum could have some small but beneficial cognitive benefits. In the following article, you will learn about these benefits, and about how you can take advantage of them. The benefits of chewing gum There is a large number of studies on the topic of the cognitive benefits of gum …
It’s hard to set your emotions aside when you’re faced with a difficult decision. This is problematic, since our emotions often cause us to make the wrong decision in important areas of life, including in our relationships, our finances, and our health. In general, most people find that setting these emotions aside can be …
Read moreSelf-Distancing: What It Is and How You Can Use It to Make Better Decisions