How does the brain distinguish between the "self" and the "other"? A new study gives a clue.

We live in stories, not statistics’ is a quote by Kathleen Gilbert that I am often reminded of. At a personal level, stories have been instrumental throughout my career. In the early 80s when I started work as a nursery nurse, story time with the children was always a highlight of the day.

The coronavirus lockdown has been a unique social experience that has had significant effects on our social relationships. Some have been strengthened while others have come under severe strain. Many people have found themselves confined for prolonged periods of time with other people and have come into conflict with each other. Others have experienced lockdown alone, resulting in profound social isolation. Some of our everyday interactions have intensified and others have not been possible at all.

New discoveries about the human mind show the limitations of reason.

Acts of kindness may not be that random after all. Science says being kind pays off. Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier.

It feels bad to know that you’ve messed up, especially when other people have to pay a price for your actions. Unfortunately, this feeling is something that most of us end up experiencing at one point or another — when we’re placed on a team with other people at school or at a job, for instance, and make a mistake that forces our team members to do more work as a result.

A crude understanding of physics sees determinism at work in the Universe. Luckily, molecular uncertainty ensures this isn’t so

“If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will." These are the words of a woman whose acts of charity and kindness earned her sainthood – Mother Theresa. They exemplify one of the most baffling aspects of the human response to the plight of others. While most of us will see a single death as a tragedy, we can struggle to have the same response to large-scale loss of life. Too often, the deaths of many simply become a statistic.

The mainstream perception of gaming has always, to some extent, perceived those that look for an escapism into that fantastical dragon world as something reclusive. But why?

While you may not have been quite this isolated over the last few months, reentry into life after lockdown might be bumpier than you expect.

A study found that dog owners show heightened well-being not only when their pets meet their psychological needs, but when they make an effort to meet ...

Paranoid hallucinations plague many coronavirus patients in I.C.U.s, an experience that can slow recovery and increase risk of depression and cognitive issues.

Older people more likely to hoard toilet paper; Americans hoarded more than Europeans.

The effect of social media on mental health is complex and it depends a lot on the type of social media activity, real-life conditions, and type of interactions. Here is a summary of research on the psychological effects (positive & negative) of social media use on depression, anxiety, well-being, and social cognition.

Vegetarianism and veganism are growing in popularity. In this Spotlight, we ask why these dietary choices can ignite rage in some meat eaters. The answer, it seems, is complex.

Do our sexual preferences affect our personalities? Aussie researchers reviewing the findings of 21 past studies have found that men and women who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual tend to show different personality traits to those who identify as straight, especially among younger adults...

A University of Rochester study finds that playing hard to get can work as a potential mating strategy.

A fascinating question, and an intriguing study, come to us via University of Nevada Reno psychologist Daniel Jones and four co-authors. The team looked into the tension between the Golden Rule that is considered to be at the heart of most religions, and the savagery that millions of believers are so clearly capable of.

Do antidepressants work? If so, which antidepressants are most effective? These two questions have been posed again and again over the last few decades, but the answer has remained elusive. The latest answer to the question of which antidepressants are most effective and well-tolerated comes from a 2018 paper. Published in The Lancet, the paper reported the results of the largest meta-analysis conducted to date on the acceptability and efficacy of 21 antidepressant treatments

A new study provides evidence that women’s reliance on intuition and “gut” feelings helps to explain why they tend to report more magical beliefs than men do. The research has been published in the Journal of Research in Personality.