It can be hard to come up with innovative solutions to various problems. Most people assume that being innovative is a fixed personality trait, meaning that you either have it or you don’t. However, research shows that while personality does play a role in innovative ability, innovation is something that can be learned, even …
The pessimism bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood of negative things and underestimate the likelihood of positive things, especially when it comes to assuming that future events will have a bad outcome. For example, the pessimism bias could cause someone to believe that they’re going to fail an …
Brinkmanship is a strategy that involves pushing volatile engagements to the brink of active conflict, with the goal of achieving a positive outcome for yourself. For example, in the context of an important negotiation, brinkmanship could involve telling the opposing party that if they won’t agree to all your demands right now, then you’ll …
Research shows that having plants in areas where you spend time, such as your house and your workspace, can lead to various benefits, such as improving your physical health, contributing to your emotional well-being, and boosting your productivity. Furthermore, despite the fact that plants can be so beneficial, they generally require relatively few resources, …
The appeal to novelty is a logical fallacy that occurs when something is assumed to be either good or better than something else, simply because it’s perceived as being newer or more novel. For example, a person using the appeal to novelty might claim that a certain new exercise plan that a celebrity just …
The Elements of Style, written by Strunk & White, has long been considered one of the greatest books ever published on the art of writing. Time magazine, for example, named it as one of the 100 most influential non-fiction books written in English since 1923, and the Open Syllabus Project consistently lists it as the most …
The ostrich effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid information that they perceive as potentially unpleasant. For example, the ostrich effect can cause someone to avoid looking at their bills, because they’re worried about seeing how far behind they are on their payments. Information avoidance can lead to detrimental outcomes in …
The principle of good enough suggests that you should identify the point past which putting more resources into something won’t improve it in a meaningful manner, so you should finish with it and move on. Essentially, this means that you should embrace the idea that good enough is good enough, instead of wasting valuable …
Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time which is available for its completion”. This signifies that the more time people dedicate in advance to a certain task, the longer it will take to complete it, even if it could have been completed in less time. For example, …
Flirting is a key part of many social interactions. At the same time however, flirting is also a behavior that few people truly understand. Fortunately, psychologists have conducted quite a bit of research on the topic of flirting. In the following article, you will learn about the different styles of flirting, including the verbal …