The human behaviour behind the work. Decision-making, attention, identity, performance, and the everyday observations that explain how people live and work inside the technology economy.
856 articles · Mind
An overflowing small cup attracted a higher stated valuation than a larger underfilled serving when judged alone. Direct comparison reversed the result, and later research tested its limits.
Gym-only audiobook access initially increased visits in a 226-person trial. The fading advantage and later experiments show why starting, sustaining and restarting routines need separate attention.
Constant apologies aren't a sign of humility—they're evidence that someone internalized the message that their existence itself was an imposition.
A redundant explanation helped with a small copier request, but showed no advantage for a bigger favour. The original conditions matter when interpreting the famous finding.
Processing fluency can shape impressions of familiarity and truth, but it does not verify a claim. Research on humblebragging is narrower still and cannot establish that simplicity is inherently authentic.
Research documents invisible cognitive household labour, but it does not prove deliberate incompetence. The popular label names a possible pattern, not a diagnosis or a finding that can establish intent from one incident.
A small Harvard experiment found that men built more Lego models when their finished work remained intact. The result raises a precise question about effort and visible progress.
Two loyalty cards required the same eight purchases, but customers followed through at different rates. The endowed progress experiment shows why the presentation of a goal can matter.
A 17,303-wallet field experiment found that adding cash increased owner-contact rates. The study measured emails and explored the role of self-image and concern for others.
Your brain is essentially waking you up before you wake up, orchestrating a biochemical alarm that fires an hour before consciousness arrives.
In two preregistered diary studies, believing singlehood offers room to grow tracked with more satisfaction and less fear of being single; in exploratory next-day analyses the day's experiences did not significantly predict the next day's outcomes; and a third, an experiment meant to test whether the belief causes any of it, did not measurably shift the belief.
The science of decision fatigue is shakier than you think—and that actually opens the door to more effective strategies than rationing your willpower.
