latest articles
Origins of Common Fears: A Review
Whether you cower while looking down from great heights or fear looking up to the stormy skies, whether you fear the bite of a fat venomous snake or fear the bite-sized fattening snacks, your fears must have had an origin, they must have come from somewhere. But where? Join me as I lead a tour of our collective psyches to discover... / more
- written by Arash Emamzadeh
- edited by Mitch Brown
White lies and black lies: What they have in common and how they differ
Black lies, or telling a lie to gain a personal benefit, are universally condemned. In contrast, white lies, or telling a lie to please another person, are seen as an innocent part of everyday interactions. Does that mean that white lies have no negative consequences? We discuss the origins and consequences of black lies and white... / more
- written by Janina Steinmetz & Ann-Christin Posten
- edited by Emir Efendic
Fake Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Costs Real Money
As a diagnosis, Posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) rests entirely on what people report about their symptoms. Thus, many people, such as Robert, Lisa, and even a Senator, who strive for compensation money or other benefits, falsely report... / more
- written by Irena Boskovic & Harald Merckelbach
- edited by Reine van der Wal
Bad day? How it can seem even worse for some
Many people do not realize how often our emotions affect us. Our emotions dictate what things we focus on or attend to, how we interpret things, and what things we think of or memories we recall. This article aims to describe how emotion processing biases occur in our... / more
- written by Michelle Lemay & Brittney Holcomb
- edited by Rosine Rutten
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most read articles
The good, the bad, and the ugly of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty has been called a lot of things, from a “game changer” and “a breath of fresh air”, to “hypocritical”, “sexist”, and “sneaky”. So why has the campaign, whose major innovation was to use ads that featured real women rather than airbrushed models or celebrity spokespersons, sparked so much controversy? Taking... / more
- written by Angela Celebre & Ashley Waggoner Denton
- edited by Rosanna Guadagno & Reine van der Wal
That human touch that means so much: Exploring the tactile dimension of social life
Interpersonal touch is a fundamental but undervalued aspect of human nature. In the present article, the authors review psychological research showing that even fleeting forms of touch may have a powerful impact on our emotional and social functioning. Given its... / more
- written by Mandy Tjew A Sin & Sander Koole
- edited by Hans IJzerman
Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future
In the midst of racial segregation in the U.S.A and the ‘Jim Crow Laws’, Gordon Allport (1954) proposed one of the most important social psychological events... / more
- written by Jim A. C. Everett
- edited by Diana Onu
No strings attached: Are “friends with benefits” as complicated in real life as they are in the movies?
Many people become “friends with benefits” to avoid drama and to have sex without getting tied up in emotions; however, the reality is that having a friend with benefits often becomes complicated. Why is that, and is there anything you can do to avoid these complexities? In... / more
- written by Justin J. Lehmiller
- edited by Dylan Selterman
InMind blog
The Violence We Have Committed
Circle of Willis is a podcast series from Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist Dr. James Coan. The podcast features interviews... / more
Chemical or Financial Imbalances? Mental Health, Income Inequality & American Culture
As societies become more unequal, the prevalence of all forms of mental illness increase—in part—due to the... / more
Demystifying Mental Health...On the Radio! An interview with podcast host Hillary McBride
“I like to tell people when I start working with them that I’m a therapist because therapy has changed my life. As a... / more