On the Quest for Originality, Recombine the Familiar
Most of the time, success comes from a well-placed tweak, a novel combination of two or more existing elements, or the better version of an idea or product not yet perfected.
Psychology
God of the Gaps: How the Supernatural Explains What We Can’t
Humans turn to the supernatural to explain both natural and social phenomena when we can’t point to a clear human cause. But supernatural explanations are more common for natural than for social phenomena. Why?
Tips, Clicks, and Charitable Gifts: The Persuasive Impact of a Single Touch
Restaurant servers, canvassers, and robot elderly care assistants may all be a single touch on the hand away from greater satisfaction, engagement, and compliance.
Give More Feedback—Others Want It More Than You Think
People hesitate to give feedback because they simply don’t recognize how much other people want to hear it.
Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Tracing the Story of Psychological Targeting on Social Media
A rigorous assessment of whether psychological targeting on social media can influence our behavior has remained elusive. Until recently.
It’s a Bouba, Not a Kiki: The Relationship Between Sound, Form, and Meaning
We don’t assume that we can understand the meaning of words based on their sound alone. But a long history of research in psycholinguistics hints that we’re better at it than we might think.