Art: A Tail or a Song?
In his new book, The Aesthetic Brain, Anjan Chatterjee utilizes neuroscience and evolutionary psychology to explore three critical questions in the field of aesthetics: What is beauty? What is pleasure? What is art?
Commentary
Babies and the Science of Morality
In his new book, Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, Yale psychologist Paul Bloom examines the concept of morality: its scope, its challenges, and what research into the moral lives of babies can reveal.
Can Government Help Citizens Spend “Happy Money”?
There’s a puzzle that’s plagued psychologists, economists, and policy makers for decades.
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much
In this exclusive excerpt of their new book Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir explore the concept of scarcity: its ubiquity, its challenges, and its silver lining.
Set to Solve: How Emphasizing Problem Setting can Solve Problems in Washington
Americans hate Congress. A recent Gallup poll found that 78% of people disapprove of the way the legislature does its job.
The Importance of Psychology in the Public Sphere
When I wrote an article for The Atlantic about a year ago arguing for the importance of a Council of Psychological Advisors, I was motivated by frustration that policy makers fail to take advantage of the best that psychology has to offer when it comes to formulating and implementing public policy.