Why We Spiral
Questions of who we are or what we’re worth can send us into a tailspin. But the very same processes that pull us down can propel us up, too.
August 18th, 2025
emotion
February 09th, 2025
What a 1980s Power Ballad Taught Me About Emotion
It turns out there is plenty of research about how the senses affect our emotions, but very little on how to strategically use our senses to modulate our feelings. And this is where the opportunity lies.
May 27th, 2024
Ellis Island Echoes: The Emotional Legacy of Ancestral Diversity
Why are some cultures more emotionally expressive than others? One explanation could be that overt emotion helped people overcome diverse linguistic and cultural barriers.
February 25th, 2024
How Culture Shapes the Stories We Tell About Our Emotions
To capture human emotion in all its richness, we have to broaden where and how we study it.
February 21st, 2023
Seeking a Science of Awe: A Conversation with Dacher Keltner
Awe, as in the chill-up-the-spine you might find in a poem, symphony, mountaintop, spiritual experience, or selfless act. In clever and imaginative ways, Keltner has researched what awe is and how it moves us.
September 26th, 2022
Americans Are Fake and the Dutch Are Rude!
What I learned about emotions when I traded Amsterdam for Ann Arbor.
November 01st, 2021
The Pleasures of Pain and the Pains of Pleasure
In his new book, Paul Bloom pushes us to reflect on the complexity of our emotional reactions. Why do we cry on our worst days and our best?
May 18th, 2020
Why Triggering Emotions Won’t Lead to Lasting Behavior Change
How can we generate long-term behavior change when compliance isn’t exciting anymore? (Hint: don’t build “Piano Stairs.”)
February 17th, 2020
Do Words for Emotions—Like “Happy” or “Fear”—Mean the Same Thing in Every Language?
Should we expect people around the world to conceptualize emotions, like “love” or “hate,” the same way, simply because we can point to a translation in a dictionary?
