Psychology news

• The big idea: should we embrace boredom?

  15-06-2025 16:00
  Smartphones offer instant stimulation, but do they silence a deeper message?In 2014, a group of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Virginia asked people to sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. The only available diversion was a button that delivered a painful electric shock. Almost half of the participants pressed it. One man pressed the button 190 times – even though he, like everyone else in the study, had earlier indicated that he found the shock unp
  
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• The secret psychology of dogs and cats: do we ever really know what they are thinking?

  15-06-2025 10:00
  Pets have long been a source of comfort and companionship for humans. But are they really trying to console us when we’re distressed or do they just want their dinner?I am lost in Morris’s eyes. They are brown, almond-shaped and fringed by impossibly long lashes. He looks back at me, softly blinking occasionally, and then reaches out his tongue and licks my cheek, just once.I’ve been depressed lately, and while I’ve received compassion and support from many dear people, M
  
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