Some people always know which way is north and how to get out of a building. Others can live in an apartment for years without knowing which side faces the street. Differences among people that ...

Human decision-making has been the focus of a wide range of research studies. Collectively, these research efforts could help to understand better how people make different types of everyday choices ...

How do we make decisions about a situation we have not encountered before? New work from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, shows that we can solve abstract problems ...

Socrates famously stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The Delphic maxims urged, "Know yourself.” Modern psychotherapists, coaches, and spiritual teachers advise us to explore ourselves ...

Many medical problems, such as traumatic brain injuries, stroke, dementia, and even cancer, can affect the brain and make it difficult for someone to think or process information. Cognitive ...

Cognitive dissonance happens when you hold two conflicting thoughts in your mind at the same time — like loving both hamburgers and cows. Cognitive dissonance is a theory in social psychology first ...

Cognitive restructuring is a technique that helps people change the way they think. It is part of numerous types of psychotherapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive restructuring ...

Imagine you live in Europe in 1490. The map you see below (Figure 1) is what you think the world looks like; it’s all there is. A few years later, explorers discover a whole new continent, expanding ...