Quirky Little Things

Forget about Dr. Phil, ask Dr. Jesse! What have you always wanted to know about human behaviour, but have been too afraid to ask (or too lazy to look up)? In this blog post, I thought I'd try something different: you tell me what I should write about. Go on, it's anonymous!

If you really want to be a scoundrel and use your psychological know-how to persuade a stranger to do something they wouldn't otherwise do, here's a little trick of the trade: convince them that you share the same birthday.

It's almost as if we each secretly believe that we're special, privileged, likely to be rescued from death no matter how grim things look. After all, death is what happens to those other people.

Look closely at the very moment of creation in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and you'll notice something very interesting.

Have you ever noticed the pervasiveness of the "name and shame" strategy for promoting good behavior? It's usually a very effective one.

OK, so I've got some quirky bathroom issues I'm not terribly proud of. But in the self-disclosing, sharing spirit of Psychology Today, here goes...

New findings soon to be published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggest that you're probably not as good-looking as you think you are. (But I'm sure you've got a good personality.)

I find it absolutely astounding that so many people could live and die as if they never lived at all.

Scientists who are intrinsically motivated to solve their complicated research problems, says developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik, are like big children, perpetually chasing after the explanatory highs so endemic to a curious childhood.

On the morning of May 26, 2002, a tugboat captain with a heart condition blacked out while manoeuvring his vessel on the waterway beneath an interstate bridge in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing his ship to collide with a central bridge support. Fourteen people died when their vehicles plunged into the murky water below, among them a young army captain and father of four named Andrew Clements.