Archive

Does nudging have a place in politics? How decision-making contexts inevitably influence our behavior

We like to see ourselves as masters of our decisions. However, psychological research has found that the context that surrounds our decisions influences our behavior often unnoticed - for better or for worse. Policy makers need to be aware of these influences to protect citizens from being manipulated and to reach societal goals efficiently. Why is the influence of contexts on decisions relevant for effective and citizen-centered policy making? Psychologist Dr. Mario Herberz explains. / more

Context matters: Why women are not worse negotiators than men

Mastering the art of negotiation is key to being successful in everyday life and in a highly competitive and dynamic professional world. One widespread belief among laypeople is that women are inferior negotiators compared to men. Such gender stereotypes can hold women back from achieving their goals, and ultimately lead to lower income levels and poorer career prospects. But is this stereotype true? / more

That's cringe! – Wait a minute. What is cringe?

The word “cringe” is on everyone's lips. What does it mean? How can it be described? An attempt to explain the phenomenon using established psychological constructs. / more

Is there an art center in our brain? That’s bananas!

Artworks can move us deeply. But does that mean our brain treats them in a special way? We can find out by looking at how the brain processes art and what evolutionary advantages it has to be able to like things and judge them as beautiful. / more

How harmful is “always-on” for our well-being? Technology-assisted supplemental work

Calling a colleague on the way home, finishing a presentation after dinner or checking emails before going to bed - for many employees, this is the norm rather than an exception. But to what extent does being "always on" jeopardize our well-being? And what can help us to benefit from additional work after-hours?



For most employees, smartphones, laptops, and co are an integral part of their working lives. In many professions, information and communication technologies... / more

Olympic Mind: An International Special Issue on The Psychology of Extraordinary Sports Performance

 

Performing the Biles 3 in gymnastics, running 100m in 9.58 seconds, or lifting 267 kg are just a few astonishing examples of world-record performances in Olympic sports. In 2024 the whole world will once again be able to testify ca. 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees striving to perform at their very best in 32 different sports. Extraordinary sports performance is multifaceted relying on a well-trained body and a well-trained mind. In this special issue,... / more

In Mind International has relaunched

In Mind is a popular-science psychology journal that strives to make psychological knowledge accessible yet offer in-depth texts that relate results to different societal phenomena. The English version has been closed for submissions for a while due to staffing challenges, but still continues to reach many readers. Most find us via Google, and last year alone articles from the English language edition... / more

In-Mind International is relauching, and we are looking for people to join our team

In-Mind is an online magazine that publishes articles on psychological topics that are of interest to a general audience. I recently took over as editor-in-chief of the international (English) version of the magazine. I am very excited for the task and am eager to begin to publish new content on the site. A lot is happening in the world as well as in the field of psychology, and I see this as a great opportunity... / more

Learning styles: Why they don't exist but still persist

It is a common myth that for optimal learning, individual learning styles should be identified and specifically supported. This might include identifying someone as a visual learner and designing the learning environment based on this. Yet, scientific findings clearly show that aligning learning environments with learning styles has no beneficial effects. Why does this myth persist and what can we do about it?

There is a German version of this article available

Nuances of Sexual Consent: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

People keep talking about sexual consent, but what is it? Let’s dive into some recent research and discover that there is more to sexual consent than you might think.

Sexual consent is nuanced. Internal consent feelings and external consent communication vary from person to person and context to context. This article breaks down several recent findings to demonstrate how there is more to sexual consent than people often acknowledge. I complement these findings...