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32 papers
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a set of skills for noticing, understanding and managing your own feelings and other people’s feelings. Employers and experts say EQ helps at work by improving relationships, morale and productivity, and the Covid-19 pandemic made these skills more important. A Gallup survey reported that the share…
This 2011 review looked at many studies on mindfulness and mental health. It defines mindfulness as paying attention in the present with nonjudgmental acceptance and says this involves both focusing attention and an open, curious attitude. The authors examined three kinds of research—correlational studies, intervention trials, and lab experiments—and concluded…
This article reviews theory and research on how people and cultures shape each other. It defines the self as the “me” at the center of experience — a developing sense of awareness and agency that forms as a person (both brain and body) becomes tuned to different environments. The authors…
This paper explains how habits form and how doctors might use habit-based advice in routine care. It says repeating a simple action in the same context can make that action automatic, so it needs less attention and may last after motivation falls. The authors report studies (for example, an average…
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, often debilitating mental health disorder that may develop after a traumatic life event. Fortunately, effective psychological treatments for PTSD exist. In 2017, the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense (VA/DoD) and the American Psychological Association (APA) each published treatment guidelines for PTSD,…
This paper says many people with ADHD have big problems with emotions. These problems include over-reacting, deep shame or guilt, and a strong sensitivity to rejection called rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD). The author explains that emotions were often left out of ADHD research and diagnosis because they are not always…
Researchers ran two fMRI studies using a gambling task to see how personality and a dopamine gene relate to brain reward signals. Rewards were given either right after a response (Study 1) or after a 7.5-second wait (Study 2). The studies found that people’s extraversion scores and whether they carried…
This article reviews problems with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and similar tests like the Enneagram. It says the MBTI was made in 1944 and sorts people into 16 types using four letters, but researchers have found weaknesses in its theory, accuracy, and reliability. The piece notes that MBTI results…
This paper reviews research showing that belonging is a basic human need and explains why it matters for schools. It summarizes many studies that link school belonging with better mental health, higher achievement, and lower dropout, and it includes an email interview with Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary about their…
Psychological Types is C. G. Jung’s book that grew from about twenty years of his clinical work. It explains his idea that people have different psychological types—most famously introversion and extraversion—and describes four basic functions (thinking, feeling, sensation, intuition). Jung wrote the book to link his clinical observations with wider…
This review looked at smartphone apps made for treating eating disorders. The authors found that research on whether these apps work is scarce. They also found that most existing apps include few proven treatment methods and do not use the special abilities of smartphones (like real-time interaction and sensors). The…
This systematic review looked at clinical studies that paired psychedelics with a structured psychotherapy. It found that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can give promising results across many clinical conditions when given to carefully screened people in controlled settings, but some patients relapse or do not respond. The review highlights that individual and…
