Yesterday I was walking home from the grocery store and two young guys ran from behind me and tackled me to the ground. They immediately started hitting me, kicking me, and yelling at me to give them my money. My first thought was, “Holy shit, I’m being robbed. This has never happened to me before,...
A recent study in Cognition and Emotion found that anger can sometimes make us more critical thinkers by inhibiting our confirmation bias. Instead of only searching for information that supports our beliefs, anger can create a “moving against” tendency that motivates us to seek alternative information that opposes our assumptions. The study had participants do...
Our psychology and mental health is a two way street. Our internal states can affect our actions and habits, but our actions and habits can also affect our internal states. Studies have shown that changing our facial expression and posture can influence what we think and feel about our world. For example, in one study (more…)