Decision-making

Self-knowledge and personal growth Relationships, work and leisure Values and ethical living

Photo of two people embracing indoors, one hand resting gently on the other’s back, both wearing blue clothing with soft-focus background.

Decision-making

idea

Going with your gut feels good, but it’s not always wise

Research is revealing the mood benefits of making intuitive decisions, but some situations call for an analytical approach

by Carina Remmers

Photo of a café interior showing a person working on a laptop inside by the window while another person is entering through the door.

Goals and motivation

idea

How temptation works, and why it nearly stopped me writing this

Temptation can be sneaky – a rationalising voice that subtly undermines your resolve. But there are ways to outsmart it

by John Schwenkler

A close-up of a paint swatch booklet with colour samples including blue, yellow and beige. They have labels such as Polka Dot, Vanilla and Daisy Chain.

Creativity

guide

How to use ‘possibility thinking’

Have you hit an impasse in your personal or professional life? Answer these questions to open your mind to what’s possible

by Constance de Saint Laurent & Vlad Glăveanu

Person feeding hay to cows in a barn, with a brick building and fencing in the background on a cloudy day.

Ethics

film

A vegetarian with a beef farm faces a life-altering moral impasse

Directed by Alex Lockwood

Several climbers trek across a snow-covered mountain ridge, enshrouded in mist, with rocky outcrops visible to the left. The path they follow is narrow and steep, demonstrating the challenging conditions of high-altitude mountaineering.

Decision-making

idea

How a ‘dominance’ mindset encourages leaders to put others at risk

To find ways to deter this recklessness, we’ve studied the mindset of financiers and others who take ‘moral hazard’ decisions

by Hemant Kakkar & Garrett L Brady

Traffic on a rainy motorway with a sign indicating a stranded vehicle and a 40 mph speed limit.

Decision-making

idea

Why small annoyances can harm us more than big disruptions

A largely forgotten psychological concept helps explain the insidiousness of minor problems – and what to do about it

by Shayla Love

Various fish displayed in groupings at a fish market

Thinking and intelligence

guide

How to think like a Bayesian

In a world of few absolutes, it pays to be able to think clearly about probabilities. These five ideas will get you started

by Michael G Titelbaum

Painting depicts a casino scene with people gathered around a green roulette table. The players are engaged, focused on the game. The roulette wheel is visible on the right side, and a green lamp hangs above. The scene is vibrant, with expressive brushstrokes and vivid colours.

Knowledge and reason

idea

What we gain by recognising the role of chance in life

Appreciating the world is random can foster perseverance, gratitude for our own luck and empathy for the plight of others

by Mark R Rank

Two women laughing and playfully interacting in a dimly lit backstage area, with two people holding papers in the blurred background.

Decision-making

idea

Stereotypes might not be as powerful as psychologists assumed

Research on first impressions suggests that people’s behaviour can trump any biased assumptions we might make about them

by Shayla Love

Two women sitting indoors, one in the foreground wearing a headscarf and the other in the background with short blond hair, both looking to the side.

The self

guide

How to connect with your future self

Does the future ‘you’ seem like a stranger? Getting to know them better will help you to make healthier, wiser decisions

by Shayla Love