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Goals and motivation

A man wearing a face mask and gloves crossing the road carrying three large bags filled with plastic bottles.

Civic life

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You want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

If you want to inspire people to do the right thing, don’t guilt-trip them. Positive emotions are a more powerful motivator

by Claudia R Schneider

Person sitting cross-legged on the floor with instructions book to assemble flat-pack furniture with a cat getting in the way.

Thinking and intelligence

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When a tricky task makes your brain hurt, here’s what to do

Although thinking hard is a daily experience, psychologists are only just beginning to understand how aversive it can be

by Todd Vogel

Running shoes, a rolled-up red yoga mat, a water bottle, and a portable speaker on a carpeted floor.

Goals and motivation

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To meet your goals, forget willpower and fill your toolbox

Achieving your goals has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with using the right mix of psychological tools

by Marina Milyavskaya

Forearm tattoo in cursive script reads “Remember to fall in love” in black ink.

Emotion regulation

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Wish you had more self-control? You should hear the downsides

Many people wish they had the advantages of more self-control. But fewer know that the trait can be costly, too

by Samantha Lapka & Franki Kung

A woman looking anxious on a subway train

Goals and motivation

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Eight ways to give yourself a pep talk when you feel stuck

All of us could do with more words of encouragement and perspective, and they don’t need to come from another person

by Rachel Goldsmith Turow

A person raises their fist holding a megaphone, facing a building with shutters and balconies displaying banners.

Emotion regulation

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Hope is the antidote to helplessness. Here’s how to cultivate it

If hopelessness is learned, then it can be unlearned: how groundbreaking studies paved the way to help cultivate hope

by Emily Esfahani Smith

A kitchen with various items including a red coffee dripper on top of a glass, a strainer, a globe, a small clock, a cat-shaped dish, olive oil, soy sauce, pasta in a glass jar, and a reflective black surface.

Habits and routines

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Is it better to live in ‘clock time’ or ‘event time’?

Do you stick to a set schedule, or have a looser relationship to the clock? It can affect more than how you plan your day

by Shayla Love

A man in a red jacket jogs near iconic London skyscrapers, including the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie, on a cloudy day. People walk in the background.

Goals and motivation

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A commitment is different from a goal – here’s why that matters

Whatever your aims in life, the words you use matter. Here’s an important distinction that will help you stay on track

by Justin Kompf

A tabby cat sleeps upon a home office desk next to a laptop and various desk items

Goals and motivation

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Facing a tedious to-do list? This trick could make it easier

The ‘easy addendum effect’: how careful timing of your easier tasks could help you feel better at the end of the day

by Shayla Love

A woman sits at a cafe at night with a beer and a cigarette

Addiction

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You can want things you don’t like and like things you don’t want

The distinct neurochemistry of wanting and liking is helping to make sense of addiction – and more everyday behaviours

by Shayla Love

Person diving into an icy blue waterhole amidst a frozen landscape, with scattered ice chunks and a stack of icy blocks nearby.

Freedom and choice

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The three reasons why it’s good for you to believe in free will

Regardless of whether humans do or don’t have free will, psychological research shows it’s beneficial to act as if you do

by Kennon Sheldon

A baby in floral pyjamas lying on a bed, holding hands with a woman in a polka-dot dress who leans over, smiling.

Psychotherapy

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Getting what we think we want can reveal just how complex desire is

Helping my clients probe their unspoken wants creates a space of freedom to express the possibilities that lie dormant

by Charlotte Fox Weber