Society

A photo of albert einstein and a photo of his desk.

An enormous study links intelligence and personality in surprising ways

A database containing over 1,300 studies from across the world establishes reliable relationships between personality traits and cognitive abilities.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Colorful smiley face stickers for iPhone 11 to capture attention.

Psychology

An ancient technique can improve your attention span

According to neuroscientist Amishi Jha, 12 minutes of mindfulness training a day strengthens your attentional systems.

Kevin Dickinson

A man and a woman walking down a cobblestone street.

Aging

Life’s stages are changing – we need new terms and new ideas to describe them

The arc of adult development has changed over the past several decades, in ways that our psychological theories are still catching up with.

Jeffrey Arnett

Neuroscience

How neuroscience can make us better parents

Kids' brains develop in four main stages. Each has its own particular set of advancements and challenges for parents.

Philip Perry

Education

How college in prison is leading professors to rethink how they teach

College in prison reduces the chance of reoffending, but it also dramatically changes the perspective of the professors who teach them.

Mneesha Gellman

Criminal Justice

Norway helped remake a US prison. Here’s what happened.

With single cells, a communal kitchen, Nordic-like furnishings and a landscaped, outdoor green space, it looks unlike any other U.S. prison.

Synøve Nygaard Andersen and Jordan Hyatt

Psychology

The missing apex of Maslow’s hierarchy could save us all

In his later years, psychologist Abraham Maslow added a new apex to the pyramid of human needs: self-transcendence.

Robby Berman

Homelessness

New tiny home village for unhoused people to open in 2023

Salt Lake City is building a new tiny home village to help Utahns experiencing chronic homelessness get off the street permanently.

Kristin Houser

Criminal Justice

Biden pardons federal cannabis possession cases, urges states to do the same

The Biden administration is pardoning federal possession offenses, encouraging states to do the same, and reexamining its drug scheduling.

B. David Zarley

Psychology

Americans are becoming more likely to cooperate with strangers, not less

Americans are more likely to cooperate with strangers today than they were in the 1950s, according to the American Psychological Association.

Kristin Houser

Drugs

San Francisco decriminalizes plant-based psychedelics

San Francisco joins Oakland, Santa Cruz, DC, and Denver in decriminalizing some psychedelics.

B. David Zarley

Poverty

Fighting poverty with direct cash payments

GiveDirectly has delivered over $500 million in cash to impoverished people, letting recipients decide how best to meet their needs.

Zach Winn | MIT News Office

Psychology

To make great changes in your life, follow the philosophy of kaizen

Kaizen asks us to make small changes, slowly and over time. It's a hard skill to master in an age of instant gratification.

Jonny Thomson

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