Mental Health Topics

We all lie—we say we’re younger than we really are, we claim to be okay when we’re not, and we tell our friends they look great when they don’t. I stand by the argument that lying is okay in certain instances, such as these, when the effects are virtually harmless….

While Valentine’s Day is popularized as a romantic holiday, it can and should be celebrated by all. Rather than viewing it as a holiday for couples, we should look at it as an opportunity to feel and show our love for the people we value most. Additionally, we can celebrate…

Those who are in loving relationships often enjoy Valentine’s Day, while single individuals pity themselves for, well, being single. If you fall into the latter group, you can break this cycle of feeling sad and lonely on Valentine’s Day by learning to love your solitude and also working toward finding…

Wouldn’t it be nice to uncover the secret to a healthy, lasting love? Well, the truth is that there is no secret—healthy, lasting love takes time and effort instead. You should start by looking and working within: learn how to regulate your emotions, admit fault, set boundaries, and validate your…

Love is complicated, in and of itself; but it becomes even more complicated when you experience romantic feelings for more than one individual. While it might not be super common, it is possible to fall in love with two people at once and there are signs that this is happening to you….

Intimacy is an important part of any relationship: it plays a role in your romantic relationships as well as those with dear friends and family members. That said, welcoming intimacy and opening yourself to it isn’t always easy; in fact, it can be pretty difficult, especially when past experiences have…

The Hawthorne effect says that increased observation equals increased productivity. This theory explains why we might perform better when our boss is in the room or when we’re working out with others. This effect was first observed during a series of experiments, which intended to understand how different factors at…

A new study says that our biases toward non-native speakers as adults are influenced by our preferences as children to befriend those who talk like us. The researchers sought to better understand when, how, and why we develop these biases toward people who speak differently than us. To do so,…

Mischel conducted the marshmallow experiment, which revealed that delaying gratification can lead to greater success in life. This experiment involved observing over 100 kids who were given two options: leave a single marshmallow on the table for 15 minutes and be rewarded with another, or eat the first marshmallow and…

In an effort to demonstrate the effects of discrimination, third-grade teacher Jane Elliott separated her students into two groups: blue eyes and brown eyes. First, the students with brown eyes were told that they were superior and given privileges like extra time at recess and seconds at lunch. Elliott observed…

The concept of learned helplessness says that when we feel like a situation is out of our control, we eventually accept that we cannot change it and essentially give up. This was first observed in a study involving dogs, in which the dogs learned to expect an electric shock—the dogs…

People debate about whether watching violence makes us more likely to engage in violence ourselves—of which was precisely explored in the Bobo doll experiment. In this experiment, Albert Bandura and his team of researchers studied 72 kids who experienced either an aggressive or non-aggressive model. In the aggressive model, the…