Psychology

Footage of synchronized mass mourning for Kim Jong-il is unsettling

While most of the globe seems pretty okay that Kim Jong-il is quite dead, things are considerably more doleful in North Korea. North Korean state news has released footage of the public mourning en masse in Pyongyang today. It’s unclear how much of this is sincere, how much is coerced, and how much is just…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar

A baby’s cuteness is determined by your reproductive hormones

If you’re tying to figure out how cute a baby is, you had better ask a premenopausal woman: they’re scientifically proven to have the highest cuteness sensitivity. Yes, this experiment involved coming up with an objective scale of baby cuteness. Back in 2009, researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland decided to test…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Democracy needs ignorant people, says science

You might think that democracies work best when people care and know about the key issues. But a new study argues that for a democracy to function at all, you need lots of ignorant people blindly siding with the majority. That’s the argument put forward by Princeton researcher Iain Couzin and his team, who make…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Supernormal Stimuli: Using Nature To Destroy Itself

Supernormal stimuli make birds ignore their eggs (and then their chicks), cause fish to fight dummies (while live competitors go uncontested), and can drive humans back to sugary snacks. Find out how these special stimuli use just the right trigger to make an animal destroy itself. We assume that creatures evolved by making the best…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Unconscious Mind: Total Nonsense, or What?

Remember the naked lady in the ice cube that was supposed to sell us soda? How about all the pranks that Tyler Durden pulls in Fight Club? Both are equally fictional — and people have pretty much given up on trying to influence our subconscious minds via subliminal imagery. Is there really such a thing…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

There really is no difference between men and women’s math abilities

There’s a longstanding myth of a gender gap between boys’ and girls’ math performance, suggesting some basic biological difference in how the two genders approach math. It’s deeply controversial and widely discredited. And now, a new study has completely debunked it. Until now, there was maybe a sliver of statistical data to support the existence…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Babies understand grammar long before they learn how to speak

Perhaps the most complicated task that a baby faces is learning the language, a process that’s particularly intense between 18 months and two years old. But before that burst of learning, babies are picking up on crucial linguistic patterns. That’s the finding of Jill Lany, a psychologist at Notre Dame. She found that babies as…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

A new way to solve the age-old conundrum of whether it’s worth sacrificing one for the many

Take a look at the virtual upgrade of an old thought experiment, conducted by Carlos David Navarrete, a psychologist at Michigan State University. Which should win out – personal morality or the greater good? And what if either one involves hitting people with a train? If you had to choose between one person getting killed…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Yawns are most contagious between family members

According to a study published yesterday in PLoS ONE, you’re more likely to respond with a yawn to a family member’s yawn than to a friend’s yawn. (Be honest, how many of you just yawned?) But here’s the really interesting bit: while “yawn contagion” was shown to be highest between kin, it was still higher…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Why our minds have probably evolved as far as they can go

Humans evolving into hyper-intelligent beings is a powerful idea in science fiction, but that’s probably where the idea will have to stay. Our brains have reached an evolutionary “sweet spot”, and we can’t get much smarter without making major trade-offs. That’s the finding of psychologists Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick and Ralph Hertwig…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Famous optical illusion reveals your brain’s hidden reflexes, say scientsts

You’ve probably seen this optical illusion before, in which two lines of identical length appear to be different by adding opposite-facing arrows to them. It’s a very powerful effect – so much so that it overwhelms all other visual information. That’s the finding of researchers at the University of London, who in an experiment asked…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The Myth of Multiple Personality Disorder

Fiction has mined the idea of multiple personalities for centuries, but it was only in the 1970s that science followed suit. But many argue that “multiple personality disorder” is not a real psychological ailment. What exactly is the science behind this disorder, and does it even exist? How does it work for people who are…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Mothers and babies can instantly synchronize their hearts just by smiling at each other

Mothers and their babies are often said to share a deep, intimate connection…but even so, this new discovery is weird. Simply by looking and smiling at each other, moms and babies synchronize their heartbeats to within milliseconds of each other. Researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel found that visible affection from their mothers had tangible…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Gossip shapes the way you see the world

If you get a bad reputation, you’re going to get noticed. That little bit of homespun wisdom might actually become a verifiable scientific fact, as new research indicates people really do prefer to look at people with bad reputations. Researchers at Northeastern University decided to test how gossip affects our vision through what’s known as…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Swearing Makes You F**king Feel Better

It happens all the time. You stub your toe or bash your elbow, scream “Mother SUCKER!” (or something), and instantly feel just a bit better. It’s true: your potty mouth saves you aspirin money. Science! According to research by Richard Stephens of Keele University’s School of Psychology, swearing elicits an emotional response known as “stress-induced…

Health Brent Rose

Want to fight prejudice? Just wash your hands.

Evolutionary psychology has a lot of ideas that are, well, pretty nutty. The latest theory argues that social prejudice can be fought by being more careful about the spread of disease. It’s definitely nutty…but it might also do some good. The underlying theory is that ancient humans once had to be extremely wary of strangers…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Scientific fraud Diederik Stapel signs off on his first official retraction

Early last month, prominent social psychologist Diederik Stapel was outed as one of the biggest frauds in scientific history when he admitted to fabricating results in numerous scientific studies. The committees charged with investigating Stapel’s work continue to pore over the results from over 150 of publications in search of fraudulent data, but yesterday, Stapel…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

The Child Psychology of Sesame Street

Sesame Street has been there for three generations of children at this point. Everyone reading this has cherished memories of their favorite characters or segments. They seemed entirely organic. But psychologists (along with other creators) shaped every last one of them Find out about the child psychology of the street. Sesame Street was a bright…

Television Esther Inglis-Arkell

Easily hypnotized people can hallucinate colors whenever they want to

There’s thirty-four years of Jedi mind tricks telling us that the highly suggestible are, well, weak-minded. But now new research suggests the easily hypnotized actually have some unusual mental powers. Specifically, they can hallucinate any color they want — whenever they want. That’s the finding from a new study at the University of Hull in…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Shocking News: Men don’t actually think about sex all day long

Guess what, everyone — it turns out men aren’t as horny as unsubstantiated statistics say they are! According to a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Sex Research, your typical college-aged guy thinks about sex an average of 18 times a day — that’s less than twice the frequency of the average college-aged woman, and…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Footage of synchronized mass mourning for Kim Jong-il is unsettling

A baby’s cuteness is determined by your reproductive hormones

Democracy needs ignorant people, says science

Supernormal Stimuli: Using Nature To Destroy Itself

The Unconscious Mind: Total Nonsense, or What?

There really is no difference between men and women’s math abilities

Babies understand grammar long before they learn how to speak

A new way to solve the age-old conundrum of whether it’s worth sacrificing one for the many

Yawns are most contagious between family members

Why our minds have probably evolved as far as they can go

Famous optical illusion reveals your brain’s hidden reflexes, say scientsts

The Myth of Multiple Personality Disorder

Mothers and babies can instantly synchronize their hearts just by smiling at each other

Gossip shapes the way you see the world

Swearing Makes You F**king Feel Better

Want to fight prejudice? Just wash your hands.

Scientific fraud Diederik Stapel signs off on his first official retraction

The Child Psychology of Sesame Street

Easily hypnotized people can hallucinate colors whenever they want to

Shocking News: Men don’t actually think about sex all day long

Feds Sniffing Around Polymarket After Suspicious Bets

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Don’t Get Too Attached to Any AI App

‘Paradise’ Writer Teases What’s Coming in Season 3 After That Huge Twist

Trump’s New White House App Is Mildly Concerning and Weird for a Lot of Reasons

Bloodsucking Ticks Can Survive Inside Your Home Longer Than You Might Think

The Best New Toys of March 2026

Judge Denies Liking LinkedIn Post Critical of Elon Musk But Reassigns His Cases Anyway

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Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

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