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MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Jesse Singal

See all their articles from across New York Magazine
  1. health
    What Researchers Found When They Had a Handwashing ContestThe WHO and the CDC offer different recommendations for proper handwashing technique. Which is right?
  2. productivity
    Design Won’t Save American WorkersDuring the current fixation on the intersection of design and psychology, it’s worth remembering what workers are going through at the moment.
  3. global health
    Maternal Education Could Be Vital to the Fight Against MalariaA new study shows a really powerful correlation between mothers’ education levels and children’s likelihood of getting malaria.
  4. race
    What It Feels Like When Your Identity Is HeavyAn essay by a medical resident highlights just how much explaining and defending and representing members of minority groups are forced into.
  5. that’s random
    Why Stripes Can Mess With Your BrainIt turns out we’re not great at handling intense patterns that don’t occur in nature, which can cause some problems.
  6. The Connection Between Humor and Health: Kind of ComplicatedBeware of overly simplistic story lines telling you to just have a sense of humor about life’s ups and downs.
  7. free speech
    Are People Who Defend Free Speech More Racist?A new study suggests that racist people are eager to embrace unprincipled free-speech defenses of racist speech.
  8. sleep
    Your Sleep Might Start Getting Permanently Worse in Your 30sThere are all sorts of annoying bodily changes going on, proving once again that getting older is the worst.
  9. How Much Getting a Shot Hurts Might Depend on How Much You Trust Your DoctorA new study in a simulated doctor’s office is a useful reminder of how complicated and context-dependent pain is.
  10. distractions
    The Fidget-Spinner Debate Seems to Be CrescendoingPartly it’s about fidget-spinners, but partly it’s about … well, a lot of other stuff going on in America’s education system.
  11. personality psychology
    One Personality Characteristic Predicts Domestic NudityFor a new study, researchers correlated the so-called Big Five personality factors with all sorts of everyday behaviors.
  12. race
    The Lifespan Gap Between White and Black Americans Is ClosingNew research shows encouraging progress, but it might partly be explained by the white mortality crisis.
  13. inequality
    Is It Worth It to Try to Get Rich People to Realize They’re Lucky?If it’s such an uphill battle, as the research suggests, is it worth maybe trying something else instead?
  14. science of us
    Here’s (More) Evidence Testosterone Makes Men DumberIn a new study, a dose of T led men to perform significantly worse on a task that involves carefully working through a problem.
  15. filter bubble
    Your Customized News Feed Could Be Making You DumberNew research shows the potentially profound ways filter bubbles affect how we consume information and what we believe.
  16. sexting
    Massachusetts Is Trying to Inject Some Sanity Into the Teen-Sexting PanicGovernor Charlie Baker doesn’t want minors getting charged with child pornography — something that happens with disturbing frequency.
  17. kids
    There’s a Cognitive Task a 4-Year-Old Can Probably Beat You AtYou don’t think 4-year-olds are very smart, but they have some (pretty useless) skills that may surprise you.
  18. How Distraction Might Sap Your Concern for the WorldA new study suggests that when we are distracted from something, our brain assumes it must not be important.
  19. How Should We Talk About Amy Cuddy, Death Threats, and the Replication Crisis?There has to be a way to talk about problems within social science without the conversation devolving into a highly subjective screamfest.
  20. science of us
    When Someone Dies, It Brings Their Extended Online Network Closer for YearsThere’s a lasting effect on Facebook interactions, according to new research on how social networks repair themselves, or don’t, after a death.
  21. Researchers Are Trying to Better Understand Orgasm FakingThey’ve developed a new scale that will allow them to dig into this frequently joked-about subject with more rigor.
  22. generations
    Don’t Call Me a Millennial — I’m an Old MillennialGiven the epochal events that changed the young adulthoods of older and younger millennials, it’s time to split the generation in half.
  23. mental health
    Sometimes, Mental-Illness Destigmatization Can BackfirePeople with severe mental-health problems really are suffering, and it doesn’t make sense to scrub the language we use to pretend they aren’t.
  24. gender
    Parents Should Let Children Be Their Gender Nonconforming SelvesThere seems to be a recent, nobly intentioned uptick in parents insisting children play and dress in gender-conforming ways.
  25. climate change
    Here’s an Interesting New Video Series on the Psychology of Climate ChangeIt covers a lot of ground, from the best messaging approaches to how to get people to act in more energy-efficient ways.
  26. San Francisco’s Trying to Lock Up Fewer Young Men by Heeding Cognitive ScienceIn a country plagued by really poorly thought-out criminal-justice policies, this is a nice departure.
  27. science of us
    Researchers Are Starting to Figure Out ‘Eureka!’ MomentsThey learned a lot by tracking people’s eyes and decisions as they played a game and discovered its optimal strategy.
  28. Here’s a New Way for Researchers to Find Stealth AtheistsWhen you can’t ask a question directly because it carries social stigma, it’s time to take a more subtle, clever approach.
  29. The March for Science Has Kicked Off a Big Argument About What Science IsThere’s a lot of online yelling at the moment, but underneath all of it is an important debate about what science can and cannot do.
  30. Here’s a New Effort to Study the Psychological Effects of Youth ViolenceIt involves recruiting members of frequently victimized groups to conduct interviews about the psychological toll of violence.
  31. elephants
    This Cool Elephant Has a Point to Prove About Elephant CognitionThis new kind of test will likely be able to give researchers novel insight into how different types of animals think.
  32. social psychology
    The ‘Just-World’ Fallacy Could Explain Some of the Reactions to the United VideoAs the outrage over United’s treatment of David Dao shows, some people always want to blame the victim. There are psychological reasons for that.
  33. 3 Insights About Inequality in American Health CareDespite being the richest and most powerful country in the world, America continues to do a terrible job taking care of its vulnerable citizens.
  34. Job Interviews Are Way Less Helpful Than Everyone ThinksWe’re seduced by our own supposed ability to feel out job applicants, even though there’s no evidence that humans are naturally good at this task.
  35. Want to Live Longer? Be RichThis one simple trick involving having been born into a different socioeconomic class can buy you a decade and a half of extra lifespan!
  36. attention
    ‘Pre-Questions’ Could Make It Easier for Online Videos to Teach People StuffWith so many demands on everyone’s attention, it can be hard to actually learn anything from online videos. This idea might help, though.
  37. neuroscience
    Here’s the Biggest Study Yet on the Differences Between Male and Female BrainsIt’s becoming clearer and clearer that there are many robust differences between male and female brains — and also lots of overlap.
  38. Why Education (Sometimes) Protects People From Conspiracy TheorizingTwo new experiments dig into the complicated interplay between education and susceptibility to fake news.
  39. productivity
    To Better Motivate Someone, Understand How Close They Are to Their GoalA new study suggests people’s views of their goals switch depending on how far they are from accomplishing them.
  40. gig economy
    Just How Creepy Are Uber’s Driver-Nudges?A new story highlights the creepy ways in which Uber tries to wring the most profit out of its drivers.
  41. health
    The White-Mortality Crisis Shows How Psychological Distress Can Become PhysicalIf a group of people feels they have nothing left to strive for and that their best days are behind them, those thoughts will eventually take a toll.
  42. bad science
    Why a Nonexistent Researcher Was Offered a Bunch of Sham Editing JobsThe world of sham academic publishing is extremely shady, as a clever new experiment involving “Dr. Fraud” shows.
  43. Has Tinder Boosted the Performance of NBA Players?There’s a provocative case to be made that easy online access to sex can explain a statistical mystery in the NBA.
  44. doctors
    These Are the Most Prestigious DiseasesA sociologist in Norway has been studying how doctors there view various diseases, and his results are telling.
  45. These Bolivian Farmers Have Insanely Healthy HeartsIt’s a medical mystery without a clear explanation — but a lot of it has to do with a generally balanced lifestyle and diet.
  46. hallucinogens
    The Research on Ketamine As an Antidepressant Looks Quite ExcitingThe psychiatric establishment has begun to embrace the hallucinogen as a vital tool in the fight against treatment-resistant depression.
  47. productivity
    Why Workplace Competition Can Lead to Both Very Good and Very Bad OutcomesA set of research findings suggests that how competition is framed makes a very big difference.
  48. trauma
    How Violence Warps Childhood Friendships in ChicagoMost kids simply gravitate toward peers who are similar to them. In violent parts of Chicago, children need to be a lot more deliberate.
  49. A New Book Argues Concerns Over Violent Video Games Are a Moral PanicIn their new book Moral Combat, two psychologists argue that video games are little understood and that fearmongering about them is rampant.
  50. bad science
    3 Women Lost Their Eyesight After Shady Stem-Cell TreatmentsThey had their own stem cells injected into their eyes at a Florida clinic, and the results were not good.
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