54 key questions define the characteristics of the “imposter phenomenon”. — Imposter syndrome, ambivalent darling of our culture, captures diverse investigations into how we understand ourselves, each other, and our relationships, grounded in unrelenting doubt. Postmodern heroes struggle with this malady, from superheroes to antiheroes. Good and evil blur, sometimes becoming a matter of perspective. Moral choices — once so crisp…

New research finds four faces of giftedness. Key points New research suggests there are four general profiles of gifted adolescents: humanitarians, politicians, regulators and stabilizers. These groups have different personality traits, emotions, and relationships. It’s important that gifted people, who become followers and leaders, are afforded opportunities to become constructive members of society.

From “Clingy” to “Gross”, research identifies the deal-breakers people watch for in short- and long-term relationships. — While waiting for the bus recently, along with about twenty other poor souls, I was somewhat involuntarily subjected to a conversation between a man and a manifestly recent love interest. In a rather harsh tone, he was notifying the woman on the other end of the line (we could all…

It’s not just a teenage wasteland: romantic relationships take shape. Romantic relationships among adolescents are the subject of literature since time immemorial — Romeo and Juliet were teens — more recently blowing up on social media and in popular entertainment, where star-crossed lovers and vampire heartthrobs meet on the field of binge-worthy battle! According to Bradford, Miller and Higginbotham (…

Resolutions are great, but planning and follow-through win the day. New Year’s Resolutions are popular, even seductive, alleviating anxiety about long-unmet goals from a quick-fix mindset. Let’s face it, though-we often make them with a wink and a nod, recognizing that traditionally they don’t stick. Let’s instead set ourselves up to pursue what we really need and desire. Many people…

Learn how to joke in ways which contribute to your health and well-being. Think twice before making a joke at your own expense, even if it is familiar and seems harmless. Accumulating research highlights the risks, and identifies few benefits. — Sense of humor is so key to our personalities. Humor is inherently social, signaling to others our views and beliefs, our “vibe”. …

New research on how collective attention to pain drives affiliation. Pain is a universal experience, shared not only among human beings but also by members of the animal kingdom, and perhaps beyond. Pain can leave us isolated and feeling abandoned, but it can also bring us together. As reported in a recent research paper in the Journal of Applied Social…

Feeling exposed and insignificant is different from not mattering at all, especially when pathological narcissism is a factor. With narcissism, it’s perhaps not so much whether you matter as whether you “anti-matter”, according to penetrating new research. Not to fear, it has nothing to do with nuclear physics-where matter and antimatter annihilate one another with a big bang. While mattering is “the feeling of being important to other…

Emerging research implicates low serotonin in depression, after all. — Over the years, the serotonin hypothesis of depression, which suggests that low or impaired serotonin neurotransmission is related to the symptoms and possible causes of depression and related psychiatric disorders, has taken many hits. Recently, a widely publicized review paper in Nature (Moncrieff et al., 2022) found no direct evidence…