Guest Post by Cyrus Foroughi, George Mason University The day before I began writing this post, I decided to run a small-scale case study on myself. I wanted to count the number of times I was interrupted during the day. I did not silence my phone nor did I disable any notifications (e.g., email, Facebook) […]
Nothing Really Matters: Disbelief in Free Will Makes Us Care Less About Mistakes
In one of my favorite movies, Groundhog Day, Bill Murray’s character eventually gets so frustrated with the inevitability of living the same day again and again that he stops caring. With his fate seemingly sealed, he no longer worries about his actions. It makes sense that, faced with no control over our lives, we may […]
Why We So Often Blame the Person and Not the Situation
When someone cuts you off in traffic, some choice words probably instantly spring to mind about the driver. You assume the person is either a bad driver, inconsiderate, rude, or worse. But what if it turns out the driver was in a hurry because his wife has just gone into labor with their first child? […]