Cognitive dissonance is what happens when a person holds two sets of beliefs at odds with each other. The human brain doesn’t like logical inconsistencies, so someone experiencing cognitive dissonance ...

MOST OF US have experienced conflicting beliefs at one time or another. For instance, you know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for your health, but you pour yourself a second glass of wine ...

A foundational 1956 study of the concept, focussed on a U.F.O. doomsday cult, has been all but debunked by new research.

Do you keep second-guessing your decisions after you’ve made them? Immobilizing yourself? Berating yourself when you finally decide on something? This can be a normal albeit painful way to make ...

Your “bottom line” isn’t a boundary—it’s a psychological loophole. Rebrand it and stop sliding into the worst possible deal.

Conversation among us is peppered with observations of the division within the American population. The division is revealed in a number of forms. It may be the acknowledgement of the political gap ...

Perhaps you remember the story of William Miller, the Baptist preacher who predicted that Jesus Christ’s second coming would occur on Oct. 22, 1844. When the advent failed to occur as Miller foretold, ...

Kim M Caudwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

Members of Heaven’s Gate, a religious cult, believed that as the Hale-Bopp comet passed by Earth in 1997, a spaceship would be traveling in its wake—ready to take true believers aboard. Several ...