What an economist says young adults should know about modern dating
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When Rebekka Grun von Jolk, an economist whose research sits at the intersection of love and behavioral science, spoke with students at Georgetown University recently, she expected a polite Q&A. Instead, when the formal session ended, many students stayed Read More...
How to stop your inner critic from confirming all your worst fears
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A 2023 poll found that the average person has about 11 negative thoughts about their body and self-worth every day. That is a lot of internal commentary, and most of it passes unnoticed. What makes this more than a mood issue is a cognitive pattern called Read More...
6 ways to get more comfortable with risk and reinvention
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM After two years of conversations with founders, executives, and leaders across industries, Liz Tran kept noticing the same thing: the most successful and fulfilled among them were not the ones who knew the most. They were the ones who had made peace with not Read More...
The science of why you keep falling for the same type of person
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most people have a type. Ask them to describe it and they will, with varying degrees of self-awareness: the brooding creative, the high-achiever who is always a little hard to reach, the warm one who still somehow needs to be talked into their own worth. The Read More...
Overthinking is a learned habit, and therapists say you can unlearn it
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM "Just stop overthinking" is advice that tells you nothing useful about how to actually follow it. The mind that automatically converts "they haven't texted back" into "they must be furious with me" isn't doing so out of weakness. It's doing its job, badly but Read More...
Why do so many children detest vegetables? Scientists may have unravelled the mystery
Humans are social creatures, and our behaviors, particularly those linked to eating, are frequently influenced by what we watch in others. Social modeling is an important phenomenon that influences our dietary preferences and consumption patterns. Evaluating facial expressions and food Read More...
Coping with climate anxiety through connection
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King Jr. Constant news updates are inescapable. Wildfires Read More...
ACTV therapy model reduces recidivism for domestic abuse
There is a growing trend in the United States to reduce crime and recidivism by educating, treating, and reforming individuals rather than punishing them with harsh sentences. This takes on many forms. The First Step Act, for instance, seeks to reduce existing sentences and reincarceration through Read More...
The formula of “flow”: how we get in the zone at work
We’ve all experienced the fulfilling experience of “flow.” This is the immersive and usually elating state of mind we reach when we are creatively moving from one sentence to another deep into a writing project, reacting thoughtlessly and rapidly in a basketball game, or even operating at Read More...
Could caffeine be used to treat ADHD?
An estimated 4.4 percent of adults are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, a neurological condition where people find it hard to pay attention or control their behavior and experience hyperactivity. Diagnoses of this condition have increased exponentially over the Read More...