Taste evaluation is not solely based on the objectivity of food, such as the biological and innate preferences for special flavors etc. Individual and cultural differences in food preferences illuminate the role of subjectivity in taste evaluation. Continue reading
Study: Your Self-Concept Influences Your Product Choices
Posted in Consumer Psychology, Marketing, Shopping
Tagged culture, experiment, food, research, self-concept
Hurting You Hurts Me Too: The Psychological Costs of Hurting Someone
To hurt others is not without a cost. Self-reports have revealed that obeying to hurt others may lead to feelings of anxiety, guilt and agitation (Milgram, 1963). We feel so because of our innate need to care about others. We are social animals so hurting others, hurts us too. Continue reading
Posted in Behaviors
An Exploration of the Differences Between Early Birds and Night Owls
Why is it that some people prefer to stay up until late in the evening, and others go to bed early? Do you consider yourself an early bird or a night owl? Continue reading
Posted in Personality Psychology
How Pets Influence our Health and Well-Being (Studies)

There is a saying that a dog is a man’s best friend.
Keeping pets is a phenomenon that exists in most cultures. Among the psychological theories for doing so is the theory of parental instincts, the biological love of nature, the tendency to use pets for showing off, the need to dominate the natural world, coping with loneliness, and the desire to teach youngsters responsibility and kindness. Continue reading
Study: Urban Green Spaces Lower People’s Frustration and Stress
What is the relationship between the environment, behaviour and emotions? What kinds of environments will make us happy? Environmental psychologists try to answer this question. Continue reading
Do We Have Free Will? People Believe They Have More Free Will Than Others
The discussion whether we have free will or not is endless. Some people like to attribute all happenings to environmental or social influences, which reflects a deterministic point of view. Others prefer to look at people as having their own free will, and this implies that we choose our own destinies, not influenced by anything or anyone else than ourselves. Continue reading
Posted in Cognitive Bias
Tagged collectivism, determinism, experiment, free will, individualism, perception, philosophy, research
Actor-Observer Bias: Why We Blame Other People Instead of Ourselves
The actor-observer bias is the tendency that people view their own actions as caused by the situational context, while others’ actions are seen as caused by personality or stable dispositions. Continue reading
Psychological Medicine: Integrating Psychological Knowledge Into Medical Assessment

Psychological research has much to offer to the medical assessment.
This post is inspired by the general concerns (and my own concerns) about the overuse and misuse of medication. So what alternatives are there? Psychological medicine is a term for the integration of psychological knowledge into the general medical assessment and treatment. Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged assessment, collaborative care, health, medicine, stepped care