Having kids has proven to be this amazing - for me, this amazing source of ideas of anecdotes, of examples, I can test my own kids without human subject permission, so th...

Empathy has some unfortunate features - it is parochial, narrow-minded, and innumerate. We're often at...

Even in the most peaceful communities, an appetite for violence shows up in dreams, fantasies, sports, play, literature, movies and television. And, so long as we don't t...

Too often, our concern for specific individuals today means neglecting crises that...

We are constituted so that simple acts of kindness, such as giving to charity or expressing gratitude, have a positive effect on our long-term moods. The key to the happy...

Empty heads, cognitive science has taught us, learn nothing. The powerful cultural and personal flexibility of our species is owed at least in part to our starting off so...

Humans are born with a hard-wired morality: a sense of good and evil is bred in the bone. I know this claim might sound outland...

Some of the natural world is appealing, some of it is terrifying, and some of it grosses us out. Modern people don't want to be dropped naked into a swamp. We want to tou...

Our best hope for the future is not to get people to think of all humanity as family - that's impossible. It lies, instead, in an appreciation of the fact that, even if w...

Imagination is Reality Lite - a useful substitute when the real pleasure is in...

Imagination tends to be truly useful if accompanied by the power of mental control - if the worlds in one's head can be purposef...

Relying on the face might be human nature - even babies prefer to look at attractive people. But, of course, judging someone based on the geometry of his features is, fro...