Psychology
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Why We Think Beautiful People Are Kind and Smart People Are Trustworthy
When Kavya transferred to Mumbai’s Cathedral School in Class 10, she made an immediate impression. Tall, confident, and strikingly attractive,…
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Why Judging a Whole Group by One Person’s Actions Is Unfair
At Delhi’s Ramjas School, the cricket team had just won the inter-school championship. Seventeen-year-old Arjun, the team captain, was celebrating…
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Why You Think Others Are Rude But You’re Just Having a Bad Day
At Delhi Public School’s cafeteria, seventeen-year-old Priya was carrying her lunch tray when a classmate named Vikram accidentally bumped into…
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Why Generic Personality Tests Feel Like They Know You Personally: The Barnum Effect
At Mumbai’s Wilson College, psychology professor Dr. Mehra conducted an experiment with her Class 10 students. She told them she’d…
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Why Everyone Thinks Most People Agree With Them (Even When They Don’t)
During a social studies class at Delhi’s Modern School, the teacher asked seventeen-year-old Priya and her classmates to participate in…
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Why You’re Passionate But Others Are Just Doing It for the Money
At Mumbai’s Cathedral School, the student council launched a community service initiative requiring all Class 10 students to complete twenty…
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Why Everyone in Your Group Project Thinks They Did Most of the Work
When the Class 10 science fair at Delhi Public School announced results, three friends—Rohan, Priya, and Aditya—celebrated their project winning…
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Why We Blame Victims More When Their Suffering Hits Close to Home
When news broke that a student from a neighboring school was injured in a road accident, seventeen-year-old Priya and her…
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Why We Believe Doctors About Cars and Engineers About Medicine: The Authority Bias
Seventeen-year-old Priya was watching television with her family when a health supplement advertisement appeared. A famous Bollywood actor—known for action…
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Why You’re Late Because of Traffic But Others Are Late Because They’re Irresponsible
Seventeen-year-old Kavya arrived fifteen minutes late to her study group meeting at Delhi’s India Gate park. As she rushed to…
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Why We Think Someone Else’s Success Means Our Failure: The Zero-Sum Bias
During the annual science fair at Mumbai’s Cathedral School, two best friends—seventeen-year-old Rohan and Aditya—both submitted exceptional projects. Rohan created…
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The “Zero” Trap: Why Our Brains Pick Small Wins Over Big Safety
As a journalist with over ten years of experience covering human behavior, I have sat across from CEOs, scientists, and…
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Why Your Daily Commute Feels Shorter Than a New Route of the Same Distance
Seventeen-year-old Priya had been commuting to her coaching classes in Delhi for six months using the same route every day—from…
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Why Adding ₹10 to ₹20 Feels Huge But Adding ₹10 to ₹1,000 Feels Tiny: The Weber-Fechner Law
Seventeen-year-old Rohan was shopping for a new phone case and a new laptop. At the electronics store, he found a…
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Why You Eat the Whole Bag of Chips Even When You’re Full: Understanding Unit Bias
During a psychology experiment at Delhi University, researchers invited students to a “movie evaluation study.” Each participant received free popcorn…
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