14 articles
Getting ghosted feels like a wound because it is one. Here's the 3-step recovery protocol backed by social psychology — for people who want to actually repair the damage instead of just white-knuckling through it.
You think you're listening. The data disagrees. Here's what behavioral research on 17,120 real conversation moments reveals about what active listening actually does — and why the difference between faking it and doing it is a three-part chain reaction.
Your brain has been running the same social bonding software for 200,000 years, and it runs on laughter. Here's the evolutionary neuroscience of why shared humor builds connection faster than almost anything else — and how to use it more deliberately.
Most of us confuse solitude with loneliness — and spend our lives chasing a kind of social life that was never going to nourish us. The science reveals a more honest distinction, and a quieter path forward.
Empathy isn't something you're born with — it's a skill with documented training modalities that actually work. Here's the science-backed framework for getting better at the most important social skill nobody ever taught you.
We tend to think of warmth toward others as a personality trait — something you either have or you don't. The science says otherwise. Here's what loving-kindness research reveals about the trainable inner orientation that changes how connected you feel.
Before you send that overdue "thinking of you" message, you run an elaborate internal risk assessment. Here's what the science says about why we hesitate — and how catastrophically we underestimate what our words mean to the people who receive them.
There's an emotion that shrinks your ego, makes strangers feel like allies, and synchronizes your heartbeat with the person next to you. It's awe — and the science of how it builds human connection is genuinely astonishing.
You could have grabbed takeout alone. Instead, you stayed. Here's why eating together does something to humans that no other shared activity quite replicates — and how to use it deliberately.
You don't need to be funnier. You need to laugh more — and with intention. Here's the evolutionary science behind laughter as a bonding mechanism, plus three practical levers to put it to work.
The pressure to be socially abundant misses the point. Here's what neuroscience says about the power of a small, close circle — and why introverts' deepest instincts may be better calibrated than they've been told.
Your barista probably liked that conversation more than you think — and the science backs it up. Here's what research on weak ties and the "liking gap" means for your Tuesday morning routine.
Coffee catch-ups feel safe, but science says they're the wrong format for deepening bonds. Here's why shared activity triggers bonding chemistry — and five simple moves to put it to work.
Why empathy builds social bonds that actually last — and why the key to unlocking it is simpler than you'd expect. Here's the neuroscience, plus three moves you can try tonight.
