Partners who live together typically come to this significant place in their relationship in one of two ways—what some clinicians call “sliding versus deciding.” Moving in together can just kind of happen without too much thought, or it can be carefully considered and planned. Some couples may see living together as a test for future marriage. For others, marriage is not a goal, so living together may be the ultimate statement of their commitment. I have been a relationship therapist and researcher for over 25 years, specializing in intimate relationships. Based on my research and clinical exp ..read more

In today’s world, cruelty is hard to ignore. It sometimes feels like everywhere we turn, there are political shouting matches, shootings, and war. And those events are certainly taking place. But at the same time, according to the World Happiness Report 2023, people around the world are experiencing more kindness, help, and support from others in their daily lives. The crises of the last few years, in other words, have not made us reclusive and hard-hearted—but instead more willing to help each other navigate our challenges. World happiness in 2022 The World Happiness Report draws from the ann ..read more

Every year, the World Happiness Report ranks 146 countries around the globe by their average level of happiness. Scandinavian countries usually top the list, the U.S. falls someplace in the mid-teens, and war-torn and deeply impoverished countries are at the bottom. The happiness scores come from a survey of life satisfaction, which goes something like this: Considering your life as a whole and using the mental image of a ladder, with the best possible life as a 10 and worst possible as a 0, indicate where on the ladder you personally stand. This question basically gets people thinking about t ..read more

It’s hard to overstate the importance of sleep for our well-being. When our sleep is disrupted, we become more susceptible to illness and more likely to suffer cognitive impairment, poor work performance, and withdrawal and loneliness. This is especially true for our children, says Rafael Pelayo, a sleep expert at the Stanford Sleep Medicine Center. Children who get insufficient sleep can become irritable and grumpy, have problems concentrating in school and studying, and have poorer immune function. They may even experience delayed growth. “You’re not gradually making your femur longer all of ..read more

When people decide to get married or form committed partnerships, they often have a lot of decisions to make, including how to handle their finances. While traditionally newlywed couples have pooled their money together in joint accounts, these days more couples—especially millennials—are choosing to keep separate accounts, retaining control over their own money. Keeping financial arrangements separate seems like a good idea for many reasons. For one thing, couples often fight about finances, and keeping them separate might reduce those kinds of conflicts. There may be power imbalances in the ..read more

We all overestimate how much we know. Our guest tries a practice in slowing down to ask more questions, and finds it leads to higher quality connections ..read more

The classroom is where habits are created, mentalities are formed, and lessons are taught. Classrooms are spaces to encourage students to learn as much as they can—but also to recognize what they do not yet know. This skill is part of what researchers call intellectual humility, the ability to accept that our beliefs and what we think may not always be correct. Intellectual humility can help students with learning, critical thinking, and collaboration. Now, two new studies consider the ways that classroom environments can promote intellectual humility in students.  In the first study of o ..read more

How does being rich affect the way someone behaves toward others? About a dozen years ago, this question launched a series of studies by Paul Piff and his colleagues—among them Dacher Keltner, Greater Good’s founding director. In the studies, people of different socioeconomic status were given opportunities to lie, cheat, or act unethically in various situations, and then observed to see how they behaved. The findings overall led to the conclusion that wealthier people are less likely to act generously (and more likely to act selfishly and unethically) when given a chance. Other studies seemed ..read more

Let’s imagine that you come to our lab at Northwestern University to do a task. You have sets of numbers in front of you, and you are asked to find the two numbers that add up to exactly 10 for each set. For each correct response, you earn 50 cents. Now, imagine that we tell you that you can score yourself, and then recycle the paper with your responses, which doesn’t have your name on it. All you have to do is turn in a payment slip with your score, and we pay you. Would you cheat? When we conducted these types of studies, after participants left, my research assistant actually dug throu ..read more

When it comes to workplace woes, Christina Maslach has heard it all. The hard-working team that’s celebrated less than the office slackers. The professionals who wind up in a soul-sucking job. The employees required to attend office BBQs but left out of workplace decision making. It’s been 40-plus years since Maslach, a psychology professor emerita at UC Berkeley, first wrote about workplace trauma and burnout. She’s since pioneered a body of research that has influenced how we think about work—and what it means when work isn’t working out. The Burnout Challenge, her new book from Harvard Univ ..read more