#human-behavior

#human-behavior

The shortest magazine pitch of Nick Paumgarten's life actually took place in an elevator, which the writer was sharing with an elevator-phobic editor, and consisted of a single word: "Elevators!" The article that followed, in April, 2008, is titled "Up and Then Down." It is the story of a man named Nicholas White-who was trapped in an elevator in the McGraw-Hill Building, in midtown Manhattan, for forty-one hours-and also a study of "elevatoring," a delicious word for the discipline of designing vertical transportation.

One of the biggest gripes I have about my academic field of social science is that it explains a lot about human behavior but is very short on prescriptions for how to live day to day. Even when it does have something suggestive to offer, the research almost never supplies evidence of whether its widespread adoption would have a positive effect. The same deficiency is even truer for philosophy, a realm in which big thoughts about life usually remain abstract ideas.

Lying is baked into human behavior. Research indicates that most people lie occasionally, while some lie daily. However, not all lies are intended to harm.

Envy is a universal signal, not a moral failure. It's evolution's way of showing you what you care about.

The best games are easy to learn and difficult to master. Games exploit this evolved tendency; they appeal to the ancient circuitry in us that strives to figure things out.

Neurons in the human brain fire in response to familiar people or places in an identical manner across different scenarios, allowing core experiences to remain distinct.

Rules serve as the backbone of society, yet many often forget to actively engage with them, leading to frustration when others don't follow suit.

We have an innate need to attach to caregivers; however, anything beyond that initial impulse to attach must be taught.

In their first cover, for the June 16, 2025, issue, Aoki celebrates the animal's playful and whimsical nature.

The assertive actions of Waymo's self-driving taxis reflect a shift towards more human-like driving behaviors, potentially enhancing safety through better predictability and interaction with human drivers.

At first glance, the human brain might appear to be a marvel of engineering-a seamless interface for sensory input, cognitive control, and motor output. But if you peer beneath its sophisticated functions, one quickly sees a structure resembling something more like London's winding streets: layered, circuitous, and often baffling in its logic.

Many aggressive human behaviors are based on cognitive distortions, stories people make up about themselves and others. One of the most damaging ones is labeling others as "less than."

Religion, too, may have evolved as a cultural innovation to address the problem of norm enforcement. Early religious systems invoked supernatural agents who monitored behavior.

Data gives you credibility. It's the most powerful way to show how trends connect with people so you can tell a story that really matters.

Murata's characters often engage in perverse behaviors to appear normal, showcasing the extremes of human effort to conform to societal expectations.

Politeness in our interactions with chatbots reflects our ingrained social habits, showcasing how we unconsciously impart human-like qualities onto non-conscious technologies.

"When I first shared my vision for bringing anthropological research into corporate decision-making, Jay could have nodded politely and moved on with his day."

Like a Venus flytrap made of pixels and Python, it lures the bots in with sweet, juicy content, then buries them in academic-grade nonsense.