Do you feel the urge to yawn almost immediately after seeing someone else do it?  You're not alone.  As it turns out, though, yawning is far from the only behavior we can deem contagious.  A study published recently in the Journal of Ethology made a startling finding: The same psychological process that makes yawns contagious also influences people to check their smartphones. People have a need to follow the norms imposed on them by others. No one wishes to be the lone outsider who defies social norms.  In turn, it prompts them to mirror as closely as possible the actions of those in their orbit. This is known as the chameleon effect. As another example, you've probably noticed how people tend pick up each others’ gestures or mood during a conversation. I suppose these findings shouldn't strike us as a total surprise. After all, people seem to LIVE on their phones. Whether they're walking to school, in the bathroom, watching a game, eating dinner, or, most frighteni...

Some people don't appreciate all the things you do for them until you cease doing them at all. They end up learning the hard way that they didn't know what they had until it vanished from their life. And, by then, it's probably too late. No one wishes to be taken for granted. Yet, many people don't live their life by the motto, "Treat others as you would want to be treated." Some people just grow accustomed to others' nice gestures -- whether it's getting a call from them every week or a surprise visit every month -- and it doesn't occur to them that maybe they should return the favor every now and then. Relationships aren't just about giving, but receiving as well. They take turns scratching ones another's backs. One person should not be carrying the load on their own, contributing a disproportionate amount of time and energy. You should never feel embarrassed to address how you feel you're efforts aren't acknowledged...

Many people don't know how to tell the difference between love and infatuation. Here's the chief differentiator in a nutshell: When you're infatuated by someone, you perceive them to be perfect for you without even knowing them that well.  When you truly love or are in love with someone, they're perfect in your eyes despite their known imperfections. In other words, mere infatuation is conducive to an "ignorance is bliss" mindset. In the early stages of a relationship, when you're still unaware of a person's flaws, all you have to go on are their looks, words, and gestures, which together form your initial impression of them. You can't be certain everything they've told you about themselves is true, but you're so taken with the person -- especially after being showered with cutesy gifts and/or notes -- that you're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, you can't really love someone until you know more ...

It sure is. We all miss the butterflies in our stomach -- the sheer excitement of having someone new in our life. Maybe your partner did little things that filled you with immense joy, like deliver flowers to your job or leave love notes in your wallet. Once the relationship begins to mature, these things tend to happen less often. As you transition from happy couple to married couple to parents, it becomes less about passionate love and more about companionship. Going from seeing each other once or twice a week to living with one another changes the dynamics of a relationship tremendously. Whereas before you waited for your weekly date with bated breath, now you've fallen into a routine of seeing your partner every day. Sometimes I miss the early days in my relationship, when I looked forward to seeing my now-wife with great anticipation. Everything felt new and exciting. We were getting to know each other. Our future together seemed promising. Now that we've been ...

Lying . We all do it almost daily, though in varying degrees. Some of us have made a habit of lying through our teeth, while others are masters in the art of little white lies that often go unnoticed. Whatever one's propensity for lying, we can usually detect lies through certain verbal and non-verbal cues, some of which I elaborate on below: 1. Eye contact : If a person is having a hard time maintaining eye contact while talking to you, it usually means they're hiding something. For example, let's say the person you're chatting with routinely looks at the floor or ceiling during the conversation. Yes, this can be indicative of sheer boredom or a lack of self-confidence, but in most cases, it signals that the individual can't deliver his or her words with conviction. Instead, he or she is displaying the kind of sheepishness characteristic of a person caught in a lie -- or about to be caught in one. 2. Speech patterns : When someone is lying, they're more...

...use your superpower to find out which people: - like or dislike you (among those you know, obviously) - find you physically attractive (among those you know as well as people you've never met before I think the first of the two is easier to infer without possessing said superpower. So I want to focus on the second exercise in this post. Imagine how many people you've seen in your life whom you've found physically attractive, but just never worked up the nerve to say anything -- and vice-versa. If men could see into women's minds and know which ones find them good looking, you can rest assured that many more people in the world would be getting dates -- and getting lucky, for that matter. Attraction is largely a guessing game. While some people are fairly proficient at picking up signals, others are flat-out clueless. Men are usually notoriously bad at gauging women's interest in them. Many assume that if a woman makes even brief eye contact, she must b...