The human brain is our most powerful organ, yet it is also among the least understood. This is precisely what drove me to create a blog that centers on how we can better understand human behavior. A sharp mind can make the difference between a good memory and a foggy one, not to mention the mind exerts a powerful influence on our mood, self-esteem, and overall outlook on life. Below I've compiled 23 fascinating research-backed facts about the human mind that I hope you'll find as intriguing as I do: 1. The mind is often defined as a system of one's mental processes or psychic abilities. 2. Philosophers have used a broad array of metaphors to describe this complex organ, including a television switchboard, a blank sheet, or a hydraulic device with disparate forces operating in it. 3. Attempts to grasp the inner workings of the mind stretch back at least to the ancient Greeks. For one, Leibniz and Descartes believed the mind acquired knowledge via reasoning and th...

I just finished reading a book called "Mindfulness" by Ellen J. Langer. While it wasn't the best psychology book I've ever read, there were a couple of key takeaways I'd like to share. First, mindfulness is the exact opposite of mindlessness , and Langer seems to suggest that most of society suffers from the latter. When you're mindful, you don't take everything at face value. You don't merely assume, for example, that a toothbrush's only function is to clean and whiten your teeth, or that a person missing an arm must be lousy at sports. Langer stresses that in order to achieve full mindfulness, we have to throw our preconceived notions, biases, and stereotypes to the wind. Most of us do seem to go through life in a rote, mindless fashion. We seldom question our own beliefs and the reasons why things around us happen as they do. She points out that because we begin discriminating against the elderly at an early age -- perhaps as a byproduct of...