Articles & Essays

Thongs, Taco Bell and the Neuroscience of Baseball's Weirdest Rituals

Why baseball — a sport defined by failure and randomness — is uniquely fertile ground for superstitious ritual, and what neuroscience reveals about how those rituals actually work to blunt the brain's response to mistakes.

Athletes Train for Almost Every Scenario. But There's a Stressor Sports Hasn't Caught Up To

Online harassment from sports bettors creates a chronic "social-evaluative threat" that athletes haven't been trained to handle — and why the body never fully adapts to the stress of anticipated public judgment.

Body Language in Sports Isn't Mystical. It Can Win or Lose the Next Play

How athletes' posture and physical reactions after mistakes affect their own psychology, demoralize teammates, and signal vulnerability to opponents — with examples from Kevin Durant, Caleb Williams, Sue Bird, and Damian Lillard.

Why Even the World's Best Athletes Crumble Under Olympic Pressure

Through the lens of Ilia Malinin and Mikaela Shiffrin, Amy examines the neuroscience of why extreme evaluation triggers physiological responses that can undo even the world's most prepared athletes — and what the science says about performing when the stakes are highest.

The Psychology of Anti-Semitism

Why is prejudice against Jewish people so often expressed in sudden waves of virulent, even exterminatory attacks? A psychological analysis. Sunday Review op-ed.

Your iPhone Is Ruining Your Posture — and Your Mood

How constantly hunching over our phones doesn't just wreck our backs — it changes our psychology, our confidence, and our mood. An op-ed for the Sunday Review.

One Reason So Many Are Quitting: We Want Control Over Our Lives Again

With Nadia Pearce

The psychology behind the Great Resignation — why the pandemic triggered a mass reckoning with autonomy, power, and what people are willing to tolerate at work.

Why This Stage of the Pandemic Makes Us So Anxious

With JillEllyn Riley

As the Delta variant emerged, the return of uncertainty triggered a distinct kind of anxiety — different from the fear of early 2020. The science of why.

Connect, Then Lead

With John Neffinger, Matthew Kohut

To exert real influence, leaders must balance competence with warmth — and warmth must come first. A foundational piece on the science of trust and leadership.

Tonight's Presidential Debate Will Be Decided by Body Language

Before the 2012 Obama–Romney debate, a breakdown of how nonverbal signals — not words — would determine who viewers perceived as dominant, trustworthy, and presidential.

Will Working Mothers Take Your Company to Court?

With Joan C. Williams

The legal and psychological landscape facing working mothers — and what companies must do to avoid both litigation and the quiet exit of their best talent.

Just Because I'm Nice, Don't Assume I'm Dumb

One of HBR's Breakthrough Ideas for 2009 — on the warmth-competence trade-off and why society systematically underestimates people who lead with kindness.

The Secret Behind Cape Verde's World Cup Moment

When Cape Verde held Spain to a 0-0 draw at the World Cup, it wasn't a miracle — it was psychology. Amy breaks down the science of challenge vs. threat mindset, collective belief, and how an underdog plays the best match of its life.

The Expendables in the Coronavirus Pandemic: The Elderly and Those With Disabilities

With Peter Glick

How pandemic decision-making revealed deep-seated societal prejudices — and the psychological mechanisms that make certain lives easier to discount.

Looking for Happiness? Try Purpose Instead

The science of why pursuing happiness directly tends to backfire — and why a sense of purpose is a more reliable and durable route to well-being.

How Stereotypes of Women Divide and Conquer

With Peter Glick

The psychological mechanics of how gender stereotypes pit women against each other — and the structural forces that benefit from keeping them divided.

Meet Virtual You: How Your VR Self Influences Your Real-Life Self

The emerging science of how the avatars we inhabit in virtual reality shape our real-world behaviour — an extension of the embodied cognition research behind power posing.

Communing With the Dead: I Followed the Grateful Dead to Escape and Ended Up Finding Home

A deeply personal essay on belonging, escape, grief, and the unlikely community Amy found following the Grateful Dead across the country.

Act Powerful, Be Powerful

Written shortly after her viral TED Talk, this piece brings the science of power posing to a mainstream audience — with practical guidance on how to apply it.

Measuring Consumer Confidence Isn't Useful Anymore. Here's What We Should Do Instead

With Jonathan Alexander

A challenge to the decades-old consumer confidence index — and a proposal for a richer, psychologically grounded alternative for understanding economic behaviour.