Parasocial relationships explain why influencers, celebrities, streamers, podcasters, and fictional characters can feel strangely familiar. Here is the psychology behind one-sided bonds in modern media.

Cosmic horror, a subgenre of horror fiction, delves into the fear of the unknown and the insignificance of humanity in the grand scheme of the universe. Pioneered by authors like H.P. Lovecraft, cosmic horror evokes a sense of existential dread and helplessness. This article explores the psychological dimensions and implications of cosmic horror, supported by insights from peer-reviewed research.

Pronouns are small words doing a lot of social work. This Monday Musing explores gendered pronouns, misrecognition, language change, and why the future may not be pronoun obsolescence, but assumption obsolescence.

The trolley problem helped shape moral psychology, but real ethical life is usually messier. Here’s why psychology needs dilemmas involving complicity, delay, identity, institutions, and collective harm.

Sacrificial moral dilemmas like the trolley problem are useful for studying moral judgement, but they can make ethics look cleaner, colder, and more certain than real moral life usually is.

In this thought piece, we delve into the complex considerations surrounding the study of zombies during a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, exploring the boundaries of scientific inquiry, the rights of sentient beings, and the ethical responsibilities of researchers.