Featured research papers by experts & collaborating researchers JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS The Psychology Of Magic Conjurors are masters of illusion and deception, and they have developed astonishing methods for manipulating our experience. Intuitively, the link between magic and psychology seems obvious: magicians use techniques such as misdirection to manipulate our attention, illusions to distort our perception, and forcing to influence our decisions. Some of the early pioneers in Psychology (e.g., Binet, […] CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Sad Music Makes Us Happy? In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Does Money Really Make You Happy? It’s a cliché that “you can’t buy happiness”, but at the same time, financial security is among most people’s top career priorities. Moreover, when people are asked what would most improve the quality of their lives, the most common answer is more money. What’s going on here? Who is right? A lot of the research on […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH POLITICS The Politics Of Intellectual Property Introduction: This Article argues that we need a politics, or perhaps a political economy, of intellectual property. Using the controversy over copyright on the Net as a case-study and the history of the environmental movement as a comparison, it offers a couple of modest proposals about what such a politics might look like — what theoretical […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid: The Gulf Between The Rich And Poor Inequality between the rich and poor worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty increased, for the first time in decades. In part two of our series on how the virus has changed the world, we look at the ways the pandemic has pushed back efforts to create more equitable societies. Inequalities exposed © UNICEF/NahomTesfaye / Street […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Understanding Otakus & Sex Robots Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Does Meditation Affects Decision Making? Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence […] CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Tang Code And Women Laws and institutions reflect the culture while culture constitutes the motive and momentum to shape laws. The Tang Code, which was created during the Tan dynasty, and became the basis for later dynastic codes in China and also in East Asia with its sophisticated and detailed character enriched by civil statutes and […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY The Influence Of Culture On Success Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract “the creative class” and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Who Am I? What Is The Self? Who am I? What is the self and where does it come from? This may be one of the oldest problems in philosophy. Beyond traditional philosophy, only very recently approaches from neuroscience (in particular imaging studies) have tried to address these questions, too. So what are neural substrates of our self? An increasing body of […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid 19 Management Strategies & Outcomes: East Asia & Western World In December 2019, a new strain of Coronavirus, later identified as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) or COVID-19, began to surface in Wuhan, China. By February 2020, COVID-19 had become a pandemic which required emergency measures across the globe. However, regions in East Asia and Europe adopted different pandemic strategies which led to […] JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS SOCIOLOGY Why Meaning Of Life Matters For Society Meaning in life reflects the feeling that one’s existence has significance, purpose, and coherence (see Heintzelman and King, 2014). A growing body of research identifies meaning in life as a fundamental human need that strongly influences both psychological and physical well-being (see Vail and Routledge, 2020). Individuals who perceive their lives as full of meaning live longer, […] More Research
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS The Psychology Of Magic Conjurors are masters of illusion and deception, and they have developed astonishing methods for manipulating our experience. Intuitively, the link between magic and psychology seems obvious: magicians use techniques such as misdirection to manipulate our attention, illusions to distort our perception, and forcing to influence our decisions. Some of the early pioneers in Psychology (e.g., Binet, […]
CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Sad Music Makes Us Happy? In general, sad music is thought to cause us to experience sadness, which is considered an unpleasant emotion. As a result, the question arises as to why we listen to sad music if it evokes sadness. One possible answer to this question is that we may actually feel positive emotions when we listen to sad […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Does Money Really Make You Happy? It’s a cliché that “you can’t buy happiness”, but at the same time, financial security is among most people’s top career priorities. Moreover, when people are asked what would most improve the quality of their lives, the most common answer is more money. What’s going on here? Who is right? A lot of the research on […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH POLITICS The Politics Of Intellectual Property Introduction: This Article argues that we need a politics, or perhaps a political economy, of intellectual property. Using the controversy over copyright on the Net as a case-study and the history of the environmental movement as a comparison, it offers a couple of modest proposals about what such a politics might look like — what theoretical […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid: The Gulf Between The Rich And Poor Inequality between the rich and poor worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty increased, for the first time in decades. In part two of our series on how the virus has changed the world, we look at the ways the pandemic has pushed back efforts to create more equitable societies. Inequalities exposed © UNICEF/NahomTesfaye / Street […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Understanding Otakus & Sex Robots Social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in everyday life and sex robots are a sub-category of especially high public interest and controversy. Starting from the concept of the otaku, a term from Japanese youth culture that describes secluded persons with a high affinity for fictional manga characters, we examine individual differences behind sex robot appeal (anime […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Does Meditation Affects Decision Making? Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the use of meditation to improve cognitive performance, emotional balance, and well-being. As a consequence, research into the psychological effects and neural mechanisms of meditation has been accumulating. Whether and how meditation affects decision making is not yet clear. Here, we review evidence […]
CULTURE JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Tang Code And Women Laws and institutions reflect the culture while culture constitutes the motive and momentum to shape laws. The Tang Code, which was created during the Tan dynasty, and became the basis for later dynastic codes in China and also in East Asia with its sophisticated and detailed character enriched by civil statutes and […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY The Influence Of Culture On Success Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract “the creative class” and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS Who Am I? What Is The Self? Who am I? What is the self and where does it come from? This may be one of the oldest problems in philosophy. Beyond traditional philosophy, only very recently approaches from neuroscience (in particular imaging studies) have tried to address these questions, too. So what are neural substrates of our self? An increasing body of […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH SOCIOLOGY Covid 19 Management Strategies & Outcomes: East Asia & Western World In December 2019, a new strain of Coronavirus, later identified as SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) or COVID-19, began to surface in Wuhan, China. By February 2020, COVID-19 had become a pandemic which required emergency measures across the globe. However, regions in East Asia and Europe adopted different pandemic strategies which led to […]
JOURNAL & RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY PSYCHOLOGY & WELLNESS SOCIOLOGY Why Meaning Of Life Matters For Society Meaning in life reflects the feeling that one’s existence has significance, purpose, and coherence (see Heintzelman and King, 2014). A growing body of research identifies meaning in life as a fundamental human need that strongly influences both psychological and physical well-being (see Vail and Routledge, 2020). Individuals who perceive their lives as full of meaning live longer, […]