Category: Pillars

In 2011 Fordham University sociologist Costas Panagopoulos published a study concerning three U.S. elections in which he found that voters who were sent a postcard thanking them for voting in the last election were significantly more likely to vote in the next election than were those who were sent a postcard simply encouraging them to vote. This... Read more

POSITIVE NEUROSCIENCE: INTRODUCTION For much of its history the study of the human brain had a negative tilt, focusing on the atypical, the abnormal, the injured, and (because of the difficulty of accessing the living brain) the deceased. But in recent times neuroscience has taken a positive turn. Technologies like fMRI scans allow researchers to... Read more

Surveying the economics, neuroscience, psychology, and sociology of giving People demonstrate generosity in myriad ways, from gifts of time and money to everyday acts of kindness toward loved ones—and even to deeds that involve substantial self-sacrifice, like donating a kidney to a stranger. But we are often nowhere near as generous as we could (or... Read more