Human Behavior

Blog Calls out Bogus Data
By Pat JosephIt was a new wrinkle in a bombshell story. Not one, but two superstar researchers appear to have independently faked data for two separate, highly publicized studies about (irony of ironies!)

Nakata’s Smile: Unlocking the Diaries of Jack London’s Valet
By Aleta GeorgeThe reference librarian slid the archival container across the counter. “This looks like a fun box to look through,” he said. I smiled behind my face mask.

On the Story: Emilie Raguso Covers Berkeley’s Crime Beat Like No One Else
By Margie CullenWhen news first broke that a human skeleton was found hidden under a building on Berkeley’s Clark Kerr campus, Emilie Raguso was horrified.

Her Honor: Judge Carries Lessons Handed Down From Heart Mountain
By Martin SnappOn January 11, 2017, Margaret Fujioka ‘79 took the oath of office in the Rotunda of Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland as the first Japanese American woman Superior Court judge in Alameda County. She was flanked by her proud mother, husband, and children, but her thoughts turned to two people who weren’t there: her late father, Yoshiro “Babe” Fujioka, and his hero, his big brother Teruo “Ted” Fujioka.

Lift Your Gaze
By Pat JosephAt the height of the pandemic, I took a motorcycle safety course—partly for research, partly for the hell of it. Most of what I learned has since been forgotten or relegated to muscle memory, but one thing has stuck in my mind: target fixation.

Dacher Keltner is Awe-Inspired, and You Should Be Too
By Laura SmithWhat Dacher Keltner teaches isn’t likely to land you a job on Wall Street or even make you more hireable, but that’s not really the point.

Despite What You’ve Heard, Sadder Isn’t Wiser
By Leah WorthingtonThere’s a pervasive idea in psychology that depressed people are better judges of reality.

Don’t Curb Your Enthusiasm
By Leah WorthingtonFor the better part of the last 40-plus years, Cal alum and Carnegie Mellon psychology professor Michael Scheier has been thinking about optimism—what it is, where it comes from, and why it matters.

Berkeley Center Brings Science-Based Mindfulness to the Masses
By Leah WorthingtonA stone’s throw from the southwestern edge of campus sits a squat, nondescript, brown building with a lofty dream: to untangle the science of a meaningful life.

Climate Hope Has a Champion
By Coby McDonaldIn this era of climate crisis there’s plenty of doom and gloom going around.

How A Survivor Contestant Learned to Keep Her Head Above Water
By Karla Cruz Godoy ’16 as told to Josh Sens, M.J. ’95I found myself in the Pacific Ocean, trapped beneath a metal grate with the tide rising around me, fighting the urge to panic.

The Edge Episode 22: The Edge Presents “Climate, Hope and Science” From the Science of Happiness
This month we’re back with something a little different. In the wake of this year’s historic floods, wildfires, and hurricanes, we asked ourselves: What would it look like to take a more optimistic attitude towards slowing climate change?