Understanding convictions, your own included

A series of experiments showed that a reward could diminish interest in an activity people already enjoyed. What this result means for paid work has been the subject of a long disagreement.

Do exchanges between friends follow a rule of return? Since the late 1970s, social psychology has distinguished two ways of keeping accounts in a relationship.

We think we laugh at what is funny. Observation of ordinary conversations shows that we laugh above all with someone, and often at almost nothing.

The French Civil Code neither defines nor regulates engagement. The courts have nonetheless drawn a few rules from it, on breaking off as well as on gifts.

One can vote for what one expects of a candidate, or against what one holds against the incumbents. The second logic is old, simple, and more debated than it seems.

A discreet mark on the face, a mirror, and one watches whether the child looks for it on their own body rather than in the reflection. The test is simple; what it measures is much less so.

What an organisation asks for and what people do to achieve it never quite coincide. French-language ergonomics has made this gap its object of study.

Georg Simmel described the modern individual as the point where independent social circles intersect. The idea has been taken up and formalised, but it remains hard to measure.

We predict fairly well whether an event will please or sadden us, far less well how strongly and for how long. The gap has been measured, and it has a name.

The way a couple gets through difficulties has long been studied. Part of the research has looked at the reverse: what happens when one of the two announces some good news.

Noting that a vote is more frequent where a certain group lives does not mean that this group votes that way. This very common slide has had a name for more than seventy years.

Responsible eldest, rebellious youngest: the typology is old and popular. Large analyses published since 2015 recover almost nothing of it.

Meals, transport, health cover, equipment: part of remuneration does not pass through the payslip. Its tax treatment explains much of its shape.

Personal networks are strongly homogeneous in age. Relationships crossing that barrier have particular properties and are little studied.

We are genuinely moved by characters we know perfectly well never existed. The problem has a name, and it is not solved.