Category: Uncategorized

By Brad Bell Many people enjoy creating or viewing art.  Thus, one basic question is, why is art important?  In this brief article, I provide three possible reasons why art is important. Happiness Art can be considered important partly because it may foster happiness.   Art has an aesthetic quality that may bring joy to… Continue reading Why Is Art Important?

By Brad Bell The availability heuristic is an important concept in psychology.  What is the availability heuristic?   Tversky and Kahneman (1973) proposed that people may use an availability heuristic to judge frequency and the probability of events.  Using the availability heuristic, people would judge the probability of events by the ease inwhich instances could be… Continue reading The Availability Heuristic

By Brad Bell Parks are beautiful and tranquil places.  Consequently, a walk in a park might foster greater happiness. In their second study, Hartig, Mang, and Evans (1991) had participants either take a walk in a park, a walk in an urban setting, or read magazines for forty minutes in a laboratory setting (relaxation condition).… Continue reading Can a Walk in the Park Increase Happiness?

By Brad Bell Imagine that you have to teach a course that many students find difficult and dry.  Many students seem to have difficulty recalling many of the concepts in the course.  What can you do to increase their recall of concepts and improve grades on exams? Presenting information in a vivid manner is one… Continue reading Vividness and Memory

 By Brad Bell Imagine that you got into an argument with your best friend.  Yousaid some things you wish you had not.   You told your best friendthat he or she was lazy and did not like work.  Now you realize thatyou must apologize.  The apology is the best way to resolve theconflict.  Should you apologize… Continue reading When Is the Best Time to Apologize?

  Music is an important part of our lives.  Many people spend aconsiderable amount of time listening to music.  Listening tomusic may be beneficial in a number of ways.  One of the waysthat it may be beneficial is by increasing helping behavior.  Could listening to songs with prosocial lyrics increase the number of people who… Continue reading Can Listening to Songs with Prosocial Lyrics Influence Donating Behavior?

By Brad Bell Empathy may be one of the most important attributes.  Empathy involves being able to see things from another person’s perspective, as well as being able to feel what another person feels.  There may be several reasons why empathy is important.  These reasons include building rapport, reducing conflicts, and increasing helping behavior. Building… Continue reading Why Is Empathy Important?

By Brad Bell   Self-improvement is an important topic.  An important question concerns how to be a better person.  What are the qualities orcharacteristics of a good person?  This can be viewed as a subjective or value judgment that has many possible answers.  A simple answer to the question of how to be a good person… Continue reading Characteristics of a Good Person

By Brad Bell Poetry is an artistic form of communication that may be appreciated by a significant number of people.   It may be easier to address questions concerning the psychology of poetry than the question concerning what is poetry. The psychology of poetry has two perspective:  the writer perspective and the reader perspective.  The writer… Continue reading The Psychology of Poetry

By Brad Bell Getting a low response rate in mail fundraising is fairly typical for new donors.  Even with a really good list of possible donors, you still might not receive many donations.   People may know that they may be asked to donate in the future.   Thus, it not a simple, one-time decision.  People… Continue reading The Three-Step Fundraising Technique