Many psychologists believe that as a species, humans are not evolved to enjoy the here and now. Rather, we are wired to time-travel mentally, mostly into the future, to consider new scenarios and try out new ideas. The social psychologist Martin Seligman goes so far as to call our species Homo prospectus.
Author: Arthur C. Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior
The hottest commodity of today’s online cultural ecosystem is open conflict. Chitchat on podcasts and livestreams is transfixing because it’s unruly, argumentative, and unafraid of causing offense.
Author: Spencer Kornhaber | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Culture, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
The so-called Breitbart Doctrine stated that “politics is downstream from culture”—that is, the ideas conveyed by popular entertainment shapes consumers’ worldviews. This proposition called for conservatives to build a shadow Hollywood that tells conservative stories and raises up conservative stars… In the long run, though, the doctrine’s biggest impact has been encouraging the right to get creative with online culture.
Author: Spencer Kornhaber | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy
Back in 2021, I wrote a book about the rise of “illiberal populism,” the self-destructive tendency in some nations that leads people to participate in democratic institutions such as voting while being hostile to democracy itself, casting ballots primarily to punish other people and to curtail everyone’s rights—even their own. These movements are sometimes led by fantastically wealthy faux populists who hoodwink gullible voters by … [ Read more ]
Author: Tom Nichols | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
The NatCons are wrong to think there is a unified thing called “the left” that hates America. This is just the apocalyptic menace many of them had to invent in order to justify their decision to vote for Donald Trump.
They are wrong, too, to think there is a wokeist Anschluss taking over all the institutions of American life. For people who spend so much time … [ Read more ]
Author: David Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy
Conservatives have lately become expert culture warriors—the whole Tucker Carlson schtick. This schtick demands that you ignore the actual suffering of the world—the transgender kid alone in some suburban high school, the anxiety of a guy who can’t afford health care for his brother, the struggle of a Black man trying to be seen and recognized as a full human being. It’s a cynical game … [ Read more ]
Author: David Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Rage and frenzy will pull down more in a half an hour, than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.
Author: Edmund Burke | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Fear casts out love. And not only love. Fear also casts out intelligence, casts out goodness, casts out all thought of beauty and truth.
Author: Aldous Huxley | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Fear, Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
One way to look at the rise of Donald Trump is as part of a decades-long backlash among the American leadership class to the idea of accountability. Since Richard Nixon was forced to resign, powerful people in both political parties have worked assiduously to ensure that their leaders would escape the consequences of their actions… This is not just about Trump; his impunity is the … [ Read more ]
Author: Adam Serwer | Source: The Atlantic (February 26, 2026) | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy
[Paul O’Keefe] and two co-authors—[Carol] Dweck and Greg Walton of Stanford—recently performed a study that suggests it might be time to change the way we think about our interests. Passions aren’t “found,” they argue. They’re developed.
Author: Olga Khazan | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Career, Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Personal Improvement
The Trump adviser’s assertions about the “real world” reflect a deep misunderstanding of Thomas Hobbes’s dog-eat-dog worldview.
Author: Gal Beckerman | Source: The Atlantic (January 10, 2026) | Subjects: Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Reagan Republicans fully understood the political risks of dismantling more than 50 years of public policy, yet—more effectively than any of their predecessors—they succeeded in manufacturing the popular consent needed to do precisely that. The key to this achievement was a simple but devastating insight: The most effective way to discredit liberal social policy was to starve it of resources and then point to its … [ Read more ]
Author: Heather Ann Thompson | Source: The Atlantic (January2026) | Subjects: America, History, International, Politics & Public Policy
Human beings are group animals, and they are frightened and stressed when expelled from the groups to which they have belonged. Our political attachments often matter much more to us than our political ideas.
Author: David Frum | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
One of the great mysteries about the rise of populism, in both the United States and Europe, is why it has benefited the political right so much more than the left. For years, American progressives have been trying to get people worked up over rising rates of economic inequality, with the expectation that this anger could fuel greater support for the Democratic Party. Yet the … [ Read more ]
Author: Joseph Heath | Source: The Atlantic (December 15, 2025) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Americans are divided not just by political beliefs but by whether they believe in a shared reality—or desire one at all.
Author: Charlie Warzel | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy
As Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued, “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” This distinction is important, in part because it assigns agency to … [ Read more ]
Authors: Charlie Warzel, Michael Caulfield | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Bringing good things into your life, whether love, career success, or something else, usually involves risk. Risk doesn’t necessarily make us happy, and a risky life is going to bring disappointment. But it can also bring bigger rewards than a life played safe.
Author: Arthur C. Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Risk
Enjoyment of life—whether that means spending “unproductive” time with others, reading a good book, or taking a long walk—has a loftier significance than good feelings do. It is important for human agency, a life lived on purpose. Enjoyment means refusing to be managed by pleasures, nor subjugated by joyless drudgery. Pursuing it is a declaration of independence from your base impulses, be they licentious or … [ Read more ]
Author: Arthur C. Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Personal Improvement
Enjoyment and pleasure are terms often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Pleasure happens to you; enjoyment is something that you create through your own effort. Pleasure is the lightheadedness you get from a bit of grain alcohol; enjoyment is the satisfaction of a good wine, properly understood. Pleasure is addictive and animal; enjoyment is elective and human.
Author: Arthur C. Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subject: Psychology | Behavior
Without even realizing it, many internet users mistakenly assume that cyberattackers follow conventional rules of behavior. People try to reason with trolls or appeal to their better nature. These responses are similar to how you might approach a friend who’s inadvertently insulted you, or a family member who disagrees with you about something important. But trolls are not like your loved ones, and research shows … [ Read more ]
Author: Arthur C. Brooks | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Social Media