Shankar Vedantam

Most people assume they will be better understood by close friends or their partners than by strangers. Most people are wrong.

For many years people have puzzled over why countries that get richer don't seem to get happier. Now, researchers have an answer.

New research finds that putting in partitions in grocery carts can increase the likelihood shoppers buy healthy fruits and veggies. (This piece initially aired on May 26, 2015 on Morning Edition.)

Analysis finds women are less likely to be arrogant about mistakes and more likely to be humble about their achievements. Men are more likely to disregard market signals that their ideas are flawed.

Girls often outperform boys in science and math at an early age but are less likely to choose tough courses in high school. An Israeli experiment demonstrates how biases of teachers affect students.

A massive effort to test the validity of 100 psychology experiments finds that more than 50 percent of the studies fail to replicate. This is based on a new study published in the journal "Science."

Research indicates companies with owners from countries that have been shown to have higher levels of corruption are more likely to evade taxes in the United States.

Consumers who prefer reusable bags tend to buy more organic food. Researchers say that makes sense, given that the bags suggest a concern for the environment. But they also buy more junk food.

Why do people like to play matchmaker? New research finds that matchmaking produces happiness and, the more unlikely the match, the greater the happiness for the matchmaker.

In the developing world, where many people lack bank accounts or credit cards, banks may hesitate to loan them money. But researchers say cellphones can help determine people's creditworthiness.

People often do what their neighbors do. A firm decided to get more people to sign up for retirement plans by telling employees how many of their coworkers had signed up. What happened next?

Researchers examined the quality of plumbers in the Chicago area who choose names that are designed to show up first alphabetically in the Yellow Pages. The first company isn't necessarily the best.

A Maryland program designed to help struggling homeowners ended up contributing to foreclosures in some cases. Researchers say it's an example of unintended consequences of some government policies.

A study finds that children who demonstrate more "pro-social" skills — those who share more and who are better listeners — are more likely to have jobs and stay out of trouble as young adults.

Reviews on TripAdvisor or Yelp by tourists tend to be significantly more lenient than reviews by locals. Reviews written a long time after the reviewer visits the restaurant are similarly lenient.

Intuitively, many of us might think lonely people are lonely because they have poor social skills. New research turns this thinking on its head and offers a potential cure for loneliness.

Researchers explored the effects of black and Latino graduation rates from medical school, following a ban on race conscious admissions policies in several states.

Disagreeable teens tend to grow up into disagreeable adults. A 10-year study finds that disagreeable teens often have no awareness that their behavior is harming their relationships.

According to the research: men who have older sisters, on average, are less competitive than men who don't. And women who have older sisters, are more competitive than women who do not.

Retailers have learned that the more time consumers spend in a store, the more likely they'll make impulse purchases. Stores are adapting the "shopping experience" accordingly.