Performance Psychology (Including Organizational & Sport Psychology)

Being a Perfectionist Doesn't Have to be a Negative

Being a Perfectionist Doesn’t Have to be a Negative

Being a perfectionist gets a bad rap. It is associated with negative outcomes, anxiety and stress. This isn't because perfectionism is bad, but rather the way we approach it is bad. Hurtful ...
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/ Anxiety, Clinical Psychology, Growth Mindset, Imposter Syndrome, Perfectionism, Performance Psychology, Positive Psychology, Self-Care
Spotlight on Grit

Spotlight on Grit

Albert Einstein once said, "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." This quote exemplifies the concept of grit. About five years ago, Dr. Angela Duckworth ...
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/ Grit, Performance Psychology, Positive Psychology
Why Do People Gild the Lily? Curiosity, Maybe

Why Do People Gild the Lily? Curiosity, Maybe

Sometimes people don’t accept "good enough," and they pursue perfection with counterproductive, or even disastrous, results. This phenomenon is so common that we have multiple sayings warning us not to fix what ...
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/ Perfectionism, Performance Psychology
Jobs That Involve Dealing With New Information Might Help Brain Health

Jobs That Involve Dealing With New Information Might Help Brain Health

Do you have a job where you regularly find yourself having to take into account and adjust to new information? That can keep you on your toes, but it might also help ...
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/ Brain, Cognitive Psychology, Health Psychology, Performance Psychology, Work
4 Factors That Link Stress to a Decline in Work Ability

4 Factors That Link Stress to a Decline in Work Ability

Some amount of stress is often a part of work, but too much stress can start to interfere with people’s ability to get their work done. An important question is under what ...
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/ Clinical Psychology, Performance Psychology, Stress & Trauma, Work
General Language Skills Might Help With Learning Programming Languages

General Language Skills Might Help With Learning Programming Languages

Is learning a programming language like learning any other kind of language? Intuitively, you might expect the answer to be no. Programming languages are made up of different components than natural languages, ...
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/ Cognitive Psychology, Language, Memory, Performance Psychology
Is Getting Up Too Early Worse Than Going to Bed Too Late?

Is Getting Up Too Early Worse Than Going to Bed Too Late?

To some extent, we have all conducted our own one-person real-life experiments with sleep deprivation. One thing I’ve noticed in my own such experiments is that if I’m going to have my ...
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/ Performance Psychology, Sleep
Breakfast Habits and School Performance

Breakfast Habits and School Performance

"Dear diary, today I had cereal and orange juice for breakfast." That kind of diary entry might make for fairly boring reading, but it’s exactly what the authors of a recent study ...
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/ Developmental Psychology, Health Psychology, Nutrition, Performance Psychology, Teens
"Thank You" Can Change How People See You

“Thank You” Can Change How People See You

If your parents told you to always say your thank yous when you were growing up, chances are they understood on some intuitive level that these two simple words carry a lot ...
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/ Gratitude, Performance Psychology, Relationships, Social Psychology, Work
Tendency to Feel Awe Bodes Well for School Success

Tendency to Feel Awe Bodes Well for School Success

The more psychologists learn about awe, the more they’re coming to see it as an emotion that brings out some of the best of human behavior. Awe seems to drive scientific inquiry, ...
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/ Awe, Performance Psychology, Positive Emotions, Positive Psychology