emotional distress

The case against a young airman gets even weirder when the government pulls in two fresh investigators. Part 2: A bride, an FBI agent, and a polygraph machine.

What’s the best way to carry out random acts of kindness? What’s wrong with making an “Irish exit”? And why is Mike secretly buying lottery tickets?

• SOURCES:
  • Roy Baumeister, social psychologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University.
  • Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University.
  • John Gottman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington.
  • Kurt Lewin, 20th-century German-American psychologist.
  • E. J. Masicampo, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.
  • Timothy Wilson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.
  • Bluma Zeigarnik, 20th-century Soviet psychologist.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Life and Work of the Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik," by M. Marco (Neurosciences and History, 2018).
  • "Why We Need Answers," by Maria Konnikova (The New Yorker, 2013).
  • "Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals," by E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).
  • The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples, by John Gottman (2011).
  • "'Let Me Dream On!' Anticipatory Emotions and Preference for Timing in Lotteries," by Martin Kocher, Michal Krawczyk, and Frans van Winden (Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, 2009).
  • "Explaining Away: A Model of Affective Adaptation," by Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2008).
  • "On Finished and Unfinished Tasks," by Bluma Zeigarnik (A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology, 1938).

• EXTRAS:
  • Big Five Personality Inventory, by No Stupid Questions (2024).
  • "Can We Disagree Better?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "Would You Be Happier if You Were More Creative?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "How Can You Be Kinder to Yourself?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "What’s Wrong With Holding a Grudge?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).
  • Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, by Eileen Spinelli (1991).

About a decade ago, companies began offering pregnant women tests that promised to detect rare genetic disorders in their fetuses.

The tests initially looked for Down syndrome and worked well, but later tests for rarer conditions did not. An investigation has found that the grave predictions made by those newer tests are usually incorrect.

We look at why the tests are so wrong and what can be done about it.

Guest: Sarah Kliff, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• In just over a decade, prenatal tests have gone from laboratory experiments to an industry that serves more than a third of the pregnant women in America. The grave predictions of rare genetic disorders made by newer tests, however, are usually wrong.

For more information on today’s episode, visit 

nytimes.com/thedaily

. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Ghosting is a heartbreaking fact in the modern dating world. It’s when a friend or someone you’ve been dating disappears from contact with no explanation. Ghosting can shatter self-esteem and hurt just as much as physical pain. Our guest is psychologist Jennice Vilhauer, PhD, who wrote the popular Psychology Today articles “Why Ghosting Hurts So Much” and “Did the Internet Break Love?”

Join us online August 6-8 for APA 2020 Virtual.