All Articles (10)
Assertiveness Is a Trainable Skill, Not a Personality Trait
Decades of clinical research support assertiveness training as an effective, evidence-based skill, not a fixed personality trait some men simply lack. Here is what the actual training involves and where to start.
What the Dunning-Kruger Study Actually Found
The famous Mount Stupid graph does not appear anywhere in the actual 1999 study, and the real finding is narrower and more useful than the popular version. Here is what Dunning and Kruger actually measured, and what later research has added to it.
The Impostor Phenomenon Was Never Just a Women's Issue
The impostor phenomenon was first documented in high achieving women in 1978, but later research found the pattern shows up in men just as often, with less visibility rather than less prevalence. Here is how the cycle works and why the standard advice tends to miss it.
What Actually Happened to the Power Posing Research
The famous power posing study behind one of the most watched TED talks ever failed to replicate, and its own lead author later disavowed it. Here is what the research actually showed, and what happened after it got famous.
Why Repeating I Am a Lovable Person Can Make You Feel Worse
A well known study found that repeating positive statements about yourself can genuinely backfire for people with low self-esteem, the exact group the advice targets. A different, better supported approach explains why.
Growth Mindset Is Real, Just Much Smaller Than You Have Heard
Large, rigorous studies have found a genuine effect behind growth mindset theory, but it is far smaller and more conditional than a decade of school posters and keynotes implied. Here is the more honest version of the research.
Why the Most Confident Person in the Room Often Wins, Even When Wrong
Research on group dynamics found that overconfident people reliably gain more status and influence, independent of whether their judgment is actually any good. Understanding the mechanism changes what someone else's confidence should and should not tell you.
How the Fear of Rejection Can Quietly Create the Rejection You Feared
Research on rejection sensitivity found that anxiously expecting rejection often produces the very distance a person is trying to avoid. The cycle is well documented, and so is a specific way to interrupt it.
Your Confidence Is Measuring How Easy Something Felt, Not How Right You Are
A well known experiment found that generating more evidence of your own assertiveness can paradoxically make you feel less assertive, because the effort of remembering felt harder. The finding says something important about what confidence is actually built from.
Why So Many Men Feel Lost in Their 20s and 30s
Many men reach their twenties and thirties expecting to feel confident, successful, and certain about the future. Instead, they feel stuck, directionless, and unsure of what comes next. Here's why so many men feel lost today and how to start finding direction again.
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