Heuristics

Well, think about just what it is that "Jeopardy!" really tests in people. It's nothing less than the natural human ability to negotiate a vast amount of general knowledge and all very rapidly.

We think of Spokane and Olympia as psychologically close because they're both in Washington, even though Olympia is actually much closer to Portland, Ore. The mapmaker in our neurons favors the category over actual proximity.

New research suggests that our moral judgments about property ownership may be an intuitive process--one more fundamental than society's laws and regulations.

My adventures in happiness research led me to the concept of heuristics. Heuristics are "rules of thumb," the quick, common sense principles people apply to solve a problem or make a decision.