People are really happier with friends than they are with their families or their spouse or their child.

People who are cognitively busy are also more likely to make selfish choices, use sexist language, and make superficial judgments in social situations.

People who face a difficult question often answer an easier one instead, without realizing it.

I have always believed that scientific research is another domain where a form of optimism is essential to success: I have yet to meet a successful scientist who lacks the ability to exaggerate the importance of what he or she is doing, and I believe that someone who lacks a delusional sense of significance will wilt in the face of repeated experiences of multiple small failures and rare successes, the fate of most researchers.

Policy makers, like most people, normally feel that they already know all the psychology and all the sociology they are likely to need for their decisions. I don't think they are right, but that's the way it is.

I enjoy being active, but I look forward to the day when I can retire to the Internet.

We deeply want to be led by people who know what they're doing and who don't have to think about it too much.