Psyche

The Age of the Offended: How Self-Absorption Hurts Us

// ill. Przemysław Gawlas & Michał Kęskiewicz for "Tygodnik Powszechny"

Prof. Dariusz Doliński, social psychologist: We expect other people to treat our perspective as central, the way our therapist does. We want to be understood and heard, not to understand and hear others.

By Ewa Pągowska and Dariusz Doliński

Ewa Pągowska: A Polish travel company recently described on LinkedIn how its Mother's Day newsletter had prompted an unexpected response: a stream of replies such as "I grew up in an orphanage, thanks for the reminder," or "I don't have a mother, thanks for taking that into account." And it wasn't the only company to report reactions like that. What happened here?

Prof. Dariusz Doliński, social psychologist: According to the American psychologist Prof. Ellen Langer, ignoring the perspective of the person you're addressing — failing to tailor what you say and how you say it to your audience — is a basic communication error.

A Conversation With Olga Tokarczuk: On Her New Book, the Right to Forget, and an Epidemic of Stupidity

Poland has never been homogeneous. The author of There's Too Much World talks about how to describe a world in chaos, how the Nobel Prize changed her life, and why Prus is displacing Sienkiewicz. By Michał Okoński, Tomasz Stawiszyński, and Olga Tokarczuk Michał Okoński, Tomasz Stawiszyński: If you

Blank Spots in Earth's History: When the Planet Nearly Froze

A vast hole yawns in our planet's geological record, spanning as much as a billion years. Perhaps this is because the entire Earth was once locked in ice — ice that put life to an extreme test and ground down thick layers of rock. By Łukasz Kwiatek The American

Hermann Hesse, Literary Guru of Meditation: The Phenomenon of Siddhartha

In the years after the Second World War, contemplation became a lifeline for many who had been traumatized by their wartime experiences and were searching for meaning in life. By Maciej Bielawski Let's now look at this story from a different perspective — from the perspective of those who

A Ball at the Elevation: What to Do With a Child at Mass

I took the ball away from my daughter — she answered with a shriek. I gave it back — it flew off across the nave. A moment later, the two of us fled the church. By Zuzanna Radzik Mass fell between nap time and lunch. A playground would have suited that slot

Read more

A Conversation With Olga Tokarczuk: On Her New Book, the Right to Forget, and an Epidemic of Stupidity

Blank Spots in Earth's History: When the Planet Nearly Froze

Hermann Hesse, Literary Guru of Meditation: The Phenomenon of Siddhartha

A Ball at the Elevation: What to Do With a Child at Mass