psychology

Unemployment among recent college grads is at 9.3% -- but not for every major. The good news is, you can follow your skills and passions and still find a job. The highest-unemployment majors are often related to options that use the same skills, but offer much better odds of a job.

Dr. Roy Baumeister is a research psychologist who has studied the science of self-control for many years. He's also co-author of the new book Willpower. We asked him how you can boost your willpower when facing financial temptations and decisions. Here are his secrets.

Determining your risk tolerance before you invest is a lot like choosing a delivery plan for the birth of your child. When the contractions start, even the best-laid plans can go right out the window, because it's impossible to predict how you'll feel watching a chunk of your savings evaporate until it happens.

It's fair to say that lots of companies exaggerate the excellence of their products, but do consumers buy the hype? Do we actually eat at restaurants because they say they're "famous" or patronize a business because it has "the best" on the sign?

When it comes to investing your hard-earned cash, today's marketplace offers more options than ever for small investors. But the key to success lies in sticking to a few basic principles -- and avoiding the irrational behaviors that plague our financial lives.

We all know the psychological impacts of job loss and unemployment can be painful. But a new study reveals something that may surprise some victims of this recession: Having a bad job can be as harmful to your mental health as no job at all -- in fact, it can be even worse.

Jared Lee Loughner, the disturbed young man charged in this weekend's massacre in Tuscon, highlights the physical dangers that individuals with untreated mental illness pose to society. But the financial costs of mental illness are high too.

There aren't many surprises on the lists of which college majors tend to yield the lowest salaries. But what matters more than your major is what you do with your degree after you graduate. These courses of study may do poorly on average, but the skills they teach could turn you into a big winner.

David Henderson of Dru Stock describes the disbelief at the NYSE during Thursday's market sell-off. He says investors are scared, and market psychology is changing. (With video)

Question: What do undergraduates who virtuously hold back from eating a pile of cookies and comptrollers who can't get employees to meet expense-report deadlines have in common? Answer: They're tired. Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath explain in Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard