The Psychology of Polite Words

For decades, a social psychologist named John Bargh has conducted studies on the way words affect behavior. In one such study, undergraduate students ...

Artist Helps Strangers Truly Connect

Artist Wendy McNaughton was distraught about the incivility in the U.S. So, she started using a drawing technique, called “blind contour” ...

Airline Pilot Scolds Passengers – It Went Viral

When a video of an American Airlines pilot scolding his passengers during a pre-flight announcement went viral, some people deemed it patronizing. Others ...

The People Whose Politics We Loathe

In spite of our polarized politics, it seems that there has long been bipartisan respect for Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt (R) kept a portrait of ...

Study Shows Rudeness Can Actually Kill

We all know bad manners are toxic. But new research now shows that bad manners can kill. In this study, when doctors spoke rudely to their staff, both ...

Civility Pays Off

Parents used to always tell their children, "Now you play nice." But rudeness and bad behavior is growing, especially in the workplace. As The ...

The Tone of Our Truth-Telling Makes All the Difference

"The tone of our truth-telling can build a wall or a bridge," said Ed Waltz.

Ed and his wife, Barb, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, should know. They ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Models Christian Civility

If anyone had a right to unleash an uncivil, scathing … attack on his opponents, it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is hard for [many people ...