What we think others do, and what we think they approve of, are factors that have an important influence on our own behaviour. In other words, “social norms” matter.

But, as a new survey shows, our perceptions about these norms are very often wrong. In fact, we tend to think the worst of other...

A major survey of more than 20,000 people in the UK has found that women living in poor areas are almost twice as likely to develop clinical anxiety as women in richer areas. Interestingly, living in poorer or richer areas made no difference to the levels of generalised anxiety disorder experienced by men.

G...

Much of the world still lacks clean, safe water. Progress on sanitation is falling far short of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. The scale of the problem is highlighted by India, where...