New research shows how easily our imagined choices collapse under the weight of real consequences. Here’s why overthinking them never helps. For decades, the “trolley problem” has encouraged us to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about relationships, personality, and everyday psychology. Have you ever noticed how your mind can’t stop replaying an ...

Most people assume that overthinking is about thinking too much. They are not wrong for thinking this, but they are not completely right. It's really about too much thinking—when they are alone. When ...

I overthink everything. I will often replay conversations in my head for months, thinking about whether I said the right thing or what I should have said instead. I analyse – or agonise – over ...