BPS Research Digest
A new psych study digested for you every weekday, from the British Psychological Society. Free email http://eepurl.com/bDNM5f Editor @Psych_Writer Views are his
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Why Do People With Depression Like Listening To Sad Music?
By Christian Jarrett. The findings challenge the idea that depressed people are seeking to perpetuate their low mood.
Are Female And Male Brains Fundamentally Different? An Expert Pours Cold Water…
By Gina Rippon. Studies like this can contribute to stereotypical essentialist beliefs that there are innate, fixed and inevitable sex differences in the brain.
Being Prompted To Think About Coffee Elevates Your Physiological Arousal And Focuses…
By Christian Jarrett. Readers might understandably question the practical significance of the effects documented here.
An interview with a deep brain stimulation patient: “I’m worried about getting…
Psychologists have conducted a series of in-depth interviews with a Parkinson's patient contemplating surgery for deep brain stimulation. By Christian Jarrett
The Ninja Brain: Humans Can Prioritise Meaningful Sounds Even While Asleep
By Matthew Warren. The brain’s engagement with the outside world during sleep is far more complex than we often recognise.
"I’m really good with my hands and I hit him" – Children’s…
The capacity for animosity between child siblings is legendary. Psychologist Judy Dunn has described the “devastating lack of inhibition”. Stephen Bank and Michael Kahn wrote about a re…
Men and boys with older sisters are less competitive
One of the longest-debated and most studied issues in psychology is whether and how our personalities are affected by our birth order and the sex of our siblings. A problem with much previous resea…
What’s it like to be a child and your sibling is diagnosed…
By Christian Jarrett When the dreadful news arrives that a child has cancer, understandably the focus of parents and health professionals turns to supporting the sick child as best they can. But al…
Finally Some Robust Research Into Whether “Diversity Training” Actually Works
By Jesse Singal. The study is laudable for showing exactly how diversity programmes should be evaluated.
Feeling awe can sometimes be awful
New research looks into the dark side of the sublime. By Alex Fradera
Glimpsed at last – the life of neuropsychology’s most important patient
Leborgne’s brain Monsieur Leborgne, nicknamed Tan Tan, for that was the only syllable he could utter (save for a swear word or two), died in the care of the neurologist Paul Broca in Paris on…
Researchers Show There Is A Simple Way To Induce Synesthesia In People…
By Christian Jarrett. The new findings have a bearing on theories for how synesthesia occurs.
Are brainy people lazy? “Need For Cognition” correlates with less physical activity
According to Hollywood stereotypes, there are the clever, nerdy young people who spend most of their time sitting around thinking and reading, and then there are the jocks – the sporty, athletic lo…
People Who View Their Britishness or Englishness As “Causally Central” To Their…
By Matthew Warren. The research sheds light on how political identity affects some people’s behaviour more than others.
To Boost Your Self-esteem, Write About Chapters Of Your Life
By Christian Jarrett. It remains unclear exactly why the life-chapter task had the self-esteem benefits that it did.
Bad News For Humanity – The “Bias Blind Spot” Just Replicated (“Everyone…
Back in 2002, Emily Pronin and colleagues first described the “bias blind spot”, the finding that people believe they are less biased in their judgments and behaviour than the general population –…
What Do Today’s Students Get Right And Wrong In How They Take…
By Christian Jarrett. The mundanity and apparent simplicity of taking notes belies the importance of this activity for learning.
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People With Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
By Christian Jarrett. Today intellectual humility is arguably needed more than ever – the insight and honesty to hold your hands up and say you’re ignorant or inexpert about an issue.
Walking lifts your mood, even when you don’t expect it to
A new study shows that an incidental short walk has an uplifting effect on mood, even when you don't expect it to. By Christian Jarrett
Mothers’ reading style affects children’s later understanding of other people’s minds
The use of cognitive verbs like ‘think’, ‘know’, ‘remember’ and ‘believe’ by mothers when reading picture books to their children has a beneficial ef…
New findings suggest it might be better to read toddlers an e-book…
Toddlers who were read to with an e-book learned more new animal terms than those read to with a print book. By Emma Young
Has The Liberal Bias In Psychology Contributed To The Replication Crisis?
By Jesse Singal. There is a link between ideology and replication-woes, but it’s more complicated than many thought.