Well, it’s that time of year again. So in case you missed any of it the first time around, here’s your chance to have a look at what we’ve been up to. Take a quick dip now, or don a woolly jumper and cosy up with a cup of coffee, and enjoy some of the exciting work that the Social Brain Centre has done this year.
image by Edsel Little
In no particular order, here are some highlights:
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Over the course of the year, and as part of a larger project on spirituality (supported by Templeton Foundation and Touchstone Trust), we held public events about topics as personal and fundamental as Love, Death, the Self, and the Soul. The post The spiritual and the political: beyond Russell Brand recalls the celebrity’s time on Newsnight and asks why Brand’s message hasn’t yet manifested in meaningful change, while introducing some of the concepts that are more fully explored in an upcoming report.
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We published Everyone starts with an A: Applying Behavioural Insight to Narrow the Socioeconomic Attainment Gap in Education (supported by Vodafone Stiftung Deutschland) with a launch event in Berlin, and to wide media coverage both in Germany and here in the UK (see also here).
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Jonathan explains here and here why generic calls to action won’t be enough to save us from climate change.
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The only ‘normal’ people are the ones you don’t know very well tackles the stigma of mental illness. Pair this with our colleague Steve’s book What’s Normal, Anyway?
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Here we explore the role of practising gratitude and its effects on dispositions such as impulsivity and self-control, dispositions known to be relevant for health, wealth, and wellbeing, and how that relates to financial capability.
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In the blog with the highest number of page visits at the RSA to date, Andres suggests that we all are longing for deeper self-awareness.
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Our colleague Ben in the Enterprise team published a report Everyday Employers, which looks at the barriers to hiring your first employee and which includes some insight from behavioural science.
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Nathalie is interviewed on the InDecision blog about the challenges and opportunities in using behavioural science in the Social Brain Centre’s work. In the Wild with Nathalie Spencer.
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On mindfulness, Jonathan writes that it is more than a fad, less than a revolution, and in Mindfulness: what is most personal is most universal, he shares his experience of attending the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness.
Keep your eyes peeled for our last report of the year, Spiritualise: revitalising spirituality to address 21st century challenges, which is due to be published soon. Given that much of spiritual experience is ‘beyond language’, it has been a feat to explore it in a report form and we hope you will find it a compelling read.
Finally, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of our readers a very happy holiday season, and all the best for 2015!
The RSA is closed from lunchtime Wednesday 24th December and reopens on Monday January 5th.
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