Social Brain

Fasting: fad or panacea?

Blog

13 Feb 2013

Fancy losing weight, looking younger, living longer, fending off Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even cancer, whilst eating whatever you want? This is only some of what the 5:2 fasting diet claims to offer, and the only catch is that you have to fast twice a week. The ‘fast’ days do not require complete starvation, but instead involve heavily restricted calories – 500 for a woman and 600 for a man. It’s up to the individual how to make up the calories, but the suggestion is that you eat breakfast and one other meal, either lunch or dinner.

In Search of a Prime Example

Blog

08 Feb 2013

Jonathan Rowson

If you are interested in Social Psychology (and who isn't?) you'll be well aware of some of the wonderful experiments on priming i.e. situations where participants are exposed to a certain kind of stimulus that influences their response to a future stimulus. The evidence on priming appears to suggest, for instance, that:

The Wit and Wisdom of Jules Evans

Blog

06 Feb 2013

Jonathan Rowson

I first met Jules Evans at a Franco-British council's conference on the measurement of well-being. That's him with the microphone, and yours truly listening intently.

Soap dodging: Would you shower less to save the planet?

Blog

05 Feb 2013

Do you care about climate change? Do you think you have a role to play in helping to reduce carbon emissions? Would you make small changes if you knew they would make a difference? What’s stopping you?

The key to eternal happiness

Blog

04 Feb 2013

Nathalie Spencer

I recently came across an interesting blog post on a psychology website, written by Raj Raghunathan.  The title alone, Happiness Now, or Happiness Later?, evokes a series of questions:  Which is better?  Can we choose?  Can’t we have both?

Divided Brain, Divided World

Report

01 Feb 2013

What is the practical significance of the scientific fact that the two hemispheres of our brains have radically different ‘world views’?

Look, for goodness sake just start cycling!

Blog

30 Jan 2013

This morning, the Department for Transport are announcing a £62m investment in cycling infrastructure. Sounds like good news – investment in cycling is badly needed in the UK (although before we get too excited, £62 million is roughly what it would cost to build two miles of motorway, so falls short of whole-hearted commitment to change the way we travel). We lag way behind the rest of Europe, with only just over 2% of Brits using bikes as their main mode of transport. Compare this to the Netherlands (75%), or Germany (30%), and we look pretty pitiable.

Look in to my eyes: what attunement means for communication

Blog

25 Jan 2013

Nathalie Spencer

Have you ever had one of those conversations where you feel like the other person is looking straight through you with a vacant stare?  Not fun.  Or what about that feeling that you know you could acheive something better if you teamed up with someone else, but for some reason you just don't make the move to do so?

Is social networking redefining identity?

Blog

24 Jan 2013

When did you last send a tweet? What did your Facebook friends have to say about how they’re feeling this morning? How important are online networks to your sense of who you are? Chances are you’ll have something to say about at least one of these questions. For a majority of Britons, online persona and virtual networks are becoming increasingly definitional.