By Christian Jarrett Years ago, my wife and I were window shopping in the Brighton lanes when we decided to enter a posh perfume store to take a closer sniff. A smiling sales woman approached and, to our delight, offered us each a complimentary glass of sparking wine and some nibbles. Soon though, our glee turned to discomfort: could we really just walk out having enjoyed the freebies? [ 629 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/does-receiving-favours-and-free…/
By Christian Jarrett The phenomenon of mothers gaining weight during and beyond pregnancy is well-researched and understood – much of it has to do with the hormonal changes that assist fetal growth and preparation for lactation. Less researched and recognised, other than through jokes about "dad bods", is that many expectant fathers also gain weight, and that the pounds tend to stay on (one… [ 717 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/weight-gain-in-new-fathers-is-a…/
By Alex Fradera A systematic survey in the US of people’s beliefs about their own intelligence – the first for 50 years – has shown that was true then is also the case in the modern era: a majority of people think they are smarter than average. The research, led by Patrick Heck from the Geisinger Health System and published in PLOS One… [ 266 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/first-survey-of-its-kind-for-50…/
By Christian Jarrett Clinicians treating teenagers with gender dysphoria, the teens themselves, and their parents, are faced with a dilemma – puberty suppressing drugs and hormonal treatments will likely make it easier for the adolescent to gender transition in due course, and the earlier that process begins, the more effective it is likely to be. However, intervening earlier comes with a greater risk that the teen may later de-transition (that is, change their mind about wanting to transition to the other gender), leaving them with potentially irreversible bodily changes caused by the hormonal treatment. [ 863 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/systematic-review-puberty-suppr…/
By Christian Jarrett What makes for a good life? Current psychological theory highlights the importance of relationships, belonging and having a sense of purpose. Gratitude, forgiveness, generosity and self-compassion often get a mention too. According to a team of psychologists at George Mason University, there is however a glaring omission. Sex. "In theoretical models of well-being, sex is rarely discussed and in many seminal articles, ignored," they write in their… [ 594 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/three-week-diary-study-sex-toda…/
By Alex Fradera The number of psychiatric diagnoses keep on growing, with perhaps ten times as many categories now as there were 50 years ago. This may in part reflect our growing knowledge, which is welcome. But the sheer density of diagnoses makes it difficult for researchers or clinicians to see the wood for the trees, and it encourages them to settle into silos. [ 968 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/searching-for-the-fundamental-m…/
By Christian Jarrett We've all been there: feeling so grateful to a friend or colleague that we hatch the idea of sending them a thank-you message. But then we worry about how to phrase it. And then we figure it probably won't mean much to them anyway; if anything it could all be a bit awkward. So we don't bother. [ 523 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/underestimating-the-power-of-gr…/
By Alex Fradera In theory, our personal traits and interests should affect the jobs we pursue and where we thrive the most. This assumption is baked into the Work Psychology theory of “person-environment fit” and it’s an idea that is foundational to services we depend on like vocational guidance and career planning. But one of its key implications has until now been untested: that people who share the same job role will also have similar job interests. [ 667 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/massive-study-finds-that-a-size…/
By Emma Young Audiobook sales are booming, almost doubling in the UK over the past five years. Some are now sophisticated, being voiced by multiple actors and featuring extensive sound effects. But even single-narrator audiobooks are, it’s been argued, more cognitively and emotionally engaging than print – in part because a listener can’t slow down, as they can with a print book. [ 665 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/audiobooks-pack-a-more-powerful…/
By Christian Jarrett Around the world, more people than ever are locked up in prisons – estimated to be in excess of 11 million people, up by almost 20 per cent since the turn of the millennium (pdf). According to a recent House of Commons Briefing Paper the rate of increase is even higher than this in the UK where prison populations are at a record high. [ 1,213 more word ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/research-into-the-mental-health…/
By guest blogger Dan Jones Amid all the talk of a "replication crisis" in psychology, here’s a rare good news story – a new project has found that a sub-field of the discipline, known as “experimental philosophy” or X-phi, is producing results that are impressively robust. [ 1,202 more word ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/philosophise-this-a-new-project…/
By guest blogger Tomasz Witkowski We could say without exaggeration that the discovery of a means of achieving full control over oneself is something of a “holy grail” for psychology. There is nothing to indicate that we are getting any closer to finding one, but recent decades have brought us a growing number of discoveries that at least partially allow us to enhance self-control mechanisms. [ 878 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/performing-meaningless-rituals-…/
By Alex Fradera Part of my role at the Digest involves sifting through journals looking for research worth covering, and I’ve sensed that modern social psychology generates plenty of studies based on questionnaire data, but far fewer that investigate the kind of tangible behavioural outcomes illuminated by the field’s classics, from Asch’s conformity experiments to Milgram's research on obedience to authority. [ 761 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/after-analysing-the-fields-lead…/
By Emma Young Many animals, including sea lions and dogs, can accurately predict the size and strength of a potential adversary in part by listening to their vocalisations – such as the ferocity and depth of their barks or growls. People weren’t thought to be much good at doing something similar. But in previous studies, volunteers were asked to judge the absolute height and strength of another person, based on the sound of an aggressively-spoken sentence or a ‘roar’. [ 504 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/we-can-tell-from-a-persons-roar…/
By Emma Young People who’ve had an out-of-body experience (OBE) report that their conscious awareness shifted outside their physical body – often upwards, so they felt like they were floating above their own head. It’s thought that OBEs occur when the brain fails to properly integrate data from the different senses, including vision, touch, proprioception (the sense of where the limbs and other body parts are located in space) and from the vestibular system (organs in the inner ear that monitor head orientation, balance and motion). [ 444 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/researchers-have-identified-a-g…/
By Christian Jarrett As well as their cost-saving appeal, the rationale for large open-plan offices is that they are expected to act as a crucible for human chemistry, increasing face-to-face encounters between colleagues to the benefit of creativity and collaboration. Unfortunately it's well-established that most workers don't like them, such is the fundamental human need for privacy and control over one's environment… [ 549 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/open-plan-offices-drive-down-fa…/
By Alex Fradera If you are with someone who is ignoring you while they interact with their smartphone, you have been phone snubbed, or “phubbed”. Phubbing is common, at least in Western cultures – in a recent US survey, nine out of ten respondents said they had used their smartphone during their most recent social activity. There’s also evidence that it is socially harmful, leaving people less satisfied with their face-to-face interactions and generating feelings of resentment and jealousy. [ 447 more words ]
http://digest.bps.org.uk/…/psychologists-have-looked-into-…/
