The British Army is bringing in a new brigade, specialising in psychological warfare, and particularly the use of social media. Whereas the infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers have been staple units…
Peter Sarsgaard stars as the psychologist Stanley Milgram in the new film The Experimenter.
BB Film Productions
Why have the landmark psychology experiments of the post-war era proved so enduring? Designed as dramas about human behaviour, experimenters drew on theatrical techniques and tailored their results for…
Security conscious. Behind Boris Johnson’s analysis of terror.
BackBoris2012 Campaign Team
Last week, London’s mayor Boris Johnson generated a largely negative reaction when he described European jihadis as “wankers” – people who feel they are failures and that the world is against them. Now…
Don’t leave your peace of mind behind.
Jaromir Urbanek
If you forgot your phone at home, you may get a sense of being incomplete in some way, the itch you just can’t scratch each time you reach for your absentee phone. Our phones have become such integral…
The sex ratio in your community may affect what you’re looking for in a relationship.
Hearts image via www.shutterstock.com.
Hoarding looks weird and is often cruelly parodied on television, where shows suggest that the solution to a compulsive desire to keep stuff is simply a matter of heroically chucking it out. But for those…
“I will definitely give up smoking – that’s my New Year’s resolution,” she stated emphatically as she thumped her fist on the table to underline her determination. “All very well”, I thought, as I sat…
Do we need religion in order to be moral? George Washington cautioned against “indulg[ing] the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion”, and today more than half of Americans believe…
People do disgusting and disruptive things on airplanes. They show little regard or patience for fellow passengers and their needs. Inconsiderate behavior on the part of passengers can make air travel…
A woman views the floral memorial outside the fenced off Lindt Chocolate cafe in Martin Place in Sydney.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
It’s the question everyone is asking – could the Sydney siege have been predicted and therefore prevented based on the past behaviour of gunman Man Haron Monis. Monis’ troubled history was well known to…
Our reaction to disgusting things may be evolutionarily-derived.
Flickr/Rainja
Feeling queasy? How about deceitful? New research shows feelings of disgust encourage unethical, self-interested behaviours such as lying to get more money. At first look, these findings would suggest…
Evolutionary psychology, the field that uses the process of natural selection to provide a theoretical framework to explain human behaviour, gets in the press a lot. And if there’s one thing that gets…
Protestors in Ferguson, Missouri, after the Monday evening announcement of no charges over a teenager’s killing.
EPA/Tannen Maury
The announcement Monday evening in the US that there would be no charges against a policeman over the shooting of a teenager is puzzling and already the target of critique. It’s not just the decision itself…
We know different coloured plates can affect how food ‘tastes’ … and now we know that the same applies to coffee.
Esti Alvarez/Flickr
In Australia, around a billion cups of coffee a year are consumed in cafés, restaurants and other outlets. Even Britain, a nation famous for its fondness for tea, has in recent years seen a dramatic rise…
Faced with uncertainty and unpredictability, your brain’s on its way to anxiety.
Woman image via www.shutterstock.com.
Modern life can feel defined by low-level anxiety swirling through society. Continual reports about terrorism and war. A struggle to stay on top of family finances and hold onto jobs. An onslaught of news…
Different people behave in different ways behind the wheel of a car.
Flickr/Nuno Sousa
Personality traits can be used to predict a lot about a person. They can tell about their probable career success, if they’re likely to get divorced, their risk at dying early from disease – and now, how…
You might never know that you’re hard of thinking.
Robin Zebrowski/Flickr
This is the second article in a series, How we make decisions, which explores our decision-making processes. How well do we consider all factors involved in a decision, and what helps and what holds us…
Our brains make judgements about images before we’re even aware of making a decision.
A Health Blog/Flickr
This is the first article in a series, How we make decisions, which explores our decision-making processes. How well do we consider all factors involved in a decision, and what helps and what holds us…
Go with the group on trick or treat this Halloween.
Sean Locke Photography
Halloween is upon us tonight and it’s all just a bit of harmless fun, right? Or is there truly a dark side to Halloween? What should we make of kids getting together in groups, wearing costumes that hide…
Five years on, the bush and people are recovering well from the Black Saturday fires.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Five years on from the devastating Black Saturday fires that swept through central Victoria in February 2009, research shows that people and communities are largely recovering well. In the first major…