Recent research suggests a new way to look at the famous prisoner’s dilemma and how the results could help us better understand human behavior and encourage cooperation.
The “average” Australian according to statistics is a 37 year-old woman with two kids, a mortgage and three bedroom house. But how “typical” are her consumer choices?
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Who is the “typical” or “average” consumer? Is there such a thing? What do they look like? How do they make decisions? Am I an average (or perhaps a below average) consumer? It’s something that comes up…
In 1984, British LGBT rights groups worked on behalf of striking miners.
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The film Pride, which won the Queer Palm Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is based on the true story of what seems to be a rare occurrence in human history: two oppressed groups (in this case…
Friendly or flirting? Science says you stink at telling the difference.
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Are you being recorded? Thanks to the ubiquity of CCTV and camera phones, the answer is more than ever before likely to be “Yes”. Add to this the growth of wearable technology such as Google Glass and…
Watch your step in Copenhagen – no one else will.
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If you’re going to fall, injure yourself and need help, where is a good place to do it? Should you choose a busy thoroughfare or a deserted backstreet? Statistics and experiments in social psychology will…
The ancient Greeks had a term for self-destructive behaviour. It was called akrasia – the tendency to indulge in behaviour which goes against our better judgement or received wisdom – and there is plenty…
A gamma bomb was responsible for Bruce Banner’s alter ego the Hulk, but for most men, aggression is the result of genes.
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Everyone knows someone with a quick temper – it might even be you. And while scientists have known for decades that aggression is hereditary, there is another biological layer to those angry flare-ups…
Subjecting job seekers to bogus personality tests, as the UK did, was a misuse of behavioural insights.
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Do you consider yourself a rational person? For the most part, you probably are. If something hurts, you’ll stop doing it. If you like something, you’ll buy more of it, but you’ll rethink your decision…