Rituals have been around for hundreds of thousands of years – but are they still useful today?
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Articles on Human behaviour
Displaying 1 - 20 of 51 articles
Feeling uneasy about a life choice? Cognitive dissonance could be the culprit.
Research shows hormonal contraceptives may have small but significant effects on behaviour.
Terrible or terrific? There is a lot going when you’re two.
Big data analysis has unveiled startling links between seemingly unrelated things, such as how a person’s physical elevation above sea level might influence their personality.
We used computer models to study the evolutionary benefits of identity fusion.
If both people like and trust each other enough to kiss, the good shared feelings they get makes them more likely to stay together.
Studies have shown that highlighting individual responsibility isn’t quite as effective as it seems
Irrational behaviour during difficult circumstances is rooted in deeper cognitive and evolutionary psychological mechanisms. Many reflect what are called emergency decision and purchasing contexts.
It’s easy to judge people who escape from quarantine as not doing their bit. But if we use some basic principles from behavioural science, we might stop people wanting to escape in the first place.
Even in hospitals, where hand hygiene is vital, staff don’t always remember to wash their hands. What hope is there for the rest of us? Thankfully, research on handwashing behaviours has some answers.
Right now, physical distancing is the most important preventive strategy we have against COVID-19. So why is it so hard for us to do what’s right?
Lots of research shows why video calls are mentally and emotionally taxing.
DNA evidence from the Himba society in Namibia overturns ideas about genetic paternity, and about what it means to be a father.
For many Australians, the bushfire disaster could represent a turning point: the moment they adopt new, long-term behaviours to help nature.
Those money-saving black boxes reveal a lot about the rules that govern our lives.
How will people respond once they realise they can rely on autonomous vehicles to stop whenever someone steps out in front of them? Human behaviour might stand in the way of the promised ‘autopia’.
Where do the cooperative skills that hold together human societies come from and why don’t our selfish instincts overwhelm them? Evolutionary game theory suggests that empathy is a crucial contributor.
Just because somebody else does something doesn’t mean you have to follow. Or does it?
Ninety percent of psychology studies come from countries representing less than 15 percent of the world’s population. Researchers are realizing that universalizing those findings might not make sense.
Top contributors
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Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Academic Lead of UNSW's Grand Challenges Program, UNSW Sydney
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Research Fellow, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University
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Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Psychology and ARC Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland
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Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews
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Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Bayes Business School, City, University of London
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Associate professor, UNSW Sydney
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Research Fellow, University of Bristol
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Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne
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Strategy & Business Development, CSIRO
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Associate professor, School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Sociology (retired), Lancaster University
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Adjunct Professor and Industry Fellow, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Psychology, Monmouth University
