Education

On alcohol guidelines and social desirability

I’ve posted a piece at Psychology Today on the methodological problems surrounding Britain’s new alcohol consumption guidelines: The UK government has published new guidelines on healthy alcohol consumption and, yes, as might be predicted, they are controversial. According to the new advice, adults — male or female — should drink no more than 14 […]

“The Point of Psychology (and How it Gets Missed)”: Director’s cut

Okay, the official movie — featuring full slides and audio — has been made… Thanks to Chris Noone for the soundtrack (from the official PSI EGG talking-head version); background to the keynote as per here and here. As a reminder, the audience was a national conference of early career psychology graduates, the conference theme […]

Forthcoming: “The Point of Psychology (and How it Gets Missed)”

The Psychological Society of Ireland’s Early Graduate Group have asked me to deliver a keynote at their forthcoming annual conference. I’m guessing it is because they are “Early” Graduates that my keynote is scheduled for an eye-blearying timeslot of 9:30 AM on a Saturday morning. I’ll have to get up at dawn just […]

Some pieces and bits

It’s early January. That time when other people’s New Year’s resolutions mean that you get lots of emails. About really important stuff that you simply must deal with, like, immediately. These folks need a reply because they only have stamina for a few days’ frantic emailing. After the New Year energy […]

That story on sex differences in the brain, line by line

So, let’s take it from the top: Men’s and women’s brains really are different. No they’re not. This study did not look at anybody’s brains, nor did it compare the brains of one sex to those of the other. The study recorded responses to quizzes. Researchers say that if both sexes had access […]