Time to reprint those fan t-shirts, folks, as a new date has been added to my world tour. Next Tuesday evening I’m giving the keynote lecture at Psych Fest 2013, the, er, psychology festival at Mary Immaculate College, University of… Read More ›
Science 
“Psychology’s Starting Positions”
Here are the slides from my lecture from the other week to the Psychological Society at the National University of Ireland, Galway. It’s all about how psychologists — academics in the main — take up biased starting positions in processes… Read More ›
Forthcoming: On value systems, science, and psychology
I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are ideally suited to giving another public lecture at the invitation of a student psychological society. This time it’s at the behest of the Psychology Society… Read More ›
Bad things are bad for you. As are good things.
It’s all bad news this week, I’m afraid. Literally. Not only does it look bad and sound bad, but it also has bad effects on you. It’s all-round baaaaaaaaad. First of all — and you’re not going to be hugely surprised… Read More ›
“Psychology’s one-sided coin”
Here are the slides from my lecture the other week in University College Cork. Kudos to the UCC Psychology Society for inviting me down, and for turning out en masse (it’s a small society) to witness my ramblings. I think… Read More ›
Forthcoming: Psychology’s optimistic bias and the undermining of science
Continuing my extremely gradual world lecture tour, I’ve been invited to speak at University College Cork next Monday evening, by the university’s honorable Psychology Society. Way hay! Everyone loves Cork. (For the benefit of people outside Ireland, Cork is a large-ish… Read More ›
Pseudoscience class. For free!
As part of my day job, I’ve been offering an elective class for undergraduate Psychology majors called ‘Psychology, Science, & Pseudoscience’. I’ve just gone and dumped the entire content here on the blog for all to see… Check it out… Read More ›
Christmas: When will the madness end?!
Christmas, eh? Let’s all deck the halls with boughs of decorations. After all, it’s technically against the law not to. With this in mind I headed into town at the weekend and found me some decos. In a deco shop… Read More ›
At last: “Science Bit–The MOVIE!”
Well, kind of. Here is a video of the keynote lecture I gave as part of the #celt12 ‘Written Word’ conference held last June in Galway, Ireland. Why not set aside 29 minutes or so of your life and watch something… Read More ›
To coin a phrase…
It’s a small world. One that requires some joined up thinking. We need to see the contours among the shadows, to extract the signal from the noise, to construct synchrony from the chaos. You know what I mean. We need… Read More ›
Todd Akin’s empirical question
So, as you may have heard, Mr Akin, the Republican Party Senate candidate in Missouri (hi, Missouri!) has some weird views on rape, conception, and abortion. Basically, this is what the Todd Akin t-shirts are going to be saying this… Read More ›
Be careful where you put that paywall
So, lots of people (in the UK at any rate) are pleased at proposals to provide free access to the results of publicly funded research. Here’s George Monbiot’s tweet: This is great news: free access to British scientific research within… Read More ›
Forthcoming: On ‘The Written Word’
I’ve been invited to speak at this conference next week – The Written Word: Writing, Publishing, and Communication in Higher Education – organised by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway. There’s quite an eclectic line-up of speakers with… Read More ›
Remember, there are no right answers…
For college students enrolled in science-based courses, ‘Research Methods’ classes can often be something of a mixed bag. The same is true for Research Methods textbooks. And I feel I should know. As I work professionally (so to speak) in… Read More ›
Is there actually evidence for anti-ageing creams?
Here is a short piece I wrote for Tuesday’s Irish Independent. It was part of their ‘Science For Life’ supplement (not available online), in which scientists provide answers to “some of life’s big questions“. I was asked to respond to a… Read More ›
Aside: More on the science of college exams
Yesterday I drew attention to a study claiming that students who bring water into exams get better grades. I made the point that at this time of year the media are often keen to report ‘science news’ that can be… Read More ›
I’ve decided to do my bit for homeopathy awareness…
I recently came across this campaign for homeopathy awareness. Sounds good to me, we could certainly do with a helluva lot more awareness in this area. In fact, one of the more surprising reactions I encounter when I discuss homeopathy… Read More ›
