Hello! I hope your Saturday is going well. Here is a talk I gave in November, at the Psychological Society of Ireland’s annual conference. The transcript appears below. Enjoy! * * * * * * Transcript: Psychology, religion, and public policy Now, this particular topic is very wide-ranging. I wouldn’t […]
Christmas
On the psychology of (Covid) Christmas
[A version of this article previously appeared in TheJournal.ie] In the 1930s, US President Calvin Coolidge made the following observation on the annual yuletide festivities: “Christmas is not a time nor a season,” he said, “but a state of mind.” This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a radical rethink of our […]
‘Psychology of Christmas’ media round-up
So this is Christmas; and what have you done? Well, this is what I’ve done: a whole lot of media, surrounding my public lecture on ‘The Psychology of Christmas‘ just the other week. Turns out lots of people are interested in Christmas. Who knew? I’ve made a list (I’ve even […]
»Yuletide Archive: Scientific advice for Christmas (Original Soundtrack), Part 2
»ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 2011 Happy Solstice everybody! As James Brown (above) puts it, it’s time to hitch up your reindeer and go straight to the ghetto! This is because it’s time for Part 2 of my… …SCIENCE-OF-CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! Woo-hoo! (Again) Last time out things were, I suppose, a bit morbid. […]
»Yuletide Archive: Christmas–When will the madness end?!
»ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 2012 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 (see photo). And what a varied […]
»Yuletide Archive: Scientific advice for Christmas (Original Soundtrack), Part 1
»ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 2011 It’s Christmas (kind of). This is a science blog (kind of). And so, therefore, I am obliged to offer you… …A SCIENCE-OF-CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! Woo-hoo! As with all Christmas-related activities, blogging about the Science of Christmas is something of a fixed tradition. At this moment, Googling “Science […]