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• [article] Why no one ever takes your advice — 19 Mar 2016
  The psychology of changing habits tells us that the window to make change is quite small—resistance to change is the hallmark of a process to change, and the advice to others more frequently acts as an obstacle. Learning the shape of the window is the key.
• [article] How scientists are lying to you — 16 Mar 2016
  <p>Science is a wonderful thing. Find a problem in the world, follow the scientific method, and we’re one step closer to utopia. From the &lt;a rel=“nofollow noopener” target=“_blank“ class=“external-link” href=“http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2013/05/01/pi…
• [article] Four models of psychopathology (all of which are problematic) — 12 Mar 2016
  How does one define a mental disorder? We call them psychopathologies–diseases of the psyche. But unlike many diseases, there’s no blood. No weeping sores. No physical trauma. Mental health concerns are broad categories of invisible suffering. Clinicians struggle to define them. And if it’s difficult for clinicians, what hope can we have for the general public? Fortunately, we do have four broad ‘rules’ that help us narrow it down.
• [article] Why a 'scientific fact' isn't quite what they taught you in school — 9 Mar 2016
  <p>Psychology is a type of science. Well, it is if it’s <a href="https://btr.mt/analects/critically-evaluate-research">done properly</a>, anyway. It’s a way to make our guesses about how the mind works into ‘facts’. A way of understanding the mind, just a…
• [article] The five types of couple (which one are you?) — 4 Mar 2016
  <p>Would you like to know how to make your relationship perfect? There’s one easy to remember rule. Influential couples psychologist, John Gottman figured out we need to balance each bad thing we do to our partner with five good ones (on average). Seems a…
• [article] Academic publishers - the biggest evil you didn't know existed — 2 Mar 2016
  Did you know that the main academic publishers have higher profit margins than Apple? Lucrative, no? Also, evil. The Guardian compares academic publishers to Rupert Murdoch and a quick search will show you that they aren’t the only ones complaining. Possibly because academic publishers also sometimes like to do arms trading.
• [article] How our bodies treat rejection like physical pain — 25 Feb 2016
  <p>Would you believe me if I said that your body treats social pain just as seriously as physical pain? By the time we’re done here you will. A &lt;a rel=“nofollow noopener” target=“_blank“ class=“external-link” href=“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional…
• [article] How the media screws you with 'science' — 23 Feb 2016
  <p>The media is breaking science. <em>You’re</em> breaking science. And it’s screwing you out of knowing just what the heck you’re talking about. Scientific facts are guesses. A very well-designed kind of guess that is tested over and over again to make s…
• [article] Happiness is a direction — 13 Feb 2016
  I see the phrase ‘happiness isn’t a destination, it’s a way of life’ overlayed on countless sunsets on Pinterest and Instagram. You might not know that this origin of this quote was a series of academic essays that makes this platitude into something a little more meaningful.
• [article] How fake research articles are making you fat — 10 Feb 2016
  <p>Academic publishers are so evil; they could star as the villain in the next James Bond movie. Don’t believe me? Well, you might if you know that they’ve been known to <a href="https://btr.mt/analects/academic-publishers-are-evil">organise arms trade fa…
• [article] The brain quirk that changes what (and who) you like — 31 Jan 2016
  <p>Your brain will make you like other people more, even if you don’t want to. You see, our brain likes to <a href="https://btr.mt/analects/social-stereotypes">generate sweeping generalisations</a> to free up computing space, even if it causes you problem…
• [article] Four reasons you'll always agree to this kind of request — 28 Jan 2016
  <p>This is the only time that ‘no’ means ‘yes’. I’ll tell you why but first, did you know, asking someone for a favour can <a href="https://btr.mt/analects/ben-franklin-effect">make them like you more</a>? Well, in a kind of variation of that, if they &lt;em…
• [article] Why you would jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it — 23 Jan 2016
  <p>I’m going to answer that age old question, ‘<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" class="external-link" href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ulterior-motives/201004/would-you-jump-the-bridge-if-everyone-else-was-doing-it">would you jump o…
• [article] Rejection changes your DNA — 15 Jan 2016
  DNA doesn’t just make you who are you. It can also change its mind about who you are. A particularly unfortunate example of this is social isolation.
• [article] How reading (good) non-fiction books builds your empathy — 1 Jan 2016
  Reading literature builds empathy in a way your human interactions can’t.