Mar 14Are you a lazy thinker?It might surprise you to know, but you don’t know as much as you think you do. This is not to imply that you don’t know a great deal about some things, just that you’re probably overconfident in your ability to explain others. Let’s demonstrate this with a quick quiz. …Psychology5 min read
Apr 28, 20215 Principles of Effective LearningLearning is a term people appear to understand instinctively. But if we pause for a moment and think about all the things we have learned, are learning or hope to learn in the future, it becomes apparent that not all learning is the same. Perhaps I want to learn to…Learning9 min read
Mar 18, 2021The Curious Psychology of Fictional CharactersDo you ever get lost in a book? I know I do. Time appears to dissolve and I often become so absorbed in the story that when I’ve reached the end, the characters remain with me for hours and even days. It’s not unusual for people to hear the voices…Psychology5 min read
Mar 15, 2021Binge watching and the brainStreaming services have radically altered the way we watch television. In the not too distant past we would eagerly anticipate the latest instalment of our weekly TV show and perhaps even feel a little sad when it was over, only to feel the same rush as our emotions cycled round…Psychology4 min read
Mar 6, 2021How our worldview can make us misrememberOur memories are awash with experiences; the daily events of our lives, snippets of history, scientific theories, general information about the world around us… the list is limitless. Over time, these experiences create blueprints in our long-term memory so that we can better understand the world without having to re-learn…Psychology6 min read
Published in The Shadow·Mar 4, 2021Why do songs get stuck in our head?I recently experienced a rather distressing event. It certainly wasn’t life threatening by any means, neither was it an event with any long lasting consequences but, nevertheless, it did cause some short-term concern. What was this thing? I hear you ask. A few days ago I woke with the song…Psychology6 min read
Mar 1, 2021When images don’t come to mindI’m lying on a beach, the gentle sound of the waves crawling to the shore. I can feel the towel beneath me and the sand between my toes; it’s grainy and I don’t like the way it scratches at my skin. I sit up and brush the sand from the…Aphantasia6 min read
Feb 10, 2021Why are UK postcodes so memorable?Postcodes aren’t exactly interesting, at least that’s what I thought. …Psychology6 min read
Nov 16, 2020Should Parents Hide Their Stress?Families can be stressful; just think about the times we gather to celebrate a wedding, a birthday or a religious festival. …Parenting4 min read
Oct 21, 2020What’s up with Generation Z?I’ve taught teenagers for more than a decade and managed to raise one myself; the jury’s still out on how successful the latter has been, but it seems to have gone okay. We tend to see the teenager years as defined by, what American psychologist G. Stanley Hall called, storm…Psychology7 min read
