Psychologist logo
Feed your brain
Research

Link Feast

Our editor’s pick of this week’s 10 best psychology and neuroscience links.

24 October 2015

By Christian Jarrett

How the Internet Has Changed Bullying
Before the Internet, bullying ended when you withdrew from whatever environment you were in, writes Mario Konnikova at the New Yorker. But now, the bullying dynamic is harder to contain and harder to ignore.

The Life Scientific: Robert Plomin (audio)
The behavioural geneticist is the latest guest on BBC Radio 4’s show that profiles the lives of influential scientists (find his research featured in our archive).

Psychology and the Great War, 1914–1918
At The Psychologist, Ben Shephard considers psychology’s involvement, on all sides.

How Food Porn Hijacks Your Brain
Mmm, sweet creamy butter. At New York’s Science of Us, I reported on a new review by Oxford University psychologist Charles Spence and his colleagues.

This Is Why You Don’t Have a Mentor
“Mentorship is something you do, not something you get” and other sage advice from Ryan Holiday at Behance’s 99U.

Hallucinogenic Nights
Sleep paralysis has tormented me since childhood, writes Karen Emslie at Aeon. But now it’s my portal to out-of-body travel and lucid dreams.

What Makes Us Intelligent?
… and does Google and Wikipedia make it better or worse? asks Tom Stafford at BBC Future. Studies show that other people and tools influence our brain power as much as our own minds.

For Babies, Copy-Cat Games Provide a Social Compass
Reporting for the Wall Street Journal, Susan Pinker says researchers are beginning to understand infants’ imitations.

‘Sesame Street’ Debuts First Autistic Muppet
It’s hoped the new digital character (a girl) will help reduce stigma. Mashable UK has the details.

The Science Surrounding Cryonics
“We should remember and even respect that prevailing views are often shown to be incorrect, and that what is impossible now may be possible in the future” – At MIT Technology Review, a group of cryonicists defend the practice of brain freezing (see last week’s Link Feast for a sceptical view of the technique).