By Matthew Warren

It’s been an eventful year at Research Digest: we’ve said goodbye to old staff members and hello to new ones; we’ve commissioned and published numerous guest posts and features, and sent out dozens of newsletters to our subscribers; and we were even finalists for a national science writing award. And through it all, we’ve been delighted that so many readers continue to turn to us to learn about the latest psychological research. So as we take stock before the Christmas break, here’s a look back at our most popular posts of the year:

Continue reading “Our Ten Most Popular Posts Of 2019” →

The British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, which keeps hundreds of thousands of people abreast of the latest exciting findings in psychology, is seeking an additional writer.

Psychology Blogger
Permanent:
Part Time: 14 hours per week
Grade 6: £33,996.00 (pro-rata)

Although based remotely (with right to work in the UK: see below), you’ll work closely with the Research Digest editor to produce engaging reports on new psychology studies each month, in a style that entertains and educates. You will show readers how the findings are relevant to their lives, but without resorting to hype. Where appropriate, you should have the confidence and competence to criticise studies.

Continue reading “We’re seeking a writer to join our team!” →

After nearly eight years educating and entertaining readers with his reports on the latest psychology research, our staff writer Dr Alex Fradera is leaving us to begin the next chapter of his career.

And what a varied career it has already been: an alumnus of the Mind Hacks group of young bloggers that formed in 2004, Alex completed a PhD at UCL in 2005 in the area of autobiographical memory before entering the world of occupational psychology as a consultant and, in 2011, establishing the popular BPS Occupational Digest (later incorporated into the main Research Digest). Alongside all this, he is an admired teacher and performer in improvised theatre. His creativity, and his diverse experiences and expertise have always shone through in his reports for the Research Digest (thank you Alex!). We wish him the very best in his new role working in the NHS in a therapeutic capacity as he begins the path towards becoming a clinical psychologist.

To celebrate his writings for the Research Digest, here are Alex’s greatest hits (in terms of audience page views), covering research on sexual posing to the importance of critical thinking:

Brainwave study suggests sexual posing, but not bare skin, leads to automatic objectification

Thinking in a foreign language, we’re less prone to superstition

Taking a photo of something impairs your memory of it, but the reasons remain largely mysterious

Psychologists have profiled the kind of person who is willing to confront anti-social behaviour

Class is still written into our psychology – working class folk are more empathic, selfless, vigilant and fatalistic

Massive study finds that a sizeable minority of us are in jobs that don’t fit our primary occupational interests

A daily cold shower seems to have some psychological benefits

No “far transfer” – chess, memory training and music just make you better at chess, memory training and music

Most children and teens with gender dysphoria also have multiple other psychological issues

Critical thinking skills are more important than IQ for making good decisions in life

Alex’s departure means that we have a vacancy on our team. If you think you could be the person to fill his shoes, here is more information on the role and how to apply (closing date Nov 30, 2018).

Merely desiring to alter your personality is not enough, and may backfire unless you take concrete action to change

Already struggling to keep New Year resolutions? Here’s the first detailed study of daily temptation and resistance

Performing meaningless rituals boosts our self-control through making us feel more self-disciplined

PsychCrunch Episode 2: Breaking Bad Habits

Find a gym buddy – not letting them down can be a powerful incentive

The mindbus technique for resisting chocolate – should we climb aboard?

PsychCrunch Episode 10: How To Stop Procrastinating

Whether you snack or not is more about the presence of temptation than your willpower

Step away from the cookie jar! Over-confidence in self-control leads us to temptation

PsychCrunch Episode 11: How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

“Reverse ego-depletion”: People in India find mental effort energising

Less is more when it comes to beating bad habits

Good news! Planning naughty lapses can help you achieve your goals

PsychCrunch Episode 13: How To Study And Learn More Effectively

In 2017, the BPS Research Digest welcomed 2,228,968 visitors, who together helped us reach over 3 million page views. Our free weekly email (which will resume on January 11) now has over 53,000 subscribers. To stay up-to-date with our latest reports, you can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and via our smartphone/tablet app. And don’t forget there are 10 episodes of our PsychCrunch podcast to catch up on (over 90,000 downloads to date), with a new episode coming soon. Listed below are our 10 most popular research articles of 2017. Happy New Year psychologistas!

Moderate alcohol consumption improves foreign language skills

Autistic boys and girls found to have “hypermasculinised” faces – supporting the Extreme Male Brain theory

Thinking in a foreign language, we’re less prone to superstition

There’s such a thing as “autism camouflaging” and it might explain why some people are diagnosed so late

Sexual offending by women is surprisingly common, claims US study

Longest ever personality study finds no correlation between measures taken at age 14 and age 77

No “far transfer” – chess, memory training and music just make you better at chess, memory training and music

Oh dear, even people with neuroscience training believe an awful lot of brain myths

Critical thinking skills are more important than IQ for making good decisions in life

10 Ways That Running Changes Your Mind and Brain

[UPDATE 20/3/17 This post is now closed to further applications. Thank you to the nearly 300 of you who applied. I’m sorry that due to the intense interest in this post it has not been possible to acknowledge each application. We have now reviewed all applications and on the afternoon of Monday 20 March we contacted four shortlisted applicants by email. If you have not heard from us, I’m sorry you have not been successful on this occasion]

Psychology blogger sought

The British Psychological Society’s Research Digest blog, which keeps hundreds of thousands of people abreast of the latest exciting findings in psychology, is seeking an additional writer. This is a paid staff position, initially on a six-month contract, for seven hours per week. Salary is £32,612 pro-rata, and benefits include paid holiday and access to the Society’s pension scheme.

Although based remotely, you’ll work closely with the Research Digest editor to produce six engaging reports on new psychology studies each month, in a style that entertains and educates. You will show readers how the findings are relevant to their lives, but without resorting to hype. Where appropriate, you should have the confidence and competence to criticise studies.  As one of our writers, you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing your work reach our large international audience and get picked up by the world’s biggest publications, from The Guardian to New York Magazine.

Ideally you will already have experience writing about psychology or related fields for the public. And we’ll also need to see documentation that demonstrates your right to work in the UK; further information can be found on the Job Vacancies page on the Society website.

To apply, please send a short email to christianjarrett@gmail.com with the subject line “Psychology Blogger”, explaining why you are the right person for this role. Include links or attachments representing three examples of your work.

The deadline is noon (GMT) 10 March.

It’s been a funny old year, but through it all we’ve kept on doing our thing and loved every minute of it: bringing you daily reports on the latest psychology research. Contributing writer Alex Fradera and I have covered the entire field, everything from the way infant memory works to research on the psychophysiology of post-sex pillow talk. We told you about failed replication attempts, including smiling apparently not having an effect on mood, and provided feature-length research roundups on topics like eye contact and psychology myths. We released four episodes of our PsychCrunch podcast, including an Olympic special on how to use psychology to be a stronger competitor. Roughly twice per month we also published brilliant guest contributions from psychologists and science writers, including posts on why so many people dislike the word moist and how teens are more likely to reject junk food when it’s framed as rebellion.

I like to think that our stories might have helped you make sense of topical events, nurtured your love of psychology, offered you hope, maybe even made you smile. It’s been a privilege to write for you and I hope you’ll join us again in 2017. Until then, here’s a list of the 10 research stories that – based on number of clicks – seemed to intrigue you the most this year. Happy Holidays! —Christian Jarrett, editor

Men who can tell a good story are seen as more attractive and higher status

By age 3, kids know when you owe them one

Why do so many people believe in psychic powers?

The police believe a lot of psychology myths related to their work

Students of today are more afraid of growing up than in previous generations

This is what eight weeks of mindfulness training does to your brain

Experienced meditators have brains that are physically 7 years younger than non-meditators

You hear a voice in your head when you’re reading, right?

Why is it so hard to persuade people with facts?

A daily cold shower seems to have some psychological benefits