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Edited by Jill Wright,
As I mused recently in my post about the inordinate interest some psychologists demonstrate about behaviour in drinking places, I often wonder what it is that motivates research psychologists to pursue a particular topic. This week, for instance, comes news of a US study which revealed that the expressionless faces poker players try to develop to avoid revealing that they...
Edited by Jill Wright,
I've been doing a lot of smiling since I read a story in The Age about a Sydney economist who decided to measure the income-generating effects of happiness. No doubt because their field is generally described as "the dismal science", economists are quite obsessed with the commodity of happiness. They seem to be constantly casting their slide rules over it. There's...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Psychology Melbourne is continually impressed by the quality of the work done by the Black Dog Institute. This month, for instance, it is promoting Exercise Your Mood month, aimed at convincing Australians that regular exercise is good not only for the body, but also for the mind. You might want to have a look at the video and the comments from...
Edited by Jill Wright,
An article in this month's issue of the British Journal of Psychology reminded me of one of the myths frequently identified by the team of organisational psychologists that can hamstring business. It re-ran an article from its September 2006 edition in which it advised businesses looking for fresh ideas to resist the temptation to hold a group brainstorming session. "Time...
Edited by Jill Wright,
A research paper released early this year by cognitive and educational psychologists has some practical clues for students: easy-to-use study techniques that actually work ... and advice on some widely accepted ones that don't work. You might start by throwing away your highlighter and creating some flash cards. A friend of mine who recently studied Mandarin highly recommends a computer-based...
Edited by Jill Wright,
The ABC's Life Matters report on the Benevolent Society's Next 200 "Our Kids and Violence" dialogue at the NSW State Library last week provides some important and moving insights into child abuse and neglect. The report touches on the deprivation of critical experiences during the early years of childhood brain development - described in research by Dr Bruce Perry as "possibly...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Not wanting to labour the point, I decided that I'd had enough to say on the topic with my two posts last week on the way management and building designers seem to ignore the downside of hot desking and open-plan offices. The psychology of office accommodation is one of the topics that the team of occupational psychologists and management coaches...
Edited by Jill Wright,
When you consider that access to Medicare rebates for mental health treatment depends on a referral from a GP, the fact that - according to an article in Medical Observer - some of them hold unhelpful attitudes to people with mental illness is a little disturbing. If a medical professional happens to hold prejudices that lead him to view people...
Edited by Jill Wright,
One of the questions raised by Australian Population Census data of recent decades is whether we might be experiencing the era of the disappearing parent. The data, picked up in a report on family trends compiled by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, shows that among families with children under 18, the proportion of mothers in the workforce has steadily...
Edited by Jill Wright,
It was quite a coincidence to discover an article in the online version of the human relations publication HC Magazine, covering some of the areas I touched on yesterday in my post on the psychological implications of physical office space. HC initially pointed out that hot-desking has positives and negatives, and quoted Keti Malkoski, a research psychologist at Schiavello, who...