Category: Psychology

Human behaviour towards money can’t solely be explained by its utility, it has a more addictive quality – like a drug.

It’s no surprise that people want money – we’ve all got bills to pay. It’s also no surprise that money is useful – it would be irritating to pay the electricity bill in corn, goats or some other non-monetary quid pro quo. Originally economists argued that the fact that money is so useful explains why we’re interested in it. But when you think about it, the fact that money is so useful doesn’t fully explain people’s behaviour.

Continue reading “Why Money is Part of Human Nature: Money as Both Tool and Drug”

A new virtual reality study finds that 40% of the general population experienced paranoid thoughts during a tube ride. Dr Daniel Freeman at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and colleagues explain that while paranoid thoughts are popularly associated with mental illness, they are actually a normal part of everyday life for many of us.

Continue reading “40% Experienced Paranoid Thoughts on Virtual Journey”

Discover the most accessible and well-written psychology blogs available on the web.

Best historical psychology blog

The Advances in the History of Psychology blog has been going strong for a while now and contains some real gems. Amongst these are a description of the famous Stanley Milgram obedience experiments by someone who resisted and videos of B. F. Skinner demonstrating operant conditioning.

Continue reading “Guide to Psychology Blogs – Part 5”

Think our attitudes predict our behaviours? Think we only use 10% of our brains? Think blind people’s other senses are more acute? Think again.

Continue reading “10 Mind-Myths: Do Any of These Catch You Out?”

Take a trip through the science – and experience – of altered states of consciousness in Jeff Warren’s absorbing new book: The Head Trip.

Sleep is one of the most fascinating altered states of consciousness in which we spend a third of our lives. It’s also the area that has the most research findings and it’s where Jeff Warren starts his fascinating journey around what he calls the ‘wheel of consciousness’.

Continue reading “The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness by Jeff Warren (Book Review)”

Some top executives are now paid very large one-off bonuses for meeting their performance targets. The theory is that setting and rewarding the attainment of targets increases performance. It’s like tempting the mouse with a piece of cheese. But, do humans really behave like mice?

Continue reading “Do Big Money Bonuses Really Increase Job Performance?”

Anyone who’s ever tried to sell a house, a car, or practically anything, quickly discovers that buyers and sellers rarely see eye-to-eye on price. A quick skim through the classifieds in the back of the local paper will reveal endless examples of people overpricing what seem like pretty ordinary items. But that’s not how the seller sees it.

Continue reading “6 Quirks of Ownership: How Possessions Bend Our Perceptions”

A lucid and accessible description of the biases that affect our decision making.

Classical economics is the story of how humans are rational beings who calmly weigh up the pros and cons of each economic situation before making a logical decision. Many aspects of the way our society works are built on this story of how humans think and behave. Unfortunately classical economics, although interesting, turns out to have some serious problems.

Continue reading “Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (Book review)”