Drinking coffee before shopping can lead to impulse buying

By Emily Reynolds. Participants spent more and bought more things after a caffeinated drink. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 1 year ago

When we learn more about a stranger, we feel like they know us better too

By Matthew Warren. Knowing about local police officers also reduces sense of anonymity and lowers crime rate. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 1 year ago

Decisions made by human experts can be as inscrutable as algorithms

By Emma Young. We misguidedly believe that we understand human decision-making better than algorithmic decision-making. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 2 years ago

Watching Video Twice at 2x Can Benefit Learning Better Than Once at Normal Speed

By Emma Young. But timing matters: students only benefited if the second viewing was immediately before a test. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 2 years ago

We Mistake Information We’ve Googled for Our Own Knowledge

By Emily Reynolds. Answering questions with the help of Google can also make us overconfident about our future attempts to remember things. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 2 years ago

People with “Maladaptive Daydreaming” spend an average of four hours a da (cont)

Maladaptive daydreaming can interfere with normal functioning, but it's not clear all people with the condition will want treatment. By Emma Young | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 3 years ago

Performing horizontal eye movement exercises can boost your creativity (2009)

There have been prior clues that creativity benefits from ample cross-talk between the brain hemispheres. For example, patients who’ve had a commissurotomy – the severing of the thick b… | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 3 years ago

Cat People, Beware – Posing with Your Pet Could Make You Appear Less Dateable

By Emily Reynolds. Men were rated as less masculine and a worse romantic prospect when pictured holding a cat. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 3 years ago

When Reminded of Their Mortality, People Are More Likely to Donate Posses (Cont)

By Emily Reynolds. Giving away personal possessions fulfills people’s need for “transcendence”: the desire to be part of something greater than the self. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 3 years ago

Why some people find it harder to drag themselves to bed at night

By Emily Reynolds. People who see willpower as a limited resource are particularly prone to bedtime procrastination when stressed. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 3 years ago

Study Satirises Measures of Social Media Addiction

By Matthew Warren. Tongue-in-cheek “Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire” developed to highlight limitations of social media addiction scales. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Abstaining from social media doesn't improve well being

By Matthew Warren. Quitting social media for up to four weeks had no effect on well-being, loneliness or quality of life. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

People Who Try to Be Environmentally-Friendly Are Happier

By Emily Reynolds. In contrast, people who “buy green” are not any happier. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

When People Close to Us Behave Immorally, We Are Inclined to Protect Them

By Matthew Warren. People said they’d lie to a police officer to protect family members who committed burglaries and other serious crimes. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Changing the order of menus nudges customers toward healthier choices

By Freddy Parker. Re-ordering menus caused Coca-Cola sales to drop in favour of sugar-free alternatives. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Why spiky shapes seem angry and round sounds are calming

By Emma Young. We seem to instinctively associate variations in the “spectral centroid” of images and sounds with different levels of emotional arousal. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Lack of Scientific Proof That Microdosing Psychedelics Improves Creativity

By Emma Young. There are still far more questions about the technique than answers, scientists say. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Five unusual, evidence-based ways to get better at a new language

By Emma Young. Getting better at a new language doesn’t have to mean hard hours on lists of vocab and the rules of grammar. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

The “Recency Effect” Is Especially Pronounced in Children

By Bradley Busch. The findings offer a new way to get kids to choose broccoli over cake. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

The human impact of having too few nurses

By Lucy Maddox. This new research adds to a body of evidence that takes the blame off the nurse and squarely places the responsibility on the system to do better. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Testing Prestige and Dominance-Based Social Hierarchies Outside of a Lab

By Matthew Warren. A reputation based on prestige seemed to have less influence in the real world than in lab research. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Pokemon-sensitive region in adult visual cortex if played extensively as kids

By Emma Young. As well as being fascinating, the study has important practical implications. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

Investigation of People with a Sixth Finger

By Christian Jarrett. The results suggest cyborgs of the future could benefit from an artificial extra finger. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago

First Systematic Study of the Advice People Would Give to Their Younger Selves

By Christian Jarrett. The researchers said that we could benefit from thinking about the advice we’d give our past selves. | Continue reading

---

@digest.bps.org.uk | 4 years ago