psychology Archives

Size matters:The link between social groups and human evolution

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Robin Dunbar discusses his eponymous 'Dunbar's Number', primates to people, and why size matters with social groups and evolution.

Humans are social creatures; we live in family groups, socialise with friends, and work with colleagues. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar’s ‘social brain hypothesis’ suggests that brain size is directly related to social group size in mammals. The bigger the group, the bigger the brain. In this interview with Research Outreach, we find out how Dunbar developed his theory as well […]

Science, AI, and securing a sustainable future

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Around 95% of the world’s population agree with the concept of sustainable development goals (SDGs) as a way of building a sustainable future in the face of the climate crisis. But SDGs come with a hefty price tag. Stefan Brunnhuber is a clinician and socioeconomist who believes the solution to this conundrum is a switch in the global mindset. Sustainability […]

How do power imbalances influence national corruption and welfare?

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A deep-rooted culture of equality provides high living standards for most citizens.

Professor Wolfgang Scholl of Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, has built a detailed model that shows how and where corruption thrives and the damage it causes to social welfare. The social-psychological, cultural, and economic causes and effects are disentangled, and the ethical imperatives are discussed that support a positive outcome. The model confirms empirically that unequal power relations induce corruption […]

A four-model approach to understanding our evolutionary psychology

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Our psychology evolved in hunter-gatherer societies before the end of the last ice age.

Dr James Walter, Emeritus Adjunct Professor at Loyola University Chicago, USA, summarises research in evolutionary psychology focused on the natural selection effects of negative social behaviors that occurred in the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages. To this aim, four main factors are considered: natural selection, comparisons with our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, the social behaviors of modern hunter-gatherer societies, […]

Siegfried Streufert: The visionary editor of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology

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Siegfried Streufert, editor of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology

It’s not often that the expansion of a critical field in science can be traced back to one person; however, that is the case for applied social psychology, which publishes psychological theory and practice in addressing social challenges. The young professor Dr Siegfried Streufert overcame significant academic pushback to found the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. A bold visionary, Streufert […]

‘How well the child has fared in the infant home’

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The notion that babies and toddlers need sensitive care is accepted as common sense today, being espoused in not only parenting guidebooks, but also in the works of US bestselling author Harvey Karp, Dutch therapist Jesper Juul and Swiss paediatrician Remo Largo. Even authors who warn against ‘spoiling’ children do not extend their demands for discipline to the first months […]

Adaptive thinking as a heuristic in evolutionary psychology

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Recently, in evolutionary psychology, many theorists have employed adaptive thinking as a heuristic as it generates hypotheses that can later be tested using the standard scientific procedure. A heuristic is a pragmatic method that, while not being complete or optimal, provides sufficient approximate results for later use. Professor Shunkichi Matsumoto of Tokai University, Tokyo focuses his research on the use […]

The importance of people’s values and self-identities in the acceptability of geoengineering technologies

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Why is the acceptability of geoengineering technologies important? For many, climate change is regarded as one of the most pressing issues in modern times. By 2050, the European Union is aiming to have 70% of its energy supplies come from renewable energy sources. Similarly, one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to provide clean, affordable, and sustainable energy […]

Do we feel free when we make hard decisions? A psychological perspective on feelings of freedom in decision-making

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Dr Lau investigates ‘subjective freedom’, that is the feeling or experience of being free.

Dr Stephan Lau, a Junior Professor at the Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences in Berlin, is one of the first researchers to investigate experiences of freedom from a psychological perspective. Over the past decade, Dr Lau and his colleagues have conducted much research using a wide array of novel techniques to explore different factors which influence our experiences of […]

The Wales Adoption Cohort Study: Childhood Risk and Resilience

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Prof Shelton and Dr Paine’s research examines the mental health of adopted children.

Professor Katherine Shelton and Dr Amy Paine from the School of Psychology at Cardiff University have been conducting research examining the mental health of adopted children in Wales. This research tracks the children across a four-year period and assesses emotional, behavioural, and cognitive factors at different points in time. It also examines how parenting impacts adopted children’s mental health problems. […]