Social Brain

Disabled? Say hello to hard times

Blog

08 Apr 2013

Today marks the beginning of the end of Disability Living Allowance. As of now, new applicants in the North East and North West will be assessed for the coalition government's replacement for the non-means tested benefit, the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Anyone whose award is up for review will go through the PIP assessment process, and the plan is that by 2018, more than 400,000 people who currently get DLA will not get PIP. This means that around 20% of people who currently receive DLA will lose the benefit all together.

Behavioural Boozenomics!

Blog

04 Apr 2013

Nathalie Spencer

Gathered together in a snug area of a busy central London pub, people are enjoying a drink and nibbling on some crisps, enthusiastically chatting to one another. So far, so normal. But when you get within earshot of this group, you realise something surprising: they are all talking about things like irrationality, randomised controlled trials, social norms and cognitive biases…

Stigma of mental illness? Alive and well

Blog

25 Mar 2013

The stigma of mental illness is alive and well. Despite the fact that campaigns like Time to Change have been working hard to eliminate stigma and discrimination against people with mental health conditions, it seems that it’s still all too easy to casually slip into a culture of blame.

Stigmatising cyclists? As easy as riding a bike

Blog

20 Mar 2013

I recently outed myself as something of an evangelist for cycling. If everyone took to their bikes instead of cars and buses for short, local journeys, we really could make a massive dent in our carbon emissions.  We’d be fitter, healthier, more energised.

International Day of Happiness

Blog

19 Mar 2013

Nathalie Spencer

Mark your calendars – tomorrow is the first International Day of Happiness!

Flow: How not to crash into trees

Blog

18 Mar 2013

Being a social brain researcher, I frequently find myself reading about, thinking about and talking about concepts of human behaviour in the abstract. We might be working on an idea as to how to help people alter their habits, make decisions differently or change their patterns of attention, and at times it can all seem quite far removed from the quotidian reality of my own life. So, it’s great when, on occasion, these things come to life and I experience them directly.

Can we resolve our energy 'trilemma'?

Blog

13 Mar 2013

Jonathan Rowson

As part of our research for 'The Power of Curiosity' report I came upon a particularly arresting turn of phrase that encapsulates one of the major policy issues of our time: 'the energy trilemma.'

What form of behaviour change does climate change call for?

Blog

05 Mar 2013

Jonathan Rowson

“If the biosphere is wrecked, it will be done by nice, well-meaning, cosmopolitan people who accept the case for cutting emissions, but who won’t change by one iota the way they live.”   (G Monbiot, Heat, 2007, xvii)

Increasing organ donation – but not the way you think…

Blog

20 Feb 2013

Nathalie Spencer

How do you get 500,000 people to register to be organ donors?  Many people reading this blog may know about the use of default options to very successfully increase registration.  But it seems that there is another way: Facebook.  The use of the social media giant to create a surge of new donor registrations was presented at a conference last week, Social Media and Behavioral Economics.