Social Brain

Look, for goodness sake just start cycling!

Blog

30 Jan 2013

This morning, the Department for Transport are announcing a £62m investment in cycling infrastructure. Sounds like good news – investment in cycling is badly needed in the UK (although before we get too excited, £62 million is roughly what it would cost to build two miles of motorway, so falls short of whole-hearted commitment to change the way we travel). We lag way behind the rest of Europe, with only just over 2% of Brits using bikes as their main mode of transport. Compare this to the Netherlands (75%), or Germany (30%), and we look pretty pitiable.

Look in to my eyes: what attunement means for communication

Blog

25 Jan 2013

Nathalie Spencer

Have you ever had one of those conversations where you feel like the other person is looking straight through you with a vacant stare?  Not fun.  Or what about that feeling that you know you could acheive something better if you teamed up with someone else, but for some reason you just don't make the move to do so?

Is social networking redefining identity?

Blog

24 Jan 2013

When did you last send a tweet? What did your Facebook friends have to say about how they’re feeling this morning? How important are online networks to your sense of who you are? Chances are you’ll have something to say about at least one of these questions. For a majority of Britons, online persona and virtual networks are becoming increasingly definitional.

Randomised Coffee Trials - Great Idea!

Blog

23 Jan 2013

Jonathan Rowson

Do you ever feel that there are far too many people in your organisation that you would like to talk to, but never get the chance?

Who owns information: The defining battle of our time?

Blog

22 Jan 2013

Jonathan Rowson

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. - George Bernard Shaw

Lessons from Sheffield

Blog

17 Jan 2013

Nathalie Spencer

Today I’m writing from Sheffield, where I’m attending the North of England Education Conference (NEEC 2013).  This year's theme is 'Mind, Brain, Community: Inspiring Learners, Strengthening Resilience'.  Day one was crammed with fascinating talks. It will take me some time to digest it all before writing about it more fully at a later date, but here is a sample of some of the points that stood out from the day:

Could politician’s ‘divided brains’ be behind their failure to tackle long term challenges?

Press release

12 Jan 2013

Given that the world faces so many major and intractable problems, why do politicians insist on trying to address them in a piecemeal fashion, rather than addressing underlying root causes?

Why do we waste so much food?

Blog

11 Jan 2013

Jonathan Rowson

While minding my own business yesterday I received an unexpected call asking me to appear on The Today Programme to discuss the psychological underpinnings of why we waste so much food. They chose me with my Social Brain hat on, because they wanted to explore wider issues relating to people acting against their own self-interest and the nature of irrationality.

You are what you pay attention to

Blog

10 Jan 2013

Nathalie Spencer

We talk a lot about attention at the RSA.  It is one of Social Brain Centre’s core thematic strands, and Jonathan blogged about the potential for it to be fractured by our technological addictions earlier this week.  So I was very interested to see that the article The Essence of Optimism in the Jan/Feb issue of Scientific American Mind was largely on attention, too.