Gratitude is my unsung hero because expressing gratitude with others, even in small ways, is important for feelings of closeness, bonding and interpersonal relations, its low cost, and it reduces our stress levels. Of course, chronic stress isn't just as simple as what we perceive, no amount of growth mindset or challenge thinking is going to takeaway systemic racism, sexism, or poverty - but we do know that control along with predictability can reduce stress responses.

Austen’s fictional characters provide a frame for us to think about the people behind our posts and blogs who are silent, and they are the majority. Some estimates suggest that 70-80% of activity in social spaces is passive in nature, a surprisingly small percentage of readers contribute by comment. It’s easy to forget this, especially when our social spaces are geared up to capture participation moments through likes, shares, restacks and replies and again this is nothing new in the way we behave socially.

They're watching me!" Psychologically Speaking explores the imagined audiences and context collapse of imposter phenomenon

The psychologically speaking podcast launches next Monday on January 15th and it feels a bit weird, I'm equal parts excited and apprehensive about putting my research out into the world in this way.

I'm going to drop in a quote from my friend (part of my cheerleading squad if you like) that was sent to me on Instagram last night when I mentioned how I was feeling.

She said 'You're one of the most positive and confident people I know.'

I probably am, but I'm also human! so today I'm sharing with you why I chose Imposter phenomenon as my research area and how imposter experiences have shaped and continue to shape the way I work.

We are psychologically biased to love a good story, but it’s always worth a fact check.

Thomas Eddison is famous for inventing lightbulbs, he invented the incandescent lightbulb with the filament, that’s an important detail because lightbulbs (albeit rubbish lightbulbs) did exist before incandescent.

How do you measure the human experience? Reading, listening, and observing are all things I love about psychology. Being able to look for cracks and gaps in evidence is a critical skill, on the one hand this looks like giving voice to people who put their hand up to be part of studies, and on the other, considering who is silent and why that might be.

Sometimes we assume that experts and people who have done things many, many times find difficult things less stressful. We are told that practice makes perfect, so it can feel like we are failing when we experience a physical stress reaction to something that scares us a little bit.

Moderate procrastination is good for creativity, but too much procrastination leads to a short blog. This week’s blog is a reminder that planned procrastination (it’s a thing!) is risky business.

We all experience periods of limbo that are less life threatening, and often we have created or pushed ourselves into these limbo spaces with the choices we make.

Assuming we are looking forward to leaving the house, we take daily habits and routines for granted, in part, because we’ve practiced enough to run them on autopilot.

Some psychologists think we listen to music that most closely relates to our own relationships, and this is highlighting our global western preference for avoidant style music.

We tend to think of self-esteem as being a root cause of problems, and it’s deeply embedded in the way we think about lots of things.