The biggest tragedy of our times (and why it really matters)…

Apologies for the lack of blog last week – it was my birthday and I decided to take the day off… This week, I want to write about something that’s quite dear to me, but that’s a little off topic from my usual theme. And, Read More …

Getting offended easily: Your right or are you just being a dick?

There’s been a spate of recent media-hyped events in which someone has been offended at something. The media storm surrounding it usually focuses on how terrible it was, how upset the person became, how insensitive the one giving offense was. Blah, blah, blah… Today I’m going to Read More …

Evidence versus hearsay: Learning to think like a scientist…

Welcome to Eclectic Moose’s 50th blog – yup, been doing this for almost a whole year. Hope you’re still enjoying. Please let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to write about or incorporate into future blogs. So, onwards. Today I thought Read More …

The science and practise of compassion: Why we don’t need to invoke spirituality to understand and benefit from compassionate action…

Last week I wrote about how to incorporate the basics of mindfulness into your life. I also promised a follow-up on compassion, but rather than to another ‘Dummies guide’, I thought I’d take a stab at both the science behind compassion and some of the things we Read More …

How to get KISSED (Keeping It Simple Stops Extreme Dysfunction)…

After all the serious stuff I’ve been writing I thought it was time for a bit of levity. It’s also occurred to me over the last couple of years that a lot of our problems stem from our tendency to massively overcomplicate (and overthink) our world. So Read More …

What does a compassionate society look like and why should we care?

We live in interesting times. I’m not sure we’re going to make it as a species (see here) and, recently, I’ve been writing about some of the things that we’re going to need if we’re going to survive (like a sense of humour). I’ve also Read More …

Let’s face it, we’re all DOOMED…

Here’s the deal – given enough time, a biosphere that isn’t collapsing, and fewer rogue states and fanatical morons, we’d probably be OK as a species. Chances are, without the imminent threat of destruction, global warming, famine, water shortages, rising sea levels and toxic oceans, and given Read More …

Why the Nanny State doesn’t work…

You’d think, that with over a hundred years of scientific study of human behaviour, that we’d have learnt a few ways of manipulating human behaviour. And you’d be right (see last week’s blog). So the great irony is that, although governments (or more correctly, government departments and Read More …

The dark side of psychology: Manipulation, mind control, and priming…

In my posts so far, I’ve spent the majority of my time talking about the ways in which psychology can benefit us. Mostly, I’ve focused on mindfulness, and understanding the psychoevolutionary basis for human behaviour so that we can choose our actions. As a part of Read More …

The brain that lied: Limited modelling systems, system errors and frustration…

Over the last six months I’ve written a fair bit on how our brains get us in trouble. In particular, I’ve focused on what I like to call the ‘inner monkey‘, our limbic system: the primitive part of our brain that tries to stop us from being eaten, and Read More …

Psychology in the future: The science fiction of therapy…

As you probably know, I’m a psychologist. I’ve spent a lot of time studying psychology (including 11 years of tertiary training), and I keep up to date on as much of the leading-edge in my area as I can, as well as in other related areas, Read More …

What you should know (Part 2)…

Last week, I wrote about some basic things that we are all supposed to know about (but not that many of us do anything about) regarding our health. This week, I’d like to continue the theme with some stuff that’s equally important to your physical Read More …

Good and bad instinct: Learning to tell the difference between expertise and evolution

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the illusory self, and encouraged a healthy scepticism regarding the things you feel are ‘right’. I claimed that, often, the things that we feel are the right thing to do are very much the wrong thing, themselves the product of Read More …

Memetic inoculation – how to develop immunity to memetic hacking (and avoid the Zombie apocalypse)

A while back I wrote about memes and how they can ‘hack’ past our consciousness (here). I suggested that some concepts, like religion, are particularly effective at getting past our conscious defences because, as ‘sticky’ memes, they are able to trigger a wide range of fundamental human Read More …