Why an honest account of an accident can sound like an excuse
Listing the causes of an accident is how safety experts find the truth. To an untrained listener it can sound like dodging blame. Four biases explain why.
4 min read
a/mind
How people think. Fear, belonging, cooperation and belief: the machinery under everyday choices.
When does paying people change what they do, and when does it backfire?
Small rewards can double blood donations or build kids' eating habits. A fine can make parents later, and cash can halve donors. What decides which.
4 min read
Does thinking about death make people harsher? What the evidence now says
A famous 1989 study had judges set bond nine times higher after thinking about death. Big replications since then paint a weaker picture.
4 min read
Does competition make people perform better than cooperation?
Decades of classroom research favour working together. A 2024 lab study found both lift performance, but only competition raised stress.
3 min read
Do pictures of eyes make people behave better?
A photo of eyes nearly tripled payments in an office honesty box. Twenty years on, the effect holds for littering and theft, but not for generosity.
4 min read
Do children adopted from overseas keep any of their first language?
Adoptees lose their birth language fast. Brain scans and relearning studies show traces stay for years. What that says about nature and nurture.
4 min read
Do animals understand fairness? The monkey who threw back the cucumber
Capuchins, dogs and crows react when a partner gets a better deal for the same work. What the famous experiment shows, and where it stops.
4 min read
Can you really only keep 150 friends? What's left of Dunbar's number
The 150 limit comes from a primate brain chart. A 2021 re-analysis found the data fit anything from 2 to 520. What the evidence does and doesn't support.
3 min read
Nothing matches that.