Here I am, doing a Research Master in social psychology at the University of Groningen, training to become another star in the ‘academic firmament’. And there is plenty of space left at the horizon for you and other future researchers to contribute…
Psychological traits such as self-esteem explain how people differ from each other, but what explains the psychological traits and their development? Psychologists tend to explain individual differences and developmental trajectories of traits based on variables that are separate from the traits themselves. I argue that individual differences and developmental changes can also be explained by looking at the changes in the observable traits, looking within the trait and not outside of the trait.
Are you supposed to applaud after every lecture? Apparently there exists great variability among university departments, and even among Dutch universities. This article provides a radical solution to prevent social confusion.
And there she went, into the night of Arts and Sciences (Saturday 24th of May), looking for the representatives of the Psychology department. A report of a journey through time and mind, brain and behavior.
Academic administrators have responded to recent cases of misconduct by commissioning a multitude of regulations and protocols. The scientific code of conduct of the VSNU is an attempt to formulate the scientific ethos, but it works better as a discussion piece.
In his Mindwise blog post, Richard Morey argues that learning APA style is a waste of time, because computers can take over the formatting of documents. I disagree with this from an educational perspective, and in this post I explain to you why.
Key statistical concepts are poorly understood. I discuss a recent study in which we asked 120 researchers and 442 first-year students a series of questions about confidence intervals. Both groups performed miserably. Surprisingly, researchers failed to outperform the students, even though the students had not received any statistical education whatsoever.
It seems so easy – we do it every day: thinking about our own thoughts and feelings. But is it as simple as it seems?
Distraction is a major cause of traffic accidents, keeping your eyes on the road in front of you is apparently difficult. Whether in a car or on the bike, people are easily distracted, certainly in these times with all sorts of smart media at hand.
Do you find complex jobs motivating, or stifling? It appears that the answer depends on your personality.