September 24, 2007
The greatest may never come:
Over the next two weeks the BPS Research Digest will be publishing articles by leading psychologists on the greatest psychology experiment that's never been done.
Each contributor was asked to think of a psychology study they would love to see completed, even if it would be so impractical, it would never be possible.
Two will be published each day over over the coming week, and the first ones have just appeared online.
Susan Blackmore suggests we could brain scan people as they die to understand near-death experiences, while Pam Maras thinks we should do a social psychology experiment that looks at every possible interaction in everyday life.
During the week, the authors will suggest studies on the mind of the unborn child, resisting oppression, kindness-centred care for psychosis, the effect of switching parents, and radically reshaping the mind to improve its performance, to name but a few.
Other authors include Richard Gregory, Will Meek, Richard Bentall, Chris Chatham, Martin Seligman, Jeremy Dean, Alex Haslam, Judith Harris, Scott Lilienfeld and Annette Karmiloff-Smith.
So keep tabs on the BPS Research Digest over the coming week to catch the latest releases.
I've also been asked to contribute, and an article on using detectives to find the line between reality and psychosis will be appearing in the next few days.
I realise that means I included myself as a 'leading psychologist' in the opening line, but the more accurate description of "articles by leading psychologists and one over-caffeinated keyboard monkey" made the intro a bit clumsy. Either way, it should be a great series.
Link to 'The most important psychology experiment that's Never been done...?'
