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Phil Harris
Aug 22, 20185 min read
Head or Heart, But Not Both: Empathy in the Brain
New research shows a simple reason why even the most intelligent, complex brains can be taken by a swindler's story -- one that upon a...
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Phil Harris
Aug 22, 20184 min read
The D-Factor: How Evil Are You?
Is there such a thing as an evil personality type? This is a challenging question for many in the field. By and large, people who are...
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Phil Harris
Aug 17, 20184 min read
Do We All Recognize Fake Laughter?
For those who have attended lectures or training with me will know, I am very interested in laughter as an emotion. Particularly how...
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Phil Harris
Aug 17, 20182 min read
The Eyes Are the Window of Your Soul
It's often been said that the eyes are the window to the soul, revealing what we think and how we feel. Now, new research reveals that...
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Phil Harris
Aug 17, 20184 min read
You Are Tougher Than They Think
Research on how adults deal with adversity has been dominated by studies claiming the most common response is uninterrupted and stable...
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Phil Harris
Aug 10, 20185 min read
Trolleyology: The Nature of Moral Reasoning
Moral dilemmas are often critical feature of working with clients in everyday practice, especially when they become stuck in difficult...
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Phil Harris
Aug 9, 20181 min read
Could You Switch Off A Robot That Was Begging for Its Life?
I love what moral dilemmas can tell us about our brains and how we make decisions. This is a great example of a moral dilemma which pits...
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Phil Harris
Jul 19, 20182 min read
Thought Controller: Position Vacant
While we can "decide" to think about certain things, other information -- including activities we have learned like counting -- can enter...
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Phil Harris
Jul 19, 20183 min read
Early Childhood Memories are Largely Fake
Researchers have conducted one of the largest surveys of people's first memories, finding that nearly 40 per cent of people had a first...
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Phil Harris
Jul 4, 20182 min read
The Three Best Ways to Have Fun
Everyone's so busy these days that it is easy to think you need to schedule time to have fun. But be careful about how you do that, said...
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Phil Harris
Jul 4, 20185 min read
Problems Expand with Sucess
I hugely admire Prof Dan Gilbert's research. You will see numerous references to his intriguing research on the nature of happiness on...
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Phil Harris
Jul 4, 20181 min read
Rewriting Memories Changes Anxiety
In lectures on anxiety and trauma I describe how the re-writing of memories can alter the emotional response we experience from...
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Phil Harris
Jul 4, 20183 min read
Emotional Pitch and Speech
In teaching Motivational Interviewing I describe how we need to listen to the emotional emphasis of the client's statements rather than...
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Phil Harris
Jun 27, 20189 min read
Special Feature: The Marshmallow Test (Slight Return)
I am a big fan of Prof Walter Mischel and his wonderfully simple but hugely influential Marshmallow Tests (you can see some original...
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Phil Harris
Jun 21, 20183 min read
Parents Who Love Too Much
Practitioners of a particular persuasion often take um-bridge at the idea that too much parental involvement can be a bad thing. This is...
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Phil Harris
Jun 21, 20182 min read
Depressed & Left Handed? You Need Different Meds.
Treatment for the most common mental health problems could be ineffective or even detrimental to about 50 percent of the population,...
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Phil Harris
Jun 21, 20184 min read
The Perfect Life Is... Not So Perfect
It seems reasonable that people would want to maximize various aspects of life if they were given the opportunity to do so, whether it's...
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Phil Harris
Jun 21, 20182 min read
The Empathy Assumption
Recently, researchers have debunked the theories canonized in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People that assume you...
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Phil Harris
May 31, 20182 min read
Regret: A Conflict Between Three Selves?
Forsaken dreams. Romantic interests not pursued. Securing a job near home rather than an adventurous position overseas. Our most...
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Phil Harris
May 14, 20182 min read
The Evolution of Conflict Resolution: A Chimp Tea Party?
Recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, Assistant Professor Christoph Riedl's latest research examines a model...
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