• Call for articles on topical issues
    27.04.2026 | Announcements and News

    Call for articles on topical issues

    written by: Stella Wernicke, Jana Dreston
    We are currently looking to publish articles on a series of specific themes that we know people are generally very interested in learning more about. This is an invitation to all those interested in writing an article on any of the themes or specific topics listed below to please submit a short abstract on a future article idea. If your abstract is accepted, we will invite you to submit a full length-article to the magazine, which will then be reviewed. Your abstract should be around 150–250 words long, and we wish to have your abstract before November 3rd. more
  • 13.05.2014 | Social Influence & Negotiations

    Would One Direction be as popular if we got to re-run the world?

    written by: Ase Innes-Ker
    In this post I ask why do songs, movies and books become popular? If you love something, it is easy to think it must be its obvious qualities, but if you work in promotion, you know that these qualities are not easy to spot. Usually, we look to our peers to discover new things – what Psychologists call social proof. The work I present shows how important social proof is in determining what becomes popular, but also that appeal, to some degree, matters. more
  • 05.05.2014 | Culture

    Can music create intercultural understanding? According to Madonna (and psychological research), it can!

    written by: Marieke van Egmond
    In my last blog, I argued that Madonna’s lyric of ‘music makes the people come together’ has a scientific basis. There are scientific studies that support the claim that music indeed increases cooperation and, thus, brings people together. But, as you might remember, the second line in the chorus of Madonna’s song is: ‘Music mix the bourgeoisie and the rebel’. In this blog, I will discuss whether she is citing the literature correctly or not. more
  • 02.05.2014 | Solid Science

    Pre-registration watch part 1: Detecting deception

    written by: Anna van 't Veer
    In this blog post, I will report on the experiences of social psychologists, such as myself, with committing ourselves to detailed descriptions of the hypotheses and other specifics of experiments before we run them. In part 1, I briefly cover some basics about this so-called pre-registration and then I will discuss my own experience with a pre-registration in the online journal Frontiers about unconscious deception detection. more
  • 28.04.2014 | Meaning Making

    Free will without metaphysics

    written by: Andrew Monroe
    Despite the resurgence of interest in free will, there remains confusion and disagreement regarding free will’s role in social life, in particular, how people understand free will and whether free will guides blame and praise for others. In this blog post I argue that we need to pay closer attention to the folk concept of free will in order to resolve the confusion surrounding free will in everyday life. more