40 year anniversary of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment

Earlier this week I was talking to a student about an infamous social psychology experiment from the 1970's that 'went wrong'. By coincidence, yesterday the Today programme had a short piece about the fall out that resulted from the experiment. It still sounds quite shocking, even now. If nothing else the study shows the dangers of what can happen when research is badly designed. If we go deeper it may demonstrate something about how societal roles can shape behaviour, a much discussed topic at present after the recent social unrest.

The BBC today have also commemorated the experiment with some fresh insights from the people involved.

Bill Bratton: Supercop?

You'll have probably heard a lot in the last few days about this American policeman who's about to turn up and 'sort out' everything that's wrong with the criminal justice system. As always with these contentious issues, what we're told arrives in our eyes and ears through the prism of political ideologies, whether that message is mediated by The Guardian, Fox News or Radio 5. The message is rarely, if ever, neutral.

To give you a flavour of what Bill Bratton is all about here's a video showing his talk from last year at the Policy Exchange, a right-wing charity who attempt to influence government policy. He starts talking 8 minutes into the video if you want to skip the introductions. It's a long talk and I wouldn't expect you to watch it all, but if you manage 15 minutes you'll get a taste of why he's being courted by certain interest groups.

Reported link between abuse in childhood and adult depression.

Heard yesterday of a new piece of published work claiming that individuals who have experienced abuse as children are twice as likely to experience depressive episodes as adults compared to those without such a history of mistreatment. The study also found that abused adults do not respond well to drug or psychological treatments. This study is important both in its findings and in its scale (over 20,000 participants).

We haven't access to the full-text of this study as it's published in a journal we don't subscribe to. However, if you're a 3rd Year undergrad or an MA student interested in this study you could always order it as part of your free allocation of Inter Library Loans. For more information on how and what you can order have a look on the document supply page.

Or if you need advice on how to get the best from this free service contact me via the usual routes.

New look to the university website.

This is a simple 'don't panic' post because by the time you read this the library website will have a new look. The content will be pretty much the same, it's simply that some things may have moved around the screen slightly and it'll look different.

I'll be receiving some more training soon on how to write new content for the web pages and overall the change is a good thing. The new system is easier to use so this will give me the confidence to update the web pages more often.

Great piece on the rioting by Zoe Williams in the Guardian today.

I would encourage you to read this piece from Zoe Williams on the current riots.

I don't expect everyone to agree with the sentiments expressed, it would odd if we did, but her conclusions are pretty close to my own. We're getting a lot of polemical opinions thrown at us by a 24 media at present (anyone who saw Newsnight last night will know what I mean) so quietly expressed voices of reason are in danger of being drowned out by calls for water cannons and worse. No matter what your opinion is, if you'd like to express it then I'd like to read it. After all, many of you already work with young people and have experiences and insights that I will never have. I'm a librarian who just wants a quiet life.

And finally, to any of you working or living in areas that have been affected I simply hope you're okay,

Alan

Broom army in full effect.

I know it's too early for analysis of any meaningful sort, but in amongst all the hand wringing and negative comments about social media being used to organise the disturbances, below is my favourite twitter picture I've seen all day.

The clean up army this morning 

Why YouTube is great, pt 28.

An unashamedly light-hearted post highlighting one of my favourite exponents of YouTube.
Dan and Dan have been making satirical films on topical news stories and posting them to YouTube for a few years now. I think they're brilliantly inventive, clever and funny.

If you have a YouTube account you can subscribe to anyone you like so that when they post new videos you'll be sent the details, much like you do if you've subscribed here. It only takes a minute to create an account but if you'd like some help with it you know where I am.

'Generations Apart' on Radio 4

As I'm typing this a new series is being broadcast on Radio 4 that I think will be worth a listen (or a 'listen again' via the BBC website). The series is called Generations Apart and is presented by Fi Glover. The show is looking at the lives and concerns of people from two distinct generations, the 'baby-boomers' born after World War II and the so-called Generation Y born into the age of the Web. This is the kind of programme that Radio 4 does so well - a programme where the voice is the most important element.

I should probably promote Radio 4 even more than I do. As far as I'm concerned it's one of the pinnacles of British culture and has given me more pleasure and knowledge than any other medium. If you're looking for something related to your subject then try 'Thinking Allowed', a programme presented by Laurie Taylor who's a sociologist. He actually presented an episode of the show from UoB when Radio 4 toured some of their shows in 2009.


And remember that all these programmes are available to hear online for a limited period after they've been broadcast. I'll happily give you more recommendations if you're interested.

Marriage and children: any advantages?

I read a report a couple of weeks ago from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS)  on whether children within marriage do better educationally. This is a hugely contentious issue and broadly divides along right wing/ left wing lines although it's clearly more complicated than that. In America this is a particularly polarizing argument with the Tea Party at one of the debate and the more liberal wing of the Democrats at the other. I haven't looked for the writing of this post, but I'd bet any money that the Daily Mail will have plenty of past articles proposing marriage as the cure for antisocial behaviour, any number of educational failings and probably the state of the English football team too.  

Anyway. I liked this debate on the Today programme as it was about not only the issue of marriage but also what you do with the data to arrive at your conclusions. This is hugely important as any of you that have studied research methods will know all too well. I'm not sure how long the live link to the radio show will work so I'd better include a link to the report which the IFS wrote too.

I know the topic is controversial (as so many social science topics tend to be) but that at least makes for lively conversations. If you've the time for a 'lively conversation' you know where I am.

Do you use Internet Explorer? Then you're stupid! Apparently.

Don't get cross with me if you're an Internet Explorer user - I'm just reporting the facts.

A survey looking at the connection between your intelligence (via an IQ test) and the internet browser you use has revealed that people who use Internet Explorer are significantly less intelligent than those who use Chrome or Firefox. The research, published on the Aptiquant website, has been reported in the UK press (Daily Mail) and across many web-based news services.

There is only one small problem with the research - it's all made up. There was no study and Aptiquant, the company behind the study, doesn't exist. If ever a news story highlights the dangers of taking research at face value then this is it. The single person behind the hoax is called Tarandeep Gill and I would suggest you read his explanation of how he did it.

Don't be surprised if I use this story again in group training sessions in the future. It's a brilliant example of what happens when you don't examine the small print of a source. Being critical/sceptical is a skill not a shortcoming and I'd encourage you to challenge me on my sources and data every time I see you.

In fact how do you even know I'm telling you the truth right now...?

Cottage cheese, Israel and why my wife is fed up.

Hello.

Haven't blogged for a while due to a week spent largely on the allotment and then returning to work and encountering an email inbox that's threatening to eat me.

So. What have I missed? The university seems to be awfully busy considering it's August. I've got loads on and this is usually the time of year when I get to think about those jobs I've been putting off for ages-you know, the academic equivalent of ironing?

Anyway, this is the story that I heard today on Radio 4 and it is particularly relevant to my life right now. It might sound nuts that the price of cottage cheese can spark a housing crisis, but it probably pays to remember that a few crates of tea led to the American war of independence.

The availability of affordable housing is a growing issue in this country too. I live in key worker housing in MK (my wife is a teacher) and we found out this week that collectively we make just a few hundred pounds too much a year and aren't eligible for any of the government schemes to help first time buyers. It's very disappointing. If you're looking for research on how housing has an affect on many aspects of social well-being the best place to look is the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A good example of such a report is this one from May, 2011.

I'm in work for the next two weeks before going on holiday again so if you need help with anything don't put it off. Before we know where we are it'll be the new term and then things will really be busy...