About us

We digest at least one new psychology study every weekday. Published by the British Psychological Society since 2005, this blog aims to demonstrate that psychological science is fascinating and useful while also casting a critical eye over its methods. The blog continues to grow in popularity and international prominence – in 2015, we received over 5 million page views.

Our Editor Christian Jarrett and Contributing Writer Alex Fradera (see below) are both qualified in psychology to PhD level and they read thoroughly all the peer-reviewed research they report on. Also, the Editor doesn't just pick up on the same studies covered by the mainstream media. He regularly trawls hundreds of peer-reviewed journals looking for the latest findings from across the breadth of psychological science – from brain scan studies all the way to qualitative research on what it's like to experience mental health problems; from research on sports psychology to studies of babies' behaviour.

Our aim is to write accessible, accurate blog posts on those psychology studies that make an important contribution, that are relevant to real life, timely, novel or thought-provoking. We strive to write in a style that educates, entertains and generates interest, but without resorting to hype.

You can follow the Digest via our weekly email newsletter, our app for iOS and Android, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Google + page.

Other features

Complementing our main research reports, the Research Digest publishes monthly longer themed posts, occassional mini-series, guest posts, and most Saturdays, we publish a round-up of the previous week's best psychology links on the web. In February 2015, we launched our podcast, PsychCrunch.

The Research Digest team

Dr Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer) has been Editor of the Research Digest since its inception as an email newsletter in 2003, and he founded the Research Digest blog in 2005. A Chartered Psychologist and BPS Associate Fellow, Christian writes the majority of the Digest material, commissions and edits all contributions, and he presents the Digest's PsychCrunch podcast. Christian became a full-time science writer after completing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Manchester. He's the author of the critically acclaimed books The Rough Guide to Psychology and Great Myths of the Brain. Email Christian.

Since June 2014, Christian is assisted by Contributing Writer, Chartered Psychologist Dr Alex Fradera (@alexfradera), formerly Editor of the discontinued BPS Occupational Digest. Alex's doctoral research at UCL was in the area of autobiographical memory. Today he combines a career in science writing with work in business psychology and improvisation. Email Alex.

Dr Jon Sutton (@jonmsutton), the Managing Editor of The Psychologist magazine, proposed that the BPS launch a "research digest" service in 2003, and he oversees the work of the Research Digest Editor. A BPS Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow, Jon joined the Society in March 2000 from a psychology lectureship at Glasgow Caledonian University (go here for a summary of his academic work). Email Jon.

Award

Under Jarrett's editorship, the Digest blog won "best psychology blog" in the 2010 inaugural Research Blogging awards, and was "finalist" in the psychology/neuroscience category in the 2013 Science Seeker Blogging Awards.

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Note: Unless otherwise stated, all images on this blog are copyrighted. They are reproduced here via a ThinkStock licence.

Views expressed on the Digest blog belong to the Digest Editor or other contributors and should not be mistaken for official BPS policy or opinion.