The British Psychological Society's award-winning Research Digest blog provides original, authoritative reports on the latest psychology research papers. Plus we publish a few other fun features too.
The Digest doesn't just pick up on the same studies covered by the mainstream media. The editor trawls hundreds of peer-reviewed journals looking for the latest findings from across the breadth of psychological science. The aim is to write accessible, accurate reports on those studies that make an important contribution, that are relevant to real life, timely, novel or thought-provoking. We want to demonstrate how interesting and useful psychological science can be, whilst also casting a critical eye over the methods used. We also hope you'll use the comments function to have your say on the new research reported here.
There are also 'Extras' posts with links to eye-catching studies that didn't make the final cut, and the 'Special Issue Spotter' with links to the latest journal special issues in psychology. Over the years there have also been a number of special guest features - look out for more in the future.
In 2010 the Digest was voted "best psychology blog" in the inaugural Research Blogging awards. In 2013, it was a finalist in the psychology/neuroscience category in the Science Seeker Blogging Awards.
The BPS Research Digest service started out as a fortnightly email in 2003. The email, now with over 30,000 subscribers, contains information on how the Digest reports relate to aspects of the A-level syllabus.
The Digest also has a Facebook fan-page and a Twitter feed.
Disclaimer: Views expressed on the Digest blog belong to the Digest editor and should not be mistaken for official BPS policy or opinion.
The Research Digest editor
Christian chooses and writes up the studies covered here. He also compiles the fortnightly Digest email, manages the Twitter and Facebook pages, helps with promotion and advertising, and oversees the new Occupational Digest (edited by Dr Alex Fradera).
Christian would love to hear from you - whether you think he's doing a good job, how you think he could do better, whether you feel he's neglecting any areas of psychology? He's also delighted to receive "tip-offs" about exciting research that's been accepted for publication in a journal but which isn't yet published.
Christian Jarrett is a chartered psychologist and associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. He has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UMIST, a masters degree in neuroscience from the Institute of Psychiatry and a first class degree in psychology from Royal Holloway University of London. As well as editing the Digest, he's staff writer for The Psychologist magazine. He's also the author of The Rough Guide To Psychology (shortlisted for the BPS Book Award 2011), editor and lead author for 30-Second Psychology, and co-author of This Book Has Issues, Adventures in Popular Psychology. He's written for numerous other publications and organisations, from the Times, The Guardian and New Scientist to Unilever and the Centre for Affective Sciences in Geneva.
