Getting Brighter

Social media is commonly branded as one of the key factors responsible for deteriorating mood and mental health, especially in adolescents – but is the science in agreement? Join us as we delve into the double-edged sword that is social media, and take a closer look at the magnitude of its well documented relationship with outcomes such as well-being, depression, loneliness, and body image. We discuss why social media can have such an effect – positive or negative – on our mental health, and uncover some of the factors that determine whether social media is good or bad for us. 

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Lonely people use Facebook, rather than Facebook makes its users lonely: Does Facebook make you lonely? A meta analysis (Computers in Human Behaviour, 2014)
• The assumption that social media use has severe detrimental consequences is not well supported by existing evidence: Are social media ruining our lives? A review of meta-analytic evidence (Review of General Psychology, 2019)
• Higher levels of depression are associated with greater upward social comparisons: Is social network site usage related to depression? A meta-analysis of of facebook-depression relations (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2019)
• No clear evidence that increased social media use is responsible for decreased face-to-face interaction: Social media use, social displacement, and well-being (Current Opinion in Psychology, 2022)
• Time spent on social media is associated with reduced social connection and well-being, but only when used passively: Social media intensity, social connection, and user well-being: The moderating role of passive social media use (Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 2023)
• Taking a social media break results in less positive emotions for active users, and has no effect for passive users: Taking a break: The effect of taking a vacation from Facebook and Instagram on subjective well-being (PloS One, 2019)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Money makes the world go around - but how rational and smart are we with our money decisions? Science shows that our upbringing, surroundings, and past experience can expose us to a series of biases that makes us less smart with money than we might think! Join us as we uncover a series of money mistakes and bust a bunch of money myths, all in the hope of making you better informed about the psychology of money.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Lottery winners only marginally happier than paraplegics: Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1978)
• Emotional wellbeing plateaus at $75K/year: High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being (PNAS, 2010)
• Spending on others makes us feel better than on ourselves: Spending money on others promotes happiness (Science, 2008)
• Time-saving purchases make us happier than material ones: Buying time promotes happiness (PNAS, 2017)
• Women underestimate their financial knowledge, men overestimate it: Overconfidence and investment: An experimental approach (Journal of Corporate Finance, 2017)
• Losing is emotionally twice as potent as winning: Neural markers of loss aversion in resting-state brain activity (NeuroImage, 2017)

📚 Books and other resources:

• The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel, 2020)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Is there such a thing as a ‘highly motivated person’, or is motivation something that can be cultivated by our social surroundings? In this episode, we discuss some of the key motivators that drive us to engage in health behaviour, perform in the workplace, and achieve academically. We also discuss some science-backed standards for defining your goals by considering both their content (what is it you want to achieve?) and framing (what is the intention behind your goal?)

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Interventions that increase autonomy support improve physical and psychological health due to increases in self-determination: A meta-analysis of self-determination theory-informed intervention studies in the health domain (Health Psychology Review, 2021)
• Meta-analysis identifying the job-design characteristics associated with the satisfaction of psychological needs and positive work outcomes: Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2007)
• Facilitation of psychological needs via teaching practice is essential to the achievement of student learning outcomes: Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom (Theory and Research in Education, 2009)
• In 90% of studies, specific and challenging goals lead to higher performance than easy or 'do your best' goals: Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980 (Psychological Bulletin, 1981)
• Intrinsic and extrinsic life goals are associated with separable outcomes: Further examining the American dream (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1996) 
• Critical review of use of the SMART mnemonic for setting physical activity goals: The (over)use of SMART goals for physical activity promotion (Health Psychology Review, 2023)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior (Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, 1985)
• A Theory of Goal Setting & Task Performance (Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, 1990)
• There’s a S.M.A.R.T way to write management’s goals and objectives (George Doran, 1981)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

We all know the feeling of a post-lunch slump or the Christmas dinner food coma. How else might our diet impact how we feel, and could there be serious implications for our mental health? We dig deep into the science on how what we eat makes us feel. We also discuss the effects of being vegetarian, vegan, keto and paleo on mental health, and what micronutrients we might lack for optimal mental health.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Mice displayed “depression-like behaviour” after 3 weeks of a high-fat diet: Normal diet Vs High fat diet - A comparative study: Behavioral and neuroimmunological changes in adolescent male mice (Metabolic Brain Disease, 2018)
• Large UK-based study showing link between a poor-quality diet and depression: Multiple lifestyle factors and depressed mood: a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the UK Biobank (N = 84,860) (BMC Medicine, 2020)
• Changed diet leads to 4x greater improvement in depression than social support group: A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the ‘SMILES’ trial) (BMC Medicine, 2017)
• Vegetarians may experience slightly more negative emotions: Vegetarianism, depression, and the five factor model of personality (Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 2018)
• People whose reasons for following a diet align with values are most successful: “An Important Part of Who I am”: The Predictors of Dietary Adherence among Weight-Loss, Vegetarian, Vegan, Paleo, and Gluten-Free Dietary Groups (Nutrients, 2020)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Gut (Giulia Enders MD, 2014)
• 10% Human (Dr Alanna Collen, 2015)
• The Inflamed Mind (Edward Bullmore MD, 2018)
• 30 Plants Per Week Challenge (template by Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, 2021)
• Michael Pollan’s food rules (Michael Pollan, 2010)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Be it emailing a distant relative, replying to your friend on the group chat, or joining colleagues for a Zoom meeting – communicating online is the new normal. Sure, it might be quicker, but are we actually communicating more effectively? In this episode, we discuss whether there are just some things that are better said in-person, and whether all mediums for online communication should be considered equal. We also delve into the science of Zoom-fatigue, and uncover how to feel less exhausted by the constant screen time. Join us to find out how you can communicate well online (and stay well doing it!)

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Work-from-anywhere associated with a 4.4% increase in work output vs. work-from-home: Work-from-anywhere: The productivity effects of geographic flexibility (Strategic Management Journal, 2021)
• Communication gap when conveying emotion online: Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think? (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005)
• Communication gap when asking for help online: Should I ask over zoom, phone, email, or in-person? Communication channel and predicted versus actual compliance (Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2021)
• Videoconference meetings increase fatigue with immediate effect: Videoconference fatigue? Exploring changes in fatigue after videoconference meetings during COVID-19 (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2021)

📚 Books and other resources:

• The state of workplace communication in 2024 (Forbes Advisor, 2023)
• New data: US & UK office workers say it's time to rethink digital communication for the modern workplace (GlobalNewswire, 2022)
• Stanford researchers identify four causes for ‘Zoom fatigue’ and their simple fixes (Stanford News, 2021)
• Can virtual meeting spaces save us all from Zoom fatigue? (The Guardian, 2021)
• Designing the new hybrid meeting experience – for everyone (Microsoft, 2023)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Neuro-what? A big word to describe the brain’s way of repairing and renewing itself. We break down all the neuroscience talk to tell you what the latest science says about keeping our brains healthy. Do we still grow new neurons as adults? Why is it important? What can we do to help our brains keep healthy, and what may we be doing that harms it? Tune into episode 5 to find out.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Taxi drivers’ brains have increased volume in the area in charge of spatial navigation: Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2000)
• Landmark study discovering adult neurogenesis in mice: De novo generation of neuronal cells from the adult mouse brain (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1992)
• Expert consensus confirming human adult neurogenesis: Human adult neurogenesis: Evidence and remaining questions (Cell: Stem Cell, 2018)
• Leading theory of adult neurogenesis: The neurogenic reserve hypothesis: What is adult hippocampal neurogenesis good for? (Trends in Neurosciences, 2008)
• Older adults exercising 3x/week for a year showed a 2-year brain age reversal: Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011)
• Neurogenesis-inspired programs studied by Prof Tracy Shors: Mental and Physical (MAP) Training: A neurogenesis-inspired intervention that enhances health in humans (Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2014)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Neurogenesis may be the mechanism behind effects in psychedelics trials (Nature News, 2023)
• SHIELD mnemonic for maintaining brain health (Harvard Health Publishing, 2021)
• Mindfulness meditation resources: Headspace [no affiliation], Medito [Masha previously served as their Research Officer and is on their Scientific Advisory Board but has no financial ties]

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter!

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

While we may like to imagine that we’re entirely in control of how we think and act, the groups that are most important to us hold influence over almost every aspect of our lives – including whether we smoke, exercise, or recycle. In this episode, we discuss the power of group norms (what others do, and what they approve of), and why their influence is often underestimated relative to other individual, social, or economic factors. We leave you with tips for exerting positive social influence, so that you can harness the power of groups!

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Descriptive anti-littering norms can reduce littering behaviour by 26%: The transsituational influence of social norms (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993)
• People typically underestimate the importance of normative social influence in explaining their energy conservation behaviour: Normative social influence is underdetected (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2008)
• Group norms only impact behaviour for those who strongly identify with the group: Group norms and the attitude-behaviour relationship: A role for group identification (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1996)
• Attitudes have the strongest association with intentions to behave healthily, followed by descriptive norms: Descriptive norms as an additional predictor in the theory of planned behaviour: A meta-analysis (Current Psychology, 2003)
• Descriptive norms that undermine injunctive norms have little impact: Congruent or conflicted? The impact of injunctive and descriptive norms on environmental intentions (Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2012)
• Research demonstrating the importance of leaders “practising what they preach”: Leader's group-norm violations elicit intentions to leave the group – If the group-norm is not affirmed (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2019)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini, 1984)

📱 Connect with us on social media!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getbrighterpod/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@getbrighterpod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Working four days instead of five for the same salary may sound too good to be true - but is it? The 4-day work week campaign has been getting steady traction since the first small trials 5 years ago. Several large-scale trials across multiple countries have now tested the ‘work arrangement of the future’, with many more underway. We explain where the idea for dropping a workday first came from, dig into the results of the trials for employee wellbeing, productivity, and earnings, then discuss whether we may see the 4-day work week becoming the new normal any time soon.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Report on the first 4-day week trial (New Zealand, 2019)
• Report on the largest-to-date trial (UK, 2023)
• Report on the largest North American trial (USA, 2023)
• Full repository of research by 4 Day Week Global

📚 Books and other resources [please note that none of the below are formally affiliated with Getting Brighter]:

• The 4 Day Week Global campaign
• The 4 Day Week UK-based campaign
• Time Magazine names 4 Day Week Global one of top 100 most influential companies of 2023
• 4-day week employers and job directories: https://www.4dayweek.co.uk/employers, https://fourdayweek.co.uk, https://4dayweek.io/companies/uk

📱 Connect with us on social media!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getbrighterpod/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@getbrighterpod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Though we may not realise it, our environments are often designed with the intention of ‘nudging’ us towards more desirable choices – a phenomenon known as choice architecture. In this episode, we introduce you to two of the main techniques used in choice architecture – nudges and defaults – and demonstrate how influential they can be in guiding the choices we make about our health, savings, and the environment. We provide you with tips for how you can build this science into your daily routine, so you can become the choice architect in your own life!

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Study comparing opt-out (presumed consent) vs. opt-in (explicit consent) vs. mandated choice defaults for organ donation: Comparing the effects of defaults in organ donation systems (Social Science & Medicine, 2014)
• Opt-out retirement saving plan increased average saving rates by 10% over a 40 month period: Save More Tomorrow™: Using behavioural economics to increase employee saving (Journal of Political Economy, 2004)
• Opt-out ‘green’ energy tariff increased purchases of such nearly tenfold: Domestic uptake of green energy promoted by opt-out tariffs (Nature Climate Change, 2015)
• Research from Nudge Units estimating publication bias to be responsible for 60-70% of the difference in effect size between academic and government trials: RCTs to scale: Comprehensive evidence from two nudge units (Econometrica, 2022)
• Study investigating attitudes towards nudge-policies in the United States and Sweden: Public views on policies involving nudges (Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2015)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness (Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, 2008)
• Article summarising the effect size controversy in the academic literature: Nudge theory doesn't work after all, says new evidence review - but it could still have a future (The Conversation, 2022)
• Press release on study investigating the factors that influence the acceptability of nudge-policies: People more likely to accept nudges if they know how they work and how effective they are (Science Daily, 2020)

📱 Connect with us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter @getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.

Everyone knows that exercise is good for our physical health - much less attention is given to its benefits for mood and mental health. Join us as we dig into the science of exercise for preventing and treating all-too-common mental health conditions, like depression, anxiety, and stress. We discuss what type of exercise works best, in what duration, as well as how this evidence is and should be used as part of a public health strategy. Finally, you can learn one principle to rule them all when it comes to the science of exercise for mental health.

📊 Key research studies we discussed:

• Review concluding that exercise can be 1.5x more effective than antidepressants: Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2023)
• Harvard study on offsetting the genetic risk of depression: Physical activity offsets genetic risk for incident depression assessed via electronic health records in a biobank cohort study (Depression and Anxiety, 2020)
• Review with recommendations for resistance training: The acute effects of resistance exercise on affect, anxiety, and mood – practical implications for designing resistance training programs (International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 2019)
• Review comparing indoor vs. outdoor exercise: Does participating in physical activity in outdoor natural environments have a greater effect on physical and mental wellbeing than physical activity indoors? A systematic review (Environmental Science and Technology, 2011)

📚 Books and other resources:

• Daniel Lieberman: Exercised

📱 Connect with us on social media!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getbrighterpod/

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@getbrighterpod

Twitter: https://twitter.com/getbrighterpod

We thank the South West Doctoral Training Partnership for supporting this podcast and Rhannan Lacey for audiography, videography, and production.