the psychologist vol 29 no 7 july 2016 www.thepsychologist.org.uk How to talk so people listen Elizabeth Stokoe heads up the coverage from Annual Conference letters 490 positive psychology – the second wave 536 news 502 the knowing nose 542 careers 564 teenagers in love 548 looking back 578 interview: the content of minds 554 Contact The British Psychological Society the psychologist... St Andrews House 48 Princess Road East ...reports Leicester LE1 7DR 0116 254 9568 [email protected] www.bps.org.uk The Psychologist How to talk so people listen 520 www.thepsychologist.org.uk Elizabeth Stokoe heads up our coverage from www.bps.org.uk/digest www.psychapp.co.uk the Society’s Annual Conference, and previews [email protected] her appearance in ‘The Psychologist presents Twitter: @psychmag at Latitude Festival’ in July Download our new apps the EU referendum; extreme pornography for iOS and Android guidelines; news from the Centre for Appearance Research; dementia gaming app; Advertising first wave of new projects for CREST; and more 502 Reach 50,000+ psychologists at very reasonable rates. CPL, 1 Cambridge Technopark, 520 Newmarket Road Cambridge CB5 8PB Recruitment Matt Styrka 01223 378 005 [email protected] G Display Michael Niskin USTAVO 01223 378 045 V [email protected] ARGAS ...features T June issue ATAJE 48,444 dispatched Positive psychology – the second wave 536 Tim Lomas delves into the dialectical nuances Printed by of flourishing Warners Midlands plc on 100 per cent recycled The knowing nose 542 paper. Please re-use or recycle. Laura J. Speed on how olfactory studies can inform theories of language and perception ISSN 0952-8229 Teenagers in love 548 Susan Moore considers the research and what © Copyright for all published material is 548 it means for effective parenting held by the British Psychological Society unless specifically stated otherwise. As the Society is a party to the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) agreement, articles in The The Psychologist is the monthly publication of The British Psychological Society. It provides a forum for Psychologist may be copied by libraries and other organisations under the communication, discussion and controversy among all members of the Society, and aims to fulfil the main object terms of their own CLA licences of the Royal Charter, ‘to promote the advancement and diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied’. (www.cla.co.uk). Permission must be obtained from the British Psychological Society for any other use beyond fair dealing authorised by copyright legislation. For further information Managing Editor Jon Sutton Journalist Ella Rhodes about copyright and obtaining Assistant Editor Peter Dillon-Hooper Editorial Assistant Debbie Gordon permissions, e-mail Production Mike Thompson Research Digest Christian Jarrett (editor), Alex Fradera [email protected]. The publishers have endeavoured to Associate Editors Articles Michael Burnett, Paul Curran, Harriet Gross, Rebecca Knibb, trace the copyright holders of all Adrian Needs, Paul Redford, Sophie Scott, Mark Wetherell, Jill Wilkinson illustrations. If we have unwittingly Conferences Alana James History of Psychology Matt Connolly, Alison Torn infringed copyright, we will be pleased, on being satisfied as to the owner’s Interviews Gail Kinman Reviews Kate Johnstone Viewpoints Catherine Loveday title, to pay an appropriate fee. International panel Vaughan Bell, Uta Frith, Alex Haslam, Elizabeth Loftus, Asifa Majid the psychologist vol 29 no 7 july 2016 the issue ...debates It’s a bit of a running joke in our office that my staff don’t listen to a letters 490 word I say, and when I was a lecturer taking a stand on social issues; faith and therapy; perceptions of pay fairness; one student feedback form declared individual differences and replication; President’s Letter; and more ‘Dr Sutton is afflicted with an unfortunately monotone voice’. So I ...digests will be particularly attentive this July as I host ‘The Psychologist presents babies’ imitation skills; pilot decisions; binge TV watching; and more, in the at Latitude Festival’, which is due to latest from our free Research Digest (see www.bps.org.uk/digest) 510 feature Professor Elizabeth Stokoe on ‘how to talk so people listen’. ...meets Professor Stokoe certainly gripped the audience at the interview 554 Society’s Annual Conference, and Asifa Majid talks to Jon Sutton about language our coverage on p.520 begins with and thought a report and more from her. It was also great to hear her say that careers 564 featuring in our pages in 2013 led we talk to educational psychologist Irvine Gersch, to many rewarding and far-flung and Tracey Herlihey discusses the importance opportunities for public engagement of persistence in finding that ‘dream job’ and research. We are always on the one on one 580 look out for contributions, so do get with Professor Dame Til Wykes, King’s College in touch. 554 London You will find lots more conference reports on our website, alongside other exclusive material. And there’s ...reviews even more in our iOS / Android apps the Bethlem Museum of the Mind; for The Psychologist and the Louis Theroux – A Different Brain; Research Digest. We are ‘talking’ on books; and Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange numerous channels: I hope you are at the Young Vic in London 570 tuning in and like what you hear. Dr Jon Sutton Managing Editor @psychmag 574 ...looks back Quality and longevity 578 as Reuben Conrad reaches the grand old age of 100, Dorothy Bishop celebrates his long and distinguished career …more The Psychologist and Digest Go to www.thepsychologist.org.uk Editorial Advisory Committee for a full archive and exclusive Big picture centre-page pull-out Catherine Loveday (Chair), Emma Beard, content (including Claudia Hammond an adventure in statistics, with Phil Banyard, Olivia Craig, Helen Galliard, on despising the poor). Also, Andy Field Harriet Gross, Rowena Hill, Stephen download our free iOS/Android apps McGlynn, Peter Olusoga, Peter Wright for The Psychologist and the Research Digest! read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk Taking a stand on social issues LETTERS Several items included on your June edition’s letters page have moved me to write in. I myself am not a psychologist but an independent mental health commentator; a survivor of the ‘health services’ who has cared long-term for close family members. I am in no doubt about the fact that a lot of what we have had to deal with in our lives has been iatrogenically caused, and that the toll taken by intimate involvement with these two first-degree family members robbed me of my own health. The letters from Aurora Dunn and Mike Davies demonstrate such misunderstanding of Peter Kinderman’s views and position on such subjects that I feel compelled to comment. The first letter interests me because it seems to imply that it’s possible to be non-political. I don’t believe that it is. Ms Dunn seems to suggest that we should consider restraining ourselves from taking action now because the same ideas will not be popular or, perhaps, even credible in the future. Well, that consideration doesn’t seem to deter anyone else from making claims and forging ahead in the name of science. I don’t agree with Mr Davies’s insinuation that someone with a strong sense of the social origins of psychological problems – something most laypeople take as read – is in the wrong profession. Indeed, we can all feel some hope when authentic people with palpable integrity and the passion to back it up – like Jamie Hacker Hughes and Peter Kinderman – are elected successively to the BPS’s highest post. But I am frankly disturbed by the openly aggressive tone of his criticism. As disappointed as certain people will always be with election results when the successful candidate is not to their taste, accepting that he or she with the most votes has won is what democracy is all about. Tellingly, Mr Davies’s outburst reaches its climax in the statement ‘it is all our professional lives at stake’. How interesting. This is not about the issues, then… with people from all walks of life – at meetings, in phone about how we in beleaguered families are enabled to cope, or conversations, through social media and email. Consequently, otherwise; are stigmatised, and so on. It’s about ensuring the he has a lot of support from outside the BPS too. It is surely continuance of well-paid jobs for psychologists and aiming ‘to a strength rather than a weakness that he is someone with the influence the government of the value of psychology to society’ courage of his convictions who yet clearly feels open to learn (sic). and modify his views accordingly. I imagine that Peter’s The type of organisation that Peter Kinderman is eminently forthright nature and proactive behaviour are partly what qualified to lead should by rights be deeply concerned by such appealed to the organisation’s electorate, and I predict that contemporary pressing issues as these, and I know that Peter he will achieve a great deal as President, leaving the BPS in himself is most definitely someone who lives and works a stronger position by the end of his term. tirelessly in the real world’. He gets himself out there, listens to Nicky Hayward and collaborates with us in the community, humbly conversing Bath THE PSYCHOLOGIST NEEDS YOU! …and much more We rely on your submissions throughout the publication, and in return we help you to get your message across to a large and Letters contribute diverse audience. These pages are central to The Psychologist’s role as a forum for communication, discussion and controversy among all ‘Reach the largest, most diverse audience of psychologists in the UK members of the Society, and we welcome your contributions.