The Psychology of Doodling

As a regular doodler myself, I was intrigued to read an article on the subject by science correspondent Ian Sample in the Guardian newspaper. It would be appear that far from being a futile exercise, doodling can in fact aid attention and recall. This vindication for all us 'doodlers' out there relates to a research paper that has just been published in the journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology.

The paper entitled "What does doodling do?" by Dr Jackie Andrade, Professor in Psychology at the University of Plymouth (UK) found that participants who were randomally assigned to the doodling condition when monitoring a mock telephone message, performed better and recalled 29% more information on a surprise memory test, compared to participants in the control group.

In discussing the findings in the Guardian article, Dr Andrade is quoted as saying "It's not so much that doodling is good for your concentration, but that daydreaming is bad. If you are thinking about where you are going to go on holiday, that is probably going to be more cognitively demanding than a doodle."

More Information

You can read the Guardian article in full by Clicking Here

You can read the study's abstract and/or access a full text PDF file of Dr Andrade's research by Clicking Here

Creative Doodling

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

The Psychology of Doodling

Free Psychology Materials From MIT

Introducing the MIT OPENCOURSEWARE PROJECT (MIT OCW), which is quite simply one of the most outstanding educational resources I have ever seen. The following information regarding the project is taken from an official press release.

THE MIT OPENCOURSEWARE PROJECT is a large-scale, Web-based publication of the educational materials from virtually all of the MIT faculty’s courses. This unique initiative enables the open sharing of MIT teaching materials with educators, enrolled students, and self-learners around the world.

MIT OCW provides open access to the syllabi, lecture notes, course calendars, problem sets and solutions, exams, reading lists, and even a selection of video lectures from MIT courses representing 33 academic disciplines and all five of MIT’s schools.

Educators around the globe are encouraged to utilize the materials for curriculum development, and selflearners and students may draw upon the materials for self-study or supplementary use. Course materials contained on the MIT OCW Web site may be freely used, copied, distributed, translated, and modified by anyone, anywhere in the world for non-commercial purposes.

Truly a global initiative, MIT OCW has received users from more than 215 countries, territories, and city-states around the globe—including every member of the United Nations—and materials already have been translated into at least ten different languages.

The following psychology courses are among an amazing 1800 courses that can directly accessed.

Managerial Psychology

Moral Psychology

Economics & Psychology

Psychology Of Gender

Social Psychology

Evolutionary Psychology

Introduction To Psychology

Click Here to visit the THE MIT OPENCOURSEWARE PROJECT website.

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

Free Psychology Materials From MIT

Psychology Economics & Wisdom

Timely and compelling talk by Barry Schwartz on the link between economics and psychology. In the following video Schwartz discusses the need for "practical wisdom" in a bureaucratic world where rules often fail and incentives backfire.

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

Psychology Economics & Wisdom

10 Things You Should Know About Psychology

(Photo Credit: David Guzikowski)

I've just added a 10 Things You Should Know About Psychology page to the main website. It is the first in a series of "things you should know" that takes an irreverent look at the wonderful world of psychology.

Visit The 10 Things You Should Know About Psychology page

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

10 Things You Should Know About Psychology

History of Psychology

I've just added an outstanding resource to the History of Psychology page which describes its history and mission as follows:

The Archives of the History of American Psychology (AHAP) was established in 1965 at The University of Akron to promote research in the history of psychology by collecting, cataloguing, and preserving the historical record of psychology. The central feature of the AHAP is the manuscript collection, which includes the papers of over 740 psychologists. The growth of the repository exceeded projections, both in the rate at which materials were donated and in their diversity. This expansion led in 1976 to the establishment of the Child Development Film Archives, a unit that cares for both research footage and instructional films. This expansion was followed, in 1980, by a decision to supplement the numerous unsolicited gifts of books by devoting space to the published literature dealing with the substantive content of psychology as well as with its history and philosophy. Since its inception the archives has continuously acquired apparatus, equipment, testing materials, and all forms of media.

In addition to the main website, the Archives of the History of American Psychology also has a channel of films and videos on YouTube and a Photostream on Flickr. Many thanks to John Bean, Media Assistant at The Archives of the History of American Psychology for letting me know about this excellent resource.

Click Here To Go To The AHAP Website.

Click Here To Visit The AHAP YouTube Channel.

Click Here To Access The AHAP Flickr Photostream.

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

History of Psychology

Psychology of Love

Psychology Book of The Month



I've just updated the psychology book of the month page on the main website. The February entry is The New Psychology of Love by Robert J. Sternberg & Karin Weis (seemed appropriate with Valentine's day just around the corner). This is a very interesting read which draws on a range of psychological theories in discussing the definition and role of love. See following link for full details.

Psychology Book of The Month




Some Rather More Romantic Love Quotes

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

Psychology of love