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We all have habits that we wish we could change. Eating or drinking in excess and smoking are just a few of an endless list of things that should be easy to change but seldom are. Take a look with us at the biological reasons for these behaviours, and at the government policies that try to change them. This event will be held in the basement and there will be Pint of Science goodies to be won!
How to get people to do what they ought
Professor Robert West
(Health Psychology)
People ought to stop smoking, eat healthily, not drink too much, exercise … If more of us did this more, the world’s population would be happier and healthier. Policy makers, journalists and members of the public think that getting people to do what they ought is ‘common sense’, but decades of failed policies tell us that it isn’t. Human behaviour can be studied scientifically, and using the results of this research leads to policies that are more likely to work. This talk introduces the audience to some of this science also useful in everyday life.
How do we learn what’s good and what’s bad?
Dr Andrew MacAskill
(Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellow)
We have an amazing ability to recognise when cues in our surroundings predict something bad or good is going to happen. We all know a fire alarm means a fire, golden arches mean a burger, or a stale, smelly room means beer. The ability to realise that an unimportant cue can predict something good or bad happening is a crucial way we learn, form memories and succumb to some common neuropsychiatric disorders. How do we form these associations? In my talk I will introduce the neuronal mechanisms of this fundamental means of learning.
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