The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter

3 weeks ago | stevestewartwilliams.com | Steve Stewart-Williams

Welcome to the April edition of the N3 Newsletter Linkfest - your monthly dose of science, psychology, and subversion. This time around: why men are more distracted by sexual images (shocking, I know), how Freud is making a comeback in virtual reality, and why your pet might be worth more than your car. Also on the menu: the gender orgasm gap, political tribalism, meditation myths, and the growing rebellion against academic censorship.

1 month ago | stevestewartwilliams.com | Steve Stewart-Williams

Psychology has a reputation problem. The replication crisis of the past decade has cast a long shadow of doubt over many once-celebrated findings, from power posing to stereotype threat to growth mindset. In fact, ironically enough, one of the most replicable findings in psychology is that psychology findings often fail to replicate. As word of psychology’s replication crisis has spread, many have written the field off as total bunk. This is a mistake.

1 month ago | stevestewartwilliams.com | Steve Stewart-Williams |James L. Nuzzo

Welcome to the March edition of the N3 Newsletter Linkfest - a selection of links to papers and articles that caught my eye over the last month.

2 months ago | stevestewartwilliams.com | Steve Stewart-Williams

What makes us who we are? To what extent are the differences between us written in our genes, and how much do we owe to the environment? Philosophers, scientists, and armchair theorists have debated this question for centuries - but a groundbreaking meta-analysis of twin studies offers the clearest answer yet.

2 months ago | stevestewartwilliams.com | Steve Stewart-Williams

Welcome to the February 2025 edition of the N3 Newsletter Linkfest: a collection of links to papers and articles that grabbed my attention over the last month. On the menu today, we’ve got sex differences in physical strength, a failure to replicate a popular explanation for gender gaps in STEM, and fraud in the science of Alzheimer’s disease. Plus we’ll ask: What makes people happy? Could psychotherapy harm people’s mental health? Are stereotypes about the sexes accurate or inaccurate?