Communication
Conversations with people you disagree with
Persuasion by argument works less often than it should, and the approaches with better evidence are mostly about asking rather than telling.
Topic
evidence
Every Peppy Talks article tagged evidence — 14 pieces across 4 sections.
Confidence
Self-compassion, without the softness
A construct with a reasonable evidence base and a name that puts people off, whose main finding is that self-criticism does not work.
Habits
The advice industry and how to read it
Self-improvement writing has a structural incentive to overstate, and a handful of tests separate the useful from the confident.
Goals & Motivation
Deadlines, and what they are actually for
External deadlines improve completion. Self-imposed ones work less well, and the difference tells you how to design them.
Habits
Accountability, and what makes it work
Telling someone your plan does very little. Specific arrangements with specific people do considerably more.
Habits
Decision fatigue, and what survived the replication crisis
A popular concept whose headline studies did not replicate well, and a residue of practical advice that holds up for other reasons.
Habits
Exercise as a cognitive intervention
The evidence for effects on mood and executive function is reasonable, the effect sizes are modest, and the dose required is smaller than most people assume.
Habits
Sleep is the intervention nobody wants to hear about
It has the largest effect on mood, attention and self-control of anything discussed on this site, and it is the least popular recommendation.
Confidence
Comparison, social media and the reference point problem
People assess themselves relative to whoever is visible, and what is visible has changed considerably.
Goals & Motivation
Rewards, and when they undermine the thing
The claim that external rewards destroy intrinsic motivation is stronger than the evidence, and the conditions where it holds are worth knowing.
Communication
Giving feedback that changes something
A large proportion of feedback produces no change at all, and the research suggests fairly specific reasons why.
Confidence
Confidence is a consequence, not a prerequisite
Self-efficacy research is clear about where the belief comes from, and it is not from being told you are capable.
Goals & Motivation
Goal setting: what the evidence supports and what it does not
Specific difficult goals do improve performance under conditions that are frequently absent from the situations people apply them to.
Confidence
Impostor feelings: what the research actually says
A widely reported experience, a contested construct, and a set of responses that work better than reassurance.