TCC are social research and behaviour change specialists. This is your guide to what we’ve been reading.

Hello and welcome to the TCC Weekly – your straightforward and honest guide to nudging, framing and the art of persuasion.
 
Since the dawn of the internet in virtually every online society there are e-bulletins (such as the Times Red Box) who are given a great deal and many more newsletters who are given little or nothing. Some bulletins are backed by property and power, class and capital, status and clout – which are denied to the many small e-newsletter producers such as ourselves who are out there.
 
(If you liked the original ring of the above para then please scroll to our Labour Conference themed Polls, Policies and Politics section at once).
 
Also this week, selfie deaths, Sylvanian families, and why middle children are the best.
 
David Evans
Director

• Behaviour Change ~ 8 internet dating types – which are you?
• Polls, Policies and Politics ~ Our Lewis Carroll guide to conference
• Health Hub ~ Are selfies more dangerous than shark attacks?
• Values Lab ~ Values and the EU referendum
• Charlie’s Attic ~ Sylvanian families and the viral wedding photo reducing people to tears

• With The White House now using behavioural economics (they call them ‘tweaks’, not ‘nudges’ across the pond), here’s our very first crowdsourced Weekly item, courtesy of Dai Peters: a fascinating analysis of what the public thinks of nudges. To say thank you Dai, here’s a free limited edition TCC Weekly exclamation mark: !
  • (To claim your free exclamation mark just email us a link you think worthy of the hallowed Weekly and we’ll accredit you for the good spot).
• Meanwhile, your mind has a habit, within social networks, of mistaking the anomaly for the norm. But how do these sorts on unconscious biases work?
• On the topic of which, if you’re liable to tar Americans with the brush of selfie-loving narcissism, then think again – that could be your unconscious bias coming out. Likewise, if you’re inclined to buy into the idea middle children are the most troubled, here are 8 reasons you’re wrong.
• And from myths to unsolved mysteries, here’s why we laugh and why cats are disloyal.
•  Also this week, learn about the groups most susceptible to reject science and find out which of the Myers Briggs 8 types of internet daters you are.
• Plus, for our younger readers, can bullying make you rich? And does Justin Bieber show that our attention spans are getting shorter as a result of…
• Last but not least, would a prize draw encourage voting in elections?

• This week saw a great speech at Labour conference by Richard Heller (Jeremy Corbyn). Here it is in full and here’s McDonnell’s for good measure. Here it is decoded for you and here’s why 2,200 new members signed up as a result of it. (Tory membership, by contrast, has halved under Cam). Here’s how Corbyn prepared and here are 3 issues he didn’t mention.
• Responses to Corbyn’s conference are here, courtesy of: Alistair Campbell, business chiefs, Nigel Farage, Owen Jones, Paul Blanchard, Peter Kellner, John Harris, Peter Mandelson, Andrew Gamble, and. And here’s Blairite Ivan Lewis deconstructing what went wrong with New Labour.
• But enough of the commentariat: what does the country think? There’ve been several Corbyn polls out.
  • Here’s the Good: he’s seen as honest, there’s been a poll bounce in Wales and his speech was well-received in Croydon.
  • Here’s the Bad: they like the style but not the substance, they disagree with Corbyn on defence, they preferred Tony Blair and they think he’s twice as red as Red Ed.
  • And here’s the Ugly: he’s not trusted on the economy and he personal ratings are the lowest ever for a Labour leader.
• Meanwhile if you’re more literate than numerate then here’s the Labour Conference in a Lewis Carroll style spume of odd words: magic money tree • silverback mouse • jockey come home • phoenix • Robin Hood Tax • Special Brew  Milibandism • Nirvana Fallacy • dialectical onanism • Batman and Robin • Red Tardis • amsirahc (that’s charisma backwards).
• And finally – finally – away from the Labour conference and onto the big questions around politics and national identity? Can we reclaim the Union Jack? Where does Labour stand on immigration? What are the Red Shifts we need to make? Is this the age of cult politics and global political disillusionment? And if so what does it mean to be a centrist? Or a Lib Dem!

• This week Oliver Burkeman says you should drink 8 glasses of water a day and LSE suggest ways of changing the choice architecture in pubs so that people drink more water and less wine.
• LSE also present some interesting data on unemployment and domestic violence.
• NICE criticises 5 minute flying visits by carers plus can branding stop people going to A&E? And are tall people more likely to get cancer?
• And finally, some are saying selfies are causing more deaths than sharks. How can you stay safe?

• Learn how to learn, plus get Alex Ferguson’s views on the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Read the tome on efficiency and the new campaign handbook.
• Collapse into floods of tears at this viral wedding photo. And while we’re on photos, here are some pictures of the blood moon.
• Tut or titter at Sylvanian Families ISIS mock-ups
• Sigh or snigger at Banksy’s Dismaland chutzpa
• Hand-wring or hollah at the new “Why you lying?” teen craze.
• Find out who’s behind the Shoreditch anti-gentrification protests. Were they justified or weren’t they?
• Get your head around how Hitler cultivated his at-home persona.
• Read the Think campaign road safety calendar and then follow it up with this key community planning kit.
• Take advantage of the new @BritainElects twitter site.