Andy Wills

Hi, I'm Andy J. Wills, Ph.D. (he/him) and a Professor of Psychology at the School of Psychology , University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. I have researched cognitive processes in biological intelligences (mostly humans), and taught psychology to undergraduates, for 30 years.

You can access my academic publications, teaching materials, software, and other resources using the navigation menu at the top of this page.

This is a personal website; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by my employer.

Invisible women

The gender data gap

Posted on May 30, 2021

I came across this 2019 book in a second hand bookstore in Salisbury in the summer of 2020, and rediscovered it on my home office bookshelf a month or so back. Written by Caroline Criado Perez it’s an accessible and scholarly list of the very many ways in which the... [Read More]

Tags: books

A World Without Email

Or...the hyperactive hive mind

Posted on May 24, 2021

I heard Cal Newport talking about his new book, A World Without Email on Lex Fridman’s podcast, where Cal said the book really should have been called The Hyperactive Hive Mind, but that wouldn’t have sold as many copies. An even less exciting but yet more accurate title would have... [Read More]

Tags: books

The Early Asimov

Twenty-seven stories from the Campbell years

Posted on May 23, 2021

Bought this three-volume set in The Book Cupboard shortly after first lockdown, and finally finished them (in between several other books) last night. An interesting and varied collection of early writings from the science fiction writer I have probably read the most over the years, but if you’ve not read... [Read More]

Tags: books

How hard is cognitive science?

Very, very hard

Posted on May 18, 2021

Patricia Rich and colleagues (Rich et al., 2021) ask us to imagine what, for most theorists in cognitive science, would seem to be an ideal working environment. It’s a world where there is no uncertainty about observations (no replication crisis). It’s also a world where there is no problem of... [Read More]

Tags: theory

Building a new personal website

Another decade, another web technology...

Posted on April 29, 2021

I’ve maintained a personal website since 2000. It was entirely hand-coded HTML until around 2014, when I added the bibtexbrowser PHP script to handle my publication list. Oh, and in 2012, I added a link to a blogspot blog. [Read More]

Tags: test