Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience

Addiction Ageing and death Childhood and adolescence Cognition and intelligence Consciousness and altered states Family life Gender and identity Language and linguistics Life stages Love and friendship Mental health Mood and emotion Neurodiversity Neuroscience Personality Pleasure and pain Psychiatry and psychotherapy Self-improvement Sex and sexuality Sleep and dreams Social psychology Spirituality Teaching and learning Technology and the self Wellbeing

Latest Popular

Black and white photo of a man in a prison uniform surrounded by security personnel in a courtroom setting.

essayPersonality

There are no psychopaths

Virtually everything you think you know about psychopathy has been thoroughly debunked. Why does this zombie idea live on?

Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen

Two people relaxing on sun loungers under a blue umbrella on a grass lawn with garden gnomes nearby.

videoAgeing and death

When half of a couple that plans to live forever dies

12 minutes

Photo of a silhouetted diver poised on a high diving board against a dark blue sky.

videoSports and games

Elite high-divers take the plunge in this dazzling short

7 minutes

Black and white photo of a diverse group of people standing arm in arm in front of a columned building, showing solidarity.

essayEthics

Going-against-the-grainers

If our ethical beliefs come from our social environment, how do some people find the moral courage to defy convention?

Dane Leigh Gogoshin

Abstract digital art with vertical lines and dark shapes, text overlay saying “why did you write it” in the centre.

videoInformation and communication

AI isn’t merely bad at writing. It does not and cannot write

40 minutes

A modern library with tall bookshelves and people reading or using devices in a cosy, well-lit atmosphere.

essayTechnology and the self

Books and screens

Your inability to focus isn’t a failing. It’s a design problem, and the answer isn’t getting rid of our screen time

Carlo Iacono

Photo of a child in a colourful winter jacket and knitted hat, in a snowy forest, with a thoughtful expression.

videoNature and landscape

A father and son’s search for the line where the snow starts

12 minutes

Hands intricately painting a small figurine’s hair black with a fine brush, the figure wears a blue outfit.

videoLove and friendship

An action-figure maker’s outsized tribute to his late brother

15 minutes

Felt art of a man in a red turban with sheep on a hillside under a stylised sun.

videoAnimals and humans

A musical ode to Indian wool and life on the Deccan Plateau

8 minutes

Photo of a truck on a narrow bridge with people balancing and pushing it under a clear sky.

essayHuman evolution

How selfish are we?

An age-old debate about human nature is being energised with new findings on the tightrope of cooperation and competition

Jonathan R Goodman

essayNeuroscience

Can you rewire your brain?

The metaphor of rewiring offers an ideal of engineered precision. But the brain is more like a forest than a circuit board

Peter Lukacs

Illustration of a person standing with arms outstretched on a car roof filled with cheering people, trees in the background.

videoLife stages

Youthful joy and civil unrest collide in this epic road trip tale

11 minutes

Illustration of a person framing their face with their fingers wearing an orange shirt against a grey background.

videoConsciousness and altered states

The elaborate places one’s mind wanders in solitary confinement

15 minutes

A person riding a motorcycle on a vertical wall in a wooden cylinder arena with spectators above, indoors.

videoSubcultures

The Indian daredevils who feel at home in the Well of Death

6 minutes

Three people draped in German flags standing in a town square during a gathering, with a rainbow in the cloudy sky.

essayAnthropology

Dreams of the far Right

Young Europeans join far-Right movements less out of grievance than out of a profound yearning to believe and belong

Agnieszka Pasieka

Photo of a person with glasses holding a clarinet, finger to lips in a shushing gesture, blue sky background.

videoNature and landscape

A breezy ode to wind ponders its power, beauty and utility

10 minutes

A humanoid robot holding a water bottle in front of parked cars under a partly cloudy sky.

essayAutomation and robotics

The synthetic self

In order to better understand our human nature, we must attempt to build a robot capable of robust subjective experiences

Tony J Prescott

A person playing a stringed instrument with focus on the tuning pegs and the blurred player in the background.

videoMusic

Why millennia of history echo in each strum of a Persian tar

4 minutes

essayIllness and disease

The spiral of suffering

For people with chronic illnesses, the relief and recognition of online communities can set up a toxic psychological trap

Siddhant Ritwick & Tomi Koljonen

Photo of a group of rugby players wearing jerseys and helmets hugging and smiling after a match in a close-up shot.

videoGender and identity

The patient labour of building ties in a city far from home

20 minutes

Art deco painting of two women, one nude holding a rose, surrounded by birds and a person playing a lyre in red and black.

essayThe ancient world

The erotic poems of Bilitis

A lush translation of this late-discovered lesbian poet added to the legacy of Sappho, but there was a trickster at work

Cat Lambert

Photo of a person climbing a pole reaching for prizes, including a teddy bear and toy guitar, against a cloudy sky.

videoSports and games

Teens battle grease and gravity in this lively street game

5 minutes

Silhouetted figure at a desk with US flag nearby, backlit by sunlight through curtains.

essayPolitical philosophy

Incandescent anger

Politics today is driven by grievances that can never be assuaged. For democracy’s survival, we must grapple with this dynamic

Paul Katsafanas

Two felt figures sit together facing a desert landscape under a warm sky.

videoLove and friendship

A millennial and her centenarian friend take a unique road trip

15 minutes