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Psychology

Essays and videos offering insights into the self, relationships, cognition and neuroscience
A young girl in a pink dress stands on a step, holding the hand of an adult. Four adults are partially visible around her.
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essay

Biography and memoir

The adoption paradox

Even happy families cannot avoid the reality – my reality – that adoption is predicated on transacting the life of a child

Fiona Sampson

Open books arranged in a grid with pages featuring bright, hand-painted floral designs, around a drawing of a loaf of bread.
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video

Rituals and celebrations

Flirtation, negotiation and vodka – or how to couple up in 1950s rural Poland

5 minutes

Artwork depicting a family group composed of angular lines and triangles, some but not all coloured, on a paper background
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essay

Family life

A patchwork family

After my marriage failed, I strove to create a new family – one made beautiful by the loving way it’s stitched together

Lily Dunn

Illustration of three scouts in uniforms with red neckerchiefs, one wearing a hat. They have different facial expressions and are sitting in a row.
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video

Childhood and adolescence

Striking shadow puppetry illuminates a skater kid’s memories of Boy Scout camp

12 minutes

A photo collage with stone buildings, a wooden door, a metal gate, and residential structures with plants in the background.
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video

Technology and the self

A ‘virtual outing’ on Google Maps reveals a treasured image from Diego’s past

6 minutes

Line drawing of a woman with short hair and a man with curly hair looking at each other against a plain background.
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video

Love and friendship

Naira pitches a new sport to her husband in this strange, sweet portrait of marriage

5 minutes

Two dark haired twin girls in tartan dresses look through an unglazed window frame
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essay

Metaphysics

Both one and yet distinct

Being a twin (as our author knows) cracks open our ideas of the perfectly bounded self and might liberate us all

Helena de Bres

Illustration of a person with glasses looking concerned, with an “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign, symbolising a concentration camp, in the background.
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video

Family life

Against her father’s warnings, Debra resolves to learn about his time in Auschwitz

4 minutes

In the foreground a European mother cradles a newborn baby as an Indian woman looks on from the right
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essay

Bioethics

Reproductive technologies

Infertility treatments aim to improve women’s lives. But they risk tying womanhood to the toxic expectation of motherhood

Gulzaar Barn

A shopfront with “O’DEA’S” in gold letters, two windows above with flower boxes holding pink flowers, and the number 66 on the right side.
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video

Home

Whether above a pub or in a castle, our childhood homes leave an indelible mark

15 minutes

Black and white photo of a Black man in a trench coat walking, with a few other white men in suits visible in the background. He compellingly looks into the camera.
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video

Family life

The extraordinary story of a Black Holocaust survivor, as told by his daughter

21 minutes

Four children are playing on and around wooden steps outside a raised house in a rural area, with logs and foliage in the background.
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essay

Family life

Amazonian childcare

In the eyes of the Runa people, Western kids grow up indulged, over-mothered and incapable of facing outward to the world

Francesca Mezzenzana

A man and a woman with tattoos are standing in a kitchen, one shirtless and the other in a blue top, both in a contemplative mood.
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essay

Economic history

Matrimony and the market

The sexual revolution promised new norms of intimacy based on egalitarianism. So far, only the rich have cashed in

Daniel Tutt

Woman holding a pregnancy test in a bathroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror with a thoughtful expression.
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video

Family life

On a whirlwind morning, a couple learns if they’re facing an unplanned pregnancy

7 minutes

Man looking up while shielding his face from the sun with his hand, casting shadows on his face, in an outdoor setting with a dirt ground.
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video

Family life

In Rwanda, Sébastien finds traces of personal history in the wake of national tragedy

21 minutes

A woman and two girls in blue dresses with cat-ear headbands, smiling and taking a selfie outdoors.
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essay

Family life

Honey, I sold the kids

We have laws to protect children from factory work. Why aren’t they protected from parents who monetise their lives online?

Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore

Construction workers sitting and standing around, some wearing hard hats, during a break outside a building, with a temporary orange safety fence visible.
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essay

Gender and identity

A manly divorce

Straight men rarely write about the end of their marriages. Our enduring ideas about gender explain this silence

Joshua Coleman

Medieval illustration showing a woman in bed, a child in a bassinet, and three adults interacting with children in a room with a patterned wall.
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essay

History

Medieval babycare

From mansplaining about breastfeeding to debates on developmental toys, medieval parenting was full of familiar dilemmas

Katherine Harvey

Cartoon of an adult and two children in a kitchen, standing near a fridge with a drawing and a stove with a boiling pot.
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video

Gender and identity

‘I didn’t fall in love with a couple of body pieces’ – on marriage and transition

3 minutes

Newborn squirrel, eyes closed, sleeping against a person’s neck, showcasing its tiny size and delicate features.
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video

Animals and humans

What happened when one woman raised an abandoned squirrel as her own

8 minutes

A woman wearing a maroon hat, earrings, a floral scarf, and an owl brooch, with city lights blurred in the background at night.
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video

Life stages

At 14, Asal is excited about her engagement. Her relatives all have their own opinions

33 minutes

Child with long hair and a white shirt, arms open wide and mouth agape, standing in a garden with brick walls, greenery, and wooden planks.
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essay

Personality

Born that way

Confident or shy, our temperament is mostly baked-in from birth. But how that influences our lives is up for grabs

Gina Mireault

A man with glasses and two boys walk together on a city street along a row of shops.
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essay

Life stages

Family passages

Each new generation learns from its elders. But familial voices now compete for influence with a chorus of urgent others

Elizabeth Svoboda

An elderly man and woman standing in front of an old, rusted steam engine train in an outdoor setting with greenery in the background.
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video

Family life

Fifty years ago, a train collided with Jack and Betty’s car. Here’s how they remember it

9 minutes