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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

Ancient stone sculpture of a reclining female figure on a smooth surface against a grey background.

essay

Thinkers and theories

The truth about love

In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates shared a theory of love from the teachings of a ‘non-Athenian woman’. Who was she really?

Armand D’Angour

Collage image of a smiling woman in patterned dress with colourful wavy borders set on a beach background.

video

Love and friendship

Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone

5 minutes

Black-and-white photo of a person looking at vintage Honeywell 200 computer tape drives labelled A and B.

video

History of technology

Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966

6 minutes

Painting of a serene night scene with a full moon reflecting on a dark blue lake surrounded by silhouettes of rocks and trees.

essay

Stories and literature

The listening gift

It is the dark matter of conversation, the white space around a poem. For Rilke, listening is receiving the divine

Faith Lawrence

Photo of three women viewed from behind near a lake with trees. One holds a megaphone and wears a colourful embroidered shirt.

video

Family life

The migrants missing in Mexico, and the mothers who won’t stop searching for them

21 minutes

Photo of a man in a wheelchair on a grass field with another man’s hand resting on the wheelchair’s handle.

video

Love and friendship

For two brothers who rely on one another, love is a daily act of devotion

11 minutes

Sepia photograph of the poet with long curly hair and a full beard and moustache. He wears a white shirt and dark suit, and has a thoughtful expression.

video

Stories and literature

To capture grief in poetry is to describe the ineffable. Here’s why Tennyson did it best

8 minutes

Painting of five women working in a field at sunset. Four are bent over tending to the soil, and one stands to the left looking at the sky with a bag on the ground beside her. The sky is a gradient of blue and orange with a visible crescent moon.

essay

Metaphysics

The enchanted vision

Love is much more than a mere emotion or moral ideal. It imbues the world itself and we should learn to move with its power

Mark Vernon

Close-up of a person lighting a cigarette with a lighter in a dim, smoky environment.

video

Love and friendship

Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment

11 minutes

Black and white illustration of a man with short curly hair and a beard, wearing a toga-like garment with detailed textures and folds.

video

The ancient world

An ancient Roman’s hilarious (and perhaps relatable) response to a social snub

2 minutes

Elderly man in a cap and jacket sits on concrete steps outdoors holding a cup, with greenery and trees in the background.

video

Love and friendship

After his son’s terrorist attack, Azdyne seeks healing – and his granddaughter

25 minutes

A colourful close-up of a circular, textured artwork featuring butterflies, birds, and flowers against a blue background.

video

Design and fashion

The ornate, the aromatic, the cruel – Valentine’s cards before the age of Hallmark

16 minutes

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

video

Love and friendship

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

5 minutes

Woman holds a baby while standing on a stone spiral path in a forested area with trees and greenery in the background.

video

Biography and memoir

As her world unravels, Pilar wonders at the ‘sacred geometry’ that gives it structure

20 minutes

Three motorcyclists are riding on an empty road winding through English moorland beneath a blue sky

essay

Stories and literature

Citizens

Devon, 1970s: I’m a rector’s son, hanging out with Boz the biker. My life is about to open up – what does it promise for him?

Tim Pears

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

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

A woman sits alone in a Parisian cafe with a glass of wine, while the neighbouring tables are full of socialising groups

essay

Love and friendship

Loved, yet lonely

You might have the unconditional love of family and friends and yet feel deep loneliness. Can philosophy explain why?

Kaitlyn Creasy

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

video

Family life

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

7 minutes

A man with glasses and a beard, smiling and holding up a sketch of a person, seated outside near a brick wall and an open door.

video

Love and friendship

When drawing your muse hundreds of times becomes an exercise in love

7 minutes

Two people on a beach watch the sunset over the water, framed by bicycle wheels in the foreground.

video

Love and friendship

A decade after his wife was swept away in a tsunami, Yasuo still searches the sea

9 minutes

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

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.

video

Animals and humans

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

8 minutes

A close-up of two people snuggled together, their eyes closed in a tender moment. The image is slightly blurry.

video

Mood and emotion

‘Let me dream you into my reality’: memories illuminate an unthinkable isolation

12 minutes

Bride and groom side by side in a vintage wedding ceremony, both with serious expressions, surrounded by attendees.

essay

Love and friendship

The right person

Contemporary wisdom says that happiness is the measure of a marriage. But is that a harmful way of judging relationships?

Joshua Coleman