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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

Black and white photo of British and German First World War soldiers wearing winter uniforms and hats, one with a cigarette, looking at the camera.

video

War and peace

A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914

12 minutes

A man views a holographic projection of a child in shorts running in a forest setting; office equipment surrounds him.

video

Technology and the self

A haunting scene from ‘Minority Report’ inspires a voyage into time and memory

7 minutes

Illustration of a saucepan on a stove with raw meat and ginger, a pot lid is nearby on the right.

video

Family life

The stream-of-consciousness thoughts and memories that emerge while cooking a meal

5 minutes

Illustration of four adult giraffes, and a young one lying down, with Mount Kilimanjaro and acacia trees in the background.

video

Ageing and death

We’re not the only animals that appear to grieve. What are the implications?

6 minutes

A busy beach scene with children on donkeys, people in the sea, a man reading on a sun lounger, and a dog urinating on a sun shade.

essay

Virtues and vices

Make it awkward!

Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a chance to rewrite the social script

Alexandra Plakias

Silhouette of a soldier with glowing eyes and helmet, holding a rifle, with a blurred, colourful background.

video

War and peace

A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?

9 minutes

Elderly couple holding hands while standing in the street. The woman holds a colourful fan partially covering her face. A man in casual attire walks by on the right. Two trees and a white building with large windows are in the background, with three people looking out of one of the windows.

essay

Ethics

Moral progress is annoying

You might feel you can trust your gut to tell right from wrong, but the friction of social change shows that you can’t

Daniel Kelly & Evan Westra

A weary looking medical staff member in scrubs and face mask sits at a desk in a hospital room surrounded by medical paraphernalia

essay

Public health

It’s dirty work

In caring for and bearing with human suffering, hospital staff perform extreme emotional labour. Is there a better way?

Susanna Crossman

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

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

A blurred view through a car window at night with distorted bright lights

essay

Psychiatry and psychotherapy

Trauma on a loop

I was the victim of a carjacking. The trauma from that experience was unendurable. Then I discovered eye movement therapy

Madison McLoughlin

Painting of a person holding a conductor’s baton standing on rocks with arms raised, facing away towards a sunrise or sunset over distant mountains in a misty, pastel-coloured landscape.

video

Music

‘Dun dun dun duuun!’ Why Beethoven’s Fifth sticks in the head and stirs the heart

5 minutes

A group of people dancing energetically in pairs on a dimly lit outdoor pavement, casting long shadows.

video

Mood and emotion

An Oceanic lullaby, ‘Gimme Shelter’ and more elucidate how music taps into our emotions

58 minutes

A person in a pink shirt reading in a store, surrounded by shelves of bottled water, olive oil, and other products. A Tropic Fanta bottle is in the foreground.

video

Mood and emotion

Moments of poetry pierce through the mundane at a small-town grocery

13 minutes

Charcoal drawing of an older person’s face, showing wrinkles and a serious expression, on a light-coloured paper background.

essay

Mood and emotion

When grief doesn’t end

Suffering the sudden death of a loved person leaves some survivors stuck in grief. Can they win their lives back – and how?

Martin W Angler

Cartoon of a yellow character with pink hair buns, holding a small blue puppy, set against a light blue background.

video

Human evolution

Far from frivolous, cuteness is a powerful – and still mysterious – force of nature

6 minutes

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 painting of a man in a military uniform, sitting on a chair with a solemn expression, against a dark red background.

essay

Mood and emotion

The joy of sulk

Full of implicit rules and paradoxes, sulking is a marvellous example of intense communication without clear declaration

Rebecca Roache

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

A woman and a man are having a conversation on the street, standing in front of old storefronts and a wooden barricade.

essay

Mood and emotion

In praise of irritation

Unlike anger, irritation has neither glamour nor radicalism on its side. Yet it might just be the mood we need right now

Will Rees

A woman with a towel around her shoulders and hair clips sits in a salon, holding a cigarette and a mug, with a radio and beauty accessories on the counter.

video

Politics and government

Join the spirited debate at a women’s hair salon before a pivotal election in Tunisia

19 minutes

An aerial view of a swampy area with scattered patches of brown vegetation and reflective blue water.

video

Earth science and climate

A biologist on the sorrows of documenting the Great Salt Lake’s collapse

6 minutes

Paramedic loading a stretcher into an ambulance at night with lighted buildings in the background.

video

Medicine

What is it like to be a paramedic, navigating human emergency?

17 minutes

A woman with long, wavy red hair and a neutral expression, seated indoors with a blurred background.

video

Life stages

An unvarnished, poetic account of a new mother’s struggle to breastfeed

3 minutes