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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

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Illustration of interconnected neurons with red, spiky dendrites on a blurred orange background.

essayNeuroscience

The empty brain

Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

Robert Epstein

A woman sitting on stairs with a designer handbag and gold trainers, wearing black leggings and a colourful jumper.

ideaEconomics

Conspicuous consumption is over. It’s all about intangibles now

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett

Black and white photo of two vintage cars on a rural road, lined with trees and grass, with two people walking in the distance.

ideaCognition and intelligence

What know-it-alls don’t know, or the illusion of competence

Kate Fehlhaber

Medieval painting depicting a battle scene with knights on horseback wearing armour and helmets against a colourful backdrop.

essayLanguage and linguistics

English is not normal

No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language

John McWhorter

A painting of five labourers working on a construction site with tools and machinery, while a scenic landscape is seen in the background.

ideaSocial psychology

A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you

Clifton Mark

A person in a lab coat holding multiple vials and labelled containers with blue gloved hands in a laboratory setting.

ideaMedicine

Gentle medicine could radically transform medical practice

Jacob Stegenga

A person stands with arms crossed, looking into the distance on a dune in a vast, foggy desert. The image is in black and white.

essayMeaning and the good life

Indifference is a power

As legions of warriors and prisoners can attest, Stoicism is not grim resolve but a way to wrest happiness from adversity

Lary Wallace

Two children playing with a dog in a green field with yellow flowers, a goalpost and a yellow field in the background.

essayChildhood and adolescence

The play deficit

Children today are cossetted and pressured in equal measure. Without the freedom to play they will never grow up

Peter Gray

A scanning electron microscope image showing pollen tubes in vivid pink growing from pollen grains of cucumber on the stigma.

essayHuman reproduction

The macho sperm myth

The idea that millions of sperm are on an Olympian race to reach the egg is yet another male fantasy of human reproduction

Robert D Martin

A man lying on a blue mat on grass with a book covering his face, hands clasped, shoes beside him.

essayConsciousness and altered states

Night school

New evidence suggests that we can learn while we sleep, but do we really want to put our hours of rest to work?

Kenneth Miller

Elderly Chinese women dancing in a row on a sunny promenade with mountains in the background and seagulls flying above.

ideaMedicine

Lifestyle changes, not a magic pill, can reverse Alzheimer’s

Clayton Dalton

A large group of people in bikinis and swimwear, body-painted in bright colours, posing and flexing muscles outdoors.

essayGender and identity

Gender is not a spectrum

The idea that ‘gender is a spectrum’ is supposed to set us free. But it is both illogical and politically troubling

Rebecca Reilly-Cooper

A child in a pink top and striped leggings sitting on the floor picking up pieces of a broken white plate with bare feet.

essayChildhood and adolescence

Childhood, disrupted

Adversity in childhood can create long-lasting scars, damaging our cells and our DNA, and making us sick as adults

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Close-up photo of a woman’s freckled face focusing on green eyes and blonde hair strands.

essayPhilosophy of mind

The problem of mindfulness

Mindfulness promotes itself as value-neutral but it is loaded with (troubling) assumptions about the self and the cosmos

Sahanika Ratnayake

Painting showing three characters: a poor man, a child holding a newspaper and a rich man in a car smoking a pipe, industrial backdrop.

ideaPersonality

The bad news on human nature, in 10 findings from psychology

Christian Jarrett

Illustration of a man in a shirt, tie and braces pointing with both hands, showing a crooked smile, set against a red background

essayEthics

A theory of jerks

Are you surrounded by fools? Are you the only reasonable person around? Then maybe you’re the one with the jerkitude

Eric Schwitzgebel

Photo of an empty playground with a slide, swings and climbing frame on a foggy, frosty morning, creating an eerie atmosphere.

essayEthics

Kids? Just say no

You don’t have to dislike children to see the harms done by having them. There is a moral case against procreation

David Benatar

A newborn baby in soft warm lighting, cradled in someone’s arms with a peaceful expression and eyes closed.

essayEvolution

War in the womb

A ferocious biological struggle between mother and baby belies any sentimental ideas we might have about pregnancy

Suzanne Sadedin

Black and white photo of an outstretched arm with self-harm scars, against a dimly lit background.

essayAddiction

Why self-harm?

Cutting brings relief because emotion and pain criss-cross in the brain. Can we untangle the circuits and stop self-harm?

Carrie Arnold

An elderly couple sitting on a bench reading newspapers, both are wearing glasses and dressed warmly in jackets.

ideaHistory of ideas

A philosophical approach to routines can illuminate who we really are

Solmu Anttila

A yellow car with “just married” and hearts written on the rear window in white paint.

ideaLove and friendship

A temporary marriage makes more sense than marriage for life

Vicki Larson

A naked woman in a bed with a man partially visible, in a room with red walls and a wooden bed frame, clothes on the floor and a light fixture on the wall.

essaySex and sexuality

Pornucopia

Critics say that porn degrades women, dulls sexual pleasure, and ruins authentic relationships – are they right?

Maria Konnikova

Black and white photo of a lively gathering, people laughing and conversing around a table with wine bottles and glasses.

essayMeaning and the good life

The meanings of life

Happiness is not the same as a sense of meaning. How do we go about finding a meaningful life, not just a happy one?

Roy F Baumeister

Abstract painting of a face with two red eyes, geometric shapes in pastel colours and a textured orange background.

essayPhilosophy of mind

I am not a story

Some find it comforting to think of life as a story. Others find that absurd. So are you a Narrative or a non-Narrative?

Galen Strawson