David Robson
Science Writer, London
David Robson is a science writer specialising in the extremes of the human brain, body and behaviour. He is the author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life (2022) and The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things and How to Make Wiser Decisions (2019). He lives in London.
Written by David Robson
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Mood and emotion
Why your favourite film baddies all have a truly evil laugh
David Robson
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Language and linguistics
Words as feelings
A special class of vivid, textural words defies linguistic theory: could ‘ideophones’ unlock the secrets of humans’ first utterances?
David Robson
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Self-improvement
Why speaking to yourself in the third person makes you wiser
David Robson
Asylum
David RobsonWhat a fascinating and beautifully told article - I very much hope it reaches a wide audience. The story of Saint-Alban has many lessons for today. I can imagine that this paragraph, in particular, will stay with me for a long time:
“The concentration of distressed and disabled people in secure institutions isn’t as fashionable now as it once was, but the system of reality that promotes indifference to their fate is alive and well. It can be seen in a news media that gives a platform to people who say things like: ‘Two-thirds of coronavirus fatalitie...