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Kindness as self-defence – the power of ‘non-complementary behaviour’
People instinctively reciprocate anger with anger and kindness with kindness, but what happens when someone breaks this ‘complementary behaviour’ chain? Using the story of a home robbery that was disarmed by an offer of wine as a starting point, this cleverly conceived video investigates the surprising power of non-complementary behaviour to diffuse small-scale conflicts and even completely restructure societies. The audio in this video is excerpted from a full-length episode of NPR’s Invisibilia podcast.
Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Claire O’Neill, Liana Simonds
Puppetry: Manual Cinema
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Mood and emotion
A century of letters captures the emotions of life in a new city, far from home
21 minutes
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Ageing and death
Death is a trip – how new research links near-death and DMT experiences
9 minutes
video
Technology and the self
Adaptive technologies have helped Stephen Hawking, and many more, find their voice
5 minutes
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Gender and identity
‘When you’re done, you stay human!’ What gender transition means to John
6 minutes
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Neuroscience
The brain repurposed our sense of physical distance to understand social closeness
5 minutes
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Consciousness and altered states
You need to make friends with pain to run through the Grand Canyon and back
5 minutes
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Wellbeing
A tender poem doubles as a guide to sitting comfortably in one’s own company
3 minutes
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Values and beliefs
How a God-fearing Jewish woman found atheism – and bacon – in her later years
9 minutes
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War and peace
Before he leaves to go to war, Artem, 18, says goodbye to the man who raised him
12 minutes