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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

A man with a long beard wearing glasses holding a net against a backdrop of a grassy field and cloudy sky.

video

Animals and humans

The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net

10 minutes

Close-up of a man smiling and interacting closely with a puppet of an old man wearing a black beret, both faces nearly touching.

video

Art

A puppeteer makes sense of an overwhelming world by shrinking it down to size

5 minutes

A person at night placing an object in a large bin labelled ‘TRASH ONLY’ on an empty street lit by streetlights.

video

Personality

A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded

14 minutes

A man lies down with his head on a miniature model of buildings and streets, blending into the tiny, urban scene at night.

video

Biography and memoir

The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands

29 minutes

A person in glasses smiles amid colourful confetti in the air, with blurry, illuminated urban background and celebratory atmosphere.

video

Rituals and celebrations

Meet the entrepreneur whose business is crafting perfect peak experiences

12 minutes

Person wearing a white hazmat suit and a full-face respirator, standing in a dimly lit industrial setting.

video

Personality

Why cleaning up crime scenes requires a rare mix of grit and empathy

9 minutes

An elderly man with a white beard and blue cap stands on a rocky beach with ruins in the background on a clear day.

video

Personality

Why one man spent 15 years in ‘self-imposed’ island exile

7 minutes

Two elderly women in red dresses and sunglasses standing in front of a tropical mural with birds, flowers, and a full moon.

essay

Personality

The myth of mirrored twins

What do the lives of twins tell us about heritability, selfhood and the age-old debate between nature and nurture?

Gavin Evans

Man lying on an orange sofa reading a document with a yellow notepad, faces partially obscured background.

video

Language and linguistics

A master palindromist spells out his 40-year ‘love affair with reversibility’

6 minutes

A group of young children and a teacher play with colourful building blocks in a classroom, with shelves and other students in the background.

essay

Teaching and learning

Learning styles don’t exist

A teaching approach that is based on students’ preferences sounds laudable. But this misunderstands how learning happens

Carl Hendrick

Child with long hair and a white shirt, arms open wide and mouth agape, standing in a garden with brick walls, greenery, and wooden planks.

essay

Personality

Born that way

Confident or shy, our temperament is mostly baked-in from birth. But how that influences our lives is up for grabs

Gina Mireault

An elderly man and woman standing in front of an old, rusted steam engine train in an outdoor setting with greenery in the background.

video

Family life

Fifty years ago, a train collided with Jack and Betty’s car. Here’s how they remember it

9 minutes

Shirtless youth jumping with arms raised against a blue sky with scattered clouds.

video

Subcultures

The cast of ‘misfit toys’ who keep life on an idyllic tourist island afloat

7 minutes

A sunset landscape with distant mountains. A painting of similar mountains and foreground is superimposed in the centre, showing more details and vibrant colours.

video

Technology and the self

One woman prepares for the risky solitude of Georgia O’Keeffe’s American West

8 minutes

An illustration of a man lying on a chaise longue talking to man sitting in a chair, surrounded by bookshelves in a cosy room.

video

Ethics

An animator wonders: can you ever depict someone without making them a caricature?

10 minutes

A bald man with tattooed back facing a boxing ring; tattoo reads “Poochi, Pride is Forever” with boxing gloves image.

video

Personality

Why a journeyman boxer finds contentment in the art of losing

6 minutes

Bearded man with glasses and a yellow T-shirt looking up, standing outside near a pavement and trees.

video

Personality

Wesley wants to solve the rooftop mystery – but does he have what it takes?

14 minutes

Silhouettes of people walking and standing by a railing against a blue evening sky, reflected in a wet surface below.

essay

Mood and emotion

When hope gets in the way

Hope is usually seen as a positive agent of change that spares us from pain. But it can also undermine healing and growth

Santiago Delboy

Person holding the “Ellis in Wonderland” album cover by Ray Ellis and his Orchestra, featuring a colourful, whimsical scene.

video

Subcultures

Bad puns, regrettable costumes, and other joys of collecting kitschy album art

13 minutes

Illustration of a man’s face flanked by four women’s faces above four hands set against a yellow background. The women have various skin tones and coloured hairstyles.

video

Personality

Art students divulge (and animate) the dating pet peeves they find unforgivable

3 minutes

A modern multistorey building at night with stairwells illuminated in blue, pink, and yellow hues visible through the glass.

video

Work

What is it like to clean the world for tomorrow while the rest of a city sleeps?

7 minutes

Silhouetted person with a doubled effect on a dark background with vibrant pink, purple and blue lights.

video

Neurodiversity

What it’s like to have aphantasia, the inability to visualise images in the mind’s eye

14 minutes

Close-up of a person’s glasses showing the reflection of a rocket launch on a screen, with blue and grey colours dominant.

video

Making

How sky-high dreams launched one man’s audacious life in homemade rocketry

5 minutes

A collage of school portraits with colourful hand-drawn mobile phones added over each student’s ear.

video

Life stages

A filmmaker reflects on his adolescence with the help of some long-lost friends

9 minutes