Psyche

Psyche is a digital magazine from Aeon which examines the human condition, with articles that explore mental health, emotions, and new ideas.

Psyche

Oct 20, 2021 - 21 min

#11 - How to be lucky

Learn to embrace the serendipity mindset.

Psyche

Oct 19, 2021 - 15 min

The brain has a team of conductors orchestrating consciousness

How musical metaphors are a window into our minds.

Psyche

Oct 13, 2021 - 22 min

#10 - How to study effectively

The psychology of learning.

Psyche

Oct 9, 2021 - 14 min

The ID and the nudge: where Freud meets behavioural economics

What can the psychologist's ideas tell us about our attitudes toward money?

Psyche

Oct 9, 2021 - 10 min

Being alone with your thoughts is a skill you can practise

Thinking for pleasure is surprisingly hard but there is a way.

Psyche

Oct 6, 2021 - 24 min

#9 - How to make friends as an adult

A little like romance - it takes some work.

Psyche

Oct 2, 2021 - 11 min

The behavioural immune system protects us, but at what cost?

When touch is taken away our politics suffer.

Psyche

Oct 1, 2021 - 10 min

What Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist tell us about talking to strangers

How can we be more open to those we don't know?

Psyche

Sep 29, 2021 - 17 min

#8 - How to foster 'shoshin'

Cultivating a beginner's mind helps rediscover the joy of learning.

Psyche

Sep 26, 2021 - 13 min

Gossip fosters intimacy and even saves lives, but keep it offline

Social media has made it impersonal, and it’s our loss.

Psyche

Sep 25, 2021 - 15 min

Hope is the antidote to helplessness

Here's how to cultivate it.

Psyche

Sep 22, 2021 - 24 min

#7 - How to be indistractable

Nir Eyal shows us how to have a fuller life.

Psyche

Sep 20, 2021 - 14 min

Our evolved intuitions about privacy aren’t made for this era

Our fear of tech is instinctual.

Psyche

Sep 17, 2021 - 13 min

How an intense spiritual retreat might change your brain

Time to start meditating?

Psyche

Sep 15, 2021 - 29 min

#6 - How to gain more from your reading

There’s more to words than meets the eye.

Psyche

Sep 8, 2021 - 25 min

#5 - How to think clearly

Kick-start your September.

Psyche

Sep 4, 2021 - 11 min

What do you really want when you want to get your revenge?

The psychology of retaliation.

Psyche

Sep 1, 2021 - 33 min

#4 - How to cope when life seems unreal

Have you ever noticed feelings of detachment from the world?

Psyche

Aug 30, 2021 - 11 min

Quit the millennial bashing – generationalism is bad science

Defining people in this way is profoundly ineffective.

Psyche

Aug 27, 2021 - 13 min

In the cinema, my father’s unspeakable childhood finally surfaced

The overlooked power of community.

Psyche

Aug 25, 2021 - 25 min

#3 - How to stop procrastination

Practical, effective ways to start making a change.

Psyche

Aug 25, 2021 - 14 min

There’s a way to avoid the slippery slopes of over-optimism

We can reap its benefits while avoiding the costs.

Psyche

Aug 19, 2021 - 14 min

Some medical devices don’t mean to be racist, but they are

How racism creeps into inanimate objects.

Psyche

Aug 18, 2021 - 20 min

#2 - How to curate (just about) anything

A hack to a more mindful home.

Psyche

Aug 11, 2021 - 22 min

#1 - How to take save money

Saving can improve psychological wellbeing and emotional health.

Psyche

Aug 7, 2021 - 9 min

Being dumb can be honourable, but being stupid is something else

Even the smartest aren't always clever.

Psyche

Aug 5, 2021 - 14 min

In praise of habits – so much more than mindless reflexes

A more pragmatic approach towards them might be needed.

Psyche

Aug 1, 2021 - 9 min

There is nothing so deep as the gleaming surface of the aphorism

Certain types of people dominate the form. Why?

Psyche

Jul 30, 2021 - 13 min

To learn from a psychedelic trip, explore the dreams that follow

Why drugs alone won't work.

Psyche

Jul 22, 2021 - 12 min

The fascinating neuroscience of pleasure goes way beyond dopamine

Why your thoughts on dopamine are probably wrong.

Psyche

Jul 21, 2021 - 12 min

Why it took us thousands of years to see the colour violet

The reason behind the expansion of the mind’s colour palette.

Psyche

Jul 17, 2021 - 14 min

Fanon and the crisis of mental health in the Arab world

What explains the resilience of institutionalisation in the region?

Psyche

Jul 15, 2021 - 13 min

Imagine you could insert knowledge into your mind: should you?

There is more to it than simply understanding.

Psyche

Jul 14, 2021 - 9 min

Dare to speak your mind and together we flourish

Conforming comes at a price.

Psyche

Jul 13, 2021 - 11 min

Assertiveness is a virtue that anyone can develop with practice

It’s time to rethink this beneficial social skill.

Psyche

Jul 12, 2021 - 12 min

Should we be concerned that the decisions of AIs are inscrutable?

Why it's important to highlight its problems before it’s too late.

Psyche

Jul 11, 2021 - 11 min

Sometimes, paying attention means we see the world less clearly

How can we rethink our approach towards focus?

Psyche

Jul 5, 2021 - 10 min

Is improving your personality a moral duty or a category confusion?

Maybe we all need a change of character.

Psyche

Jun 17, 2021 - 16 min

I’m haunted by my night of vodka and reefers with the Taliban

"I can’t stop reliving the night I thought I was going to die."

Psyche

Jun 6, 2021 - 11 min

Self-knowledge is a powerful thing — if it’s not an illusion

The argument for self-awareness.

Psyche

May 30, 2021 - 10 min

What should you do when a machine’s decision does you wrong?

The overlooked problem with AI-driven tools.

Psyche

May 29, 2021 - 12 min

A long history of aphrodisiacs, from health tonic to sexual aid

The world before viagra.

Psyche

May 8, 2021 - 13 min

It should be OK for parents to express regret about having children

Just how many people lament having kids?

Psyche

May 6, 2021 - 13 min

Some people feel so utterly alone, it’s as if they don’t exist

How to understand those who struggle to be a person.

Psyche

May 1, 2021 - 13 min

Spirituality is a brain state we can all reach, religious or not

Future eureka moments won't need a breakthrough.

Psyche

Apr 29, 2021 - 14 min

The radical impact of seeing Alzheimer’s as a second childhood

There is profound power in taking a new approach.

Psyche

Apr 17, 2021 - 13 min

When the mind is dark, making art is a thrilling way to see

There's a hidden beauty in not being able to visualise.

Psyche

Apr 13, 2021 - 15 min

When your authenticity is an act, something’s gone wrong

Why being yourself is paradoxical.

Psyche

Apr 12, 2021 - 12 min

History teachers work on the frontlines of trauma and memory

Re-considering our approach to history.

Psyche

Apr 5, 2021 - 13 min

To find the truth, we must establish the meaning of falsehood

The truth about lies.

Psyche

Mar 28, 2021 - 10 min

Racism has broadened 'Black time' to an always and everywhere

"The past infuses the present and imprisons the future."

Psyche

Mar 26, 2021 - 11 min

The politician as the malformed monster of our coexistence

They have been around for longer than we might think.

Psyche

Mar 11, 2021 - 9 min

The fence is uncomfortable, but it affords the best view

Did you know that an ambivalent mindset can improve your thought process?

Psyche

Mar 7, 2021 - 13 min

You’re not a computer, you’re a tiny stone in a beautiful mosaic

Understanding why it is important to mind our metaphors.

Psyche

Mar 6, 2021 - 15 min

The new genomics of sexuality moves us beyond ‘born this way’

Science suggests it might not be exclusively in the DNA.

Psyche

Feb 28, 2021 - 7 min

If smiles are so easy to fake, why do we trust them?

We are good at faking them but also equally as good at knowing when they are truly genuine.

Psyche

Feb 25, 2021 - 11 min

Why natural beauty nourishes our spiritual and social selves

Feeling in awe of nature is key to our vitality.

Psyche

Feb 22, 2021 - 10 min

Sprinkle a little ancient philosophy into your daily routines

Struggling to cope with the demanding aspects of modern life? Here is a technique that could help.

Psyche

Feb 21, 2021 - 11 min

How a secret European language ‘made a rabbit’ and survived

'Rotwelsch' was the name it was given — a tongue created by outcasts, for outcasts.

Psyche

Feb 20, 2021 - 9 min

Imagine a workplace where you could actually tell the truth

We have all had to bite our tongues at work — let's picture a world where we don't need to.

Psyche

Feb 19, 2021 - 9 min

How Daoism shatters our illusions of time and being

Why we should observe things on the level of cosmological time.

Psyche

Feb 5, 2021 - 11 min

Rise up fellow complainers, let’s be vulnerable together

Is there skill in complaining? And can we develop it enough to support our mental wellbeing?

Psyche

Feb 3, 2021 - 12 min

Horace’s lyrics of friendship offer hope to our troubled world

Contextualising the surprisingly therapeutic value of ancient Roman poetry in today's society.

Psyche

Jan 29, 2021 - 13 min

Sudden amnesia showed me the self is a convenient fiction

A reflection on existentialism, and reshaping your identity after memory loss.

Psyche

Jan 28, 2021 - 9 min

The mathematical case against blaming people for their misfortune

An enlightening analysis of our fortune, and misfortune, based on the teachings of complexity science.

Psyche

Jan 27, 2021 - 10 min

What working in emergency care taught me about suicide risk

Should risk categorisation be considered an outdated practice?

Psyche

Jan 23, 2021 - 9 min

Should smartphone data be harnessed to track mental health?

Exploring how we can harness our digital footprint in a more practical, and positive way.

Psyche

Jan 21, 2021 - 14 min

On the consolatory pleasure of jigsaws when the world is in bits

How the latest micro-trend of quarantine can help with anxiety.

Psyche

Jan 20, 2021 - 9 min

To be a responsible citizen today, it is not enough to be reasonable

An economist's view on how we can collectively solve the world’s most pressing issues.

Psyche

Jan 17, 2021 - 10 min

What the distinctive brains of resilient people can teach us

Knowing the neurobiological reasons for resilience could open a myriad of opportunities.

Psyche

Jan 11, 2021 - 12 min

Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking

Why aren’t we talking to ourselves all the time?

Psyche

Jan 9, 2021 - 12 min

Working, flirting and sex: courtship in 18th-century France

Conflict and disappointment — analysing dating tales from 300 years ago.

Psyche

Jan 6, 2021 - 14 min

True gratitude is a communal emotion, not a wellness practice

What does it mean to be thankful?

Psyche

Jan 4, 2021 - 14 min

On the moral obligation to stop shit-stirring

How 'utilitarianism' could be the ideal public morality for our troubled age.

Psyche

Jan 1, 2021 - 13 min

How Emil Utitz salvaged his humanity in a non-human world

Freedom lies in the courage to remain conscious.

Psyche

Dec 31, 2020 - 12 min

Trauma unmakes the world of the self. Can stories repair it?

When in despair, we can still find and create meaning by embracing ‘tragic optimism’.

Psyche

Dec 24, 2020 - 13 min

In Nyāya philosophy only some debates are worth having

Winning the argument is missing the point.

Psyche

Dec 20, 2020 - 9 min

Turn away from the dark side: nice guys don’t finish last

Are people with dark personality traits more likely to succeed?

Psyche

Dec 10, 2020 - 12 min

When does a human embryo have the moral status of a person?

Research on embryos is fast-evolving, as science pushes forward and questions of morality continue to arise.

Psyche

Dec 5, 2020 - 12 min

Recognise the creativity behind crime, then you can thwart it

The personal qualities associated with creativity can support a terrorist as much as an entrepreneur.

Psyche

Nov 23, 2020 - 9 min

Teenagers are going to sext, let’s teach them to do it safely

Digital sexual education from a young age could be a way to reduce abusive behaviours online.

Psyche

Nov 21, 2020 - 15 min

To heal emotional inflammation, make distress your change agent

The inflammation is natural to the conditions we’ve been living within recent years — but there are solutions.

Psyche

Nov 17, 2020 - 10 min

Working on a suicide helpline changed how I talk to everyone

In these calls, there is zero room for pretence — this can apply to normal conversations too.

Psyche

Nov 14, 2020 - 11 min

In the chaos of raising a toddler there lies a path to nirvana

It can be liberating, self-smashing work, and a unique opportunity to cultivate the present.

Psyche

Nov 11, 2020 - 12 min

Anxiety animates philosophical enquiry and makes us human

Can intellectual query be purely emotion-free?

Psyche

Nov 8, 2020 - 13 min

A spiritual emergency can be wild. This is how to ride the wave

How an ayahuasca-induced ego meltdown highlighted the artificiality of the everyday self.

Psyche

Nov 7, 2020 - 14 min

The rise of the bystander as a complicit historical actor

From innocence to incrimination — what are the moral duties of someone who witnesses a crime?

Psyche

Oct 31, 2020 - 10 min

Memory involves the whole body. It’s how the self defies amnesia

Amnesia survivors are most themselves in contexts that reinforce their embodied tendencies.

Psyche

Oct 29, 2020 - 12 min

When is it ethical to vote for ‘the lesser of two evils’?

Elections are just one of many situations in life that lead us to consider compromising our core ideals.

Psyche

Oct 25, 2020 - 14 min

Debating whether Bon Jovi is cheesy develops conceptual freedom

Disagreements aren’t mistaken — they’re inevitable, and that is an excellent thing.

Psyche

Oct 20, 2020 - 9 min

Effective altruism is logical, but too unnatural to catch on

Analysing why basic human morality is not designed to think 'logically'.

Psyche

Oct 18, 2020 - 8 min

Telephone therapy is convenient and it works. Let’s use it more

It's cost-effective and produces successful results, so why don't we use telephone therapy more?

Psyche

Oct 17, 2020 - 8 min

Adam Smith warned us about sympathising with the elites

The economist and philosopher argued that this often leads us to identify with those that oppress us.

Psyche

Oct 15, 2020 - 13 min

Let’s avoid talk of ‘chemical imbalance’: it’s people in distress

"Mental health treatment needs to re-engage with the language of persons."

Psyche

Oct 12, 2020 - 8 min

Nurture your imagination and you will be forever free

Physical walls cannot confine us.

Psyche

Oct 4, 2020 - 11 min

You can’t unlearn, and that’s a perplexing obstacle to good teaching

Exploring the importance of accessing our novice state.

Psyche

Oct 4, 2020 - 11 min

In the pandemic, we relearn what Sartre meant by being free

What does it mean to be free in 2020?

Psyche

Oct 2, 2020 - 15 min

Most anguish isn’t an illness but an evolved response to adversity

Depression and anxiety have low heritability and can onset at any age.

Psyche

Sep 26, 2020 - 10 min

Freedom needs friction: lessons in choice from French history

How our modern aspirations for freedom require a multitude of choices.

Psyche

Sep 23, 2020 - 13 min

Modern mindfulness meditation has lost its beating communal heart

The importance of establishing a core of inner safety that can be returned to again and again.

Psyche

Sep 22, 2020 - 11 min

The problem with love is deciding who’s doing the dishes

How our understanding of love derives from the metaphor of the patriarchal marriage of the past.

Psyche

Sep 19, 2020 - 12 min

Young children use reason, not gut feelings, to decide moral issues

The case against moral reasoning has begun to unravel.

Psyche

Sep 15, 2020 - 11 min

To Karl Jaspers, uncertainty is not to be overcome but understood

"We might not agree about who we are and what we want to be, but we can agree on what we don't know."

Psyche

Sep 12, 2020 - 12 min

DNA testing is easy. It can also turn your family upside down

A significant minority discover surprises that will upend their understandings of their families and themselves.

Psyche

Sep 6, 2020 - 11 min

Life coaching is unregulated and growing rapidly. Should it be reined in?

Common topics for leadership coaches are the bread and butter of many a therapy session.

Psyche

Sep 3, 2020 - 10 min

Recognising our common humanity might not be enough to prevent hatred

The claim dehumanisation lies at the heart of intergroup harm is now being challenged.

Psyche

Sep 2, 2020 - 9 min

The jazz singer’s mind shows us how to improvise through life itself

Improvisation is pervasive in our lives — it also helps us become fully human.

Psyche

Sep 1, 2020 - 11 min

Why efficiency is dangerous and slowing down makes life better

"You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough."

Psyche

Aug 31, 2020 - 12 min

The plague novel you need to read is by Bachmann, not Camus

What does it mean to live in the plague — every day, across generations and without an exit strategy?

Psyche

Aug 29, 2020 - 9 min

Beliefs have a social purpose. Does this explain delusions?

Understanding the long history of emphasising irrationality in mental health research.

Psyche

Aug 23, 2020 - 12 min

Why are we gripped by the idea of a human killer-instinct?

Researchers on human nature have adopted the claim of an evolved predisposition for aggression.

Psyche

Aug 19, 2020 - 9 min

What pro wrestling can teach us about the quest for truth

The elaborate pantomime of pro wrestling sheds light on the psychology of truth-seeking.

Psyche

Aug 18, 2020 - 15 min

Gentileschi. Let us not allow sexual violence to define the artist

"To understand Gentileschi's art as biographical expression is also to risk violating her again."

Psyche

Aug 12, 2020 - 9 min

You want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip

Feeling good about ourselves can translate into acts of kindness towards others.

Psyche

Aug 3, 2020 - 11 min

Much ado about uncertainty: how Shakespeare navigates doubt

Shakespeare made uncertainty a leitmotiv of all his works and harnessed its creative power.

Psyche

Aug 1, 2020 - 12 min

Introverts are excluded unfairly in an extraverts’ world

One in three people is an introvert. When will society notice?

Psyche

Jul 25, 2020 - 9 min

The self of self-help books is a figment of the imagination

Why narratives about the self often deny the implications of social structures.

Psyche

Jul 14, 2020 - 11 min

Emotions should be in the heart of complex political debates

By definition, they are not at odds with rationality but can be an important source of moral reflection.

Psyche

Jul 8, 2020 - 9 min

Why good teachers allow a child’s mind to wander and wonder

Education is about opening up the world.

Psyche

Jul 5, 2020 - 12 min

Autistic people shouldn’t have to use ‘camouflage’ to fit in

What autistic people's herculean effort to 'compensate' means, and its perils.

Psyche

Jul 4, 2020 - 8 min

Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living

The feeling of loss can then, in turn, create the opportunity to engage in a new project of investment.

Psyche

Jul 2, 2020 - 9 min

Neuroscience has much to learn from Hume’s philosophy of emotions

Are we in the midst of a second Humean revolution?

Psyche

Jun 30, 2020 - 11 min

Our greatest invention was the invention of invention itself

What caused our species to break out of the pattern set by archaic humans?

Psyche

Jun 28, 2020 - 14 min

A touch of absurdity can help to wrap your mind around reality

Juxtaposing the uncanny with the familiar helps us challenge our understanding of the world.

Psyche

Jun 26, 2020 - 10 min

Selfish, grumpy, unkind? That’s my sort of woman

This type of literary heroine acts as a blast of fresh air.

Psyche

Jun 23, 2020 - 13 min

Could the art of ‘sashiko’ help mend our post-pandemic world?

"In sashiko, the goal is not to hide the repair but to celebrate it."

Psyche

Jun 18, 2020 - 10 min

Ever taken pleasure in another’s pain? That’s ‘everyday sadism’

Empathy is not the only way we might respond to others' pain.

Psyche

Jun 11, 2020 - 9 min

For young people, emotions are highly contagious social viruses

How you're feeling today could have far-reaching ramifications in your inner circle.