Understand

The inner workings of the mind: emotions, memory, decision-making and more

Photo of a hand holding a smartphone displaying a chat app interface asking “How can I help you this afternoon?”

How to use chatbots to make you smarter, not dumber

Use AI thoughtlessly and it dulls your mind. But with a strategic approach and the right prompts, it can be a powerful tool

by Nick Kabrel

A collapsed apartment building leaning between other damaged buildings in twilight

Do you weave historical events into your own life story?

Some people watch history pass by. Others high in ‘historical consciousness’ truly live it – and seem to benefit as a result

by Şebnem Ture

A close-up view of a cheeseburger with multiple beef patties, melted cheese and crispy onion rings.

Guilty pleasures are more than just giving in to temptation

Psychologists are discovering what’s going on when you do something you enjoy, but also feel weird or embarrassed about

by LaCount ‘JJ’ Togans

Black and white photo of passengers seated and standing inside a crowded train carriage, some holding bags and flowers; a woman seated in the foreground has an annoyed look on her face.

How to tolerate annoying things

Hassles are part of life, but the way we react often makes them worse. ACT skills can help you handle them with greater ease

by Patricia E Zurita Ona

A home entrance with a black front door, mirrored wall, umbrella stand and carpeted stairs.

How to build a memory palace

Upgrade your ability to recall dates, names or other details with an ancient trick of the memory trade: the ‘method of loci’

by Lynne Kelly

Guides

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A person in the air, mid-flip, on a grassy hill with distant hills in the background.

How to check if an argument is valid

In logic, validity is prime. If you want to make valid arguments, or sniff out invalid ones, here’s what you need to do

by Robert Trueman

A woman and dog standing in a cobblestone street, by an outdoor travel advertisement showing a plane wing and sunset.

How to resist everyday temptations

Acting on impulse often feels good at first, but brings trouble later. Understanding these urges can help you control them

by Peggilee Wupperman

Popular

Black and white photo of a group of people dancing outdoors, with a man in a striped shirt in the foreground.

How to thrive as a highly sensitive person

In this noisy world, being highly sensitive is a challenge. But learn to manage overwhelm and you can reap the upsides too

by Jadzia Jagiellowicz

A home entrance with a black front door, mirrored wall, umbrella stand and carpeted stairs.

How to build a memory palace

Upgrade your ability to recall dates, names or other details with an ancient trick of the memory trade: the ‘method of loci’

by Lynne Kelly

A woman and dog standing in a cobblestone street, by an outdoor travel advertisement showing a plane wing and sunset.

How to resist everyday temptations

Acting on impulse often feels good at first, but brings trouble later. Understanding these urges can help you control them

by Peggilee Wupperman

Black and white photo of passengers seated and standing inside a crowded train carriage, some holding bags and flowers; a woman seated in the foreground has an annoyed look on her face.

How to tolerate annoying things

Hassles are part of life, but the way we react often makes them worse. ACT skills can help you handle them with greater ease

by Patricia E Zurita Ona

A person in the air, mid-flip, on a grassy hill with distant hills in the background.

How to check if an argument is valid

In logic, validity is prime. If you want to make valid arguments, or sniff out invalid ones, here’s what you need to do

by Robert Trueman

A smiling woman with tattoos at an outdoor festival, surrounded by blurred people and trees in the background.

The trait that makes some people so frustrating – and alluring

Conscientiousness is constantly touted as a virtue, so what’s life like for people with the opposite trait – disinhibition?

by Janan Mostajabi

A close-up view of a cheeseburger with multiple beef patties, melted cheese and crispy onion rings.

Guilty pleasures are more than just giving in to temptation

Psychologists are discovering what’s going on when you do something you enjoy, but also feel weird or embarrassed about

by LaCount ‘JJ’ Togans

Vintage photo of two women in Victorian attire, one in a patterned dress looks at the other who wears a fur-trimmed coat.

You don’t need perfect features to be physically beautiful

New research reveals that physical attractiveness is more about personal compatibility than meeting universal standards

by Annett Schirmer

Popular

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Black and white photo of a group of people dancing outdoors, with a man in a striped shirt in the foreground.

How to thrive as a highly sensitive person

In this noisy world, being highly sensitive is a challenge. But learn to manage overwhelm and you can reap the upsides too

by Jadzia Jagiellowicz

A home entrance with a black front door, mirrored wall, umbrella stand and carpeted stairs.

How to build a memory palace

Upgrade your ability to recall dates, names or other details with an ancient trick of the memory trade: the ‘method of loci’

by Lynne Kelly

A woman and dog standing in a cobblestone street, by an outdoor travel advertisement showing a plane wing and sunset.

How to resist everyday temptations

Acting on impulse often feels good at first, but brings trouble later. Understanding these urges can help you control them

by Peggilee Wupperman

Black and white photo of passengers seated and standing inside a crowded train carriage, some holding bags and flowers; a woman seated in the foreground has an annoyed look on her face.

How to tolerate annoying things

Hassles are part of life, but the way we react often makes them worse. ACT skills can help you handle them with greater ease

by Patricia E Zurita Ona

Notes to self

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Aerial photo of Würzburg, a European cityscape with historic buildings, church spires and a clock tower under a partly cloudy sky.
TRAVEL

Why ‘false authenticity’ is so unsettling

by Sam Dresser

Videos

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Black and white photo of a man in glasses and a suit speaking, seated indoors with window blinds in the background.

Can an entire society be mentally ill? A perspective from 1960

Video by The Search for America

Ethereal photo of a person lying down under a blue haze with ghostly hands reaching towards them.

When dreams touch reality – the liminal world of sleep paralysis

Drawing of six people in a living room having tea and cake around a table, with a window and plant in the background.

Hand-drawn animation brings a meeting of ‘voice-hearers’ to life

Illustration of a masked healthcare worker in multiple colours against a pixelated background.

Every choice has an energy cost. Learn to manage your budget

Two women sitting on a log outdoors, each holding a child, with greenery in the background.

An activist weaves motherhood into her world in this gentle short

Photo of an elderly man speaking at a podium with a microphone onstage, wearing a dark suit and glasses.

James Earl Jones reads Kurt Vonnegut on why art is central to a meaningful life

Photo of a group of young people taking a selfie with a smartphone outdoors in a busy urban setting.

Is narcissism really on the rise among younger generations?

A fresh investigation of vast numbers of young people from around the world has thrown up some surprising results

by Jakob Pietschnig & Sandra Oberleiter

A hospital corridor with a woman asleep on a bench and a doctor walking away in the background.

‘Invisible diseases’ burden both body and mind. Can therapy help?

Hard-to-diagnose illnesses aren’t ‘all in the mind’. But recognising their links to mental health can help reduce the pain

by Karina Waluk

A smiling woman with tattoos at an outdoor festival, surrounded by blurred people and trees in the background.

The trait that makes some people so frustrating – and alluring

Conscientiousness is constantly touted as a virtue, so what’s life like for people with the opposite trait – disinhibition?

by Janan Mostajabi

Photo of a man holding a hand-drawn sketch of himself on a city street, wearing a blazer with a colourful patch.
Psyche Exclusive

Bad art, good laughs – a street portraitist’s lacklustre work animates a city

Directed by Rosie Baldwin

Photo of a woman with braided hair on a sailboat in open sea, wearing a patterned jumper and colourful scarf, enjoying the sun.
TRAVEL

Emma navigates the vast Atlantic and her own mind in this captivating travelogue

Directed by Mattias Olsson

Photo of two women in a kitchen, one peeling a potato while smiling the other focused on cooking, with a mortar in view.

We’re naturally bad at predicting what will make us happy. Here’s how to adjust

Video by The Well

Collage of animal photos with progressively simplified line drawings of a flamingo, giraffe and cat.

From cave art to subatomic sketches – how drawing has accelerated human progress

Video by MIT Quest for Intelligence

An elderly man seated on a city street as skateboarders perform tricks around him.

Where are you on the ‘happiness curve’?

When I came across the U-shaped happiness curve, I knew I had to act if I wanted to buck the midlife average

by Richard Fisher

Two clay faces with minimal features lying on a dark surface in a close-up photograph.

A woman must break apart to make herself whole in this surreal, stunning animation

Directed by Chu-Chieh Lee

Surreal painting of a celestial figure surrounded by angels and clouds, with vivid colours and dynamic movement.

Embrace conflict, reject authority – William Blake’s radical vision of a meaningful life

Video by Great Books Explained

A man in a tweed jacket viewing a framed German wanted poster on a wall in a museum or gallery setting.

The eerie phenomenon that keeps popping up

Ever feel like a word or person you just learned about has been showing up repeatedly? There’s a term for that

by Hannah Seo

Vintage photo of two women in Victorian attire, one in a patterned dress looks at the other who wears a fur-trimmed coat.

You don’t need perfect features to be physically beautiful

New research reveals that physical attractiveness is more about personal compatibility than meeting universal standards

by Annett Schirmer

Sketchbook pages with colourful abstract faces, featuring torn paper flaps over parts of the drawings, mixed media artwork.

Steven has a rare insight into faces – because he cannot recognise them

Directed by Steven Fraser

A man looking through the scope of a rifle in a crowded exhibition with mounted deer heads in the background.

My husband, the gun nut

Three years into a blissful relationship, my partner picked up a hobby that sent me spiralling

by Lindsey Harrington

Page from a book with printed text about society and handwritten notes in the margin, including ’True but only in part‘.

The value of scribbling in the margins

Marginalia is far from inessential. It would be a shame if it died off in the digital age

by Richard Fisher

Black and white photo of a group of people dancing outdoors, with a man in a striped shirt in the foreground.

How to thrive as a highly sensitive person

In this noisy world, being highly sensitive is a challenge. But learn to manage overwhelm and you can reap the upsides too

by Jadzia Jagiellowicz