Category: Psychology

Moon Landing Anniversary: The Psychology of Space Travel for Returning Astronauts

Forty years after Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission, it emerged Nasa had neglected the astronauts on […]

Stanford researcher: Hallucinatory ‘voices’ shaped by local culture

  • July 17, 2014
  • 1

Stanford anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann found that voice-hearing experiences of people with serious psychotic disorders are shaped by local culture – in the United States, the […]

The Capgras Delusion

Imagine the horror of learning that your brother is in a coma as the result of a car crash. Now imagine the relief when he […]

Can You Experience Déja Vu of a Place or Situation You’ve Never Encountered?

Déjà vu is a startling mental event. The phenomenon involves a strong feeling that an experience is familiar, despite sensing or knowing that it never […]

Pope Francis and the psychology of exorcism and possession

Last week it was reported that Pope Francis had formally recognised the International Association of Exorcists, a group of 250 priests spread across 30 countries […]

Scientists have found that memories may be passed down through generations in our DNA

New research from Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has shown that it is possible for some information to be inherited biologically through chemical […]

Black Dog Syndrome: Are people racist against black pets?

Just when you were hoping there were no new ways to be racist, it turns out people may be racist against dogs. Black Dog Syndrome […]

What’s eating Luis Suarez: the psychology of biting

The most feared jaws in football have again snapped shut on human flesh. Renowned Uruguayan jerk Luis Suárez appeared to chomp the shoulder of Italy’s […]

‘Man is not truly one, but truly two’: duality in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Curator Greg Buzwell considers duality in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, exploring how the novel engages with contemporary debates about consciousness, homosexuality […]

What Happens to the Brain During Spiritual Experiences

We all speculate about the meaning of all kinds of things, from everyday concerns about dealing with a co-worker to our ultimate beliefs about the […]

Can Skepticism Blind You to the Truth?

Arthur Ellison, a professor of electrical engineering and prank enthusiast, decided to end a lecture in an entertaining way. He got a group of volunteers, […]

Caveman instincts may explain our belief in gods and ghosts

Notions of gods arise in all human societies, from all powerful and all-knowing deities to simple forest spirits. A recent method of examining religious thought […]

Freaky Sleep Paralysis: Being Awake in Your Nightmares

You wake up, but you can’t move a muscle. Lying in bed, you’re totally conscious, and you realize that strange things are happening. There’s a […]

What’s Behind Reports of Ghost Sex?

Last year it was pop superstar Kesha; now it’s actress Natasha Blasick — star of “Paranormal Activity 2″ — coming forward to talk about her […]

Is exploding head syndrome the reason you can’t sleep?

  • May 6, 2014
  • 0

Exploding head syndrome may sound like a made-up condition – in fact, it’s a real and frightening medical disorder, and one that a study suggests […]

Dream Telepathy Research Reborn

There’s new signs of life for the study of dream telepathy.A compelling 2013 report published by Carlyle Smith, Lifetime Professor Emeritus at Trent University in […]

A Lifetime of Curses

The incidents described may at first glance seem not only irrelevant to ‘ufology’, but merely the ramblings of a madman. Whatever might be the facts […]

Ghosts in your head

One warm summer day, I heard the familiar tune of an ice cream truck outside my window. That night as I was going to bed […]

Hypnotism, the Illusion of Hypnosis and Enhanced Testimony in UFO Reports. Part One – Alex Tsander

  • April 28, 2014
  • 0

In this article I intend to address for the present readership the issue of the nature of hypnotism as it relates to the practice of […]

A Geological Haunting in Connecticut

For hundreds of years spooky noises have emanated from the wooded hills surrounding the village of Moodus, Connecticut. The deep rumblings and jarring cracks seem […]

Scientists discover brain’s anti-distraction system

This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as […]

Richard Wiseman on sleep deprivation and dreams

Two-thirds of us are sleep-deprived, but Richard Wiseman has the answer; no gadgets before bed, more naps, and learning to harness the extraordinary power of […]

Synesthesia Helps Explain Mysterious Spelunker’s Illusion

Many people swear by the so-called spelunker’s illusion, in which they think they can see their own hands moving even in the total absence of […]

The Many Creepy Experiments That Involved Staring At People.

Do you like being stared at? Neither does anyone else. We know that for sure, because psychologists have done many experiments on the subject — […]