42 Items Tagged

Psychology

Excavations near the modern Slovakian town of Vráble, for which the site is named, offered archaeologists new insights into the counterclockwise rotation of ancient construction.

The Mystery of Neolithic Slovakia's Rotating Villages

It’s hard to think straight when your brain is asymmetric.

Isaac Schultz February 5, 2020

A portrait of Cheryl Lashek, made by Alex Plante.

Meet the Mechanical Engineer Whose Signature Is Instagram Famous in Manitoba

For the past decade, every elevator in the Canadian province has been graced by Cheryl Lashek's name.

Sarah Lawrynuik May 1, 2019

Horace Vernet's <em>The Last Grenadier of Waterloo</em>, contemplating his plight.

The French Conquest of Algeria Was Sick With Nostalgia

The long, dark, painful history of an everyday emotion.

Matthew Taub December 21, 2018

Remember to use the tongs to prevent melting any precious product.

How to Sell a $300 Chocolate Bar

Follow the wine playbook.

Ximena N. Larkin February 16, 2018

An apple pictured on a round plate at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore.

The Power of Circles in Food and Drink

Humans consistently associate roundness with sweetness.

Paula Mejia January 18, 2018

Images of the Unconscious Museum.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Images of the Unconscious Museum

An overlooked collection of over 350,000 artistic works created by psychiatric patients using art therapy.

Songs such as <em>Happy Birthday</em> have both high positive "emotional valence" and ultra-happy major seventh chords.

The Secret Chord That Makes Pop Music Sound Happy

The musical formula for good vibrations.

Natasha Frost November 15, 2017

A selection of the images shown to the monkeys in the trial.

Rhesus Monkeys See Faces in Objects, Just Like We Do

Yes, that coffee does look a bit like a face.

Natasha Frost August 28, 2017

A stress ball, one of the many types of anxiety toys.

Quit Worrying, Fidget Toys Have Been Around Forever

A spin through anxiety gadgets, from worry beads to Baoding balls.

Ali Jaffe June 5, 2017

Kashpirovsky's at work.

A Psychic Healer Tried to Hypnotize Soviets to Distract From the Fall of Communism

Pay no attention to the man behind the Iron Curtain.

Sarah Laskow May 23, 2017

Plaza Güemes in Buenos Aires, sometimes known as Plaza Freud or Guadalupe.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Villa Freud

A pocket of Buenos Aires with an unusually high concentration of psychotherapists.

An illustration from the <em>Illustrated Police News</em>, Saturday 11 May 1889.

The Victorian Belief That a Train Ride Could Cause Instant Insanity

"Railway madmen" were thought to be activated by the sounds and motion of train travel.

Joseph Hayes May 12, 2017

Milledgeville, Georgia

Central State Hospital

One of the largest-ever mental hospitals now sits abandoned, surrounded by 25,000 unmarked graves.

Freud's psychoanalytic couch.

London, England

Freud Museum London

The pioneer of psychoanalysis spent the final year of his life here, still seeing patients on that famous couch.

Permanently Closed

DeJarnette Sanitarium.

Staunton, Virginia

Abandoned DeJarnette Sanitarium

A former mental hospital founded in the 1930s by a eugenicist who advocated for the forced sterilization of patients.

"Rufus the Raccoon scores a basket" vintage postcard.

The Experimental Zoo Where Parrots Rollerskated and Chickens Played Baseball

It was run by a pair of psychologists under the principles of operant conditioning.

Andy Wright February 28, 2017

Satyres en atlante, a 2nd century sculpture at the Louvre.

Why Men Get More Lint in Their Belly Buttons Than Women

Also: a very brief history of navel-gazing.

Ernie Smith February 6, 2017

While not a real psychological illness, book collectors and bibliophiles described "bibliomania" as a medical condition.

Bibliomania, the Dark Desire For Books That Infected Europe in the 1800s

Book lovers and collectors feared becoming a victim of the pseudo-illness.

Lauren Young December 2, 2016