Why Does Social Anxiety Exist?

Social anxiety is a debilitating nervousness of being in social situations, which affects up to 12% of people in the UK. This makes it the most common type of anxiety disorder (for comparison, generalised anxiety disorder is present in 6% of the UK population). Common symptoms of social anxiety disorder include intense worrying about interactions…

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The Human Need for Storytelling

We are a storytelling species. Not only do we weave stories about our own lives (which is known as narrativisation: the process of presenting and interpreting experiences, events, and scenarios in the form of a narrative; that is, a story), we also create, tell, and retell stories of an epic, mythic, and fantastical nature. Moreover,…

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The Psychology of Bad News

Every day we are inundated with stories about the most horrific acts and events that have taken place in the world. It’s common knowledge that ‘bad news sells’ – but what is it about bad news that makes it interesting and readable? It seems counter-intuitive that people’s minds would be primed to seek out information…

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Why Do Humans Cry?

Crying as a response to an emotional state has always been seen as something uniquely human. There is, however, some debate as to whether elephants display the same kind of behaviour. We know that elephants do cry, but whether they cry in response to loss, grief or sadness is more contentious. Based on the behaviour…

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The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis Paints a Different Picture of Human Evolution

The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH) proposes that our evolutionary ancestors, at some point, adapted to a semi-aquatic existence. This challenges the consensus view that our ancestors left an arboreal (tree-dwelling) habitat and then continued to evolve in the terrestrial habitat of the African savannah. One of the most passionate proponents of the AAH is the…

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