All In The Mind

Are you a curious explorer? Curiosity is the missing ingredient in our search for a more fulfilling life, says Todd Kashdan.

Being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome makes a big difference to some people’s lives—providing them with an identity and an explanation for their daily challenges. The latest version of the psychiatric Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM V) which is due out this month does away with a separate category for Asperger's. In this program we get an insight into being on the autism spectrum and what impact the changes to the criteria may have.

For most people the ability to interact and communicate with each other seems almost second nature—but for those with a condition on the autism spectrum social skills can be difficult to grasp and challenging. We hear from the pioneering autism researcher from the UK Uta Frith and neuroscientist Chris Frith about what autism and Asperger's Syndrome can teach us about our Social Brain. 

Do you have a monkey mind? New Yorker Daniel Smith does. He says chronic anxiety is the only mental disorder which can be both excruciatingly painful and funny at the same time.

Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist who’s turned his mind to the unconscious. Not the unconscious mind of Freudian fame which was examined through psychoanalysis in the 19th century – but a new science of the unconscious made possible by technologies which reveal the physiology of our brains. We discuss the hidden forces that rule our behaviour. 

We feel we should be able to recall all sorts of things at will—but how often do our individual memories fail us? As part of a study on social memory, a group of cognitive psychologists and philosophers heard the shared histories of long term married couples to investigate how they combine their memories. The strategies they use could help people with dementia.

Are you a sensitive flower -- like a vulnerable orchid, or more like a hardy dandelion? We explore the intriguing orchid–dandelion hypothesis which suggests that the genes that underlie our greatest weakness may also be the basis for our most positive traits, given the right environment.

Memory – it’s the thread that runs through our lives. Psychologists are finding that the way we talk with our young children affects their early memories and we hear why we soon forget what we learn when we cram for an exam.

James Doty emerged from a disadvantaged background in the United States to become a neurosurgeon, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist—only to let his fortune go and dedicate his professional life to the scientific study of compassion and altruism.

If you sign up to a weekend personal development workshop, you don’t really expect to emerge 10 years later a shadow of your former emotional self. What sets many groups apart from what we regard as cults is a range of powerful psychological techniques which can be difficult to see through—particularly if you are at a vulnerable time of your life. We hear the story of one woman’s escape from a cult and some insights into those persuasive techniques