The Human Zoo

Storms rage and floods take their toll - is this nature taking its revenge? Michael Blastland turns the lens of psychology on how we treat objects and other entities as if they are 'alive'.

Not just the weather - we rail against a crashed laptop, dote on our cars and have conversations with our pets. Why do we anthropomorphise the things around us?

In fact, we tend to exaggerate what psychologists call 'agency' in all kinds of ways - as if there's a mind behind what goes on in the world, with feelings and intentions. Does this mean we see conspiracy, blame, praise, and power where it doesn't belong?

Michael Blastland investigates with resident Zoo psychologist Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and roving reporter Timandra Harkness.

Producer: Dom Byrne

Amidst public anxiety over any number of threats to British interests, Michael Blastland turns the lens of psychology from 'us' to 'them', and perceptions of 'the other'.

From sports teams to supermarkets, politics to religion, we define ourselves partly by the other. And with the news full of fear of terrorist attacks, talk of war and immigration, the question of how we perceive groups outside our own is increasingly relevant.

How do we see 'them', whoever they are? Are we naturally fearful of those who aren't like us? What is the morality of otherness? Can our categorising of the other lead to a potential for racism?

Michael Blastland investigates with resident Zoo psychologist Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and roving reporter Timandra Harkness.

Contributors this week include sports commentator Alison Mitchell on otherness in cricket, and comedian Simon Evans on its function in standup.

Producer: Eve Streeter

The series that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. From scandals to markets, elections to traffic jams, discover the nuts and bolts of human behaviour that link public life to our most private thoughts and motivations.

Are people led by the head or by the heart? How rational are we? And how do we perceive the world? All human behaviour could turn up in The Human Zoo - including yours.

In this episode, Michael Blastland explores why so many people - be they the leaders of political parties, or people who drink too much - think other people share their beliefs and choices. All political parties tell us that the tide is going their way. But it's a strange tide that flows in all directions. Even extremists and revolutionaries, it seems, are likely to think that there are many other supporters eager to join them.

Why do we think so many more people are like us? Even when we're asked to describe the typical height of people we see around us, we're more likely to estimate too low if we're short and too high if we're tall.

How far does this tendency go, why do we do it, and what are its implications for politics, public health or extremists? Find out in The Human Zoo, recorded before an audience at Warwick University's Festival of the Imagination, featuring the latest psychological research, and the author AL Kennedy on how she goes about becoming someone else in fiction.

Michael Blastland is joined by resident Zoo psychologist Nick Chater, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, and roving reporter Timandra Harkness.

Producer: Dom Byrne

The Human Zoo is the programme that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. From scandals to markets, elections to traffic jams, discover the nuts and bolts of human behaviour that link public life to our most private thoughts and motivations.

The Human Zoo is the programme that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. From scandals to markets, elections to traffic jams, discover the nuts and bolts of human behaviour that link public life to our most private thoughts and motivations.

The Human Zoo is the programme that looks at current events through the lens of psychology. From scandals to markets, elections to traffic jams, discover the nuts and bolts of human behaviour that link public life to our most private thoughts and motivations.

Are people led by the head or by the heart? How rational are we? And how do we perceive the world? The programme blends intriguing experiments that reveal our biases and judgements, explorations and examples taken from what's in the news and what we do in the kitchen - all driven by a large slice of curiosity.

We like to say that all human behaviour could turn up in The Human Zoo, including yours.

In this episode: the flat mind. What if our 'inner world' of images, thoughts and beliefs isn't as three-dimensional as the world around us? What if we're just making it up as we go along?

Recorded at the Cheltenham Science Festival, Michael Blastland investigates, with resident Zoo psychologist Professor Nick Chater and reporter Timandra Harkness.

Special guests this week are advertising guru Rory Sutherland, psychologist Dr Kate Cross from St Andrews University, Elleke Boehmer, professor of world literature in English at at Wolfson College Oxford and author of The Shouting in the Dark, neuroscientist Dr Peter Zeidman from University College London, Dr Martin Coath from the Cognition Institute at Plymouth University and experimental psychologist Professor Bruce Hood from the University of Bristol.

Presenter: Michael Blastland

The Human Zoo is a place to learn about the one subject that never fails to fascinate - ourselves. In this episode, morals and norms. Naked tourists on Malaysian mountains? Professional footballers sprawling on the streets of Tenerife? The team turns the lens of psychology on news of bad behaviour.

How do we know about the unwritten rules that govern us? And why does it cause such outrage when we get them wrong?

Special guests include Richard Holton, Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University, Digital Human presenter Aleks Krotoski, psychologist Dr Kate Cross, as well as writer and broadcaster Simon Fanshawe on how his mother started a bread roll fight with a Lord.

Presenter: Michael Blastland