evolution… Today is ‘Darwin Day’ 12 Feb 201912 Feb 2019 160 years ago this year Charles Darwin published his ground-breaking, paradigm shattering volume ‘on the origin of species by means of natural selection’. 210 years ago today on February 12th,…
evolution… Is anxiety a choice? 2 Feb 201931 Jan 2019 Is anxiety a choice? Is an anxiety disorder a choice? Can a person choose not to be anxious? Last night I had an interesting conversation with a stranger in the…
evolution… Hard-wired 14: Why Freud was almost right 1 Feb 201928 Jan 2019 Although not a fan of Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection (he was more influenced by the earlier, Lamarckian evolutionary theory), Sigmund Freud was very nearly right…
challenging behaviour… Challenging behaviour: Validating opinions and beliefs 31 Jan 201928 Jan 2019 When dealing with people whose behaviours are challenging it's important to acknowledge that those behaviours may well be based upon some very deep-seated beliefs. Whilst we don't need to agree…
challenging behaviour… Challenging behaviour: Motivation and pleasure 30 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 Most people are surprised to learn that they maintain (and often actually create) the problems they face. Often people will work hard to resist this idea and that can be…
evolution… Hard-wired 13: Creationism? Bring it on! 29 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 I was recently challenged to a debate by a creationist who confidently informed me that evolution is a lie, even going so far as to ask me if I knew…
Courses… After the mental capacity assessment 28 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 Assessing mental capacity is one thing but what happens next? What must we do once we know that a person lacks the mental capacity to make this particular decision at…
evolution… Hard-wired 12: Know thy enemy 27 Jan 201926 Jan 2019 Nobody seriously can deny that our evolutionary journey, from the simplest chemical compounds to the complex organisms we know as Homo sapiens involved extreme callousness and even casual cruelty. Survival…
evolutionary psychology… Hard-wired 11: Heuristics – our evolved psychological shortcuts 26 Jan 2019 Heuristics are the psychological shortcuts that keep us going in a complex world. They shorten decision-making time and allow us to function without constantly having to stop and think about…
evolution… Hard wired 10: Evolution, human culture and the big brain 9 Jan 20192 Jan 2019 Evolutionary psychology as we shall see, is tightly bound up with culture. To understand the evolution of culture we need first to explain how we developed our big brain. Without…
