Category Archives: Psychology
What’s £10 worth?
My artist colleagues and I are on Day 5 of our short residency in Newport Market – learning surprising things every week about exchange and value and the weird and distorting nature of money. The last 2 visits we’ve been … Continue reading
Market Value?
The Larks & Ravens (of which I am one) are currently “artists in residence” for one day a week in the old Victorian Market in Newport. The stunning market building was once a thriving attraction with an abundance of stalls, … Continue reading
A Psychologist journeying with Artists
For the past few years, I have been collaborating with two socially engaged, visual artists, Pip Woolf and Kirsty Claxton. We call ourselves The Larks and Ravens for reasons that I can’t remember but probably don’t matter! As a … Continue reading
Enjoyable, meaningful lives without economic growth or jobs?
As a behavioural psychologist, I am challenged by Tim Jackson’s book “Prosperity without Growth“. Living on a finite planet, how do we find ways to flourish in a world of less economic growth and less material consumption? At the same … Continue reading
Identity and Narrative
“There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands.“ For anyone who puzzles about how random or intentional our behaviour really is or the power of self … Continue reading
Open eyed or open minded?
Are you open to new experiences and interpretations? Able to see both sides of an argument or imagine a different way the world could be? Do you quickly spot the humour of ambiguous situations? At one time in my (increasingly) … Continue reading
Enjoying disorder
Having published my own research on messy desks and knowledge workers an age ago in 1994, it was pleasing to see that people are still exploring this fascinating subject. This more recent article explores some of the benefits of living … Continue reading
Oblique or Obscure – Psychology & Art
For the past couple of years, I’ve been part of a small artist group, the Larks and Ravens. My personal interest, as ever, is psychology – in this case exploring how visual art can trigger new ways of viewing our … Continue reading
The divisive nature of referendums
We’ve experienced two referendums in the UK in the past 2 years (first Scotland’s Indyref and then the UK’s Brexit). Both have proved socially divisive – across and within countries, across and within regions and neighbourhoods and even across and … Continue reading
In a world without jobs, how do we prosper?
The concept of a universal basic income (if a way can be found to achieve it) could help address a combination of problems. It would replace the administratively complex, expensive and psychologically debilitating benefits system. It would avoid people doing … Continue reading
The Prospectory 