...looks back

In praise of dead behaviourists

Chris Timms considers American Psychologist Clark Hull, and his ‘fractional antedating goal response’.

The godfather of the sexual revolution?

David Bramwell on the strange world of Wilhelm Reich.

Supple bodies, healthy minds

Yoga meets psychedelics in the 1960s, with Lucas Richert and Matthew Decloedt.

In search of the brain of Descartes

What, if anything, has psychology learned from the study of famous brains? G. Neil Martin investigates…

Psychology has its own famous brains – Leborgne, Kim Peek, Henry Molaison, Phineas Gage, EVR, NA, Shereshevsky, HJA. Extensively studied before and after death, they have sometimes provided a...

The lasting legacy of Dr Anonymous

Cade Anderson-Smith looks back on the DSM, Homosexuality and the 1972 American Psychiatric Association Convention.

A colourful life, an inspiration, and living legend

Andrew Wickens (University of Central Lancashire) marks a centenary for Brenda Milner.

On 15 July Brenda Milner reaches a remarkable milestone in anyone’s life: her hundredth birthday. Even more extraordinary for a woman who is still teaching and undertaking research. She is the...

Freud and penis envy – a failure of courage?

Riya Yadav with a critical take on one of the psychoanalyst’s most controversial theories.

Bringing home World War Two’s ‘awkward lot’

Clare Makepeace on the use of Civil Resettlement Units and their possible lessons for today.

A brief history of dyslexia

Philip Kirby on the significance of evolving views of the condition, and efforts to preserve records of them.

Stark raving normal?

Chris Timms considers historical diagnosis and the case of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery.

Does a look back at the personal qualities and behaviour of one of Britain’s foremost military leaders tell us anything other than that he was human?

East meets West at the edge of the ocean

Lucas Richert on the Esalen Institute, pioneer of the human potential movement.

‘…constantly at work in the laboratory of my own mind’

Jan Noyes on Conwy Lloyd Morgan, the first psychologist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society.

When Conwy Lloyd Morgan was born in London on 6 February 1852, Great Ormond Street Hospital was about to admit its first patient and the Earl of Derby was about to form a minority Conservative...

Harnessing the fierce energy of counterculture

Lucas Richert on transactional analysis in the 1960s.

Mental health knowledge and practice was highly contested in the 1960s and 70s. Struggles over homosexuality and radicalism, drug use and replicable drug trials, were part of a unique...

The Freudian motivation behind 1967's Sexual Offences Act

Adam Jowett on Jewish Labour MP Leo Abse.

A revolution in thinking

Ali Teymoori and Rose Trappes consider Immanuel Kant’s influence on psychology.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) has played an undeniably crucial role in the development of psychology as a discipline, much of which has escaped the attention of modern...

Spacelab revisited

Helen E. Ross (Honorary Professor, University of Stirling) recalls an ‘out of this world’ research experience.

Britain’s first full-time Professor of Psychology

Natalie Bigbie and Nils Muhlert on the life and work of Tom Hatherley Pear.

Five depictions of the brain

Andrew P. Wickens (a winner of the British Psychological Society’s Book Award) considers their historical significance.

The history of neuroscience is rarely taught in universities, and few books trace developments from the ancient past to the present. Here, I present five of my favourite illustrations from my...

A brief history of thinking ourselves insane

Huw Green with a historical take on agency in madness.

Pain, fear and joy – beyond hysteria

Elena Carrera draws lessons from the life of 16th-century mystic Teresa of Avila.

Migration and mental illness

Marjory Harper delves into archives for tales of alien environments and unfulfilled expectations.

The medieval mind

Scholars are finding that medieval science – in various fields – is more sophisticated than previously thought. Corinne Saunders and Charles Fernyhough show that psychology is no exception.