Why do people kill? Psychology in Mind Episode 6

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A new series in which psychologist Dr Andrew P. Allen and writer and broadcaster Gareth Stack, turn to psychology for answers about our minds, brains and personalities.

Todays Question: Why do people kill?

We’ll be exploring the topic of murder – more specifically spree killings. Joining us is Dr. Robert King of University College Cork. Rob’s controversial work uses evolutionary and anthropological perspectives to examine the ultimate motivations behind human violence and sexual behaviour.

In a wide ranging discussion we examine the status protecting evolutionary motivations behind ‘spree killings’ by ‘spare males’. Rob’s work has identified two separate populations of spree killers, older men who have ‘failed’ in keeping their families together and younger socially isolated men. We also discuss Hybristophiles – the women who fall in love with killers, including spree killers like James Holmes. Other topics touched on include the headhunters of Borneo, Mira Hindley’s nazi fixation, Margaret Mede, the Shankill Butchers, lynchings, and ‘non violent’ tribal cultures, ‘an heroes’, and Gregory Stanton’s 8 Stages of Genocide.

Questions Explored

Do we live in a particularly violent time?
Have spree killings really increased? Or were they underreported in the past?
Do media depictions increase the amount of spree killings?
How does psychopathy interact with wealth and power from Gengis Kahn to Wallstreet traders?
How has the concept of psychopathy evolved – from Cleckley’s the Mask of Sanity to Hares Psychopathy Checklist to the DSM definition of anti-social personality disorder, to John Ronson’s Psychopath Test?

References

● Hive Mind (Rob’s Blog at Psychology Today)
● Mass Killings: An Evolutionary Perspective
● Deficits in fear conditioning in psychopaths
● Frequency dependent selection in psychopaths
● The demonisation of evolutionary psychology, as typified by Cordelia Fine’s ‘Testosterone Rex’

Are Psychedelics Good For Us? Psychology in Mind Episode 5

Huichol Artworks Image Source: Wikimedia user Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata

Download: Are Psychedelics good for us? Psychology in Mind EP5
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Read: Show Notes

A new series in which psychologist Dr Andrew P. Allen and writer and broadcaster Gareth Stack, turn to psychology for answers about our minds, brains and personalities.

Todays Question: Are Psychedelics Good For You?

Psychedelic drugs, are they the gateway to greater self knowledge, an enhanced appreciation of the natural world, and deeper empathy and interpersonal connections? Or merely a risky doorway into schizophrenia and mental illness? Today we look at some of the psychological research into psychedelics and speak with Alexander Lentjes of the Irish Psychedelic Society. Can we have a productive discussion, or will the incommensurability of academic psychology and psychedelic consciousness reduce us to gibbering stoned apes. Find out in the latest episode of Psychology in Mind.

Links to Things Discussed

David Nutt Controversy
New Thinking Allowed
Stephen Wolfram’s New Kind of Science
Alexander’s Blog
History of Psychedelics in Medicine
Metta-Bhavana (Loving Kindness)
Graham Hancock – Plant Consciousness and Psychedelics
What Psychedelics really do to your brain
The Power of Myth (now on Netflix)
Cynical 4D Cinema Review
Psychedelics & Psychosis
Set & Setting
Esalen
Eternal September

Credits

Presented by Gareth Stack and Andrew P. Allen. Music by Marc Remillard.

Logo rendered in Blender, based on Brain by dgallichan, Bulldog smoking pipe beyondmatter and Felonous Fedora by Jacob Ragsdale.

Are People Irrational? – Psychology in Mind Episode 4

Download: Psychology in Mind – Episode 4
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A new series in which psychologist Dr Andrew P. Allen and writer and broadcaster Gareth Stack, turn to psychology for answers about our minds, brains and personalities.

Todays Question: Are People Irrational?

In everyday life we have make many decisions. We can gather exhaustive information relevant to the topic, or we can use a mental shortcut or “heuristic”. Since the 1970s psychologists have studied not just how we think, but how our thinking fails. How limits to human memory, processing speed and other cognitive capacities shape our problem solving, and creativity. In this episode of Psychology in Mind we take a look at the problem solving shortcuts native to the human mind, and examine how they both limit our ability to think rationally and enable us to think faster than we otherwise could.

Credits

Presented by Gareth Stack and Andrew P. Allen. Music by Marc Remillard.

Logo rendered in Blender, based on Brain by dgallichan, Bulldog smoking pipe beyondmatter and Felonous Fedora by Jacob Ragsdale.

Is Psychology Unethical? – Psychology in Mind Episode 3

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A new series in which psychologist Dr Andrew P. Allen and writer and broadcaster Gareth Stack, turn to psychology for answers about our minds, brains and personalities.

Todays Question – Is Psychology Unethical? We take a dive into the history of ethical abuses within the discipline, discussing infamous experiments like the Milgram Obedience Studies, Harry Harlow’s monkey attachment research, and the Stanford Prison Experiment. We also take a look at how psychology has been applied unethically, in programmes like the CIA’s MK Ultra research, in ‘conversion’ therapy with gay people, and more recently as part of the American black site torture programme. Has this history of ethical abuses made psychology too cautious today – blocking useful avenues of research? Or, by contrast have we yet to atone and do enough to prevent future ethical controversies.

Finally we’ll discuss the process researchers need to go through today to have their studies approved.

Credits

Presented by Gareth Stack and Andrew P. Allen. Music by Marc Remillard.

Special thanks to Richard Roache.

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Psychology in Mind – Episode 1

Download: Psychology in Mind – Episode 1 – Creativity
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A new series in which psychologist Dr Andrew P. Allen and writer and broadcaster Gareth Stack, turn to psychology for answers about our minds, brains and personalities.

In this episode we discuss creativity. What is creativity? Is it possible to become more creative? Do people innately differ in how naturally creative they are? How do we measure creativity? Why did creativity evolve? Can animals be creative? And is creativity good for us?

Credits

Presented by Gareth Stack and Andrew P. Allen. Music by Marc Remillard.

Logo rendered in Blender, based on Brain by dgallichan, Bulldog smoking pipe beyondmatter and Felonous Fedora by Jacob Ragsdale.

Show Notes

‘The Free School’ Documentary

Download: The Free School

The Free School, Dead Medium Productions’ new documentary about Ireland’s first ‘Sudbury Valley School’, broadcast this morning on Newstalk. Wicklow Sudbury is an experiment in alternative education, bringing ‘free schooling’ and ‘unschooling’ to Ireland. You can stream the programme above, or download at our podcast link below. It will also be rebroadcasts at 10PM on Saturday 18th November.

More information – Sudbury Valley Schools, the free school movement, the history of alternative education [PDF].

Special thanks to all the staff and students at Wicklow Sudbury School, including Aaron, Ciara, Sonja, Isthara, Mia, Kashmira, Rick, Fionn, Ed and Faye; and to the national school students featured at the beginning and end of the programme Sophie, Conor, Emma, Aoibhin, Tadhg, Donal and their parents Clare and Keith; to Joanne Lane who was kind enough to speak to me while visiting Wicklow Sudbury; and to Emer Nowlan of Educate Together, and environmental educator Joesph Campbell.

The Bee-Loud Cabaret on RTE Lyric

Download: The Bee Loud Glade – EP1 – Gerry Murphy

To subscribe to this series and lots more from Roger Gregg, check out the brand new Crazy Dog Audio Podcast

The Bee Loud Glade Cabaret is a series of twelve bite-size programmes bringing some of the best of the contemporary Irish spoken word scene to radio. Each episode will showcase one beautifully produced spoken word performance, and one ‘backstage’ interview, featuring emerging & established Irish poets. The series represents an exciting new approach to poetry on radio in Ireland, mixing studio performance, music and soundscapes, to recreate the excitement of the live poetry scene. It will bring poetry as a living spoken form to a new audience, and promote the work of a new generation of emerging and contemporary Irish artists. The Bee Loud Glade will take the word off the page and reimagine it using original music and soundscapes. Created for RTE Lyric FM. Funded by the Broadcast Authority of Ireland with the Television Licence Fee.