How the World Works: Psychology

Psychology means ‘the study of the soul’, although the modern definition is ‘the study of behaviour and mental processes’. From Socrates to Sigmund Freud and Descartes to Daniel Dennett, this book brings together the threads that have made up psychology, from the musings of the Ancient Greeks to the findings of functional MRI scanning. It is a narrative of how we have tried to approach the very core of our being – of what makes us ourselves.

Topics include:

• The ghost in the machine – the search for the mind and how it relates to the body.
• Models of madness – attempts to categorise and treat mental illness.
• Artificial intelligence
• Mind and Matter – how modern neurology sheds new light on the workings of the mind.
• Psychoanalysis