Psychology

In 1930, four identical baby girls were born to a family in a small Midwestern town. Genetically, they were as similar as four humans can be-monozygotic quadruplets, sharing 100% of their DNA. They grew up in the same house, with the same parents, eating the same food, attending the same schools. And all four developed schizophrenia. On the surface, this seems like a clear-cut case of genetic determinism: identical genes, identical illness. ...

In July 1959, social psychologist Milton Rokeach gathered three psychiatric patients in a room at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan. Each man had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. And each man believed, with absolute conviction, that he was Jesus Christ. Rokeach’s hypothesis was straightforward: when confronted with two other people making the same claim, at least one of them would experience cognitive dissonance strong enough to crack their delusion. Face-to-face with contradictory evidence, reality would reassert itself. ...

Every few seconds, Clive Wearing wakes up for the first time. He opens his eyes. He looks around. And he experiences what he believes is his first moment of consciousness after years of being unconscious. He writes in his journal: “8:31 AM: Now I am really, completely awake.” A few minutes later, he crosses it out and writes: “9:06 AM: Now I am perfectly, overwhelmingly awake.” Then he crosses that out too and writes: “9:34 AM: NOW I am awake.” ...

In 1941, during a German air raid on Norway, a young woman named Astrid L. was struck in the head by bomb shrapnel. She survived. She recovered. But when she started speaking again, something was wrong. Her accent was different. Not slightly different-completely different. She was Norwegian. She’d lived her entire life in Norway, speaking Norwegian with a Norwegian accent. After the injury, she spoke Norwegian with what sounded like a strong German accent. ...

In the 1730s, Benjamin Franklin had a problem: a powerful rival in the Pennsylvania legislature hated him. This wasn’t just political disagreement. The man actively opposed Franklin, spread rumors, and worked to undermine him. Franklin needed this rival’s support, but direct persuasion had failed. So Franklin tried something counterintuitive. Instead of doing the man a favor or trying to win him over with charm, Franklin asked his rival for a favor. ...

In the winter of 1878, a Cree man named Swift Runner arrived at a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post in Alberta, Canada. He was emaciated, nearly dead from starvation. He said his family-his wife and six children-had all died during the harsh winter. He’d buried them in the snow. He was the only survivor. The authorities were suspicious. Swift Runner showed signs of starvation, but not as severe as someone who’d watched his entire family die of hunger should show. ...

A man is waiting for his wife outside a restaurant. A woman approaches him. She’s smiling, clearly recognizing him. She starts talking as if they know each other well. He has no idea who she is. He politely engages, trying to figure out from context clues who this person might be. A colleague? A neighbor? Someone from his wife’s social circle? The woman seems confused by his confusion. She touches his arm, says something about “the kids.” ...

In 1975, a 49-year-old woman was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Kentucky. She told doctors she was transforming into a wolf. She could feel her body changing. She saw fur growing on her hands and face. Her teeth were becoming fangs. Her face was elongating into a snout. She dropped to all fours. She howled. She scratched at the floor. She tried to bite staff members. When shown her reflection in a mirror, she saw a wolf staring back. ...

In 1903, Daniel Paul Schreber, a senior judge in the German court system, published a 450-page memoir titled “Memoirs of My Nervous Illness.” The book described in meticulous, articulate detail how God was transforming him into a woman. Not metaphorically. Literally. Through divine rays that penetrated his body and rewrote his nervous system. The transformation, Schreber explained, was necessary because humanity had been destroyed. He needed to become female so he could be impregnated by God and repopulate the Earth with a new race of humans. ...

Brain Chemicals: The Neurotransmitters That Shape Your Reality You wake up feeling unmotivated. Coffee kicks in, and suddenly you’re ready to tackle your to-do list. An hour later, you’re riding a wave of focus. By afternoon, anxiety creeps in. Evening arrives, and you feel calm, content, even happy. What changed? Not your circumstances. Not your willpower. Your brain chemistry. Every thought, emotion, and behavior you experience is the result of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters communicating between billions of neurons. These molecules don’t just influence your mood-they determine how you perceive reality, make decisions, form memories, and experience pleasure or pain. ...