2: The Shadowy Wolf (or, An Attempt to Map the Mind)

For several years in my late teens and early twenties I used to wake in the middle of the night, gripped by the chilling certainty that a vast, shadowy wolf had materialised in my room. It would prowl back and forth at the foot of my bed before pouncing, pinning me down as it snarled in my face. Terrified, paralysed, unable to cry out, I would fight desperately to push it away. In this second episode of Thinking Psychologically, these strange and dreadful nocturnal experiences act as inspiration as we set out to formulate a working model of the human mind. Drawing on our evolutionary history, neuroscience, and human development, we gradually build a picture of the hidden psychological life that exists beyond conscious awareness - and consider what it might mean to approach that hidden life with curiosity. . . Music credit Music used in this episode is drawn from the royalty-free work of PaulYudin. Many thanks for making this music freely available for creators.