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Annals of the Emotions

Feelings in history and culture

Optimism
Everyone Is Just Waiting

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on March 29, 2020

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the prospect of the future, especially right now. Waiting for the future can seem to be a bleak prospect. Or have we got it wrong?

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the prospect of the future, especially right now. Waiting for the future can seem to be a bleak prospect. Or have we got it wrong?

Depression
Mental Illness – Seeing and Hearing from the Inside Out

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on May 22, 2018

Brad Necyk curates a photovoice exhibit from the Mathison Centre for Mental Health at the University of Calgary that shows the visual and audial experience of mental illness.

Brad Necyk curates a photovoice exhibit from the Mathison Centre for Mental Health at the University of Calgary that shows the visual and audial experience of mental illness.

Gender
Are You Just Daydreaming - Or Is It Boredom?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on April 30, 2018

Can you tell daydreaming from boredom? If you talk for a living it helps. Why? If an audience is daydreaming you can get them back with a joke, but if they’re bored you’re done

Can you tell daydreaming from boredom? If you talk for a living it helps. Why? If an audience is daydreaming you can get them back with a joke, but if they’re bored you’re done

Embarrassment
Shoe Shaming in the Strictest School in Britain

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on August 1, 2017

Merchants’ Academy was called the strictest school in Britain, a tough label for a good school. But Merchants’ may not make it easy for itself by using shame to enforce behavior.

Merchants’ Academy was called the strictest school in Britain, a tough label for a good school. But Merchants’ may not make it easy for itself by using shame to enforce behavior.

Mating
Why Would Anyone Build Their Own Coffin?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on July 18, 2017

In the remote Tasmanian town of Ulverstone there’s a community group who’ve taken to building their own coffins years before they need them. Why are they doing it?

In the remote Tasmanian town of Ulverstone there’s a community group who’ve taken to building their own coffins years before they need them. Why are they doing it?

Fear
Is Your Smartphone Really Giving You Head Lice?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on July 7, 2017

New technologies are dangerous things. They encourage fear and alarm, especially if they're smartphones or tablets. It used to be like that with reading, too. But look at it now.

New technologies are dangerous things. They encourage fear and alarm, especially if they're smartphones or tablets. It used to be like that with reading, too. But look at it now.

Guilt
The End of Guilt

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on June 6, 2017

Has shame taken over from guilt as the marker of American culture? Or was guilt never very important in the first place?

Has shame taken over from guilt as the marker of American culture? Or was guilt never very important in the first place?

Jealousy
Do Cleaner Shrimp Get Jealous?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on February 17, 2017

The jealous triangle is usually reckoned to be one on one, with the prize, say, a lover. But it’s not all sex, it’s not all one on one, and it’s not all humans.

The jealous triangle is usually reckoned to be one on one, with the prize, say, a lover. But it’s not all sex, it’s not all one on one, and it’s not all humans.

Jealousy
Jealousy In Animals and Envy in Humans

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on October 29, 2016

Jealousy is usually said to be a character flaw in humans and in animals. But is it? Could learning to be jealous simply be the reflection of a normal character type?

Jealousy is usually said to be a character flaw in humans and in animals. But is it? Could learning to be jealous simply be the reflection of a normal character type?

Grief
Was Telesinia Crispinilla Killed by a Broken Heart?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on September 5, 2016

Does culture shape the the way we experience emotions such as grief? Here's an example that's 2000 years old and one that shows the grief of a parent that's just like our own.

Does culture shape the the way we experience emotions such as grief? Here's an example that's 2000 years old and one that shows the grief of a parent that's just like our own.

Depression
Love in Outer Space - Or Just in Your Head?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on June 28, 2016

Water worlds? Kelper 62f? Stanislaw Lew’s sci-fi novel "Solaris" gave them a living angry mind. Tarkovsky’s and Steven Soderbergh’s psychological films saw it differently. Why?

Water worlds? Kelper 62f? Stanislaw Lew’s sci-fi novel "Solaris" gave them a living angry mind. Tarkovsky’s and Steven Soderbergh’s psychological films saw it differently. Why?

Dementia
Who’s in the Mirror?

Peter Toohey Ph.D. on March 25, 2016

Doubles and mirror images fascinate. Why? Maybe they echo a threat to our sense of self - from illness, physical damage, others too like us, even sexual and gender misalignment.

Doubles and mirror images fascinate. Why? Maybe they echo a threat to our sense of self - from illness, physical damage, others too like us, even sexual and gender misalignment.