The uncanny

A few weeks into the first pandemic lockdown, I stood at the top of my road and looked out to the British Psychological Society offices in the distance. It's a three mile bike ride which I have done many thousands of times, yet all I could think was 'that is so far away… imagine going over there!'. The familiar had become unfamiliar – uncanny. 

I wasn't alone in this, and just yesterday in The Guardian Professor Chris French commented on the launch of a new BBC podcast 'Uncanny' by saying that such feelings and beliefs tend to increase at times of stress, uncertainty and lack of control. So I hope you will find our collection around the uncanny as timely as it is engaging.

That's another year's worth of issues done, and I'm proud of what our small team have produced in often challenging circumstances. See thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/archive to pick out your favourite, and do reach out on Twitter with feedback and ideas for future topics and authors. 

Dr Jon Sutton

Managing Editor @psychmag

The familiar becomes strange…
Uncanny Bodies (Luna Press), edited by Pippa Goldschmidt, Gill Haddow and Fadhila Mazanderani, is an anthology of papers and stories by academics and writers. Dr Clare Uytman, psychology lecturer at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, contributed to the book, and spoke to Pippa and Gill about the uncanny in life as well as the uncanny in putting the book together.

Eroding the uncanny valley
Emma L. Barratt hears from researchers understanding our reactions to robotics.

Uncanny places
Lucy Huskinson explores.

'The uncanny depends on a disruption to the self'
Our journalist Ella Rhodes explores uncanny thoughts and cognitive paradoxes…

The same but different: A new reality following limb loss
Clare Uytman

Uncanny dehumanization
An exclusive extract from the David Livingstone Smith book.