The BBC series, The Secrets of the Sexes, has gone from hero(ish) to zero in only one week. This week's show asked whether science can predict sexual attraction. It wasn't just the resounding answer of "No!" that sent my head into my hands.
The previous show on 'Brain Sex' had used the individuals involved in the show to highlight and explain psychological theories. This show relegated the theories to onlookers in a race to see if a couple of singletons could get any dates.
By the end, the programme was desperate for any kind of success, no matter where it came from. Even though it had almost no bearing on the theories of attraction proposed by the psychologists, the producers obviously wanted one of the couples to get together as if this would validate the programme. No such luck.
Its crowning achievement was to get an eager-to-please politics lecturer to slather himself in extract of cucumber and liquorice to make him irresistible. Needless to say, it didn't work. This combined with the risible speed-dating efforts of 'The London Seduction Society' (yes, it's for real) made me wonder why any reputable psychologist would involve themselves - other than for money and fame of course.
As for the quality of the third and last programme in the series, your guess is as good as mine.
Secrets of the Sexes
How to Be Creative
If we can all be creative, why is it so hard to come up with truly original ideas?
It's because creativity is mysterious. Just ask any scientist, artist, writer or other highly creative person to explain how they come up with brilliant ideas and, if they're honest, they don't really know.
But over the decades psychologists have given ordinary participants countless tests, forms and tasks and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews. From these emerge the psychological conditions of creativity.
Not what you should do, but how you should be...
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