Psychologist · Editor · Author
Dr Christian Jarrett
Editor of Psyche, the global magazine from Aeon dedicated to helping you know your self and live well. Founder of the BPS Research Digest and award-winning author of Be Who You Want.
Writing and appearances: BBC Future · BBC Science Focus · BBC Radio 4 · The Guardian · New Scientist · WIRED · New York Magazine · Aeon · TED-Ed
Featured in: The New York Times · The Guardian · Financial Times · Vogue · CNN · Slate · New Zealand Listener · see all coverage
Three strands of work
Editor
Leading Psyche magazine
Christian edits Psyche, sister magazine to Aeon, read around the world. He oversaw its May 2025 relaunch, with a revitalised mission, a fresh design and new formats.
Before Psyche, he founded the BPS Research Digest and edited it for 16 years.
Author
Books in more than fifteen languages
Be Who You Want won the 2022 Book Prize from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and is published in ten editions.
Earlier titles include Great Myths of the Brain, The Rough Guide to Psychology and 30-Second Psychology, which has sold over 100,000 copies.
Writer
Features, columns and broadcasts
Cover features for BBC Science Focus, columns for BBC Future and New York magazine, and appearances on BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind, BBC Radio 5 Live and The Psychology Podcast.
Guest speaker at the 2023 graduation of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience.
Now
Editor of Psyche
Guides, Ideas, Turning Points, Notes to Self and Videos that help readers know themselves and live well. A few of the pieces Christian has edited:
Guide
How to be indistractable
Stop blaming technology – distraction starts within. Manage your inner triggers to enjoy greater focus and a fuller life
By Nir Eyal · Edited by Christian
Guide
How to stop overthinking with help from metacognitive strategies
Grappling with your thoughts will leave you even more entangled in worry. Use metacognitive strategies to break free
By Pia Callesen · Edited by Christian
Idea
The capacity to be alone depends on the sense of being held
The overwhelm of grief and parenthood showed me what psychoanalysis assumes – we need to be held to feel safe in solitude
By Elizabeth Burns Dyer · Edited by Christian
Recent writing
Features and essays on psychology and neuroscience for general readers.
Psyche · Note to Self
In praise of not-quite-friends
Learning about the Korean concept of ‘jeong’ helped me understand the importance of my not-quite-friends at the gym
BBC Science Focus · August 2026
How to change your personality for lasting happiness, according to a psychologist
Here’s how to measure (and fix) your neuroticism score
BBC Science Focus · May 2026
What is it like to die? The reassuring science of near-death experiences
They leave their bodies, witness a bright light and return forever changed.
Browse 25 years of writing · Talks, broadcasts and media coverage
“Warmly recommended.”
Stephen Fry, on Be Who You Want
“A masterful catalogue of neurobollocks.”
Ben Goldacre, on Great Myths of the Brain
“You are a gift to psychology.”
Professor David Myers
Books
Be Who You Want (2021)
SPSP Book Prize 2022
Great Myths of the Brain (2014)
Profiled in the New Zealand Listener
The Rough Guide to Psychology (2011)
Shortlisted, BPS Book Award
30-Second Psychology (2011)
Over 100,000 copies sold
