Nicholas Humphrey
Professor Nicholas Keynes Humphrey (born 1943) is an English psychologist, based in Cambridge, who is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. His interests are wide ranging. He studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey in Rwanda, he was the first to demonstrate the existence of "blindsight" after brain damage in monkeys, he proposed the celebrated theory of the βsocial function of intellectβ and he is the only scientist ever to edit the literary journal Granta.
Humphrey played a significant role in the anti-nuclear movement in the late 1970s and delivered the BBC Bronowski memorial lecture titled "Four Minutes to Midnight" in 1981.
His ten books include Consciousness Regained, The Inner Eye, A History of the Mind, Leaps of Faith, The Mind Made Flesh, Seeing Red, and Soul Dust. He has been the recipient of several honours, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, the Pufendorf medal and the British Psychological Societyβs book award.
He has been Lecturer in Psychology at Oxford, Assistant Director of the Subdepartment of Animal Behaviour at Cambridge, Senior Research Fellow in Parapsychology at Cambridge, Professor of Psychology at the New School for Social Research, New York, and School Professor at the London School of Economics.
Family
Humphrey is the son of the immunologist John H. Humphrey and his wife Janet Humphrey (nΓ©e Hill), daughter of the Nobel Prize winning physiologist Archibald Hill. His great uncle was the economist John Maynard Keynes. He married Caroline Waddington, daughter of C. H. Waddington in 1967 (divorced 1977). From 1977 to 1984 he was the partner of the English actress Susannah York. He married Ayla Kohn in 1994.
Early Career
Nicholas Humphrey was educated at Westminster School (1956-61), and Trinity College, Cambridge (1961-67).
His doctoral research at Cambridge, supervised by Lawrence Weiskrantz, was on the neuropsychology of vision in primates. He made the first single cell recordings from the superior colliculus of monkeys, and discovered the existence of a previously unsuspected capacity for vision after total lesions of the striate cortex (a capacity which, when it was later confirmed in human beings, came to be called "blindsight").
On moving to Oxford, he turned his attention to evolutionary aesthetics. He did research on monkey visual preferences (especially colour preferences) and wrote an essay βThe Illusion of beautyβ, which, as a radio broadcast, won the Glaxo Science Writers Prize in 1980.
Work in evolutionary psychology and philosophy of mind
He returned to Cambridge, to the Sub Department of Animal Behaviour in 1970, and there met Dian Fossey, who invited him to spend three months at her gorilla study camp in Rwanda. His experience with the gorillas, and a subsequent visit to Richard Leakeyβs field-site on Lake Turkana, set Humphrey thinking about how cognitive skills β intelligence and consciousness β could have arisen as an adaption to social life. In 1975 he wrote an essay titled "The Social Function of Intellect", which is widely regarded as one of the foundational works of evolutionary psychology and the basis for Machiavellian intelligence theory. This paper formed the basis of his first book Consciousness Regained: Chapters in the Development of Mind (1983).
In 1984 Humphrey left his academic post at Cambridge to work on his Channel 4 television series "The Inner Eye" on the development of the human mind. This series was finished in 1986 with the release of a book of the same name.
In 1987, Daniel Dennett invited Humphrey to work with him at his Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. They worked on developing an empirically based theory of consciousness, and undertook a study on Multiple Personality Disorder.
Humphreyβs next book A History of the Mind(1992) put forward a theory on how consciousness as feeling rather than thinking may have evolved. This book won the inaugural British Psychological Society's annual Book of the Year Award in 1993.
His writings on consciousness continued in βThe Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Evolution and Psychologyβ (2002), Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness (2006), and most recently Soul Dust: the Magic of Consciousness (2011). In this last book he puts forward a radical new theory. Consciousness, he argues, is nothing less than a magical-mystery show that we stage inside our own heads β a show that paves the way for spirituality, and allows us to reap the rewards, and anxieties, of living in what he calls the βsoul niche.β
Other work
Humphrey became active in the anti-nuclear movement in the late 1970s. This led to an invitation to deliver the Bronowski lecture on the BBC in 1981. He titled his lecture, on the dangers of the arms race, "Four Minutes to Midnight". With Robert Lifton he edited an anthology of writings on war and peace titled In a Dark Time, which was released in 1984 and resulted in him winning the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize.
In 1992, Humphrey was appointed to a Senior Research Fellowship at Darwin College, Cambridge funded by the Perrott-Warwick Fellowship in parapsychology. He undertook a skeptical study of parapsychological phenomena such as extra-sensory perception and psychokinesis, resulting in his book Soul Searching: Human Nature and Supernatural Belief (1995) (in America this book was published under the title Leaps of Faith).
Humphrey has worked on a number of TV and radio documentaries as well as "The Inner Eye". The topics range from the psychology of paranormal belief to the psycho-history of mediaeval animal trials.
In 2005, he visited the Ulas family of human quadrupeds in southern Turkey and published a report on them with John Skoyles and Roger Keynes. A documentary "The Family That Walks On All Fours" based on this visit was broadcast on BBC2 in March 2006, and on NOVA in November 2006.
Over the last ten years Humphrey has been investigating the placebo effect, and has put forward a novel theory of what he calls the "health management system" through which the brain has top-down control over the bodyβs healing resources.
He has recently become an Advisor to the BMW Guggenheim Lab.
Bibliography
- Consciousness Regained: Chapters in the Development of Mind, Oxford University Press, 1983.
- In a Dark Time, (ed. with R.J.Lifton), Faber & Faber 1984, Harvard University Press 1984.
- The Inner Eye, Faber & Faber 1986.
- A History of the Mind, Chatto & Windus 1992, Simon & Schuster 1992.
- Soul Searching: Human Nature and Supernatural Belief, Chatto & Windus 1995.
- How to Solve the Mind-Body Problem, Imprint Academic, 2000.
- The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Evolution and Psychology, Oxford University Press, 2002.
- Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness, Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2006.
- Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness, Quercus Publishing 2011, Princeton University Press 2011
Video links
Journal articles
- ββVision in monkeys after removal of the striate cortexββ. Nature,215, 515-597, 1967.
- ββContrast illusions in perspective. Nature, 232, 91- 93, 1971.
- ββInterest and pleasure: two determinants of a monkeyβs visual preferencesββ Perception, 1, 395-416, 1972.
- ββStatus and the left cheekββ. New Scientist, 59, 437-49, 1973.
- ββThe illusion of beautyββ. Perceptio, 2, 429-39, 1973.
- ββStatus and the left cheekββ. New Scientist, 59, 437-439. 1973.
- ββThe apparent heaviness of coloursββ. Nature, 250, 164-165, 1974. (With E.Pinkerton).
- ββThe reaction of monkeys to fearsom picturesββ. Nature, 251, 500-2, 1974.
- ββVision in a monkey without striate cortex: a case studyββ. Perecption, 3,241-55, 1974.
- ββSpecies and individuals in the perceptual world of monkeysββ. Perception, 3, 105-14, 1974.
- ββInteractive effects of unpleasant light and unpleasant soundββ. Nature, 253, 346-347, 1975. (With G.R.Keeble).
- ββThe colour currency of natureββ. In Colour for Architecture, ed. T.Porter and B.Mikellides, pp. 95-98, Studio-Vista, London, 1976.
- ββHow monkeys acquire a new way of seeingββ. Perception, 5, 51-56, 1976.
- ββThe social function of intellectββ. In Growing Points in Ethology, ed. P. P. G. Bateson and R. A. Hinde, pp. 303- 317, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1976.
- ββUnfoldings of mental lifeββ, Science, 196 , 755-756, 1977.
- ββDo monkeys subjective clocks run faster in red light than in blueββ. Perception, 6, 7-14.
- ββEffects of red light and loud noise on the rate at which monkeys sample the sensory environmentββ. Perception 7:343-348 1978.
- ββThe biological basis of collectingββ. Human Nature 44-47 1979.
- ββNatural aestheticsββ. In Architecture for People, ed. B.Mikellides, pp. 59-73, Studio-Vista, London, 1980.
- ββNature's Psychologistsββ. ; In Josephson, B. D. and Ramachandran, V. S., Eds. Consciousness and the Physical World , chapter 4, 57-80. Oxford: Pergamon Press 1980.
- ββFour Minutes to Midnightββ. The BBC Bronowski Lecture, 1981.
- ββConsciousness: a Just-So storyββ, New Scientist , 95 473-477, 1982.
- ββThe Uses of Consciousnessββ. Fifteenth James Arthur Memorial Lecture, 1-25, American Museum of Natural History, New York ASIN B000717RTY1987.
- ββSpeaking for our selves: an assessment of multiple personality disorderββ. Raritan, 9, 68-98.
- ββVarieties of altruism - and the common ground between themββ. Social Research 64:199-209, 1997.
- ββWhat shall we tell the children?ββ In Williams, Wes, Ed. The Values of Science (The 1997 Oxford Amnesty Lectures)ββ , 58-79. Westview Press, 1998.
- ββCave art, autism and the evolution of the human mindββββ. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 8, 165-191, 1998.
- ββWhy Grandmothers May Need Large Brainsββ. Psycoloquy 10(024), 1999.
- ββThe power of prayerββ. Skeptical Inquirer, 24 (3), 61, 2000.
- ββThe Privatization of Sensationββ, In Heyes, Celia and Huber, Ludwig, Eds. The Evolution of Cognition , 241-252. MIT, Cambridge, Ma, 2000.
- ββHow to solve the mind-body problemββ. Journal of Consciousness Studies 7(4):5-20 2000.
- ββIn Reply (Reply to Commentaries on ;How to Solve the Mind-Body Problem)ββ. Journal of Consciousness Studies 7(4):98-112, 2000.
- ββOne Self: a Meditation on the Unity of Consciousnessββ. Social Research 67(4):32-39 2000.
- ββDreaming as playββ. Behavioral and Brain Science, 23, 953, 2000.
- ββFollow My Leader In Humphrey, Nicholas The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Evolution and Psychology , chapter24, 330-339. Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ββThe Deformed Transformedββ, In Humphrey, Nicholas The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Psychology and Evolution ,chapter 14, 165-199. Oxford University Press 2002.
- ββGreat Expectations: The Evolutionary Psychology of Faith-Healing and the Placebo Effect, The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Psychology and Evolution ,chapter 19, 255-85, Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ββBugs and Beasts before the Lawββ The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Psychology and Evolution ,chapter 18, 235-254, Oxford University Press 2002.
- ββBehold the Manββ, In Humphrey, Nicholas The Mind Made Flesh: Essays from the Frontiers of Psychology and Evolution ,chapter 16, 206-231, Oxford University Press, 2002.
- ββShamanism and cognitive evolution (Commentary on Michael Winkelman)ββ. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 12, 91-3, 2002
- ββA Family Affairββ, In Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist , ed. John Brockman, p.3-12, New York: Pantheon Books, 2004.
- ββThe Placebo Effectββ, In Gregory, Richard L., Ed. Oxford Companion to the Mind. Second Edition . Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ββThinking about Feelingββ, In Gregory, Richard L., Ed. Oxford Companion to the Mind. Second Edition . Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ββDo babies know what they look like? DoppelgΓ€ngers and the phenomenology of infancyββ. In Susan Hurley and Nick Chater (Eds.), Perspectives on Imitation: From Cognitive Neuroscience to Social Science. Cambridge: MIT Press. (2005)
- ββHuman handwalkers: five siblings who never stood upββ. CPNSS Discussion Paper, DP 77/05, 2005
- ββKiller Instinct: a Review of Niall Ferguson's ;World of War: History's Century of Hatredββ, Prospect, September 2006
- ββConsciousness: the Achilles heel of Darwinism? Thank God, not quiteββ,In Intelligent Thought: Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement, ed. John Brockman, pp. 50-64, New York: Vintage, 2006.
- ββThe society of selvesββ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 362, 745-754, 2007.
- ββGetting the measure of consciousnessββ, Progress of Theoretical Physics Supplement , 2008.
- ββQuestioning consciousnessββ, Seed Magazine , January/February,30-32, 2008.
- ββBeautyβs child: sexual selection, nature worship and the love of Godββ.
External links
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Humphrey, Nicholas |
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27th March 1943 |
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