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=  Dr Who Psychology  =

Doctor Who  Psychology: A Madman in a Box is a compilation of essays exploring the psychology behind the time-traveling Doctor, his companions and foes.


 * Who’s Who: Interview with Four Doctors and a River on the Core of Personality
 * The Compassionate Doctor: Caring for Self by Caring for Others
 * The Moral Foundations of Doctor Who
 * The Unconscious: What, When, Where, Why, and of Course Who
 * Id, Superego, Egoless: Where Is the I in Who?
 * Weeping Angels, Archetypes and the Male Gaze
 * New Face, New Man: A Personality Perspective
 * Dream Lords: Would the Doctor Run with Freud, Jung, Myers and Briggs?
 * Who Makes a Good Companion?
 * By Any Other Name: Evolution, Excitation and Expansion
 * A Companion’s Choice: Do Opposites Attract?
 * Death and the Doctor: Interview on How Immortals Face Mortality
 * Post-Time War Stress Disorder
 * Behind Two Hearts: Grief and Vulnerability
 * Boys to Cybermen: Social Narratives and Metaphors for Masculinity
 * From Human to Machine: At What Point Do You Lose Your Soul?
 * Getting to the Hearts of Time Lord Personality Change: Regeneration on the Brain
 * A New Doctor? The Behavioral Genetics of Regeneration
 * The Time Lord’s Brain: Regeneration, Determinism, and Free Will

It addresses the question of, if a person could travel eternally through space and time, how would this power affect him, psychologically and emotionally? Dr Travis Langley is a psychology professor at Henderson State University, who combs his passion for psychology with Dr Who.

The Compassionate Doctor: Caring for Self by Caring for Others
Compassion is the empathetic response when witnessing another’s suffering and the behavioural response of wanting to alleviate that suffering. The Doctors compassion is consistent throughout regenerations, and Davos, creator of the Daleks argues compassion makes him weak. When River Song travels to 1938 intending to kill Hitler and the Doctor, it’s the Doctors compassion that changes her behaviour. This altruistic behaviour is a powerful act, as acting compassionately means she sacrifices her ability to regenerate.

Compassion fatigue is common among individuals subjected to loss/trauma and suffering from disorders such as PTSD, such as war veterans and the Doctor who fought in the Time War. Compassion training encourages individuals to cultivate compassion for everyone, including their enemies. Rose reteaches the Doctor compassion, by showing compassion to friends and foe alike. Without her, he would never relearned compassion, which unlike Davos indicated, is his greatest strength not weakness.

Weeping Angels, Archetypes and the Male Gaze
Throughout the world, similar stories/personas are told, with the characters fitting universal archetypes. Psychoanalysis Carl Jung argued humans share a collective unconscious, a storehouse for archaic remnants from humankind’s evolutionary past, which is responsible for common archetypes, themes and characters continually seen in religious stories, legends and fiction. Psychologically, the Weeping Angels are a most intriguing enemy, as in contemporary culture, angels are depicted as heavenly beings who are a cultural symbol for good. They are however, upended in Dr Who, being described as “the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form ever produced”.

Overtime angels have represented two distinct Jungian archetypes:


 * The Warrior
 * The Great Mother

In early biblical artwork, angels depict the Warrior , yet during the Victorian era, this changed as artists experimented with the angel form outside of religious art. Angels now represent the ideal middle-class woman, referring to her as the “angel in the house”, which compared to the Great Mother archetype , characterising nurture, beauty, empathy and caregiving. However, the Weeping Angels embody neither the Warrior nor the Great Mother, but a third Jungian archetype:


 * The Shadow

The shadow personifies Satan himself and is summarised as the “evil side of humankind”. The Weeping Angels strike fear into the collective unconscious as we face a jarring realisation that the Weeping Angels are not the Great Mother as once perceived, but are in fact the Shadow.

Psychologically, the Weeping Angels  challenge our notions of:


 * Safety
 * Trust
 * And removes our control.

Artwork objectifying/sexualising the female form, for the viewing pleasure of males is known as the male gaze. Angels have their eyes averted and are unable to communicate with the viewer. Yet the Weeping Angels  challenge the male gaze, as they’re initially introduced as statues (eyes covered by their hands), where males can marvel at their female form. However, the Great Mother again transforms into the Shadow, and males no longer receive pleasure from viewing them, when they realise they cannot look away. The safety a man once felt when viewing art is removed by the Weeping Angels  and this loss of trust removes his power.

By Any Other Name: Evolution, Excitation and Expansion
The evolutionary perspective of love proposes that generations of natural selection and the competition for a suitable mate, predisposes us to universal sexual behaviours/traits we find attractive:


 * Facial features


 * Body type
 * Youthfulness

Each has been found to contribute to attractiveness, regardless of:


 * Religion


 * Culture
 * Media exposure

Evolutionary psychologists argue these characteristics enabled the previous generation to reproduce, thus continuing the passage of genes. Rose Tyler is the first twenty-first century companion and is regarded unique, as she reveals the Doctor is capable of love. The character and the actress portraying her, possesses each evolutionary trait needed for her to be considered attractive.

The babyface hypothesis argues males are attracted to women with childlike features:


 * Large eyes
 * Wide mouth
 * Full lips
 * Small nose
 * Unblemished skin

However, a combination of facial neoteny and feminine body type has been regarded the most attractive worldwide.

Youthfulness is further evolutionary quality men find attractive, as its predictive of a women’s reproductive health. Rose is 19 when she meets the Doctor, which is evolutionarily important as a women’s ability to bear a healthy child reduces after 20.

Whist body type preference differs culturally, evolutionary psychologists predict using the waist-to-hip ratio that Rose’s body type will be the most universally attractive. Waist-to-hip ratios of .70 are most sexually appealing, as the hourglass shape emphasises full hips (heathy reproduction) and a small waist (aerobic fitness) and is predictive of overall genetic health.

The circumstances in which two people meet, also plays a role in attraction. The excitation transfer theory, often referred to as the ‘love at first sight’ phenomena, begins in response to another person and results in physiological responses:


 * Faster heart/breathing rate
 * Dizziness

However, environmental factors produce similar physiological responses, which can result in the misattribution of arousal. Excitation transfer explains why the Doctor is attracted to Rose, as their first encounter is adrenalin filled as they fight killer mannequins, which could be mistranslated into emotional excitement/attraction to each other.

Self-expansion Theory, choosing a partner to help become the best version of themselves, is also important for attraction, as partners now have interdependent, instead of independent, identities. The Doctor offers Rose unparalleled opportunities, whilst Rose offers him the opportunity to grow.

Behind Two Hearts: Grief and Vulnerability
Experiencing loss is inevitable. Yet people process loss differently:


 * Shutting down and avoiding interaction
 * Thriving and showing extreme resistance.

Grief is the emotional response to loss and experimental avoidance is a coping mechanism, which allows the individual to briefly supress their grief. The Doctor suppresses his grief by distracting himself with his travels. However, suppression can often lead to worsening symptoms :


 * Depression
 * Prolonged grief

Experimental avoidance occurs when individuals blame themselves for losses and results in:


 * Guilt
 * Shame

The Doctor expresses these feelings about being the only Time War survivor. Contrastingly, vulnerability is a willingness to face emotional exposure after suffering previous losses. For example, the Doctor pursues a relationship with River Song, even though he’ll have to watch her perish.

Getting to the Hearts of Time Lord Personality Change: Regeneration on the Brain
Although the Doctor’s brain is assumed to be human-sized, based on the size of his skull, Time Lords differ from humans psychologically:


 * Faster metal processes
 * Telepathic ability

and physically:


 * Binary vascular system (two hearts)

Previously, bigger brains meant more intelligence, however on examination, Einstein’s brain was found to be smaller than typical males and structured differently (larger than average left parietal lobe).

Whilst enemies have previously tried to steal the Doctors head, brain scans have never been completed. Therefore, using neophrenology, the Doctors brain structure can be deduced by assessing different mental strengths during different regenerations. The Doctors first regeneration portrays him as physically old, emotionally grumpy and behaviourally not shy to tell others what he thinks. Neurologically, this can be explained by the shrinkage of the frontal lobes, meaning important functions (inhibition) fail.

When the third Doctor is exiled to earth, he finds a strength in inventing. Generating new ideas activates the left inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex and precentral gyrus, meaning the Doctor has enhanced functioning of these areas.

Synaptic pruning is the removal of unused neural connections. Behaviours observed during regeneration periods are similar to that of teenagers and whilst adolescent humans undergo synaptic pruning to prepare teenagers for adulthood, similarly, synaptic pruning prepares the Doctor for the upcoming regeneration.