Resources

Press releases

• Award winning film that explores youth mental health to be screened in Birmingham, 4 June 2019.

• Philosopher champions Out of Blue film, 15 October 2018.

• Dementia patients with distorted memories may actually retain key information, 6 March 2018.

• University of Birmingham academics launch mental health workshop pack, 2 March 2018.

In the media

• "Nobody has found the Perfect Recipe for Stopping Conspiracy Theories", Radio Sputnik podcast (Lisa Bortolotti interviewed 14/01/20)

• In The Balkans' Most Divided Country, COVID Vaccine Cuts Both Ways, RadioFreeEurope, (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 13/12/20)

• Business Matters: Why overconfidence is bad for your wealth, Insider Media (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 3/1/19)

• The Role of Denial in Addiction, Psychology Today (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 13/11/18)

• 3 Healthy Lies We Tell Ourselves, Psychology Today (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 13/11/18)

• Scientists fear loss of half a billion pounds of EU funding after no-deal Brexit, The Independent (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 25/8/18)

• Why overconfidence in investing can be dangerous, AES International (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 10/5/18)

• The Costliest Bias of All, The Evidence-Based Investor (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 10/5/18)

• Cómo nos hacemos trampas al solitario, Letras Libres (1/4/18)

• Dementia patients with distorted memories may actually retain key information - study, India Blooms (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 7/3/18)

• Mental Health and Philosophy of Mind, Daily Nous (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 21/2/18)

• Confabulation: why telling ourselves stories makes us feel ok, Aeon Magazine (Lisa Bortolotti written 13/2/18)

• Why False Beliefs Are Not Always Bad, Philosophy Now (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 6/2/18)

• The dark side of optimism, WA Today, Australia (Lisa Bortolotti, Anneli Jefferson quoted 23/11/17)

• The dark side of optimism, Canberra Times, Australia (Lisa Bortolotti, Anneli Jefferson quoted 23/11/17)

• The dark side of optimism, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia (Lisa Bortolotti, Anneli Jefferson quoted 23/11/17)

• The dark side of optimism, Brisbane Times, Australia (Lisa Bortolotti, Anneli Jefferson quoted 23/11/17)

• The dark side of optimism, The Age, Australia (Lisa Bortolotti, Anneli Jefferson quoted 23/11/17)

• Grand delusions: Why we all believe the weirdest things, New Scientist (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 17/11/17)

• Explaining Delusional Thinking, Psychology Today (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 15/9/17)

• Interview - Tripping For Knowledge: The Psychedelic Epistemologist, 3:AM Magazine (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 5/8/17)

• Could being unrealistic actually be good for your mental health? Red magazine online (Lisa Bortolotti quoted 26/6/17)

• Implicit bias: Is everyone racist? BBC News (Sophie Stammers quoted 5/6/17)

• The Irrationality Within Us: Why we are not as rational as we think, and why that matters, Scientific American (Lisa Bortolotti, quoted 12/12/16)

Philosophy of Mind Workshop Series

• Resources for Philosophy of Mind workshop series developed with Mind in Camden.

• A blog post describing the workshop series on Imperfect Cognitions by S Stammers.

• A relevant blog post on the role of philosophy in overcoming epistemic injustice on the Mental Elf blog by S Stammers and L Bortolotti.

• A podcast by B Astor (Mind in Camden) featuring S Stammers and describing the Philosophy of Mind Workshop Series, its aims, its reception, and its future applications. 

• Interview with S Stammers about the workshop series on the Daily Nous.

•  Comments on the Philosophy of Mind Workshop Series from the Director and Co-Founder of Inside Out Australia, Australia’s national body for clinical excellence in eating disorder treatment, after an intensive version of the workshop was presented to their organisation in 2018: 

“The Philosophy of Mind Workshop and the work by Project PERFECT has led us to consider ways in which we might continue to incorporate further opportunities for these valuable conversations, both by promoting the Philosophy of Mind open access workshop materials and by offering future events and workshops that explore questions in Philosophy of Mind relevant to theories about and experiences of mental health and mental distress. We have been sharing information about the open access workshop series materials at other workshops and meetings and will be including this information in our next inside out update which will go to all our subscribers in January 2019.” 

Social Media Activity and Responses

• ·The Mental Health Capacity launch online under the hashtag #MentalCapacity2020. Hosted by the Mental Elf and facilitated by Mark Brown, 26 March 2020. Available to view via youtube.

• Lisa Bortolotti’s Doctors Without Borders publication generated debate on twitter from physicians, psychologists and other medical specialists. Nurse Shaun Wallace noted the relevance of Bortolotti’s argument with practitioners: “There’s an entire field of nursing in the UK [albeit a small one] that largely dropped the “disorder” talk thirty years ago as the long stay hospitals [institutions] were in the main closed.” 7 July 2020.

• Lisa Bortolotti’s Aeon article ‘How validating their distorted memories helps people with dementia’ resonated with family members of sufferers, like Roberto Ferro Borini who tweeted: “your article is precise. My father has Alzheimer’s (unfortunately now at a more advanced stage) and he has benefited from people validating his frequently delusional thoughts. It’s not patronising but caring for his wellbeing.” 26 June 2018

Above: photos from the panel discussion after the screening of Francesco Filippi's Red Hands (Mani Rosse).

Epistemic innocence

• Bortolotti, L. (2020). What is epistemic innocence. Video on YouTube (3mins)

• Robert Talisse interviews Lisa Bortolotti for New Books in Philosophy podcast (NewBooksNetwork, September 2020).

• Virtual book launch for The Epistemic Innocence of Irrational Beliefs, OUP 2020.

Delusions

• Lisa Bortolotti and Anna Ichino published ‘Conspiracy theories may seem irrational – but they fulfill a basic human need’ on the Conversation. (9 December)

• Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. In conversation... Philosophy of mind. Podcast featuring Lisa Bortolotti, Sophie Stammers and Kathy Puddifoot.

• Jones, D. (2017). Grand delusions: why we all believe the weirdest things. New Scientist, 15 November. Article featuring Lisa Bortolotti's research on delusions.

• Radical Philosophy, 3CR Community Radio Melbourne (2017). Clinical Delusions. Beth Matthews interviews Lisa Bortolotti. 14 September.

• Philosofa (2016). Episode 5. Is there a clear line between madness and sanity? Omar Hamdi and Broderick Chow interview Lisa Bortolotti and Richard Bentall. 18 January.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Are delusions bad for you? The Forum, 26 October. Finalist of the 3 quarks daily Philosophy Prize 2015.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). The Epistemic Innocence of Motivated Delusions. Imperfect Cognitions, 3 February.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). The Upside of Delusional Beliefs. Scientia Salon, 17 February.

• Bortolotti, L. (2014). Reverse Othello Syndrome and Epistemic Innocence. Philosop-her, 30 October.

Optimism

• Davis, N. (2019). Optimism may hold secret to longer life, study suggests. The Guardian, 27 August. Article featuring a quote from Lisa Bortolotti.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). Optimism and the Good Life. Iai News, 21 August.

• The Evidence-based Investor (2018). The Costliest Bias of All. Robin Powell interviews Lisa Bortolotti.

• Meyerowitz, A. (2017). Could being unrealistic be good for your mental health?Red Magazine, 26 June. Article featuring Lisa Bortolotti.

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). Optimism and Success. Hay Festival, 25 May. Podcast of lecture available at a small charge.

• BBC Radio 4 (2017). Hypocrisy. The Philosopher's Arms, 13 February. Podcast featuring Lisa Bortolotti.

• Philosophy 24/7 (2017). Are We Biased about Love? David Edmonds interviews Lisa Bortolotti, 18 January. Podcast.

• Bortolotti, L. (2016). Agency without rationality. Inaugural lecture, University of Birmingham, 9 May.   

• Bortolotti, L. (2016). The epistemic innocence of self-enhancing beliefs. False but Useful Beliefs Workshop.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Optimism and the Creation of Everyday Myths. Imperfect Cognitions, 1 September.

• Bortolotti, L. (2013). What is positive about positive illusions?Imperfect Cognitions, 31 October.

Belief, perception, and imagination

• Bortolotti, L. (2019). Irrational Beliefs. University of Birmingham research video, 21 March.

• Stammers, S. (2017). Project PERFECT and perceptions of climate change. Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Bright, A. (2017). Sustainable behaviour change for good. Podcast of Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Vintiadis, E. (2016). The Irrationality within Us. Article discussing project PERFECT. Scientific American.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2016). False but useful beliefs about epistemic normativity. False but Useful Beliefs Workshop.

• Forum for European Philosophy (2016). Emotions: Do they control us? Podcast featuring Lisa Bortolotti, 19 January.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Unintended Consequences. Imperfect Cognitions, 13 January.

• Hardy, A. (2015). Everything we can imagine is real: the role of imagery in daily life. Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2015). A Strange Encounter: Alien Abduction Belief. Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Wilkinson, S. (2015). The varieties of verbal hallucination. Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Philosophy Bites (2015). Irrationality. Nigel Warburton interviews Lisa Bortolotti.

• BBC World Service (2014). Unintended Consequences. The Forum. Radio programme featuring Lisa Bortolotti, 9 December.

Above: images from our art exhibition "Pouring Water through a Telescope", part of the 2019 Arts and Science Festival.

Memory and confabulation

• Lisa Bortolotti and Kathleen Murphy-Hollies published ‘An exceptionally British hypocrisy: The truth behind appeals to the great British character’ on IAI news. (4 December)

• Stammers, S. (2019). Philosophical Perspectives on Confabulation, Imperfect Cognitions, 2 April.

• Stammers, S. (2019). The Pursuit of Resonant Meaning, Imperfect Cognitions, 4 June. 

• Benson James, L. (2018). Interview with Professor Lisa Bortolotti. Illness as Fiction, 5 November.

• Puddifoot, K. and Bortolotti, L. (2018). The Bright Side of Memory Errors. The Philosopher's Magazine, issue 82.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). How validating their distorted memories helps people with dementia. Aeon Ideas, 25 June.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). Confabulation: why telling ourselves stories makes us feel OK. Aeon Ideas, 13 February.

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). Stranger than Fiction: Costs and Benefits of Confabulation. Imperfect Cognitions, 12 December.

• Puddifoot, L. (2017). Memories: Distorted, Reconstructed, Experiential and Shared. Imperfect Cognitions, 20 April.

• Antrobus, M. (2016). "Sometimes I get lucky and I forget": Depression, memory and negative bias. Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Puddifoot, K. (2016). Tricked by memory or tricks of memory? Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Jefferson, A. (2016). Distorting the past to serve our present needs.  Arts and Science Festival lecture on Youtube.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2015). Implicit Bias, Confabulation, and Epistemic Innocence. Imperfect Cognitions, 24 March.

• Bortolotti, L. (2014). Dementia and the Truth. Imperfect Cognitions, 4 November.

Mental health stigma

• Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. In conversation... Philosophy of mind. Podcast featuring Lisa Bortolotti, Sophie Stammers and Kathy Puddifoot.

• Stammers, S. and Bortolotti, L. (2018). Overcoming injustice in mental health: is there a role for philosophy? Mental Elf, 10 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). PERFECT meets Out of Blue: changing perceptions of mental health difficulties. Birmingham Perspective, 10 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). The three stigmas about mental health that we need to deconstruct. TEDxBrum talk. Video.

• Stammers, S. (2017). Philosophy, Mental Health and Informing Public Policy. Video of lecture.

• Larkin, M. (2015). Mental health matters: and we need to value as such. University of Birmingham Tumbler, 17 November.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). "Them and Us" no longer: mental health concerns us all. Birmingham Brief, 5 November.

Loneliness

• Goodman, J. (2018). Reflecting on the Standing Together project. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 10 January.

• Payne, K. (2018). Campaigning on the issue of Loneliness. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 8 January.

• Brownlee, K. (2018). The lonely child. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 5 January.

• Motta, V. (2017). The experience of loneliness and solitude. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 21 December.

• Motta, V. and Bortolotti, L. (2017). Is loneliness a pathology? Birmingham Perspective, 10 October.

Implicit bias and stereotyping

• Stammers, S. and Bortolotti, L. (2020). Webinar on Mental Capacity Assessments. Hosted by the Mental Elf and facilitated by Mark Brown, 26 March.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). What's your story? iai news, 12 September.

• Puddifoot, K. (2018). The multiple ways to criticise stereotyping. Open for debate, 12 February.

• Puddifoot, K. (2017). Introduction to epistemic injustice. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 20 December.

• Miller Tate, A. (2017). Epistemic injustice in psychiatry. Challenges to Wellbeing lecture on YouTube, 20 December.

• BBC Radio 4 (2017). Implicit Bias. Analysis. Podcast featuring Sophie Stammers, 5 June.

• BBC Magazine (2017). Implicit Bias: Is Everyone Racist? Article featuring Sophie Stammers, 5 June.

• Puddifoot, K. (2016). The illusory nature of the ethical/epistemic dilemma over stereotyping. False but Useful Beliefs Workshop.

Other resources on PERFECT

• Stammers, S. (2018). PERFECT Year 5. Imperfect Cognitions, 9 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2018). PERFECT Year 5. Imperfect Cognitions, 2 October.

• Latham, S. (2018). Why false beliefs aren’t always bad. Philosophy Now, February-March. 

• Motta, V. (2017). PERFECT Year 4. Imperfect Cognitions, 24 October.

• Puddifoot, K. (2017). PERFECT Year 4. Imperfect Cognitions, 17 October.

• Stammers, S. (2017). PERFECT Year 4. Imperfect Cognitions, 10 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). PERFECT Year 4. Imperfect Cognitions, 3 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). Ask Me Anything Session for Reddit Philosophy, 8 March.

• Larkin, M. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 15 November.

• Motta, V. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 8 November.

• Antrobus, M. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 1 November.

• Stammers, S. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 25 October.

• Puddifoot, K. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 18 October.

• Polonioli, A. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 11 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2016). PERFECT year three. Imperfect Cognitions, 4 October.

• Larkin, M. (2015). PERFECT year two. Imperfect Cognitions, 17 November.

• Puddifoot, K. (2015). PERFECT year two. Imperfect Cognitions, 20 October.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2015). PERFECT year two. Imperfect Cognitions, 13 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). PERFECT Year Two. Imperfect Cognitions, 6 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Why Study Philosophy? Philosophy@Birmingham, 13 April.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Project PERFECT. I'm NOT disordered, 23 February.

• Larkin, M. (2014). PERFECT Launch (4). Imperfect Cognitions, 28 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2014). What is it to be irrational? Polity Independent, 23 October.

• Antrobus, M. (2014). PERFECT Launch (3). Imperfect Cognitions, 21 October.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2014). PERFECT Launch (2). Imperfect Cognitions, 14 October.

• Bortolotti, L. (2014). PERFECT Launch (1). Imperfect Cognitions, 7 October.

Birmingham Heroes campaigns

• Bortolotti, L. (2017). Birmingham Heroes (Youth Mental Health). Youtube short video.

• Sullivan-Bissett, E. (2015). Birmingham Heroes (project PERFECT). 60 seconds on Youtube.

• Bortolotti, L. (2015). Birmingham Heroes (project PERFECT). 60 seconds on Youtube.

Above: Matilde Aliffi and Eugenia Lancellotta entertain children and families with the help of emotions legos at the Science Museum; Sophie Stammers presents her research on confabulation; Katherine Puddifoot talks about testimimonial silencing at an interdisciplinary event on loneliness and epistemic injustice.