I think psychology should be part of any creative writing curriculum. I read psychology books to find out more about the processes of reading and comprehension, to help me understand how rhyme works, how readers construct characters, etc. I also read them to find out why people write, what influences the way they write, and what the health consequences are.
Below are links to some psychology articles I've written (I think they're some of my better articles) and responses to some psychology books I've read.
Articles
- Psychology, psychiatry and writers groups
- Poetry, madness and cure
- Attention, agility and poetic effects
- Memory and imagination
My story collection "By All Means" (ISBN 978-0-9570984-9-7), published by Nine Arches Press, is on sale from 
My poetry pamphlet "Moving Parts" (ISBN 978-1-905939-59-6) is out now, on sale at the 
I agree totally. I did a year of Psychology at college and I have to say I loved it. Sociology not quite so much but both are still fascinating. How any writer can’t be captivated by both I’ve no idea. To this day I still love reading pop psychology books. I think I prefer them to the real thing because there’s an element of poetic licence in them and I think there has to be. I know we should be able to treat psychology as a hard science but people are soft and squishy and do not like to be hemmed in except in the broadest of terms. Introverts, for example, usually get a bit of a kick I find about fessing up—“Oh, I’m an INTJ actually”—but it’s all very fluid. I might be INTJ this morning and INFJ this afternoon. But it’s fun to play with the idea that we can put people into boxes.
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