All In The Mind

Criminal profiling promises a lot — being able to piece together a picture of a suspect through clues, intuition and psychology sounds great. But how reliable is it?
In our first episode of Forensic, a four-part series unpacking the psychological tools used to solve crimes, we examine the history of criminal profiling. How it got popular in the 1950s after bombings in New York City, its shortcomings when scrutinised by researchers, and the techniques it is built on that police deploy today (but with a lot more data).
Guests:
Michael CannellAuthor, Incendiary: The Psychiatrist, the Mad Bomber and the Invention of Criminal ProfilingFormer Editor, The New York Times
Professor Craig JacksonProfessor of Occupational Health PsychologyBirmingham City University
Dr Victoria BerezowskiLecturer, Forensic Science, Deakin University
Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Senior producer: James Bullen
Producer: Rose Kerr
Sound engineer: Isabella Tropiano
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
Further Information:
Incendiary - Michael Cannell
The Organized/Disorganized Typology of Serial Murder: Myth or Model?
Is criminal profiling dead? Should it be? Psychology Today
George Metesky, the ‘Mad Bomber’ – Wikipedia
Unmasking the Mad Bomber – The Smithsonian, 2017
A 16-Year Hunt For New York’s ‘Mad Bomber’ – NPR, 2011
An overview of offender profiling – International Journal of Police Science and Management, 2024
Offender profiling: a review of the research and state of the field – Police Psychology, 2021
The Grit, Glamour and Gall of Criminal Profiling – The University of Arizona, 2021
Casebook of a Crime Psychiatrist – James Brussel, 1968
Dangerous Minds - The New Yorker

Forget everything you’ve learned from crime dramas.
Forensic is a new podcast series from All in the Mind on ABC Radio National that takes you behind the psychological tools used to solve crimes.
Across four episodes, we investigate criminal profiling, false confessions, eyewitness memory and lie detection, revealing what actually works, what doesn’t, and the surprising ways things can go wrong.
Forensic gives an evidence-led look at the cracks and complexities inside modern forensic psychology.
Our first episode drops this Sunday! 
In the mean time, check out our other true crime themed series from 2025, Criminal Psychology. 
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

Would you want to live forever? The rich and powerful certainly do. 
There are numerous examples throughout history of people going to extreme lengths in search of immortality. These days, it's Silicon Valley tech bros, testing out everything from blood transfusions to merging our brains with the cloud.
Why are they/we so obsessed with dodging death? What is it about extreme wealth that makes people dream of defying biology?
Today, tech journalist and social psychologist Aleks Krotoski takes us into the world of the ‘immortalists’: what they think the future of humanity might look like, and whether the rest of us want to come along for the ride.
Guest:
Aleks KrotoskiInvestigative journalistSocial psychologistAuthor, The Immortalists: The Death of Death and the Race for Eternal Life
Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Producer: Rose Kerr
Senior Producer: James Bullen
Sound engineer: Tegan Nicholls

Cosmetic procedures aren't reserved for celebrities anymore - they're becoming more and more accessible for every day people. 
So if we're able to alter our looks or avoid the appearance of aging altogether, what impact does this have on our psychology?
Today, we examine how changing our faces might change how we see each other.
Please note, this episode includes some discussion of body image and mental health issues such as body dysmorphic disorder. Take care while listening.
Guests:
Professor Gemma SharpClinical psychologist and researcherAdelaide University
Dr Sarah BonellResearch FellowBolton Clarke Research Institute
Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Reporter/producer: Rose Kerr
Senior producer: James Bullen
Sound engineer: Roi Huberman
More information:
What's the connection between cosmetic procedures and mental health?
Australian Women's Lived Experiences of Stigmatization After Cosmetic Surgery: A Qualitative Investigation
The cosmetic surgery paradox: Toward a contemporary understanding of cosmetic surgery popularisation and attitudes
Under the knife: Unfavorable perceptions of women who seek plastic surgery
New AHPRA Guidelines Require Psychological Screening for Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures
Cheaper, easier and less taboo: Why more gen Zs are getting cosmetic injectables such as botox
Body dysmorphic disorder
Support:
Butterfly foundation 1800 33 4673
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

Politics, war, abortion, gun control — why do some topics make us so outraged?
One theory is that our preoccupation with preventing harm is to blame.
So today, we examine how humans developed morality, why we differ in what we consider right and wrong, and how that drives us to moral outrage.
And after all of that, we'll find out how to have better conversations with people you disagree with (even if you're feeling outraged).
If you want to hear more about that, check out The skills supercommunicators use, which you can learn too.
This episode first aired in January 2025.
Guest:
Dr Kurt GrayProfessor in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillDirector, Deepest Beliefs Lab and the Center for the Science of Moral UnderstandingAuthor, Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground
Credits:
Presenter/producer: Sana Qadar
Senior producer: James Bullen
Producer: Rose Kerr
Sound engineer: Roi Huberman
More information:
Lethal Mass Partisanship: Prevalence, Correlates, & Electoral Contingencies
The transcript for this episode can be found on its original webpage.
You can catch up on more episodes of the All in the Mind podcast with journalist and presenter Sana Qadar, exploring the psychology of topics like stress, memory, communication and relationships on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.