A book by best-selling author Richard Wiseman, an internet phenomenon for the video age, a new twist on science, or simply another way of looking at the world – just what is quirkology?

'Quirkology' is a term coined by Prof Wiseman to refer to psychological research that is quirky. Much of this work uses mainstream methods to investigate unusual topics, or unusual methods to investigate mainstream topics.

It is also the title of his latest book, an account of some of the most interesting and fun examples of quirky psychology, including Prof Wiseman's own experiments. He has spent nights in allegedly haunted houses, conducted clandestine experiments in over 30 countries, and dressed up in a giant chicken suit. In Quirkology, he describes his adventures into the backwaters of human behaviour, and pays tribute to others who have carried out similarly weird and wonderful work.

Prof Wiseman has long been interested in using internet video as a science communication tool, and the launch of Quirkology and this website provided an ideal opportunity to create something completely new. The resulting videos, under the banner 'Curious Psychology', have become some of the most popular online, with nearly 2.5 million viewers on YouTube alone and over 70 million on worldwide media.

The videos have inspired many tributes, parodies and video replies on YouTube, and are used by science educators in classrooms worldwide.

Although Prof Wiseman coined the term, the maverick Victorian scientist Sir Francis Galton might be considered the founding father of quirkology. Sir Francis devoted much of his life to the study of offbeat topics, including, for example, work into prayer, boredom, and beauty.

Each generation of psychologists has produced a small number of researchers who have carried out quirkological research. Academics who have, for instance: examined how many people it takes to start a Mexican wave in a football stadium; examined the psychology of smiling by applying voltages to the face; identified the perceived personality characteristics of fruit; secretly counted the number of people wearing their baseball caps the right way round or back to front; and stood outside supermarkets with charity boxes quietly measuring how different types of requests for donations impacted upon the amount of money given.

Much of the work has revealed impressive insights into the secret psychology behind many aspects of everyday life, including group behaviour, compliance, anthropomorphism, and altruism.

Prof Wiseman’s own work in the area has tackled a diverse range of issues, from humour to honesty, superstition to smiling, and chronobiology to charisma.