Michael Mosley shared 'secret fear' about his health just weeks before tragic death
Mosley detailed a health fear just weeks before his death
ITV
Michael Mosley harboured a secret fear over his health, which he revealed publicly just weeks before his tragic death on the Greek island of Symi.
Days before his disappearance was reported, Mosley attended the Hay Festival on May 25, and questioned a psychology expert over some concerns he had.
BBC Radio 4 played some of the conversation from the festival on it's Friday morning show ahead of a special tribute to the 67-year-old which will be airing tonight.
Mosley can be heard questioning professor of psychology and cognitive science Paul Bloom, and makes a surprising admission.
He asked the professor: "What about personality tests? A while ago, I took part in a new television experiment where we got my friends, family, my wife and me to fill out a personality test, as we find was filling it out.
"And the only person who got close to accurate was my wife, who,to be honest, was more accurate than I was."
In response, the professor detailed the key areas of personality and explained: "The people who know you best will tend to agree with you, agree with each other on how you stand on the big five.
"And again, the heavy idea which comes from psychology is that that people around you could know more about you than you yourself know.
"Because you have all of these biases, these self-serving biases that could lead you to the wrong perception of yourself."
Mosley went on to admit: "One of the scarier experiments I got involved with a while back was I felt did a personality test to see how warm engaging and lovely I am and it turned out by by self-reporting I am a lovely warm, engaging person.
The BBC has shared one of Mosley's final public conversations before his death
ITV
"But as part of it, they also strapped me in a brain scanner and they showed me images of someone being hit by a ruler.
"And then they hit me with a ruler. And what they said is there's a bit of a mismatch. So I said, 'what were results?'
"The psychologist said, 'I'd send your wife out of the room at this point - according to this test, I'm a bit of a psychopath.'
"Is that a good insight is that going to help me in any way to meet a richer, fuller life?"
Thankfully, the professor seemed to put Mosley's fears to ease by replying: "You know, Jon Ronson, who wrote a wonderful book called Psychopaths says if you're worried that you're a psychopath, you're not a psychopath.
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Mosley has featured in several BBC and ITV shows to share his expertise
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"So the very fact you're a little bit worried about that means you're free. Real psychopaths know that they're psychopaths. I find the mind is the brain, all of our thinking, emotions, desires - everything is in here.
"But brain scanning methods at this time are so crude. The pen and paper tests do better.
"And certainly the testimony of people who know you and love you is a lot better than whether part of your hippocampus lights up when you see something. So relax."
Mosley let out a sigh of relief as those at the festival laughed. Tragically, just days later Mosley disappeared on the island of Symi during a walk and was found five days later, painfully close to safety.
It is thought Mosley suffered heat stroke during the lengthy walk in the extreme temperatures.
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