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A review by youniseader
50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, Scott O. Lilienfeld
4.0
"Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths"
-Sir Carl Popper (1957)-
It was an interesting read. I am now filled with better knowledge about human psychology and the myths attributed to it. I haven't read all the myths as I think these are the popular myths in US. In fact, I found most of the myths unfamiliar to me, or at least, in my culture, (I am from North Africa, Algeria). Yet, I might have a look at the other ones later on.
These are the myths that I was most interested in the book:
1. Most People Ue Only 10% of Their Brain Power
2. Some People are Left-brained, Others are Right-brained
3. Adolescence is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil
4.Old Age is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility
5. Most People with Amnesia Forget all Details of Their Earlier Lives
6. If You are Unsure About Your Answer When Taking a Test, it's Best to Stick With Your Initial Hunch
7.Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles are Matched to Their Learning Styles
8. Research have demonstrated that dreams possess symbolic meaning
9. There is safety in numbers, the more people present at an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will intervene
10. Men and Women communicate in Completely different ways
11. It is better to express anger to others than to hold it in.
12. The fact that a treat is heritable means we can't change it
13. Our handwriting reveals our personality traits
14. Only deeply depressed people commit suicide
I liked all those introductory ideas, and I think that was the most intriguing part, where the authors defined psychology, myths, armchair psychology, and what I loved most is the 10 sources of Psychological Myths: Your Mythbusting Kit. These are the main sources of almost any scientific myth and common misconceptions about science in general. They are:
1.Word-of Mouth
2. Desire for Easy Answers and Quick Fixes
3. Selective Perception and Memory
4. Inferring Causation from Correlation
5. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc Reasoning (or After this, therefore, because of this)
6.Exposure to a biased example
7. Reasoning by Representativeness
8.Misleading Film and Media Portrayels
9. Exaggeration of a Kernel of Truth
10. Terminological Confusion
Written in a simple style, the book is very scientific, it's full of scientific researches and sources of the facts mentioned in the book.
-Sir Carl Popper (1957)-
It was an interesting read. I am now filled with better knowledge about human psychology and the myths attributed to it. I haven't read all the myths as I think these are the popular myths in US. In fact, I found most of the myths unfamiliar to me, or at least, in my culture, (I am from North Africa, Algeria). Yet, I might have a look at the other ones later on.
These are the myths that I was most interested in the book:
1. Most People Ue Only 10% of Their Brain Power
2. Some People are Left-brained, Others are Right-brained
3. Adolescence is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil
4.Old Age is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility
5. Most People with Amnesia Forget all Details of Their Earlier Lives
6. If You are Unsure About Your Answer When Taking a Test, it's Best to Stick With Your Initial Hunch
7.Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles are Matched to Their Learning Styles
8. Research have demonstrated that dreams possess symbolic meaning
9. There is safety in numbers, the more people present at an emergency, the greater the chance that someone will intervene
10. Men and Women communicate in Completely different ways
11. It is better to express anger to others than to hold it in.
12. The fact that a treat is heritable means we can't change it
13. Our handwriting reveals our personality traits
14. Only deeply depressed people commit suicide
I liked all those introductory ideas, and I think that was the most intriguing part, where the authors defined psychology, myths, armchair psychology, and what I loved most is the 10 sources of Psychological Myths: Your Mythbusting Kit. These are the main sources of almost any scientific myth and common misconceptions about science in general. They are:
1.Word-of Mouth
2. Desire for Easy Answers and Quick Fixes
3. Selective Perception and Memory
4. Inferring Causation from Correlation
5. Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc Reasoning (or After this, therefore, because of this)
6.Exposure to a biased example
7. Reasoning by Representativeness
8.Misleading Film and Media Portrayels
9. Exaggeration of a Kernel of Truth
10. Terminological Confusion
Written in a simple style, the book is very scientific, it's full of scientific researches and sources of the facts mentioned in the book.