Customer Reviews

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After reading the editorial reviews on this book, I decided to purchase a copy. It is a treasure trove of examples of behavior and myths that we believe to be true - but are actually false. Written by psychologists and based on science, this book describes the most common myths that people hold about a variety of human experiences. For example, does handwriting reveal your personality? Does playing Mozart to infants boost their intelligence? Do opposites attract? Is the polygraph really an accurate means of detecting dishonesty? If you think the answer to any of these questions, is "yes," you need to read this book. I couldn't put it down as I went from myth to myth learning about the facts based on science versus the myths we have believed for decades. I agree with the reviewer who says that this is a much-needed mythbuster for consumers. Easy-to-read and fascinating facts! I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended, a must-have mythbuster!

There are two very impressive aspects of this book: 1) the types of "myths" that the authors tackle, and 2) the quality of their literature reviews. On the first point, I was excited to see the authors make strong evidence-based critiques of the Alcoholics Anonymous model of addictions treatment, the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse, the autism 'epidemic,' and others. It would have been easy to write another 'skeptics diary' of obvious psychomythology (e.g., phrenology, ESP, etc), but the authors really stick their necks out in some instances. On the second point, the authors' conclusions are well-supported by the research they cite. As a school psychologist, I was impressed to see a very thoughtful handling of the research on so-called 'learning styles,' for example. I've not seen a better handling of this topic in any book meant for mass consumption, and this section alone was worth the purchase. So overall, I would describe the book as a very well-written Psychology 101 Redux that debunks a lot of common misconceptions.

However, I would take issues with a few of the "Other Myths to Explore" at the end of the chapters, which could be easily misinterpreted. For example, on page 63 the authors claim that "children with extremely high IQs have much higher levels of creative accomplishment in adulthood than other children." While this is generally correct, it ignores research showing that 'extremely' high IQs do not predict the next Einsteins or Lincolns. In Lewis Terman's famous study, his high IQ group did very well into adulthood, but not up to Terman's predictions of greatness--in fact, most turned out to be very average adults. Such 'nuggets' at the end of the chapters are a little too concise, and this is why I give the book 4 stars rather than 5.

And if the authors are reading, I recommend the following myths for future editions:

Stimulant use in childhood increases the risk of addictions in adulthood
ADHD is caused by video games and excessive television viewing
It is easy for criminals to fake mental retardation in order to avoid the death penalty
Boys are more aggressive than girls
"Wilderness Programs" are highly effective for juvenile delinquents
The DARE program is very effective in reducing/preventing drug use
Adolescents with jobs are less likely than their unemployed peers to engage in risky behavior
Child abuse is much more common now than ever before

I could go on, but I'll stop there. The point is, even though psychology is a 'soft science,' there are issues around which consensus has been built. Yet, many misonceptions still exist. Indeed, many readers unfamiliar with the field may find some of the authors' conclusions controversial (autism and the MMR vaccine leaps to mind), but the research evidence to the contrary is very compelling. This book does a great job explaining how.

Although I have been long retired from teaching (psychology), Scott's book makes me wish to return to the classroom. There can never be too much urging to become or remain critical in one's thinking about the outlandish claims that've been made over the years about what psychology is not. I recommend 50 Great Myths to people who have read only little or a lot about what people do when they behave. DKH

There are now two books that every psychology undergraduate (and graduate) student should be required to read and own -- Stanovich's "How to Think Straight about Psychology" and this book. This book is a ray of hope during a (frightening) time when subjective experience is favored over objective/empirical data. Chalk one up for science.

As a psychologist who has a clinical practice, I sometimes find it irritating when others assume that the work I do is just some form of common sense advice-giving. But then I see a book like this one, and I am reminded that the general public is filled with so-called "common sense" misconceptions about the entire field of psychology. Luckily, authors Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Lynn, John Ruscio, and the late Barry Beyerstein, all professors of psychology, have challenged some of these most commonly-held beliefs with solid, research-based evidence from a multitude of leading psychology journals and other seminal works in the field.

In their Introduction, the authors talk about "Psychological Science and Common Sense" and offer tools for myth-busting, including ten of the mostly likely reasons why myths develop. Here they discuss factors such as selective perception and memory, confusing correlation and causation, the influence of the media, and problems with terminology (it appears that some of the other reviewers may have skipped this section and/or would benefit from rereading this information). The main body of the book is divided into 11 chapters, each organized around a specific topic area--for example, "Myths about Memory," "Myths about Emotion and Feeling," "Myths about Psychological Treatment," etc. Each chapter contains 4-6 specific myths; about 4-6 pages is devoted to each individual myth. Finally, at the end of every chapter, the authors have listed "Other Myths to Explore." Here they simply provide statements of "Fact" and "Fiction" (anywhere from about 12 to 30) without any accompanying research backup.

In simply perusing the chapters prior to starting to read the book, I was happy to see that none of the myths came as a great surprise to me. In fact, I'd actually argued several of these points myself in the past, including that the expression of anger to others isn't always better and that electroconvulsive therapy isn't violent or harmful. This doesn't mean that I completely agreed with the authors about everything, however. One of the myths listed is "A positive attitude can stave off cancer." No, a positive attitude might not be able to "stave off" cancer, but in psychologist Martin Selgiman's work with optimism, he HAS shown some excellent effects, including improved survival rates, in teaching optimism to cancer patients (see Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life). I also had a question about the derivation of one of the statistics included in one of the "Other Myths to Explore" sections. I emailed the three living authors about this, and two of them responded almost immediately to say that they would research the exact origin of this number so that they could confirm its accuracy for the second edition of the book (currently in development).

The fact that I had a few disagreements with the authors did not alter my main impression--i.e., this is an excellent book which was extremely well-researched. As a clinical psychologist, I was trained in the classic scientist-practitioner model, and part of this training involved learning how to 1) recognize whether something has appropriate research backing, and 2) review that research with a healthy skepticism. Like the myths that it addresses, this book of course should be approached with a critical eye. However, in doing so, what one is likely to find is an engaging, extremely readable challenge to some commonly-held popular psychology myths written by experts in the field. Highly recommended for anyone within the disciple of psychology or simply those with an interest in the topic.

All too often the popular perception of psychology has been clouded by a great many myths, misconceptions and outright falsehood. This book give a dose of what the current mainstream scientific views are on a great number of subjects (the 50 myths are just the ones that are explained, each chapter has a list of short items that are given 1 sentence answers). The book honestly points out where legitimate controversy still exists, but most of the myths discussed are not particularly controversial. The only thing keeping it from perfection is a somewhat dry style, that may keep it from being the best for the general audience.

A good read for anyone with an interest in science or psychology, but not necessarily any formal psychological training.

As a graduate student in educational psychology, I've heard my share of myths about thinking, cognition, emotion, and the human brain. "The average person only uses 10% of their brain." "If a teacher matches their teaching style to a child's learning style, then the child will learn more." "Clinicians make decisions just as accurately as tests do." This book demolishes those inaccurate beliefs and over 40 more.

In addition to the factual content, I appreciate several aspects of this book. First, it is written in an accessible style and could serve as a supplementary text in a high school or introductory college psychology class. Second, it comes with a moderate amount of citations--not too many to seem overwhelming, but not so few that you feel like you're just reading the author's opinion. Also, the authors explore possible origins for many of the myths and why they're so popular, which sometimes gives clues in how to "defuse" them in the public.

My biggest complaint about the book is with some of the 250 one-sentence long supplemental myths. Some of these are overly simplistic or may perpetuate other misconceptions (although these misconceptions are usually not as widespread as the main 50 myths). One example is the myth that ability grouping (the practice of arranging classrooms or learning groups by the children's academic aptitude) is ineffective. While true that the mere physical arrangement of classroom students does not improve learning, it would be more correct to say that ability grouping paired with differential instruction (i.e., instruction appropriate for each group's cognitive level) is highly effective for ALL ability levels. In fact, this is one of the most robust (and politically unpopular) findings in education. To see the Lillenfeld and his coauthors dismiss this fact in one sentence is disappointing.

But overall, I approve of this book. Even though I'll graduate with my doctorate next year, it's definitely staying on my shelf and I'll probably refer to it periodically. I found it to be an entertaining read and overall an accurate rebuttal to those things that many people seem to believe, but that just aren't true.

Does anyone remember phlogiston? That imaginary substance once proposed as the basis of fire? Physics and chemistry got rid of that long ago, but psychologists have trouble getting rid of their phlogiston-like myths-- even professional psychologists sometimes accept psychomythology! Scott Lilienfeld and his colleagues have attacked that problem at its foundation by providing discussions of 50 myths in a form suitable for use in introductory psychology courses, or for readers studying psychology on their own.

"Fifty Great Myths" identifies mistaken beliefs and guides the reader through research evidence that tests each myth. In doing so, the book provides outstanding models for examination of a priori assumptions. Readers who follow these models will be in a position to develop reasoned opinions, not just the unexamined prejudices that often pass for opinion even in college classrooms. They can even have fun doing so-- and family Thanksgiving dinner conversation will never be the same again.

This book is needed for many reasons, but one of the most important is that publishers today are often careless about textbooks and allow them to go into print with material that is in fact not well supported by evidence. I've discussed this with respect to child development textbooks at [...], and I have no doubt that it's also true of introductory texts.

If you or your students think you use only 10% of your brain-- if anyone around you imagines that schizophrenics have multiple personalities-- if you think "opposites attract" in love as well as magnetism--- you need a session with "Fifty Great Myths". As a psychology professor of many years' standing, I strongly recommend the use of this book as a companion to any ordinary introductory psych text.

This is an outstanding read, I've recommended this book to everyone I know!

The writing style is very similar to scientific publications like Discover or Scientific American. It has a wonderful tone, one moment making silly puns (and stepping back to say "look I made a funny!") and the next making some very witty satires. It's very accessible to non-psychology types, but has enough detail to remain a very invigorating read.

Some amazon.com reviewers say the book is misleading and sensationalized. They either haven't read the book (as one admitted) or have missed the point. Hint: Read the introduction. The authors painstakingly stress the importance of scientific literacy (look that up) and remind us to be critical of ideas...including those presented in the book.

It's an academic book that uses scientific language, and scientific language has implicit doubt. You should read everything as "a body of evidence suggests..." and should be suitably critical. You'll miss the point if your take your thinking cap off, even for a few pages.

The authors define "myths" as notions that the public (or popular psychology) holds absolutely true but that lack support or have mixed support...not notions that are ABSOLUTELY false. That's an important distinction to make, it's sometimes just as important to show that things aren't as cut-and-dry as popular psychology would like.

An excellent example from the book talks about how many prisons have self-esteem boosting programs because popular psychology says low self-esteem leads people into crime. However there's a lot of good evidence that suggests the very opposite, that many criminals (that "many" is very important) actually have very high self esteem and commit crimes because they feel entitled to things they can't have.

Overall I think this is a fantastic book with a lot of fantastic information and has an enlightening overall message of "people really need to put their thinking caps on." You'll annoy your friends to no end with "I read..." once you start reading this, and hopefully you'll get them thinking.

This is a devastating attack on pop psychology. The authors actually go beyond the title--they expose 300 total myths; it's merely that they cover 50 in detail. Do you think IQ tests are racially biased? Perhaps you think low self-esteem causes major psychological problems? Not so, and the authors do a great job in explaining why these myths are bogus.