Auteur

Scott O. Lilienfeld is a Professor of Psychology at Emory University. He is a recipient of the 1998 David Shakow Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Clinical Psychology from Division 12 (Society for Clinical Psychology) of the APA, past president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Dr. Lilienfeld's principal areas of research are personality disorders, psychiatric classification and diagnosis, pseudoscience in mental health, and the teaching of psychology. Steven Jay Lynn is a Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He is past President of the APA's Division of Psychological Hypnosis, and the recipient of the Chancellor's Award of the SUNY for Scholarship and Creative Activities. His major areas of research include hypnosis and memory.

John Ruscio is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The College of New Jersey. His scholarly interests include quantitative methods for psychological research and the characteristics of pseudoscience that distinguish subjects within and beyond the fringes of psychological science.

Barry L. Beyerstein (the late) was Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University and chair of the British Columbia Skeptics Society. He was Associate Editor of the Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, and he co-authored many articles in the Skeptical Inquirer and professional journals.

Texte du rabat

In a society in which psychological knowledge is shaped as much, if not more, by supermarket tabloids, talk shows, and self-proclaimed "self-help gurus" as it is by the latest scientific advances, there is a pressing need for a book that helps students and the public distinguish fact from fiction in the world of psychology. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology answers this need by using popular myths as a vehicle for distinguishing science from pseudoscience. Organized around key topic areas of modern psychology such as brain functioning, perception, development, memory, emotion, intelligence, learning, personality, mental illness, and psychotherapy, this book will help students and laypersons to critically evaluate the information and misinformation that is generated by popular psychology.

Résumé
"I find each and every chapter excellent and from a teaching point of view, brilliant. The way in which the history of the myths is presented up to the critical but balanced discussion of each myth, is a great achievement. Scott Lilienfeld is well-known for his user-friendly writing style, but in this text he and his co-authors reach a new level.

Contenu

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction The Wide World of Psychomythology 1

1 Brain Power Myths about the Brain and Perception 21

1 Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power 21

2 Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained 25

3 Extrasensory Perception Is a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon 29

4 Visual Perceptions Are Accompanied by Tiny Emissions from the Eyes 33

5 Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products 36

2 From Womb to Tomb Myths about Development and Aging 45

6 Playing Mozart's Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence 45

7 Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil 49

8 Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in Their 40s or Early 50s 52

9 Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility 56

10 When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages 60

3 A Remembrance of Things Past Myths about Memory 65

11 Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and Accurately Records the Events We've Experienced 65

12 Hypnosis is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events 69

13 Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences 73

14 Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives 78

4 Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks Myths about Intelligence and Learning 83

15 Intelligence Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People 83

16 If You're Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, It's Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch 87

17 The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters 89

18 Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles 92

5 Altered States Myths about Consciousness 100

19 Hypnosis Is a Unique "Trance" State that Differs in Kind from Wakefulness 100

20 Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meaning 104

21 Individuals Can Learn Information, like New Languages, while Asleep 108

22 During "Out-of-Body" Experiences, People's Consciousness Leaves Their Bodies 110

6 I've Got a Feeling Myths about Emotion and Motivation 116

23 The Polygraph ("Lie Detector") Test Is an Accurate Means of Detecting Dishonesty 116

24 Happiness Is Determined Mostly by Our External Circumstances 122

25 Ulcers Are Caused Primarily or Entirely by Stress 126

26 A Positive Attitude Can Stave off Cancer 129

7 The Social Animal Myths about Interpersonal Behavior 135

27 Opposites Attract: We Are Most Romantically Attracted to People Who Differ from Us 135

28 There's Safety in Numbers: The More People Present at an Emergency, the Greater the Chance that Someone Will Intervene 139

29 Men and Women Communicate in Completely Different Ways 143

30 It's Better to Express Anger to Others than to Hold It in 147

8 Know Thyself Myths about Personality 153

31 Raising Children Similarly Leads to Similarities in Their Adult Personalities 153

32 The Fact that a Trait Is Heritable Means We Can't Change It 158

33 Low Self-Esteem Is a Major Cause of Psychological Problems 162

34 Most People Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood Develop Severe Personality Disturbances in Adulthood 166

35 People's Responses to Inkblots Tell Us a Great Deal about Their Personalities 171

36 Our Handwriting Reveals Our Personality Traits 175

9 Sad, Mad, and Bad Myths about Mental Illness 181

37 Psychiatric Labels Cause Harm by Stigmatizing People 181

38 Only Deeply Depressed People Commit Suicide 186

39 People with Schizophrenia Have Multiple Personalities 189

40 Adult Children of Alcoholics Display a Distinct Profile of Symptoms 192

41 There's Recently Been a Massive Epidemic of Infantile Autism 195

42 Psychiatric Hospital Admissions and Crimes Increase during Full Moons 201

10 Disorder in the Court Myths about Psychology and the Law 209

43 Most Mentally Ill People Are Violent 209

44 Criminal Profiling Is Helpful in Solving Cases 212

45 A Large Proportion Of Criminals Successfully Use the Insanity Defense 216

46 Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It 220

11 Skills and Pills Myths about Psychological Treatment 227

47 Expert Judgment and Intuition Are the Best Means of Making Clinical Decisions 227

48 Abstinence Is the Only Realistic Treatment Goal for Alcoholics 232

49 All Effective Psychotherapies Force People to Confront the "Root" Causes of Their Problems in Childhood 236

50 Electroconvulsive ("Shock") Therapy Is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal Treatment 239

Postscript Truth is Stranger than Fiction 247

Appendix Recommended Websites for Exploring Psychomythology 253

References 255

Index 319