Reddit reviews 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior
We found 10 Reddit comments about 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Wiley-Blackwell
50 Myths of Pop Psychology is a really great book. It'll help you take your psych understanding from a very intro level to something more advanced. One of our problems when we teach intro to psych is that we include all of the theories that are historically relevant in a very superficial manner, and never dive deeper with students to really talk about our modern understanding of anything. 50 Myths includes the major misconceptions people have of our field including things you probably learned in your intro class for their historical value.
I found 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology to be kinda stunningly humbling. I knew that "we only use 10 percent of our brain" was false, and that not all people who confess to guilt are actually guilty, or that dream analysis is mostly bunk. I didn't know, however, that electro-shock therapy can actually be helpful, or that the instance of repression of traumatic memories has been greatly exaggerated, or that the Kubler-Ross stages of death are far from universal.
It did make me feel better, slightly, that psychology students are often no better at parsing psychology myth from fact.
My go to recommendation is Scott Lilienfeld's 50 Greatest Myths in Popular Psychology. Easy to read, thought provoking, and super interesting. I'll bet an upvote that you currently believe at least half these myths. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Popular-Psychology-Misconceptions/dp/1405131128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457820114&sr=8-1&keywords=50+greatest+myths+of+popular+psychology
If you're looking for interesting things to talk about that can get you out of the smalltalk trap, read a lot of psychology. It's something everyone can relate to, everyone is interested in, everyone can learn something from (making you a value provider). Here are two good ones to start with, and don't forget /r/psychology and related subreddits.
http://www.amazon.com/50-Psychology-Classics-Insight-Inspiration/dp/1857883861/ref=sr_1_1
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Popular-Psychology-Misconceptions/dp/1405131128/ref=sr_1_2
Any specific area of psychology?
I think this is a must for young people expressing interest in the field. Scott Lilienfeld is hands-down one of the most well-respected researchers in psychology, often seen as the arbiter of controversial issues and adequately dissecting the literature to present the most informed point of view.
The biggest take-away point that you need to stress is that psychology is a science. Regardless of what material you choose to cover, your students need to get past the typical newcomer mistake of thinking about psychology as hugs and intuition.
Given that you can't reasonably survey the field in 3-4 weeks, maybe just tackle big misconceptions. You might find this book helpful for thinking about myths to tackle as you move across subdisciplines in the field (e.g., clinical, cognitive, social, etc.)
I highly recommend 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology by Scott Lilienfeld.
I know many colleagues who use this text in their Psych 101 classes. It is written for a lay audience but still manages to cover a lot of ground and incorporate a ton of research.
I love this book for engaging people to think critically and have fun with psych.
> Could be a loud speaker array training/annoying unsuspecting "terrorists" to commit acts of violence.
No. That's paranoid delusion talk. It won't work for two reasons:
https://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ihvg/#tabs
Multiple exemplars of why we need studies to show things you think are obvious (although, again, you would have find the opposite effect also obvious) in this book: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Myths-Popular-Psychology-Misconceptions/dp/1405131128