50 GREAT MYTHS OF POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn,  John Ruscio Barry,  L. Beyerstein

CONTENTS:

1. BRAIN POWER

• Myth #1 Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power
• Myth #2 Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained
• Myth #3 Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Is a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon
• Myth #4 Visual Perceptions Are Accompanied by Tiny Emissions from the Eyes Myth #5 Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products

2. FROM WOMB TO TOMB

• Myth #6 Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence
• Myth #7 Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil
• Myth #8 Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in \ 8 Their 40s or Early 50s
• Myth #9 Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility
• Myth #10 When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages

3. A REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST

• Myth #11 Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, andAccurate Events We’ve Experienced
• Myth #12 Hypnosis Is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events
• Myth #13 Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences
• Myth #14 Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives

4. TEACHING OLD DOGS NEW TRICKS

• Myth #15 Intelligence (IQ) Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People
• My th #16 If You’re Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, It’s Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch
• Myth #17 The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters
• Myth #18 Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles

5. ALTERED STATES

• Myth #19 Hypnosis Is a Unique “Trance” State that Differs inKindfrom Wakefulness
• Myth #20 Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meaning
• Myth #21 People Can Learn Information, like Neiv Languages, while Asleep
• Myth #22 During “Out-of-Body”Experiences, People’s Consciousness Leaves Their Bodies

6. I’VE GOT A FEELING

• Myth #23 The Polygraph (“Lie Detector”) Testis an Accurate Means of Detecting Dishonesty
• Myth #24 Happiness Is Determined Mostly by Our External Circumstances
• Myth #25 Ulcers Are Caused Primarily or Entirely by Stress
• Myth #26 A Positive Attitude Can Stave off Cancer

7. THE SOCIAL ANIMAL

• Myth #27 Opposites Attract: We Are Most Romantically Attracted to People Who Differ from Us
• Myth #28 There!s Safety in Numbers: The More People Present at an Emergency, the Greater the Chance that Someone Will Intervene
• Myth #29 Men and Women Communicate in Completely Different Ways
• Myth #30 It’s Better to Express Anger to Others than to Hold It in

8. KNOW THYSELF

• Myth #31 Raising Children Similarly Leads to Similarities in Their Adult Personalities
• Myth #32 The Fact that a Trait Is Heritable Means We can’t change it
• Myth #33 Low Self-Esteem Is a Major Cause of Psychological Problems
• Myth #34 Most People Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood Develop Severe Personality Disturbances in Adulthood
• Myth #35 People’s Responses to Inkblots Tell Us a Great Deal about Their Personalities
• Myth #36 Our Handwriting Reveals Our Personality Traits

9. SAD, MAD, AND BAD

• Myth #37 Psychiatric Labels Cause Harm by Stigmatizing People
• Myth #38 Only Deeply Depressed People Commit Suicide
• Myth #39 People with Schizophrenia Have Multiple Personalities
• Myth #40 Adult Children of Alcoholics Display a Distinctive Profile of Symptoms
• Myth #41 There’s Recently Been a Massive Epidemic of Infantile Autism
• Myth #42 Psychiatric Hospital Admissions and Crimes Increase during Full Moons

10. DISORDER IN THE COURT

• Myth #43 Most Mentally III People Are Violent
• Myth #44 Criminal Profiling Is Helpful in Solving Cases
• Myth #45 A Large Proportion of Criminals Successfully Use the Insanity Defense
• Myth #46 Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It

11. SKILLS AND PILLS

• Myth #47 Expert Judgment and Intuition Are the Best Means of Making Clinical Decisions
• Myth #48 Abstinence Is the Only Realistic Treatment Goal for Alcoholics Alcoholics
• Myth #49 All Effective Psychotherapies Force People to Confront the “Root” Causes of Their Problems in Childhood
• Myth #50 Electroconvulsive (“Shock”) Therapy Is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal

Scott O. Lilienfeld & Steven Jay Lynn: 50 Great Myths Of Popular Psychology

Language: English              Format: PDF online                 Pages: 419        Size: 2 mb