As someone who has studied psychology for years, I love good psychology books that challenge the myths. That’s what this book does. I agree with Scott Lilienfeld and his co-authors that psychology is a powerful tool that can bring us valuable insight—but only, if we learn to separate fact from fiction. We live in a culture saturated with pop psychology that can breed more of the latter than the former.
The authors walk us through the worst of what they call a jungle of “psychomythology” (a prominent example: the notion that most people use only 10% of their brains). Not only do they debunk these myths, they focus on critical thinking skills to enable us to better evaluate psychology claims in the future. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology also has a fascinating section that includes examples of psychological findings that sound like myths but are in fact true. You’ll learn a lot from this read. Published in 2009, I predict this book will stand the test of time as one of the great psychology books that sets us straight on behavioral psychology, neuropsychology and social psychology truths.
