Christian Jarrett

You know how when you’re late there’s always a really good reason for it, unlike other people’s tardiness, which is due entirely to the fact they are careless and slipshod in their planning? And of course you also know, deep down, that you are just a little bit [or maybe even a lot] superior to the average human being?

If you’ve given up smoking, then you certainly deserve that extra slice of cake as a reward and who, when encouraged by someone in authority, does not allow a little of the sadist to appear when told to punish other people?

What you don’t know is that there are terms for all these personal attitudes and perceived aptitudes; what’s more, thanks to this excellent and fascinating book, you no longer have to plough your way through years of psychology to understand the various theories.

The Fundamental Attribution Error, the Lake Wobegon Effect, Baumeister’s Ego Depletion, and Milgram’s Obedience Study refer to the conditions above, which – along with 46 other propositions - are concisely and convincingly explained by a panel of contributors.

Every page contains a brief definition and boxes containing information such as ‘3-second psyche’, ‘3-minute analysis’, ‘related theories’, ‘3secomd biographies’ and ’30 second text’. The book also contains an invaluable glossary of psychological terms and short, cogent biographies and time lines for some of the most influential figures in the field, a brief bibliography and a list a relevant websites.

Interesting, educational and entertaining, 30-Second Psychologies is a must read even if [or perhaps especially if] you view psychology with contempt as a pseudo science and psychologists as ‘shrinks’: you might think you know better, but actually that’s just the Lake Wobegon Effect clouding your judgment!… (más)

In the tradition of the Rough Guides reference series here we have their take on the science of psychology. Covering,in overview, just about all subjects contained in a basic university psychology department (with the exceptions of statistics and research methods) this book not only covers the topics but makes them entertaining. The usual topics of abnormal psych, perception, development and cognition are covered but also less usual topics of positive psych, creativity and health psych are introduced. All are well explained but the author also makes a point of showing how theory can be applied to daily living. This book is not meant for psychology scholars so research citing is sparse but there is enough to keep creditability.

A nice feature is that key concepts are highlighted in bold print making it easier to find concepts or refer to them again. I personally would have liked these concepts to either be contained in a glossary or for all of them to be contained in the index (example: "grit" was highlighted but was not in the index. This is not an isolated case). Also for American readers - this book was written by a British author and some word usage and slang was unfamiliar and could be somewhat confusing.

Covering the topic nicely, from the earliest history on through the latest cutting edge, author Christian Jarrett also does a good job with his writing. Especially appreciated was the resources section which not only includes the usual books and journals but also more contemporary sources such as blogs and films. Another pleasant surprise was that the author did not shy away from shining an objective light on therapy; relating both pros and cons.

Highly recommended; were someone to ask for my suggestion on an overview of the subject of human behavior this would be the book I would direct them to.… (más)

The Rough Guide to Psychology offers a summary of the discipline of human psychology, as that field has traditionally been defined. The text is organized into six sections: (1) Welcome to You (a very brief introduction to the brain, sense organs, memories, decisions, and emotions); (2) You and Me (personal and romantic relationships); (3) Same Difference (personality; intelligence; gender; nature- nurture); (4) All of Us (prejudice and racism; beliefs and morals; crowd behavior; (5) Psychology at Large (psychology as applied to business, crime, politics, money and shopping, school, sports, health); and (6) Psychological Problems (development; depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, therapy). The text is followed by a list of references (books magazines, multimedia, and internet).

Although I am quite a fan of Rough Guides, I found this one disappointing. Its coverage of traditional topics is adequate enough, and readers will find much useful information. Nevertheless, in my view the book is too limited in scope and fails to capture the full range of modern psychology. First, the book almost entirely ignores the biological basis for psychological phenomena and behavior. Structure and function of the human brain is alluded to (and very poorly) in five brief pages, and sense organs are given even less attention. Without a basic understanding of how sense organs transduce stimuli into nerve impulses, how can we begin to understand sensory input to the brain? We are never told what neurotransmitters are -- and how can one understand brain function and mental illnesses without them? As for functions of neurons and the various types of glial elements that enhance their functions, readers will search in vain through text and index. With such information being a staple of any quality introductory psychology course, its absence in this book is most puzzling.

Second, the major impact of neuroscience on the field of psychology never figures into this account, nor does the wealth of relevant information that has come from experimental work on brain and neural function. Psychology is a different field than it was in the 1950s- 1980s, and neuroscience continues to subsume aspects of the subject as traditionally defined. Third, very little information is provided on non-human animals. Nerve cells and nervous systems are nearly universal among animals, and our understanding of how they work and fail to work comes from their study in various key species. Meanwhile, most of the basic features of the human brain are shared with our primate relatives, along with most characteristic human behaviors. The section on "other species" is brief and superficial. Even if one overlooks the important sub-discipline of animal psychology for a limited focus on humans, why would one want to give short shrift to the insights to be gained from comparative and evolutionary approaches?

To put these issues in historical perspective: psychology gained autonomy as a field at great cost, by ignoring anatomy, physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, and evolution, and by ignoring the many animals who share functional and structural attributes with humans. Even for his day, Freud was scientifically outmoded, and he and his successors led the field into many a blind alley (remember the Oedipal complex and castration anxiety? Jung's "racial memory" theory? Wilhelm Reich's ridiculous "orgone boxes"?). BF Skinner's behaviorist approach was a step in the right direction, but only a small one, and one that introduced its own problems. Meanwhile, in partial reaction to past sins of racism and sexism, the reigning ideology came to be one in which nurture mattered far more than nature. And so, the physical substrate of behavior became ignored in favor of the "black - box approach," and the questionnaire -- so easy to administer and quantify! -- became a chief tool of research. Most of the studies cited in this guide come from such questionnaires, and from trivial behavioral manipulations. That a guide to the field in 2011 would so heavily reflect such approaches presumably reflects the parochial training or traditional outlook of its author. Fortunately, there is more to modern psychology, and more to the behavior of humans and other animals, than this this guide would suggest.… (más)