Rethinking Psychology

Michael W. Eysenck graduated from University College London. He then moved immediately to Birkbeck University of London as a lecturer where he did his PhD on the von Restorff and ‘release’ memory effects. His research for several years focused on various aspects in memory (e.g., levels of processing; distinctiveness). Since then, his main focus has been on anxiety and cognition (including memory) in healthy populations and patients with anxiety disorders. Some of this research has focused on cognitive biases especially those affecting attentional and memory processes. Theoretically, he proposed his influential attentional control theory of anxiety in 2007 based on the assumption that anxious individuals’ problems with cognitive processing often revolve around impaired attentional control. Most of this research and theorising was carried out at Royal Holloway University of London where he was Professor of Psychology between 1987 and 2009 (Head of Department, 1987-2005) and where since 2013 he has been a fellow. He continued this research during the period 2010-2020 at the University of Roehampton. He has published 67 books in psychology (many relating to human memory) including two research monographs on anxiety and cognition. He has been in Who’s Who since 1989.

• PrefaceChapter 1: Is psychology a science?“Psychology is an inferior kind of science”Reproducibility and the ‘replication crisis’Highly controlled experimental conditionsClearly defined terminologyPredictability and testability: the ‘theory crisis’What should psychologists do?Psychology is a different kind of scienceMyths in psychologyChapter 2: Visual perceptionMyth: subliminal messages can motivate people’s behaviour without their awarenessMyth: we generally detect changes in objectsMyth: visual perception provides us with very rich and accurate information about the environment at a glanceMyth: everyone agrees on the colour of a dress (or #theDress)Myth: most people are ‘face experts’Why do we believe so many myths about visual perception?Chapter 3: Mysteries of memoryMyth: “Memory is like a video camera”Myth: memories do not change over time: they are permanentMyth: repression and ‘return of the repressed’ are very commonMyth: amnesic patients have forgotten their pastsMyth: the only function of (episodic) memory is to provide access to our past experiencesMyth: forgetting is a bad thingChapter 4: Thinking and cognitionMyth: 10,000 hours of practice produce outstanding performanceMyth: brain training improves your brain functioning and intelligenceMyth: we only use 10% of our brainsMyth: Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon be much more intelligent than humansMyth: nudges are very effective at changing people’s behaviourChapter 5: IntelligenceMyth: there are multiple intelligences in the human mindMyth: it is important to match teaching methods to learning stylesMyth: emotional intelligence is helpful in lifeMyth: IQ scores only measure how good someone is at taking intelligence testsMyth: intelligence does not depend on genetic factorsChapter 6: PersonalityMyth: high self-esteem is highly desirable (and low self-esteem very undesirable)Myth: situational factors overwhelm personality when predicting behaviourMyth: personality measures do not predict consequential outcomes (like health, wealth and divorce) well enough to be usefulMyth: parenting practices are a major source of personality differencesMyth: men are from Mars, women are from Venus (men and women have dramatically different personalities)Chapter 7: Social psychologyMyth: Milgram proved that most people will obey immoral ordersMyth: crowds typically panic in threatening situationsMyth: Zimbardo proved that the power structure in prisons makes guards aggressive and violentMyth: individual differences in attitudes are mostly learnedMyth: happiness is influenced most strongly by what happens to usChapter 8: Mental disorders and their treatmentMyth: mental illnesses are due almost entirely to people’s life experiencesMyth: psychiatric diagnoses or labels stigmatise peopleMyth: The Rorschach Inkblot test is a very useful way of diagnosing most mental illnessesMyth: people with multiple personality disorder (dissociative identity disorder) have more than one distinct personalityMyth: most psychotherapy requires lying on a couch and recalling one’s childhoodMyth: antidepressants are much more effective than psychotherapy for treating depressionChapter 9: Psychology and the lawMyth: an eyewitness’s confidence is never a good predictor of their identification accuracyMyth: experts can nearly always identify the culprit from fingerprinting evidenceMyth: DNA tests are almost infallible for identifying culpritsMyth: the polygraph test is very good at detecting lyingMyth: hypnosis enhances eyewitnesses’ memoryMyth: Offender profiling is (very) useful in identifying culpritsChapter 10: How to become a mythbusterWhy do people subscribe to myths?Distorted research: biased experimental design, reporting and interpretations of findingsBiased textbook coverageMembers of the public: confirmation bias or wishful thinkingMembers of the public: deficient thinking about intrinsically improbable beliefsMembers of the public: mistaken extrapolation from limited personal experienceMembers of the public: plausible beliefs based on general knowledge (kernel of truth)ConclusionsChapter 11: Brave new worldExperiments: the gold standard?Developing new methodsExperimenter biasThe jingle-jangle fallaciesGranularity problemScientific analysis: meta-analysisScientific reportingPsychology as a cumulative scienceConclusionsReferences