Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Chapter Descriptions

Preface to the Third Edition

Acknowledgments

Some Quirky Quotes About Psychology

Chapter 1 Introduction: Public Beliefs About Psychology

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Public Ignorance About Psychology

1.3 Tackling Student Skepticism About Psychology

Myth 1: Psychology is merely common sense

Myth 2: Psychology is not a real science

Myth 3: Psychology is not useful to society

Myth 4: Psychologists and psychotherapists are the same

Myth 5: Psychology is pretty useless – it cannot make good predictions

Myth 6: Psychology is pretty useless – everyone is unique, so how can it predict behavior?

General teaching tip

1.4 Psychology and Control

1.5 How People Get Tricked

How to be believable

How to limit and thwart the controls

How to perform seeming miracles

What to do in case something goes wrong

How to distort memories

1.6 Conclusion

Chapter 2 “Untangling” Myths and Psychological Realities

2.1 Popular Myths

2.2 Mind and Brain Myths

The brain

Body energy

Brain boosters

2.3 Myths about Happiness

2.4 Modern Myths of Popular Psychology

50 great myths and why they are false

Myths about interpersonal behavior

2.5 Conclusion

Chapter 3 The Names and Dates That Shaped Psychology’s History and Development

3.1 Introduction

3.2 The Psychology Thinkers and Their Ideas

Behaviorists

Developmentalists

Cognitivists

Emotion psychology

Social psychologists

The computationalists on intelligence

The biopsychologists

The perception psychologists

The personologists

The psychoanalysts and therapists

The psychopathologists

3.3 Conclusion

Chapter 4 Science, Pseudo-Science, and Conspiracy Theories

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Maxims for Distinguishing Science From Non-Science

Becoming a psychic or a fortune teller: 13 secrets

4.3 Superstition vs. Science

4.4 Common Sense

4.5 Beware the Fortune Cookie

4.6 Conspiracies and Cover-Ups

4.7 Conclusion

Chapter 5 The Man Called Freud

5.1 Knowledge of Psychoanalysis

5.2 Quizzes

5.3 The Basics

5.4 The Dynamics of Personality

5.5 The Structure of Personality

5.6 The Development of Personality

The Oedipus quiz (Osborne 1993)

5.7 Dreaming

5.8 Critiques

5.9 Freud and Falsifiability

5.10 Freud Today

Chapter 6 A Guide Into Abnormal Psychology

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Being Sane in an Insane Place

6.3 Mental Illnesses

Schizophrenia

Psychopathy

6.4 How Good Are You?

6.5 Conclusion

Chapter 7 Psychology and Work

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Management and Common Sense

7.3 Psychologists as Business Consultants

Diagnostic

Measurement

Instruction

Process

Systems

7.4 The Hawthorne Effect

7.5 Money, Motivation, and Happiness

7.6 Stress at Work

Theories and models

Three components

7.7 Conclusion

Chapter 8 Do Looks Matter?

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Defining Attractiveness

8.3 Are Attractive People More Intelligent?

Unfair, stereotypic, and warranting intervention

An evolutionary fact and reality

An association that develops

8.4 Why do we Find Particular Physical Characteristics Attractive?

8.5 What Are the Key Factors?

1. The waist-to-hip ratio

2. Body weight

3. Temporal and situational factors

4. Individual differences

5. Proximity and similarity

8.6 Physical Characteristics and Personality

8.7 Attractive Personalities

Extraversion

Neuroticism

Openness

Agreeableness

Conscientiousness

8.8 Attractiveness at Work

Beauty: general attractiveness

Facial attractiveness and confidence

Hair color

Weight

Height

Intelligence

Masculinity

Weight-based discrimination

Monetary advantages

Recruitment advantages

Promotional advantages

Sales advantages

8.9 Conclusion

Chapter 9 Judging and Nudging

9.1 Introduction

Cognitive dissonance

9.2 Cognitive Biases

1. Social influence and groups

2. Framing

3. Number and probability

4. Change

5. Why do we keep making excuses?

6. Don’t be a superstitious pigeon

7. Illusion or delusion?

8. Procrastination

9. Knowledge

10. Emotion and affection

9.3 Behavioral Economics

9.4 Conclusion

Chapter 10 A Psychologist in the Marketplace

10.1 Introduction

10.2 The Consumer as an Individual

10.3 Children and Advertising

10.4 Vulnerability

Comprehension vulnerability

Financial vulnerability

Assertiveness vulnerability

10.5 Consumer Decision Making

Reciprocity

Commitment and consistency

10.6 The Social Consumer

10.7 Services and Products

Brand identity

Does sex sell?

10.8 Ethics and Consumer Well‐Being

Consumer well-being

Health risk perception

Self-image issues

Consumer activism

10.9 Conclusion

References

Further Reading

Index

EULA