4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Attention all psychology undergraduates!, 13 Feb 2004
This is the book for you. If you've had enough of trying to justify the fact that psychology is a science or maybe you're fed up with questions about Freud, then this is the book for you. It will help you evaluate psychological research and spot dubious pseudo-science while dispelling popular myths. (such as we only use 10% of our brains... this claim has NO neuropsychological evidence to back it up).
If you are thinking of doing a psychology degree because you don't like 'real' science or you believe in ESP, then you really need to read this, so that you're thinking straight about psychology before its too late.
Its written in an engaging style with entertaining examples and anecdotes and suggests some of the right reasons for studying psychology while providing critical insights that'll help maximise your chances of success on a psychology course.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Many Ideas in One Place, 17 Jan 2003
I was forced to read this book upon taking up my role as Lecturer In Neuroscience in Sheffield Uni Dept of Psychology. I run the course that uses this text as its examinable material.
Like many practioners of 'hard science' I'd always view psychology as a bit of a light-weight subject with its over-reliance on statistical methods, questionaires, touchy-feely-types etc and the many TV psychologists one can see almost daily, further dragging down their subject into the depths of pseudoscience. However, on reading this book I realised that there IS some merit in psychology. This text explains many concepts that turn observation into SCIENCE. It explains why science is so powerful in getting at the truth of the matter by constantly trying to refute itself! Which other disipline would have the courage to try and disprove itself and, if successful, rethink its hypotheses in light of the new findings to forge a new and more robust hypothesis? Stanovich explains how the scientific process does just this and he does it in an entertaining and light way without dumbing down in any way. Stanovich could make this text more appealing to a wider audience by expanding its scope and perhaps not concentrating quite so much on psychology, but on science in general. He'd have to change the title then, of course!
I wish I'd read this book when I was an under-/post-graduate studying Physiology/Neurophysiology-it would have given me a greater understanding of what I was trying to do. Its other great gift to me is when I'm confronted with a New Ager expounding the virtues of crystals,chakaras,angels,faith healing etc and trying to bring modern science into disrepute. The information in this book helps me to show them why they're barking up the wrong tree and I'm not! I often end such a conversation with, "...science isn't all bad, but there's nothing you can show me that I can say is at all good"
Buy this book! My students, buy this book, read it and learn from it! I'm setting the exam questions right now!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A joy to read, 21 Oct 2006
I found this book to be informative and interesting at the same time which is something that a psychology text book generally seems to be quite far off the mark from achieving. Stanovich uses a wit and writing style that makes the text a joy to read. He simplifies some very abstract concepts by drawing on concrete examples from the real world. This in turn helps to keep the book current and relevant to modern psychology. Whilst at the same time achieving an easy to understand approach to scientific methodology he makes sure that he is not perceived as patronising or condescending.
This book is not just a text book for academics who feel the need to exclude the vast majority of the population with the use of hyponyms phraseology; its easy going approach makes it suitable for anyone with a passing interest in psychology.
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