Research Misconceptions

-Lilienfeld, Woolf, Namy, and Lynn. Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2008.

Ludy, B. (1986). Why don't they understand us? A history of psychology's public image. American Psychologists, 41, 941-946.

DeLamater, John D., and Daniel J. Meyers. Social Psychology. 7th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, May 20, 2010. Print.

Cohen’s article is a reminder to be careful when reviewing research. This article shows how not all research is true and people put their faith into what they want the research to mean. It is damaging to the progression of psychology as a science if researchers do not claim something as significant for being true. We do this by claiming something is significant because that is what NHST says, and

I’d always been a firm believer in myth 6 (Playing Mozart’s Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence), so learning that it held no truth came as a shock to me, although it does make more sense now that I’ve read it. Myth 9 (Old Age is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility) came as another shock; however, it did give me a sense of relief, as my grandparents are reaching their elderly years, and I’d like to have them be completely here for as long as possible. Another one that surprised me was myth 13 (Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences), as I’d always believed this to be 100% true. Most, if not all, of the incorrect beliefs I had regarding psychology came from media portrayal, so learning they’re wrong makes me question what else I may be believing that has no sound

*Publication manual of the American psychological association (6th ed.) (2009). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Please see note below regarding this edition of the APA manual.

Pedersen (1987) found that, “Despite the numerical reality, many social scientists, including psychologists, depend on textbooks, research finding, and implicit psychological theory based almost entirely on assumptions specific to European and American culture”.

References: Spoors, P., Dyer, E.W. and Finlay, L. (2011) Starting With Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Lalonde, C. E., & Chandler, M. J. (1995). False belief understanding goes to school: On the social-emotional consequences of coming early or late to a first theory of mind. Cognition and Emotion, 9, 167-185.

Classic studies in psychology are not worthy of the term — all such studies are vastly over-rated. Discuss.

In a world of countless medical resources at the public’s fingertips, popular psychology is arguably riddled with the most misconceptions out of any medical field. Because one’s mental state cannot be necessarily proven by blood tests or other physical factors, psychology has a wide gray area. This uncertain, open-to-interpretation nature of the science causes many popular misconceptions to be accepted as truth by the general public. 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry L. Beyerstein explores many of these myths, including the prevailing opinion that America is facing an autism epidemic. Upon referring to the ten sources for psychological myths, “word-of-mouth” and “desire for easy answers and quick fixes”

Bersstein, D.A., Roy, E.J., Srull, T.K. and Wickens, C.D. (1991). Psychology. 2nd Edition. Boston: Houston Mifflin Company.

Wood, S. , & Wood, E. (1999). The Essential World of Psychology. Maine: Allyn & Bacon

When I started this class this pass September I had a little knowledge of psychology. In my junior year of high school I took Psychology as an elective class. I really enjoy it alot, it amaze me how much there was to know about our brains. This September I came with the feeling that this psychology class was going to be way different from my psychology class from high school. And that my knowledge from my class before wasn’t going to be useful at all. But I was wrong, this class has actually been better than my other class. Because it has help dust off some of the concepted that I had learn before. But it has also made gain more knowledge about psychology that I didn’t knew before. For example the next concepts are the ones that had impacted me the most: critical thinking and the eight essential, implicit learning, short term and long term memories. I chose these concept because they have not only taught me more about psychology, but they have made a big impact on me.

Benjamin JR, L. T. (2006). Hugo Munsterberg’s Attack on the Application of Scientific Psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(2), 414-425. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.2.414