How to Think Straight about Psychology

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!

Stanovich was assigned reading in my psych class years ago (this review is of the 4th edition). It's the best introduction to sound methodology in the behavioral sciences I've ever read. As previous reviewers have pointed out, the critical thinking skills you learn from this book can (and OUGHT to) be applied) to many, many other facets of our daily life. It's not just for psych majors, but for everyone who reads a newspaper, buys consumer products, votes in elections, etc. And you don't need a background in statistics to benefit from it. A worthy companion to Darrell Huff's classic "How to Lie with Statistics" and John Allen Paulos's "A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper".

I read this book during my research methods class while completing my undergraduate education four years ago. This was one of the most helpful books that I have ever read related to psychology. More specifically, this book reminds us that, as psychologists, we need to remember to take in all information with a grain of salt. In other words, remember to critically evaluate all information presented to you and not believe everything is face valid.

I have been waiting for years for a book like this to come along. It is truly a great read and gives tremendous skeptic treatment to the 'science' of psychology. For a long time I've considered myself a skeptic, but I have been on the fence as how to treat psychology--art or science? This book helped me to see it very clearly as science. Psychology has a long way to go to shed the soot of pseudoscience that has collected upon it in the last century, but if more people can cut through to the heart of the matter, like Stanovich has done, then the sooner it will emerge and bloom.

This is a wise, thoughtful book about the scientific method, and how we use these techniques to arrive at an understanding of the world. It talks about the nature of knowledge, what scientific truth is, and how common misconceptions can lead us astray. In short, the phrase "about psychology" is superfluous; this is a book about thinking straight.