Sense and Nonsense in Psychology (Pelican)

Eysenck wrote a series of four books introducing the common reader to psychology. This is the second in the set. The book is divided into two parts. Part One is entitled and covers the subjects of hypnosis and suggestibility, lie detectors, ESP and the interpretation of dreams. Part Two is entitled covering personality tests, conditioning, the psychology of politics and the psychology of aesthetics. I found the chapter on hypnosis and suggestibility the most interesting in the book. It provides a historical survey of the subject along with a detailed discussion of the phenomena covering special subjects such as "Who is more susceptible to hypnosis?" Eysenck is a strict scientific empiricist so it came as some surprise to me that the subject of ESP is treated favorably leaving the reader with the informed opinion the there may certainly be something real in the belief. I found the chapter on aesthetics interesting but the least convincing that psychology had something to say on the subject. I am afraid the experiments reported seemed very simplistic, underestimating what we would call 'beautiful' when we look at a complex painting.

Hans Eysenck was one of the most important and influential psychologists of the 20th century, being at the time of his retirement the most-cited social scientist in the World. He was especially known for advocating "the highest degree of scientific rigour in the design of psychological experiments and [being] very critical of much loose thinking current at present under the guise of 'psychology'" (from the cover). In the course of his career he produced several pioneering books demystifying psychology for the general public: in particular a seminal trilogy (later expanded to a quartet) for Penguin. He was an exceptionally lucid and entertaining writer, and the books sold millions of copies and were translated into several other languages. The quartet comprises: Uses and Abuses of Psychology (1953) Sense and Nonsense in Psychology (1957) Fact and Fiction in Psychology (1965) Psychology is about People (1977) In the first part of "Sense and Nonsense" the author takes the discussion further afield than "Uses and Abuses", dealing with matters such as hypnosis, lie detectors and truth drugs, the interpretation of dreams, and even telepathy and clairvoyance. As always, his purpose is to sort out the wheat from the chaff; there is considerable discussion of the reliability of human testimony. Eysenck himself has experience in some of these areas. However, his conclusions have surprised and even annoyed some people, especially the following much-quoted passage: "Unless there is a gigantic conspiracy involving some thirty university departments all over the world, and several hundred highly respected scientists in various fields, many of them originally hostile to the claims of the psychical researchers, the only conclusion the unbiased observer can come to must be that there is a small number of people who obtain knowledge existing either in other people's minds, or in the outer world, by means as yet unknown to science." The second half of the book is concerned with personality and social life. After dealing with the question of whether personality can be measured (yes), the author considers its relation to conditioning, politics and æsthetics. Particular interesting is the Politics section, where Dr Eysenck demonstrates that attitudes logically unrelated often cluster together, and shows similarities between two groups commonly regarded as opposites - Communists and Fascists. He proposes a two-dimensional system (radical/conservative and tough-minded/tender-minded) and shows where various contemporary attitudes lie on it. A thought-provoking book, and still well worth reading.