How to Think Straight About Psychology, Seventh Edition

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Summary: Gen. Psych. textbook = steak, This book = good brown gravy!
Review: Now this is a great book. It essentially addresses the ways psychologists (particularly those involved in research) think about what they do, and furthermore, debunks some of the criticisms and misconceptions from the public about what psychologists do (that's right - most of us no longer are interested in the pathology of potty-training!). Three particularly great parts are the one on falsifiability (crucial when evaluating the claims of self-help gurus, or advocates of unusual theories), the one on converging evidence (i.e. when the results of individual and differing studies point toward the same general conclusions), and the importance of probabalistic thinking (i.e. when thinking about coincidences).

The only criticism I can bestow on Stanovich is his treatment of parapsychology. Stanovich basically claims that psychologists don't have any interest in investigating psi phenomena because the majority of research conducted over the past few decades has been non-significant, and any significant results have been extremely difficult to replicate. I haven't received the impression that this is the case. For anybody interested, I recommend "The Conscious Universe," by Dr. Dean Radin. Radin presents an eye-opening analysis of psi research conducted throughout the past few decades. He makes a particularity strong case for its reality using the principle of converging evidence. The most derisive criticism for Radin's book came from the journal "Nature" in 1998. Interestingly, the journal refused to publish a rebuttal sent in by Nobel Laureate Brain Josephson citing statistical errors made by the reviewer (look in Brian Josephson's home page to find it, as well as a couple of Radin's letters asking the reviewer to correct some statistical errors made in the review). Likewise, the Parapsychological Association (www.parapsych.org) is teeming with professional research. I think most reasonable researchers would admit that not all of this research can be totally bogus, flawed, fraud, etc.

That said, Stanovich has written a great book (essential, in my opinion) for both psychology students, and perhaps the interested general reader alike!

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Summary: EXCELLENT - must read for anyone into psycholgy
Review: A very insightful introduction into scientific method as it used in Psycholgy. The text is well-written and full of references to research projects. The author incorporates real life situations as well as psychological research programs into the text. The way the author communicate is amazingly straightforward. Read it and you start to look at Psycholgy in a clearer way.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

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Summary: I Wish I'd read this sooner!
Review: 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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Summary: Methodology Primer for Everyone
Review: 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".

Rating:
Summary: Methodology Primer for Everyone
Review: 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.