How to Think Straight about Psychology

This widely used book focuses on applying critical thinking techniques to standard concepts in psychology and teaches students to recognize and critically appraise pseudoscience. In particular, this text provides tips on evaluating claims that arise in discussions of psychology in the media and self-help literature. By boldly examining common misconceptions in psychology, this text helps students become more critical and discriminating consumers of psychological information. - Examples used to illustrate psychological concepts have been updated to enhance student interest. - More than 100 new references integrate contemporary studies to provide a current view of the field. - Presents psychological topics such as falsifiability, operationalism, experimental control, converging evidence, correlational vs. experimental studies, and statistics as tools for critical evaluation, providing students with a set of practical consumer skills to independently evaluate psychological claims. - Provides instructors with the opportunity to teach critical thinking skills within the rich context of modern psychology. - An intriguing table of contents piques the readers interest.