Fact and Fiction in Psychology

by Hans Jürgen Eysenck

Book Overview

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140206965
• ISBN13: 9780140206968
• Release Date: May 1965
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Another winner from Eysenck

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) Interestingly, in the light of what was to come later, the author was already being described (in an Editorial Foreword) as "controversial"; and in his own introduction, he not only accepts this appellation but embraces it: "...indeed the writer has become so used to this term that he feels almost a sense of deprivation when the chairman at a meeting, in introducing him, forgets to use [it]." But he goes on: "However, the word `controversial' has two meanings, and it is important to discriminate between them. You may say that an issue is controversial because people are in fact arguing about it, and are having a controversy. In this sense, the flatness or rotundity of the earth is controversial; there are still flat-earthers [...] From their point of view, therefore , we might say that the shape of the earth is still a controversial matter. However, from the scientific point of view, I don't think one would agree that this is so [...] [T]here is no controversy on this point, and therefore it is not `controversial' any longer. "To say this is not to say the some of the points made in this book are not controversial..." Indeed. Among the chapters that made this book famous is one entitled "Little Hans or Little Albert?" containing perhaps the most comprehensive and damning review of Freudian theory and practice yet published in a popular work. It cites (inter alia) the studies of Wolpe & Rachman, which use Freud's own data to show that his claims were completely inconsistent with the facts. This is followed by "New Ways of Curing Neurosis", documenting the successes of Behaviour Therapy (of which Eysenck was a pioneer in the UK) and contrasting its results with those of psychoanalysis. "Therapy or Brainwashing" then confronts head-on the criticisms being made of the methods described in the previous chapter. Of particular interest, in view the way both mores and the law have changed since the time of writing, are two pages (194-195) devoted to the morality of so-called `treatment' of homosexuality, which was of course illegal