I kind of like "Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped By Aliens". It's pretty lightweight but has enough psychology in it to be interesting. It relates UFO abductions to false memory of other sorts.
Possibly less relevant to the original request, I just started reading Mary Lou Henner's book, "Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future". (Someone gave it to me.) I haven't read enough to decide if I like it. However, I complained to my students that I thought that the "Unforgettable" TV show was unrealistic and I doubted that Mary Lou Henner (who the show is supposed to be somehow inspired by) probably didn't relive stuff like it was a video she could replay. From what I read so far, the show is not as far from her descriptions of what she does as I had thought. Rick Stevens Psychology Department University of Louisiana at Monroe [email protected] OSGrid - Evert Snicks On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:23 AM, Carin Perilloux < [email protected]> wrote: > In a senior psychology capstone seminar last year at Williams College we > critiqued the following pop psychology: > The Science of Good and Evil by Simon Baron-Cohen > Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell > The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely > the movie Memento > > The best quality discussion and critiques elicited from the students came > in > the sections for Outliers and Science of Good and Evil (although of course > the students indicated that the Memento discussions were their favorite :) > > Carin > > Carin Perilloux > Visiting Assistant Professor > Department of Psychology > Union College > 807 Union Street > Schenectady, NY 12308 > [email protected] > http://www.carinp.com > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Rick Froman [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2012 10:07 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: [tips] Pop Psych books that could be useful for research seminar > class > > I have been in a faculty workshop this week that included a discussion of > "Academically Adrift". Although the book itself is not likely on the beach > reading lists of many parents of college-bound students this summer, I am > sure that it is having a major impact in informing how the media presents > the issues (I think journalists are either reading it or synopses of it). > > One of the workshop presentations included an appeal to take the criticisms > of academe in the book seriously and see what we can take from it > (although, > seriously, it doesn't seem to be targeting our type of institution). > Another > presenter offered a critique of the statistical methods used (including a > discussion of Type I and Type II errors and the meaning of statistical > significance). It just reminded me of the extent to which a statistical > education should allow for the understanding of stat, research and testing > concepts (the book includes a lot on the reliability and validity of the > CLA > as a measure of critical thinking) in books intended to inform the public > about important issues. > > For another example, in the same workshop, Gladwell's concept of 10,000 > hours of practice for expertise was raised in the context of the question, > "how can students spend so many years in school (well over 10,000 hours) > learning and then be so much less than experts at it in college?" To me, > the > obvious answer was that they don't have 10,000 hours of practice in > studying > as they need to do it to succeed in college. Their experience and training > has only been in how to succeed at the primary and secondary levels (at > which most of them are truly experts). > > What I would like to do in my upper level stat/research class this semester > is provide a list of books from which students could choose one to critique > by applying their accumulated knowledge of statistics, research methods > (and > possibly Psych Testing concepts) to the analysis in the book. So I am > looking for non-fiction books of the type written so prolifically by > Malcolm > Gladwell, et al. Note that I am not looking for text books or other > ancillary materials that are entirely accurate or excellent in their > handling of statistical issues. The only requirement is that they be > popular > books that have the capacity to shape the direction of the cultural > conversation in many important areas that my students could use to test > their ability to critique for statistical and methodological rigor. > > Thank you for any ideas you can pass along. I will compile a list of > suggestions and post it back to the list. > > Rick > > Dr. Rick Froman, Chair > Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam > Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=483964.2b0f0d574f11ef79d49eb45f1255c46c&n= > T&l=tips&o=19599 > or send a blank email to > leave-19599-483964.2b0f0d574f11ef79d49eb45f1255c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13526.d532f8e870faf8a0d8f6433b7952f38d&n=T&l=tips&o=19601 > or send a blank email to > leave-19601-13526.d532f8e870faf8a0d8f6433b7952f...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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