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WHAT PSYCHOLOGY KNOWS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD by Dan & Jonathan Freedman Goleman

WHAT PSYCHOLOGY KNOWS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD

By

Pub Date: Nov. 4th, 1981
Publisher: Stephen Greene

A cutesy introductory psych text, in effect, for people who never took the college course. Goleman, a Psychology Today editor, and Freedman, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, fill chapters on brain/body functioning, learning, perception, consciousness, etc., with amazing little nuggets of information--rather than attempting a full, systematic discussion to enhance understanding of the topic. We learn, for instance, that psychologists showed sheep ranchers how to get rid of coyote predators via classical conditioning: sprinkle lithium chloride on choice cuts of lamb, leave them out to be eaten, and the coyote will never even look at another sheep. (The same happens to us, we're then told, when we get sick after eating a particular food and associate the sickness with the food.) All sorts of ""facts""--that crowding in urban centers does nor increase crime, that intermittent reinforcement is the best way to get children to make their beds--are supported by unevaluated, often unidentified research. The cartoons included are cute enough--and as an entertaining way to learn the latest pop findings, this is passable enough. But anyone who really wants an introduction to psychology had better stick with the stuffy, reliable textbooks.