psych book review

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

THE STORY OF THE HUMAN MIND

by Paul Bloom ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2023

Illuminating reading for anyone interested in the human brain.

The veteran teacher of a popular psychology course writes a book on what he taught, and it’s delightful.

Bloom, a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale and author of Against Empathy and The Sweet Spot , begins with a series of compelling questions: Are we rational? What makes us happy? What do feelings accomplish? What did Freud get right? He then follows with a series of lucid stand-alone chapters that can be read in any order. He warns readers not to expect pop psychology’s emphasis on man’s “transcendent or spiritual nature.” Modern psychology is materialist (the mind as a physical entity), evolutionary (shaped by natural selection), and causal (driven by the forces of genes, culture, and experience). The author illustrates his points by discussing consciousness. Although no one fully understands it, many philosophers see consciousness as a biological phenomenon akin to digestion. Computers simulate thought processes by storing, processing, and manipulating information. They do this with dazzling speed, but it’s only a simulation, not the real thing. Talking about uploading “consciousness” into a computer is meaningless; “your consciousness is the product of your physical brain; lose the brain, lose the consciousness.” An early chapter on Freud will jolt most readers with news that he remains a major figure of university study—in the English department. Psychology students may never hear his name. Many of his ideas seem wacky; he provided little proof, and most have failed to survive the passage of time. Bloom adds that a major exception is Freud’s notion of an unconscious mind at war with itself—unnerving evidence that we are not in full control of our lives. Consistently engaging, Bloom checks all the boxes with sections on the other great men (Descartes, Skinner, Piaget) and important subjects, including language, learning, perception, and memory. Humans possess amazing abilities in this area, but our eagerness to believe nonsense is off the charts.

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023

ISBN: 9780063096356

Page Count: 464

Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | PSYCHOLOGY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

Share your opinion of this book

More by Paul Bloom

BOOK REVIEW

by Paul Bloom

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2023

New York Times Bestseller

by Walter Isaacson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 12, 2023

Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.

A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.

To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.

Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023

ISBN: 9781982181284

Page Count: 688

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BUSINESS | SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | ISSUES & CONTROVERSIES | POLITICS

More by Walter Isaacson

by Walter Isaacson with adapted by Sarah Durand

by Walter Isaacson

More About This Book

BOOK TO SCREEN

THE CULTURE MAP

Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business.

by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

BUSINESS | PSYCHOLOGY

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

Advertisement

Supported by

Insights Into the Brain, in a Book You’ll Wish You Had in College

By Richard Wrangham

• July 6, 2017
• Share full article

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

BEHAVE The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst By Robert M. Sapolsky 790 pp. Penguin Press. $35

In 1859 Charles Darwin gave the world a theory of life. A century later, evolutionary biologists started thinking seriously about its implications for human behavior. Richard Dawkins’s “The Selfish Gene” (1976) brought the resulting insights to the general public. Souls were gone, and free will too. The master manipulators were the genes. Bodies were reduced to mere lumbering robots, and even the inner lives of our species became just one more consequence of natural selection in a materialist world.

The new view quickly came to predominate, but on its own it gave too stark an account of behavior. Melvin Konner’s “The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit” (1982, with subsequent revisions) showed how interesting the science becomes when enriched by the wet details of genes, neurons and hormones. Konner’s erstwhile student Robert M. Sapolsky has now followed the same path. Sapolsky has produced a quirky, opinionated and magisterial synthesis of psychology and neurobiology that integrates this complex subject more accessibly and completely than ever.

Much of “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst ,” written by a man who disingenuously declares himself “eggheady, meek and amorphously pacifistic,” is the textbook you will regret never having had in college. The science comes with hipster humor. Sapolsky writes of Jane Goodall blowing off “everyone’s socks in the 1960s by reporting the now-iconic fact that chimps make tools.… Great, next the zoologists will report that Rafiki persuaded Simba to become the Lion King.” He summarizes a chapter called “Us Versus Them” with “Give the right of way to people driving cars with the ‘Mean people suck’ bumper sticker, and remind everyone that we’re all in it together against Lord Voldemort and the House Slytherin.” He berates us for choosing leaders using “implicit, automatic factors more suitable to 5-year-olds deciding who should captain their boat on a voyage with the Teletubbies to Candyland.” Explaining why someone who sees a movie containing physically disgusting images becomes morally judgmental unless she washed her hands first, he imagines evolution as tinkerer: “Hmm, extreme negative affect elicited by violations of shared behavioral norms. Let’s see.… Who has any pertinent experience? I know, the insula! It does extreme negative sensory stimuli — that’s like, all that it does — so let’s expand its portfolio to include this moral disgust business. That’ll work. Hand me a shoehorn and some duct tape.” This is not your mother’s professor.

Of course many people would have no idea what an “insula” is, but Sapolsky eases readers gently into the complexities of the brain by ceding most of “Behave” to the fundamentals of neurobiology. We begin in the first second before a behavior is produced, our guide taking us confidently into the amygdala, the dopaminergic system and the frontal cortex. We continue the tour with events that occur minutes, hours, days, months and years ago, finally stretching back thousands of generations to the level where Darwinian processes explain why the systems that produce behavior evolved in their particular, haphazard way. By the time the book returns from these expanding horizons it has given readers the opportunity to feel astonishingly comfortable with a rich slew of fascinating neurobiology basics.

Dutiful core themes permeate the learning. Sapolsky rebukes the sociobiologists of the 1970s for their excessive focus on genes. He hammers home the message that nerves, hormones, genes, developmental experiences and evolutionary pressures must necessarily all be understood, and that none of the relationships between such factors and any behavior is straightforward. He summarizes crisply why calling the low-activity variant of the MAO-A gene a “warrior gene” is nonsensical: “Yikes, this is complicated.” Behavioral biology is indeed complex, but Sapolsky simplifies the topic with a beautifully organized and well-stocked store of knowledge. He has such a light tone, so imperious a command of data and such a rich fund of anecdotes that we are swept swiftly along to the last third of the book.

At that point Sapolsky shifts gears by turning to a question that has nudged him throughout his career. What does all this knowledge tell us about the prospects for a more empathic, less violent world? Here he echoes many a behavioral biologist’s ambition. If physics can take us to the moon, genetics give us the Green Revolution and medicine conquer polio, can neurobiology help us all get along? Sapolsky sees grounds for optimism. His hopes are admirable but they flatter to deceive.

He starts safely enough. He warns against misleading metaphors: Selfish genes do not mean selfish individuals. He exposes determinist ideas as false: Behavioral tendencies are strongly shaped by experience. He reviews evidence that societies vary in their nature and frequency of violence. He explains a series of mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation and morality. He tells how the First World War included a Christmas truce. This is worthy, reassuring stuff maintained in fine professorial style and serving to remind us that darkness is not inevitable.

But his positive thinking is not derived from brain research, nor are his prescriptions. Sapolsky proposes 10 strategies for reducing violence, all reasonable but none that justify the notion that science is the basis for societal advances toward less violence and higher morality. Promote trade and cultural diffusion. Use religion wisely. Note that punishment can sustain cooperation. Remember that humans can reconcile, just as animals can. Take advantage of the fact that it is hard to kill people you can see.

Sapolsky’s list offers no practical recipes beyond implying that once we understand that we are all creatures of flesh and blood we should all be more forgiving of each other. His omission is understandable. We are far from solving the problem.

In this section Sapolsky becomes a partisan critic, including presenting a skeptical view about the supposed long-term decline of human violence claimed by Steven Pinker in “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.” Sapolsky asserts that Pinker’s calculations include elementary errors, and that low rates of violence among contemporary hunter-gatherers mean that warfare did not predate agriculture. His arguments here are unbalanced. He fails to note that data on hunter-gatherer violence is relevant only where they are neighbored by other hunter-gatherers, rather than by militarily superior farmers.

But he seems to feel that if he is to maintain his positive stance he must credit the human species with an evolutionary legacy of nonviolence. So violence has to come mainly from influences that are too recent to have had major evolutionary impacts, such as agriculture (which began some 10,000 years ago), the root of a whole lot of bad things including the dogs of war: “One of the all-time human blunders, up there with, say, the New Coke debacle and the Edsel.”

The irony is that such concerns are unnecessary. A peace-loving researcher does not have to believe that ancient humans were less violent than we are, or that a better society depends on the lessons of brain science. History leaves no doubt about the cultural capacity for improvement, regardless of neurobiological insights.

When Sapolsky discusses the impact of brain science on our attitude to parenting, he gets the relationship exactly right. “It shouldn’t require molecular genetics or neuroendocrinology factoids,” he writes, “to prove that…it profoundly matters to provide childhoods filled with good health and safety, love and nurturance and opportunity.” Nor should it require neurobiology factoids to prove that we can make society increasingly moral. Still, if people find inspiration from them, as Sapolsky writes, “more power to these factoids.”

If it took an unrealistic connection between science and society to motivate Sapolsky to write “ Behave,” that is a small price. His book offers a wild and mind-opening ride into a better understanding of just where our behavior comes from. Darwin would have been thrilled.

Richard Wrangham is a professor of biological anthropology at Harvard.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

Stephen King, who has dominated horror fiction for decades , published his first novel, “Carrie,” in 1974. Margaret Atwood explains the book’s enduring appeal .

The actress Rebel Wilson, known for roles in the “Pitch Perfect” movies, gets vulnerable about her weight loss, sexuality and money  in her new memoir.

“City in Ruins” is the third novel in Don Winslow’s Danny Ryan trilogy and, he says, his last book. He’s retiring in part to invest more time into political activism .

​​Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of “The Anxious Generation,” is “wildly optimistic” about Gen Z. Here’s why .

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

The 30 Best Psychology Books to Explore Your Brain and Mind

The best psychology books explore your mind and your brain, how they behave, operate, and interact with others. Without a doubt, the best books about psychology enlighten and entertain, pulling back the mysteries of our minds and the way they operate. This article consists of an epic list of the best books about human psychology. If you’re looking for the best psychology books of all time, you’ll surely find them here… from the classic best books to read about psychology like Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams to modern essentials like Quiet , this roundup covers the breadth and diversity of the field of psychology. Which one appeals to you the most?

By the way, you might want to check out other psychology book lists here on the blog if you’re interested in mental health…

• The 20 Best Books about Bipolar Disorder
• The 20 Best Books about Schizophrenia
• 10 Great Graphic Novel about Mental Illness

And now for an epic list of the 30 best psychology books of all time…

Atomic habits: an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones by james clear.

Ever wonder how you can convert an irregular, desired activity into a lasting habit? In Atomic Habits , our first entry on this list of the best psychology books, James Clear demystifies the behavior that will turn an action into a permanent habit. Clear helps you acclimate to making a positive habit and ridding yourself of negative ones. The result is a more healthful mental outlook, increased productivity, and maximum effectiveness.

How to read it: Purchase Atomic Habits on Amazon

Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment by martin e. p. seligman.

This groundbreaking book by Martin E.P. Seligman, a visionary psychologist who transformed the field, introduces Seligman’s foundational principles of Positive Psychology. You’ll learn all the necessary mental tweaks and mindset shifts needed to break through negativity, stop dwelling on the bad, and achieve, well, as the title suggests, a more authentic happiness. Authentic Happiness is definitely up there with the other best books about psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Authentic Happiness on Amazon

Behave: the biology of humans at our best and worst by robert m. sapolsky.

Ever wonder why we do the things we do? It might seem like a big mystery, but in Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst , behavioral psychologist Robert M. Sapolsky reveals the foundations of our human behavior, both the good and negative alike. As much a seminar in psychology, Behave is accessible and engaging and ranks up there among the best psychology books about human behavior.

How to read it: Purchase Behave on Amazon

The body keeps the score: mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma by bessel van der kolk.

Any list of the best psychology books of all time surely has to include Bessel Van der kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score . This revelatory book has done more to bring trauma to the forefront of the psychological discussion than any other. In The Body Keeps the Score , van der Kolk unmasks the condition of trauma and offers healing hopes for people suffering from trauma, PTSD, and C-PTSD. This new understanding of trauma has big implications for the field of psychiatry and the practice of therapy.

How to read it: Purchase The Body Keeps the Score on Amazon

Consciousness explained by daniel c. dennett.

If you’re looking for the best psychology books, you’ll want to check out Daniel C. Dennett’s Consciousness Explained . This compelling book explores the intersection of neurology and psychology, seeking to illuminate the wonders of the human brain and the unanswerable questions we still have about it. Far from a textbook, Consciousness Explained is a seminar in how the brain dances with the mind and one of the best books on brain psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Consciousness Explained on Amazon

Daring greatly: how the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead by brené brown.

Certainly among the most influential psychologists, Brené Brown is known for writing highly readable books that distill psychological research into actionable takeaways. Nowhere is this more apparent than in her widely popular book, Daring Greatly , definitely among the best books about psychology. In this fascinating read, Brown sings the virtues of vulnerability as a hidden strength. You’ll read all about how to best approach finding the courage to be vulnerable and the benefits of taking a chance on being honest and candid in hopes of being seen.

How to read it: Purchase Daring Greatly on Amazon

Darkness visible: a memoir of madness by william styron.

Today, mental health memoirs are no new thing, but in 1990 when novelist William Styron published Darkness Visible , it ushered in a new era with less stigma. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice , one of my all-time favorite novels, Styron here details a depressive episode he had that almost consumed his life. A quick read at roughly 85 pages, Darkness Visible is a short book that’s made a major contribution to psychology and helped paved the way for other mental health memoirs. It’s for sure one of the best books to read about psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Darkness Visible on Amazon

Emotional intelligence: why it can matter more than iq by daniel goleman.

You’ve heard of an Intelligence Quotient (IQ), but have you heard of Emotional Intelligence or EQ? While society prizes IQs, what we really need more on a daily level is Emotional Intelligence. And that’s exactly the concept Daniel Goleman features in Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ , a foundational book and one of the best psychology books of all time. This book highlights the benefits of tuning up your EQ skills for better interactions with other people, at home, at work, and in love.

How to read it: Purchase Emotional Intelligence on Amazon

Flow: the psychology of optimal experience by mihaly csikszentmihalyi .

You know when you’re just totally in the groove, firing on all cylinders like you’re plugged into a higher, more creative, more aware, and more productive state? That’s what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s called “flow.” In this book, Csikszentmihalyi teaches readers how to harness this mode and make it work for you. Csikszentmihalyi’s book helps you achieve flow and turn it on, making for a more sustainable state of mind. Flow for sure deserves to be considered one of best books about human psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Flow on Amazon

Games people play: the psychology of human relationships by eric berne.

Looking for the best psychology books about human behavior? Pick up Games People Play . Five million copies sold later, Eric Berne’s classic Games People Play is just as insightful and relevant as the day it was published in 1964. In Games People Play , Berne helps take the mystery out of interpersonal behavior and social psychology with a focus the “games” people will try to pull on one another. Reading Games People Play will bring you closer to a better grasp on how to interact with other humans.

How to read it: Purchase Games People Play on Amazon

Girl, interrupted by susanna kaysen.

First published in 1993, Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted was just as influential as William Styron’s Darkness Visible we highlighted earlier. In this mental. health memoirs, Kaysen details the nearly two years she spent on the unit for teenage girls at McLean, the famous psychiatric hospital where Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, and other notable people sought treatment. Girl, Interrupted is a powerful and eye-opening look at the inpatient psychiatry experience and deserved of being on this list of the best psychology books of all time.

How to read it: Purchase Girl, Interrupted on Amazon

Grit: the power of passion and perseverance by angela duckworth.

Puzzled about why some people have more resilience than others? That’s the quality of “Grit” that. psychologist Angela Duckworth features in this essential psychology book. Duckworth has done extensive research on the “power of passion and perseverance” that allows some people to bounce back and work through setbacks. In Grit , you’ll discover how to adapt some of Duckworth’s findings to bring more grit into your daily life. Grit has become a contemporary classic and one of the best books on psychology for beginners.

How to read it: Purchase Grit on Amazon

Group: how one therapist and a circle of strangers saved my life by christie tate.

I have done group therapy two times, and I can attest to how powerful the benefits can be. Somehow you find yourself opening up to strangers about your deepest, darkest fears, passions, and feelings. It’s exactly that dynamic that Christie Tate introduces in Group , one of the best new books about psychology. Tate recounts the several years she spent in group working through her mental and relationship obstacles under the guidance of an expert therapist. I hope more people find the same strength I did from group therapy, and Tate’s book will surely help that to happen.

How to read it: Purchase Group on Amazon

The happiness hypothesis: finding modern truth in ancient wisdom by jonathan haidt.

Looking for tips on being happier? Seeking the best books to read about psychology? Try Jonathan Haidt’s The Happiness Hypothesis . This book is divided into 10 chapters of “Great Ideas” like “The Pursuit of Happiness,” “The Uses of Adversity,” and “The Felicity of Virtue” that turn into familiar maxims like “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Haidt then incorporates timeless wisdom from classic philosophy into contemporary psychological approaches. The result is a refreshing take on modern psychology through connections with ancient ideas. Read this book, and you’ll be on the path to happiness.

How to read it: Purchase The Happiness Hypothesis on Amazon

How to change your mind: what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence by michael pollan.

In How to Change Your Mind , acclaimed science reporter Michael Pollan turns his attention to psychedelic psychiatry, focusing on highlighting the surprising benefits of LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms). Pollan reports on how these substances can form the basis of a new-old psychiatric therapy, effecting a more balanced, less stressed, and more clear-thinking mind. Pollan’s persuasive argument shows how these taking these substances in a controlled way under expert care can help overcome conditions like depression and anxiety. Pollan’s book is also a look at how the brain works by responding to these antidotes and, as a newer title, on any list of the best new books about psychology.

How to read it: Purchase How to Change Your Mind on Amazon

The interpretation of dreams by sigmund freud.

This list of the best psychology books of all time surely includes Sigmund Freud’s classic text, The Interpretation of Dreams . Though it was published in 1899, this enormously impactful book is also relevant for our modern era. Freud is a patient teacher who instructs on how to tap into our subconscious and understand how our minds work with sleep to create meaningful dreams that reveal hidden truths, feelings, and urges. It is the quintessential psychology book and one of the best books on psychology for beginners.

How to read it: Purchase The Interpretation of Dreams on Amazon

The language instinct: how the mind creates language by steven pinker.

When you think about, languages are as amazing as it gets. Using a small number of letters, each language builds into a robust vocabulary for communication. And in The Language Instinct , Steven Pinker gives us a deep dive into the psychology of language: what it is, how we are evolutionary disposed to think and express ourselves with language, and how our minds process and communicate by using languages. The result is a book that will change the way you think about our common tongue. Don’t take it from me alone: this book won a prize from the American Psychological Association. It’s no surprise, then, that The Language Instinct has earned a spot on this selective list of the best psychology books.

How to read it: Purchase The Language Instinct on Amazon

The lucifer effect: understanding how good people turn evil by philip g. zimbardo.

It’s no secret I’m fascinated by forensic psychology—check out my list of “The 30 Best Criminology Books” here on the blog—so of course I’m going to include The Lucifer Effect in this roundup of the best psychology books of all time. If you’ve ever been intrigued by how humans “break bad” and turn from a “good” person into an “evil” one, Philip G. Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect is a book you’ll want to add to your To-Be-Read (TBR) list. This book was authored by the leader of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment , one of the most consequential psychology studies of all time, and in The Lucifer Effect Zimbardo extracts the key takeaways from that research and formulates his own findings to address why and how morally “good” ordinary humans turn “evil.” It’s a chilling book that’s as influential as it was when it was first published 25 years ago.

How to read it: Purchase The Lucifer Effect on Amazon

The man who mistook his wife for a hat and other clinical tales by oliver sacks.

If you’re not already familiar with him, Oliver Sacks was a famous neurologist who helped make his field more accessible by publishing popular books about the mysteries and complications of what can happen to our minds and brains. Start with The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales , which details case studies from people Sacks encountered and treated. It’s amazing to read some of these stories and travel to the far frontier of where abnormal psychology and neurology intersect in new horizons. Immensely readable, always fascinating, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat forms the core of any list of the best psychology books of all time.

How to read it: Purchase The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales on Amazon

Maybe you should talk to someone by lori gottlieb.

In Maybe You Should Talk to Someone , psychologist and writer Lori Gottlieb celebrates the practice of therapy, both as a patient and a practitioner. When Gottlieb found herself in the midsts of a personal and professional crisis, she turned to another therapist for extra help. Gottlieb’s book is funny and tender-hearted at the same time, a gritty yet passionate look at the healing power of the therapeutic process. A more recent title, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone qualifies as among the best new books about psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Maybe You Should Talk to Someone on Amazon

Mistakes were made (but not by me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts by carol tavris and elliot aronson.

Let’s be honest… everyone does something wrong sometimes. Maybe you’re thinking something you know is foolish, but you can’t let go. Or perhaps you’re trying to weasel your way out of the consequences that come from bad decisions and harmful actions. The bottom line is: not everyone has a guilty conscious, and at times we double down even when we know we’re wrong. It’s exactly that kind of mildly deviant behavior—and our resistance to holding ourselves responsible for our mistakes—that Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson explore in Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) . Among the best books about psychology, this study of “self-deception” brings a crucial perspective to mind science, helping to explain why people do bad things and don’t own up to them. Nobody’s perfect, and everyone can see a part of themselves in this engrossing book, which will help you become a better person and citizen of this world.

How to read it: Purchase Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) on Amazon

The paradox of choice: why more is less by barry schwartz.

I bet it’s happened to you sometime lately: you become overwhelmed by making a simple and straightforward decision and feel stressed with anxiety. If this sounds like you—and probably most of us—you need to pick up psychologist Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice . Definitely one of the best psychology books, The Paradox of Choice describes the way more options make it harder to make basic choices. Schwartz illuminates how we can fight back against endless options and think with purity, singularity, and objectivity. This book helps liberate people from cloudy and panicked judgments and helps them be more self-assure of their decision-making abilities.

How to read it: Purchase The Paradox of Choice on Amazon

Predictably irrational: the hidden forces that shape our decisions by dan ariely.

It happens often: you make an irrational decision even though you know it’s irrational. Why is it so hard to pull back from making bad choices when we know they’re bad? In Predictably Irrational , one of the best psychology books of all time, Dan Airely explores this conundrum, revealing the ways that irrational urges can overpower our judgments. The good news is Airely offers a way out of this trap, imparting actional advice that everyone can benefit from learning.

How to read it: Purchase Predictably Irrational on Amazon

The psychopath test: a journey through the madness industry by jon ronson.

Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test is one of my all-time favorite books and the book that single-handedly converted me to reading nonfiction. Why is it so good? Because Ronson is an expert storyteller. In this captivating book, Ronson dives into the world of psychopaths: not just psychopaths themselves but also the people who treat and profit off them. What I love about this book is how Ronson introduces himself as part of the story. Along the way, his opinions and beliefs change the more he researches psychopathology, and you might find yours change, too. It’s also so true that psychology is an industry with lobbyists, million-dollar paychecks, and expensive medications and treatment many cannot afford. Ronson pulls back the curtain on this hidden business side of psychology in this must-read.

How to read it: Purchase The Psychopath Test on Amazon

Quiet: the power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by susan cain.

I’m really fond of books about personality (see my list of the 30 best personality books on this blog). And Susan Cain’s Quiet is a crucial book in the study of personality and one of the best books about human psychology. What Cain does for introverts in Quiet is sing the song of the power of the “I” types, broadcasting their positive qualities and making the case that introverts are just as capable, strong, and consequential as our extrovert counterparts. An introvert myself, I find Quiet to be just what the world needs to appreciate those whose psychology tends towards introversion.

How to read it: Purchase Quiet on Amazon

Strangers to ourselves: unsettled minds and the stories that make us by rachel aviv.

Although Rachel Aviv’s Strangers to Ourselves is the newest book in this list of the best psychology books, it’s no less a masterpiece than some of the classics featured here. In Strangers to Ourselves , Aviv concerns herself with “insight,” the term used to describe how self-aware people with mental illnesses about their condition. For far too many people, doctors, psychologists, and the psychiatric industry tell the stories of mental health patients. Aviv highlights how each unique person has a unique story to tell, often ones whose cultural, gender, and age factors are misunderstood. Once you get the power of creating your own personal narrative, you can take action towards rescuing yourself. It’s a bold idea that Aviv champions brilliantly in Strangers to Ourselves , deserving of its status as among the best new books about psychology.

How to read it: Purchase Strangers to Ourselves on Amazon

Switch: how to change things when change is hard by chip heath & dan heath.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I don’t like change. Like most of us, I’m often resistant to change even when it might benefit me. In Switch , brother-authors Chip and Dan Heath argue that the conflict between our emotional mind and our rational mind keeps us from making essential changes in our personal and professional lives. By mastering the dynamic between these two minds, we can allow change into our lives. Switch , which definitely earning its spot on this list of the best psychology books, will help you find the balance you need to make life-altering changes—and the little ones, too.

How to read it: Purchase Switch on Amazon

Talking to strangers: what we should know about the people we don’t know by malcolm gladwell.

Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most famous pop psychology writers, and I believe his best work is Talking to Strangers . In this instructive, if not a little dark, book, Gladwell goes over the social psychology that governs our interactions with strangers. I myself felt like there were so many takeaways from this book, and I genuinely think I became a better person after reading it. Plus it’s downright fascinating, with an eclectic mix of case studies from across culture and history.

How to read it: Purchase Talking to Strangers on Amazon

Think again: the power of knowing what you don’t know by adam grant.

Our society values intelligence, but intelligence can backfire, causing us to calcify our thoughts, opinions, and emotions rather than test them. In Think Again , Wharton business professor and organizational psychologist Adam Grant shares the power of unlearning and rethinking. By unlearning and rethinking, we open ourselves up to personal emotional and intellectual growth through engaging with others who have different beliefs. Grant profiles people who have successfully changed others’ minds by unlearning and rethinking, not least including Grant, who convinced Yankees fans to root for the Red Socks (if he can accomplish that, he can change anyone’s mind). This hopeful read, one of the best psychology books, is what we need for the divided time we’re in right now.

How to read it: Purchase Think Again on Amazon

Thinking, fast and slow by daniel kahneman.

We close this list of the 30 best psychology books of all time with one of the greatest: Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow . This important book details Kahneman’s model where there are two modes of thinking that our brains engage with at any time: there’s System 1, which is fast, emotional, and intuitive, and System 2, which is slower, more logical, and more deliberative. Both of these systems are used in our daily judgments and decisions. In Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman shows how best to harness each system for maximum psychological benefit. Easy to grasp yet profound, Kahenman’s theory explains the way we think in meaningful, impactful terms.

How to read it: Purchase Thinking, Fast and Slow on Amazon

And there you have it our list of the 30 best psychology books of all time. which one will you read first, share this:.

• mental health
• mental illness

You might be interested in

Book Review of The Best Minds

The 20 Best Books about OCD

The 25 Best Books about Birds

• Latest posts

Sarah S. Davis is the founder of Broke by Books, a blog about her journey as a schizoaffective disorder bipolar type writer and reader. Sarah's writing about books has appeared on Book Riot, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews, BookRags, PsychCentral, and more. She has a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Library and Information Science from Clarion University, and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

The Best Books of 2023

• Four Romance Writing Tips from TITANIC

15 Best New Christmas Romance Books for 2023

• October 2023 Recommended Reads

The 20 Best Books about Football

The Definitive List of the 50 Best Books about Blogging

Latest from book lists.

Welcome to my roundup of the Best Books of 2023! Wow, can

In this list of the best new Christmas romance books for 2023,

Learn How to Read Tea Leaves with the Best Tea Leaf Reading Books

If you want to learn how to read tea leaves, there’s no

The 30 Best Politics Books of All Time

The best politics books of all time capture the drama of political

The 20 Best Novels in Verse for Teens

The best novels in verse for teens reflect a diversity of voices,

ⓒ 2024 Foreword Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Book Reviews
• #psychology
• #familyandrelationships

Book Review

Cooperative Co-Parenting for Secure Kids

by Stephanie Marrie

Modeling ways to put children first after separation or divorce, "Cooperative Co-Parenting for Secure Kids" is an empathetic family guidebook. Marriage and family therapist Aurisha Smolarski’s "Cooperative Co-Parenting for Secure Kids"... Read More

A Second Act in Life

"A Second Act in Life" is an earnest guidebook with advice for slowing down, resetting, and finding the spirit within oneself. Recovering addict Nick deSpoelberch’s memoir-cum-self-help book "A Second Act in Life" is about struggling... Read More

Run like Hell

"Run like Hell" is an illuminating self-help book for those healing from abusive relationships. Nadine Macaluso’s self-help book "Run like Hell" concerns the specific problems that women face in and out of abusive relationships, naming... Read More

• #bodymindandspirit

The Hidden World

by Aleena Ortiz

"The Hidden World"‘s linguistic analysis of the Qur’an leads into unique exegetical arguments. Intermingling two disciplines, T. J. Roswell’s book "The Hidden World" argues that the Qur’an is about balancing the human psyche.... Read More

• #businessandeconomics

by Hannah Pearson

Advocating for developing mutual understanding over attempting domination, "Mindstuck" is a business development book that’s replete with tips for being persuasive. Michael McQueen’s thoughtful business book "Mindstuck" suggests... Read More

• #autobiographyandmemoir

A Quotidian Quash

by Joseph S. Pete

The impassioned memoir "A Quotidian Quash" chronicles struggles within the psychiatric system. Dorian Redus’s memoir "A Quotidian Quash" charts his history of psychiatric treatment over more than four decades. Redus spent time as a... Read More

• #politicalscience

Psychosocial Political Dysfunction of the Republican Party

by Willem Marx

Covering an eclectic array of subjects, "Psychosocial Political Dysfunction of the Republican Party" is a bracing attack on contemporary conservative politics. Daniel Brubaker’s provocative political screed "Psychosocial Political... Read More

Knowledge Mindfulness

by Kristine Morris

Proposing better ways to work and live in today’s chaotic, fast-paced, and unpredictable world, "Knowledge Mindfulness" is an inspiring leadership text. Laila Marouf’s business guidebook "Knowledge Mindfulness" proposes a holistic... Read More

Taking too long? Try again or cancel this request .

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Friday, Jan 07

25 best psychology books to read in 2024.

Have you ever found yourself trying to work out what mental processes lead humans to do what we do? Thanks to the internet, even in isolation we have a continual stream of information about what people are doing — and with this uniquely modern view of the world around us, we have more fodder than ever to think: “Hmm, I wonder why we do this or that?”

As a human, it’s natural to want to understand these things — not only about others, but also about yourself. In this post, we’ve put together a list of the 25 best psychology books you’ll definitely want to read to pursue that understanding! Whether you’re a beginner with a newfound interest in psychology or a seasoned psychology expert looking to branch out, we’ve got you covered.

1. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom by Jonathan Haidt

A professor of social psychology, Jonathan Haidt wrote The Happiness Hypothesis as an accessible vessel for his research into moral foundations theory. In this book, Haidt takes the ancient wisdom, or “Great Ideas”, of historical thinkers — like Buddha, Plato, and even Jesus — and reveals their applications in light of contemporary psychological findings.

Haidt first describes the basic meanings of ancient lessons on happiness, virtue, and personal fulfillment. This leads into what Haidt extracted from these findings to develop his own “10 Great Ideas” about happiness and connect them to modern living. After all, while ancient wisdom is tried-and-tested, it’s essential to update old methods to match modern-day life — Plato, Jesus, and Buddha never spent hours doomscrolling or procrastinating on Instagram, for example.

2. Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion (New and Expanded) by PhD Robert B. Cialdini

Influence, New and Expanded is Dr. Robert B. Cialdini’s 2021 republication of his one of his acclaimed bestselling psychology books Influence (first published in 1984) — complete with new research, examples, and insights, especially regarding the age of the internet. Backed up by his 35 years of scientific research, Cialdini describes seven practicable principles of influence you can use in your everyday life (with the newest edition being “Unity”). 

Each of the seven principles has a dedicated chapter to describe how it functions, where it’s most applicable, and — most importantly — how you apply it in your own life. If you’re looking for a book on psychology to help you learn more about the art of ethical persuasion in a modern context — and how to see through other people’s deceitful attempts — then this is the book for you.

3. Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me) Third Edition: Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris

Ever been curious what causes people to deny vaccines, join cults, or engage in extremist behavior? The next entry on this list might clarify some of these seemingly illogical decisions:  in Mistakes Were Made, Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson discuss the systematic mental patterns which feed into development and radicalization of human beliefs. These include cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, and positive feedback loops, among others.

To further explain how people’s attitudes can become so polarized, Tavris and Aronson walk readers through the effects of these mental patterns on people in various real-life cases and controversies. With its many compelling links to real-life events, this book is the perfect read for psychology and politics readers alike.

Looking for something new to read?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an email address

4. Upstream: How to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

Life can feel like we’re constantly sprinting to put out fires as they arise. But of course, endlessly reacting to problems without a second to breathe and prepare for the next is pretty exhausting. Dan Heath’s Upstream is his solution to breaking that cycle of reaction and starting to prevent problems before they start. 

This begins with knowing the psychological forces that cause it. For example, one force that Heath attributes as a large factor is “problem blindness” — when a problem becomes so persistent that you start to register it as “normal” and therefore stop “seeing” it (or, naturally, trying to fix it). Heath shows how to step up and bolster your defenses against such problems by using real-life cases of individual thinkers, businesses, and even whole institutions that overcame their own. Thankfully, the uniting factor among these case studies is simple: all they had to do was change their mindset.

5. The School of Life: An Emotional Education by Alain de Botton

Many of us spend over a decade in school and, regardless of academic success, emerge feeling like something is missing. Sure, you can do complex algebra or give me an in-depth analysis of the symbolism of triads in Shakespeare — but can you navigate a workplace? Can you endure failure? Do you understand yourself? Whether you’re about to graduate or have been done with high school for years, you’ve probably found yourself wondering these things. 

Aptly titled, The School of Life is Alain de Botton’s answer to questions like these — with the express aim of equipping people with the tools and self-knowledge to thrive in the modern world. From increasing your productivity at work to handling the dilemmas of interpersonal relationships, there’s a chapter for everything you need in The School of Life. This emotional education is sure to help you to develop resilience to life’s dilemmas and become a maven of emotional intelligence.

6. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein

You may recognize authors Daniel Kahneman and Cass R. Sunstein from their respective bestsellers, Thinking, Fast and Slow and Nudge (or from a Reedsy Discovery post !). In a similar vein, Noise tackles the topic of variability in judgements and how we’re influenced by external factors. The overarching conclusion in Noise is that the majority of our decisions are unconsciously affected by the noise at different times and places.

The authors combine their scholarly expertise with additional research to deliver this in-depth guide outlining what we already know and their new theories about noise. For those interested in why we make decisions, this is one of the best psychology books to strengthen your understanding of the extraneous factors that can shape or bias decision-making, how to minimize those factors, and improve your thinking.

7. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip G. Zimbardo

The Lucifer Effect is Professor Philip Zimbardo’s first detailed account of his infamous Stanford Prison Experiment and the conclusions he took from it. The Stanford Prison Experiment was Zimbardo’s 1971 study looking into the effects of different situational factors on conformity by putting college student volunteers into a fake prison environment for -2 weeks. Without giving too much away, the experiment ran into some serious roadblocks that meant it had to be discontinued after only six days. (The controversy was such that there was even a mostly-accurate movie dramatization released in 2015!) 

Zimbardo’s thoughts on the experiment are interesting not only because he conducted it, but because he was a part of it, acting as the prison warden — which, needless to say, has serious ethical connotations. The following chapters discuss the study’s effect on the decades of subsequent research into psychological and social variables that cause “average” people to commit immoral acts — making it one of the most influential books on psychology you can pick up today. Most people with an interest in psychology might have an idea of the original experiment, but the research afterwards should definitely not be overlooked!

8. The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

Put simply, The Psychopath Test takes us through the modern-day mental health system, asking us to think more deeply about whom it labels “psychopathic”. Jon Ronson starts with a man who faked madness to escape a prison sentence, his method being to act charming, glib, and well-presented in contrast to other patients in the psychiatric hospital. Ronson takes these alleged tell-tale signs of psychopathy and applies them to people in other walks of life, making the startling discovery that psychopaths appear everywhere. 

This is where the doors to the so-called “industry of madness” are truly flung open. How many of our most influential CEOs, researchers, and world leaders are psychopaths? Can any good come of our newfound access to the best psychology books or theories if they facilitate diagnoses of strangers based on their “maddest” parts? If these questions interest you, pick up The Psychopath Test  and see what you think.

9. Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne

We’ve mostly talked about complex mental health issues so far in this post—but maybe you want to know about the psychology behind our most basic social interactions. If so, Eric Berne’s description of functional and dysfunctional social interactions in Games People Play will be right up your alley. Berne claims that we play “social games” all of the time, be that power games against authority, sexual games, marital games, or competitive games within friendships. 

Berne divulges the types of mind games that everyone can fall victim to indulging: in status contests, the game becomes a back and forth game of “I know better”, and couples are prone to playing mental games claiming each is holding the other back. Berne doesn’t just name these interactions, but he also exposes the meaning behind them as unconscious ploys and maneuvers that rule our lives. It’s these creatively poised insights that make this book on psychology an influential and striking bestseller.

10. The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk

Described as “the Bible of trauma” for struggling readers, The Body Keeps the Score is the culmination of Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk’s entire career. One of the world’s leading experts on traumatic stress, Van Der Kolk highlights the clear effects that trauma has on literally reshaping the body and brain. Drawing on his status as an active therapist, continually learning from what works for his patients best, Van Der Kolk delivers a wonderfully personal yet analytic approach to trauma recovery. Considering the frustrating physical effects of trauma related by his patients, Van Der Kolk suggests a fresh paradigm for treatment. 

The ideological heart of this method is to make it safe for trauma survivors to inhabit their own bodies by moving away from the “standard” combination of talking therapies or drug therapies and instead using a new approach that heals the mind, brain, and body. One size never fits all, but Van Der Kolk suggests that therapeutic interventions like neurofeedback, theater, meditation, play, or yoga may play a larger part than first thought in healing. The Body Keeps the Score provides a unique perspective on trauma and recovery relayed in a compassionate yet truthful voice, making it accessible to readers of all levels.

11. The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

Ever just really felt like you needed a hug? The Comfort Book answers that craving: it is a warm and personal hug in the form of a book — something even the best psychology books haven't focused on before. If you’re looking for a guide to self-love, contentment, and emotional strength, then Matt Haig’s reflections on the conflicting feelings that come with being alive are for you.

The essence of this book is that many of our best and clearest revelations are made when at our lowest — but we also shouldn’t have to figure everything out ourselves, especially when we’re suffering. Haig’s reflections are built on what he’s learned in hard times, with the hope that they can get you through similar situations. It’s a great comfort to know that you’re not the only one that’s dealt with something hard, and Haig understands that. Drawing on maxims, meditations, and inspirational lives of others, he aims to nurture your inner strength and deliver advice like a wise, commiserative old friend.

12. The Oracle of Night: The History and Science of Dreams by Sidarta Ribeiro

What really makes a dream, why do we have them, and how do they affect us? Sidarta Ribeiro takes these questions and uses them as a springboard for his completely fresh and enthralling study of dreams, tracing them all the way back to our ancient ancestors. It’s in the earliest cave paintings that Ribeiro finds the first traces of human dreams and begins unlocking revolutionary conclusions about the role of dreams in human evolution. 

Some will also know that contemporary neuroscience and psychology have uncovered many findings about dreams, such as their role in healing trauma or in consolidating what we learned in the day prior. The Oracle of Night then explains Ribeiro’s advancements on these topics: the role of dreaming in memory recall and transformation, and, startlingly, their oracular nature as confirmed by new research — making this a great book club book to ignite a conversation! Ribeiro combines his absolute authority on the topic with a clear, compelling writing style to make this book a page-turner from the first page to the last.

13. Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength by Samantha Boardman

Psychiatrist Samantha Boardman believes that an essential factor in healthy aging and overall well-being is a sense of vitality. Which is to say: knowing that you’re up to a task both physically and mentally. This belief is the jumping-off point for Everyday Vitality, a book full of strategies for cultivating vitality by focusing on improving a little every day, instead of reacting to fix what’s wrong as it arises. 

While vitality wellness is often associated with managing aging, Boardman posits that vitality can help all of us no matter our age. Whether you’re eighteen or eighty, you may recall times you’ve felt mentally exhausted from the constant barrage of media every day, or physically drained after a long day at a desk. Boardman explains three routes to better vitality for everyone: meaningfully connecting with others, taking on experiences that push your limits, and contributing to something beyond just you. If you want to cultivate your own wellness, why not pick up this book and discuss it with someone you love?

14. Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods

Humanity’s success as a species has developed in leaps and bounds during our relatively short time on Earth. Many people have hypothesized what might be the cause of these advancements: is it our strength, intellect, curiosity, or something else completely? Authors — and husband-and-wife duo — Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods believe in the latter, making the case in this book that humanity’s progression is actually because of our “friendliness”. 

Combining their respective expertise in cognitive neuroscience, research science, and journalism, Hare and Wood have come up with a theory about this evolutionary friendliness. The theory is elegantly termed “self-domestication” — a remarkable propensity to coordinate and communicate with others. Instead of coveting our individual successes, we often share them with others to help advance and protect each other. This capability, Hare and Wood argue, has allowed us to achieve the impressive cultural and technical marvels that we’ve culminated today. However, this friendliness may come at a cost: when threats to those we love become a target for our worst instincts, our evolutionary propensity for bond-making may be a double-edged sword.

15. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

In Blink, critically acclaimed author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell hopes to revolutionize your understanding of how you (and others) think. Why, for example, are some people exceptionally fast decision-makers, when others choke under pressure? Why does “following your gut” work perfectly for some, while others fall short? And do situational variables like our immediate surroundings affect our abilities to make these decisions?

Gladwell posits that a key factor towards people’s ability to make better decisions is “thin-slicing”: the unconscious ability to analyze patterns in scenarios based on brief flashes of experience, and come to a conclusion based on that knowledge. Gladwell draws on real-life examples to illustrate these ideas: from a psychologist who could predict whether a marriage would last from just a brief interaction with the couple, to antiquities experts who only need to glance at an object to tell it’s a fake. Put simply, Blink proves that the main difference between a good and a bad decision-maker is their mastery of “thin-slicing.” Can you learn to do it, too?

16. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz

Have you ever walked into a clothing store and found yourself overwhelmed by choices among different shirts, skirts, or jeans, all of which look eerily similar? Not to mention the stress of weaving through other shoppers, worrying about prices, and working out your size. Barry Schwartz believes that this abundance of choices to make “no longer liberates, but debilitates” shoppers with consumer anxiety. The solution? Eliminating consumer choices (within reason).

Of course, Schwartz acknowledges that autonomy and freedom of choice are still critical to our well-being. It’s just that, while modern Americans may technically have more choice than ever before, they are no longer benefiting from it psychologically. The Paradox of Choice neatly establishes the psychology behind why choice overload makes us suffer — constant comparison, opportunity hunting, and buyer’s remorse, for example — and how to avoid consumer anxiety in the first place.

17. Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships by Camilla Pang

Explaining Humans is an intriguing in-depth exploration of the complexities of human behavior, as explained by hard science. Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at an early age, author and scientist Dr Camilla Pang struggled to untangle the mess of the world around her — even asking her mother if she could find an instruction manual for humans. When she found that not even the best psychology books of the time provided such a manual, the only solution was to write her own. 

Backed up with copious amounts of scientific research and her own hard-won expertise, this book on psychology examines obscure social customs, what it means to be human in different cultures, and where proteins and molecular chemistry fit into all of this. What does it mean to understand someone? How do we recognize people’s motivations or expressions, and what dictates them to begin with? Whether this all feels foreign or far too familiar to you, Pang is sure to deliver some surprises.

18. Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinker

The goal of Rationality is to make you more rational and help you understand why there is so much irrationality in the world. You may think that sounds pretty lofty, but try reading author and cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker’s analysis before making concrete judgements! 

Pinker rejects the cliché idea that humans are an irrational species — how could any species discover and achieve so much without being inherently rational? Despite this, we live in a dichotic age of rationality vs. intense irrationality. Pinker’s explanation is that humans tend to think within the context of the low-tech settings in which we spend the majority of our lives. As a result, we don’t take advantage of the tools that our best thinkers discovered previously: critical thinking, logic, probability, correlation vs. causation, and ways to update our beliefs individually are not a part of our education. Fortunately, you can find these tools (and analyses of the crippling effects of irrationality) presented clearly and with good humor in Rationality !

19. Rapport: The Four Ways to Read People by Emily and Laurence Alison

We’ve all had to interact with difficult people before, whether that’s an annoying customer, a high-maintenance friend, or even a demanding stranger on the train. But imagine you had to deal with some of the most difficult people possible, managing extremely high-stress interactions: criminal interrogations. These interactions are a specialty of forensic psychologists Emily and Laurence Alison: they advise and train police, security companies, and even secret services on how to maneuver interviews with dangerous suspects. 

After experiences over the past thirty years that the “average” person could only imagine, the author duo have developed a revolutionary model for interpersonal communication. According to them, every interaction follows one of four types: Control (the lion), Capitulate (the mouse), Confront (the Tyrannosaur) and Co-operate (the monkey). It might sound abstract now, but once you’ve been taken through these types in Rapport, you’ll understand why they’re so praised. Learn to understand and apply them to your own goals and you can shape any conversation at will.

20. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realise Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment by Martin E. P. Seligman

You may have heard of this entry after its launch in 2004 caused international debate over the nature of real happiness. Authentic Happiness was the starting point for the science of Positive Psychology and the discussion of happiness in a scientific way. 

According to Martin Seligman, happiness has less to do with factors such as genes or luck, and more to do with focusing on your internal strengths rather than weaknesses. This isn’t to say that situational factors based on your genes wouldn’t impact you, or that being lucky enough to win the lottery wouldn’t change your life. Seligman’s point is that maintaining a positive mindset and building on one’s strengths is the most dependable route to long-lived happiness. To that end, Seligman supplies exercises, brief tests, and interesting programs that will help you identify your virtues and use them most efficiently.

21. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

It’s no secret that a high IQ doesn’t automatically make a  person smart or good (not to mention the long-standing debate over the reliability and biases of IQ tests). That said, what actually makes a person smart or good? Daniel Goleman’s innovative analyses in Emotional Intelligence certainly brings us closer to understanding. This book breaks down human processes into “two minds”, the rational and the emotional, to detail how they together shape the ways that we move through the world. 

Goleman draws on contemporary cognitive and behavioral research to show the factors that make higher IQ flounder where those with average IQ excel. The factors that go into this disparity are: self-awareness, self-discipline, and empathy, and their presence adds up to a completely different manner of intelligence. Luckily, this kind of emotional intelligence can be developed and strengthened at every age to ultimately benefit our health, work, and relationships.

22. The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the Next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease by Steven Taylor

Published in October 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Steven Taylor’s book about the importance of psychology in curbing the spread of deadly pandemics — stating that, at the time, the next pandemic could be soon — turned out to be frighteningly prophetic. Taylor posits that, while vaccinations and behavioral methods are crucial for stemming infection rates, psychological elements are equally important.

The Psychology of Pandemics explains psychology’s role in nonadherence to vaccination and hygiene programs and in mental health as people cope with the threat and loss of life. Taylor talks through every reason why understanding psychology is essential to managing societal problems that go hand-in-hand with pandemics. You need only consult a few history books to see that the same problems recurr every time we face a pandemic. These problems range from excessive fear to maladaptive behaviours to the xenophobia that occurs when people feel threatened by infection. Sound familiar? If you want to understand why the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the way it did, this is definitely on the list of the best psychology books to try.

23. Human Givens : A New Approach to Emotional Health and Clear Thinking by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell

Feeling like something a little more laidback? Human Givens is a guide to emotional and physical health, as well as education, using the “human givens” approach. Authors Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell chronicle what some call the best psychological insight of this age — that we are all born with innate knowledge patterns known as “human givens”. These givens are experienced as physical and emotional needs, and only when those needs are met can one reach their full mental and physical potential. 

Griffin and Tyrrell suggest that how your innate needs connect with the world can shape not just your own health and happiness, but that of your family and friends. Human Givens takes this idea and looks at what every person needs to flourish, as well as how to actively pursue those things. Of course, this isn’t all just speculation: Griffin and Tyrell back up their approach with new scientific findings and ideas about how the mind works — as well as how to use those ideas to overcome the anxieties of the modern world.

24. Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View by Stanley Milgram

The next book on our list is what some might call a psychology classic. Psychologist Stanley Milgram performed a series of famous experiments in the 1960s with the view to better understanding obedience to authority, after numerous war criminals on trial had claimed they were “just following orders”. 

The experiments were controversial at the time, because they involved volunteer subjects being instructed to administer what they thought were progressively more painful shocks to another human being — the aim of this was to see how far people would obey orders even when they knew them to be morally gray. Though Milgram’s experiment was criticized for being immoral itself, it has since been vindicated as a breakthrough in understanding both obedience and psychology as a whole. Obedience to Authority has long been thought of as one of the best psychology books, offering Milgram’s personal insight into his groundbreaking methods, theories, and post-experiment conclusions.

25. Consciousness and the Social Brain by Michael S. A. Graziano

The final entry on our list delves into one of the great mysteries of the human race: the brain. How are we conscious, what is consciousness, and how does the brain create it? Why do some people have more of a constant running internal monologue than others? These are the big questions that Michael S. A. Graziano aims to tackle in Consciousness and the Social Brain.

The human brain has evolved a vastly complicated circuitry which allows it to be socially intelligent — one function of which is to be aware of others socially, to understand when someone other than oneself is thinking or feeling. Graziano’s theory is that the brain’s internal machinery that allows it to be aware of others also allows self awareness. The crux is that human awareness is layers upon layers of information that the brain has gathered, processed, and rendered — a wholly physical phenomena in the same way that generating heat or electricity might be. This is, of course, a hotly debated topic, with many people believing that to reduce the brain to only physicality would be reductive. Regardless of what you believe, Graziano’s scientific journey is a thrill to the last page!

Seeking more answers about human interaction? Check out our lists of the 60 Best Nonfiction Books of the 21st Century or the 40 Best Leadership Books of All Time !

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

The Best Book Review Sites For Enthusiastic Readers

There are endless review blogs and book review sites that you can peruse, though not every one of them features a wide enough variety to help you. But don’t worry: we’ve got you covered with ten of the best book review sites to satisfy the bookworm in you.

The 40 Best LGBT Books of the Century

Now that the literary industry is more diverse and representative than ever, the world is teeming with wonderful books featuring queer characters, so you’ll be spoiled for choice. Here's our list of the 40 best LGBT books, from enduring classics to refreshing new releases — en...

The 60 Best Romance Novels to Sweep You Off Your Feet

Thrilling, sexy, and compulsively readable — the books on our list of the very best romance novels are sure to make you fall head over heels in love.

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, the 4 best ap psychology books: full expert reviews.

Advanced Placement (AP)

There are many AP Psychology books that claim to be the best review tool for students; however, they aren't all telling the truth. Some review books might be better for you based on what type of student you are or the amount of guidance you need in your studying.

In this article, I'll give you a list of the best AP Psychology textbooks and review books so you can find the one that will help you get your very best score on the AP Psychology exam.

What's the Criteria for a Great AP Psychology Book?

Before I list the best books for AP Psychology, here's a little information about what constitutes a good AP review book .

First, you'll want to look at the organization of the book to see whether it's well aligned with the current AP curriculum . Content is extremely important, and an AP book that has too much or too little information will put you at a big disadvantage.

For all the Psych books on this list, I checked to see whether they included high-quality diagrams and whether their writing style made it easy for student readers to understand complex concepts.

I considered it a positive when a book had sections dealing with general test-taking strategies and instructions for creating a study plan , which are both great tools for students who need more guidance. Things such as diagnostic tests and instructions on how to use AP practice tests effectively were pluses, too.

The quality of practice tests and questions is also very important. An AP Psych review book can be well written and have all the content you need. But if its practice tests aren't challenging enough, you might be in for a nasty surprise on the real AP exam. Easy AP practice tests can cause you to overlook weak areas that would have been evident if the questions were more difficult.

If you're unable to physically flip through these AP Psychology books before you buy them, looking at online reviews can be helpful . You'll get to see feedback from students who actually used the book and learn how successful (or unsuccessful) they were in meeting their score goals on the test.

Although all the AP Psychology books listed in this article represent the latest editions, consulting reviews of past versions and feedback provided by teachers can give you a feel for the quality of a particular book.

You've got the right idea, silhouette lady! Never settle for less!

The Best AP Psychology Books

Before we get to the list, I'll give you several types of AP Psychology books so you can decide which one(s) to get based on your ability level and needs as a student .

This guide mainly contains information on different review books because most students already have an AP Psychology textbook and are primarily looking for supplementary materials to help them prepare for the exam.

Here's a list of each "best book" category I'll be covering:

• Best AP Psychology Textbook : This is a book many students can use as a basic reference for info on psychology topics. I've included it for the benefit of students who are self-studying for the AP Psychology test and who do not have a school-provided psychology textbook.
• Best AP Psychology Review Book for Any Student : This is a review book that will be useful for students at any skill level (high- or low-scoring).
• Best AP Psychology Review Book for High-Scoring Students : This is AP Psych prep book offers in-depth information, challenging practice materials, and a more hands-off approach to prep.
• Best AP Psychology Review Book for Low-Scoring Students : This is a prep book for students who might have had a bit of difficulty understanding the material in their AP Psychology class and need more guidance during the review process.

Best AP Psychology Textbook: Myers' Psychology for the AP Course, 3rd Edition

Cost: About $111 to buy, or about $53 to rent

Myers' Psychology for the AP Course is consistently the most popular AP Psychology textbook, mainly because it's one of the only books that's written specifically for the class. It's a well-organized book, and although it can be a little wordy at times, it has excellent diagrams and is overall a great resource for an in-depth review of the AP material .

The sections of the book correspond to topic areas that will show up on the AP Psychology test, so it's easy to use for studying

It includes multiple-choice AP practice questions and questions that summarize the main concepts at the end of each unit so you can test your knowledge

There are lots of helpful diagrams and tables , and key terms are bolded and defined on the side of each page, so you don't have to search through the text to pick out definitions

There's a timeline of psychology milestones in the back of the book to help you get a better grasp on when different discoveries happened

The book is written at a high level (although it does have a bit of a conversational tone), so it might be difficult for less-prepared students to grasp some of the concepts right away

It's super expensive ; however, you might be able to save a little money by renting it instead of buying it

Who Should Use This Book

This book covers all the curriculum that will appear on the test, and it includes a wealth of helpful review materials. You might want to buy this AP Psychology textbook if you are studying for the test on your own (not taking an actual AP Psychology class) and want a more detailed source of information.

You could also consider getting it if you hate the book you're using in class and feel that you would benefit from a different textbook.

Best AP Psychology Review Book for Any Student: 5 Steps to a 5: AP Psychology, 2022 Edition

Cost: $16 for print, $10 for digital

The titular five steps included in this AP Psychology book are helpful for planning out your prep responsibly. One big caveat, though, is that you should supplement the practice tests in this book with other official AP practice tests to ensure you're on track .

This book includes a clear, helpful introduction that answers any questions you might have about the AP Psychology exam, such as scoring, format, content, and what you'll need to bring on test day

There's a useful guide that tells you how long you should prep for the exam based on your personality and study habits ; it then maps out detailed study plans for three different types of students

It gives you helpful tips on how to approach each type of question on the AP Psych test

Each chapter includes key concepts at the beginning and a "rapid review" section at the end that has a list of key terms and definitions

Content chapters thoroughly cover all the material on the AP Psychology test

The writing style is easy to follow and is organized in a way that breaks things down into easily digestible parts

Two practice exams are included at the end , along with an initial diagnostic test to assess your strengths and weaknesses; you can also access these same three practice tests online

The practice questions seem a bit easier than real AP Psychology questions

The guide on how to approach questions could be less wordy , and it doesn't go into detail about using the process of elimination for multiple-choice questions, which is an important strategy to include; ultimately, learning to effectively eliminate wrong answers is one of the best ways to improve your score

If you think you might need more guidance in your studying or are self-studying the course, 5 Steps to a 5 is probably a good book for you . It's written logically and simply, and it does a great job of answering many of the questions students have about how to review for AP Psychology and what the test is like in general.

Best AP Psychology Review Book for High-Scoring Students: Barron's AP Psychology Premium, 2022-2023

Cost: About $21 for print

Barron's AP Psychology Premium is a thorough and helpful guide for students studying for the AP Psych test; however, this isn't the best choice if you're looking for a way to review quickly. Avoid this resource if you're easily bored by the dry textbook style of writing. Barron's is not lacking in good content, but it could be more exciting, and you'll have to do a lot of the legwork in review sessions.

This book includes a diagnostic test and a "Multiple Choice Error Analysis" sheet to help you understand your strengths and weaknesses

There are six full-length practice exams in the book

The structure mirrors the format of the exam and follows the newly updated curriculum exactly

There's a list of important terms and people at the beginning of every chapter (and in italics within the text so you can easily pick up on them)

It includes a list of the most important psychologists you need to know (the "Fabulous 15") so that you can focus on a few people more closely rather than trying to memorize a million different names

There are multiple-choice questions and answer explanations at the end of each chapter to quiz you on the material you've learned

You'll get test-taking tips for multiple-choice and free-response questions, so you'll have strategies as well as content knowledge

Helpful tips in the margins of each chapter point out important things to remember and problems that students commonly have with certain terms and concepts

This book is written essentially in textbook format : there are long paragraphs, there aren't that many diagrams, and the writing can be pretty scientific

There's no glossary , so you'll have to pick out definitions of terms yourself in each chapter

The style overall isn't as fun as some other review books ; Barron's doesn't try as hard to relate to you and just sticks to the information you need to know—which I respect, but it can be kind of boring

Barron's is best for those who have a long time to dedicate to studying for the AP Psychology test. You'll need to use it over a longer period of time in order to be able to take full advantage of the diagnostic and practice tests and become familiar with each topic area .

If you decide to use this book, get it well before the AP test and use it as a continuous review tool. You should also make sure that you're motivated enough to take charge of your review time and study from a book that doesn't try that hard to keep you engaged in the material.

Best AP Psychology Review Book for Low-Scoring Students: AP Psychology Premium Prep, 2022 Edition

Cost: $18 for print, $13 for digital

Written by The Princeton Review, this is by far the best book for learning test-taking strategies for the AP Psychology test . The content is high quality as well, but it's not as easy to study from if you don't have much time on your hands. 

It includes a step-by-step guide for how to organize your AP Psychology studying

• The book includes five full-length practice tests

There's a list of other resources you can use to supplement your review

It includes smart test-taking tips and strategies for multiple-choice and free-response questions

The book uses a conversational, relatable style of writing

Chapters that go over content are diagram-heavy, and they provide clear definitions of key terms throughout

The instructions on designing a study plan are a little vague

It's hard to use this book as a quick study guide as it doesn't have a centralized source for definitions of terms and concepts ; you'd need to read it through completely to be able to get a handle on all the information

This book is a smart choice if you have a fair amount of time before the AP Psychology test and would like some rough guidance on structuring your studying. It's also great for students who get easily bored by textbooks and their dull writing style—it's definitely one of the more engaging review books I've seen!

Which AP Psychology Books Should You Use? Avoid?

If you think you'll need a lot of guidance in your AP Psych studying (or if you're working through the class independently), don't choose a prep book that's pure information and doesn't offer any planning or test-taking tips .

I'd recommend using either 5 Steps to a 5 or Cracking the AP Psychology Exam , along with the Myers textbook (or whichever textbook your AP Psychology class is using).

Barron's is also a decent choice, but make sure that you're willing to put a little more work into the review process. A book that provides more structure will be helpful even for the most driven students , especially if you're not taking an actual AP Psychology class.

If you choose to buy a book that's not on this list, keep an eye out for any red flags. Compare the practice questions in the book with official AP Psychology questions to ensure they're not unrealistically easy or hard. After taking and scoring a practice test from the review book, take an official AP practice test to check that your other score was realistic.

I recommend the four AP Psychology books in this article because they're all well organized and easy to follow. Even if another review book contains all the same info, the way it's presented might make your studying less productive.

Ultimately, if you feel you're not getting anything out of an AP Psychology prep book and your AP Psych test scores don't seem to be improving, you might need to try another one with a different format!

Keep an eye out for red flags. You don't want to get stuck with a Canadian review book. Or maybe you do. Would it come with complimentary maple syrup?

What's Next?

Still shaky on a few AP Psych terms? Bolster your knowledge with articles like this one, which goes over what Stockholm Syndrome is and whether or not it's real .

What does it really mean if you get a 5 on an AP exam? Find out how AP credit works for college classes .

If you're still trying to plan your AP class schedule, use this guide to make an informed decision about which AP classes you should take .

Also taking AP US History? Check out our reviews for the best AP US History textbooks .

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Samantha is a blog content writer for PrepScholar. Her goal is to help students adopt a less stressful view of standardized testing and other academic challenges through her articles. Samantha is also passionate about art and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College as a Studio Art major in 2014. In high school, she earned a 2400 on the SAT, 5's on all seven of her AP tests, and was named a National Merit Scholar.

Student and Parent Forum

Our new student and parent forum, at ExpertHub.PrepScholar.com , allow you to interact with your peers and the PrepScholar staff. See how other students and parents are navigating high school, college, and the college admissions process. Ask questions; get answers.

Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!

Improve With Our Famous Guides

• For All Students

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points

How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 800 on Each SAT Section:

Score 800 on SAT Math

Score 800 on SAT Reading

Score 800 on SAT Writing

Series: How to Get to 600 on Each SAT Section:

Score 600 on SAT Math

Score 600 on SAT Reading

Score 600 on SAT Writing

Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests

What SAT Target Score Should You Be Aiming For?

15 Strategies to Improve Your SAT Essay

The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 4+ ACT Points

How to Get a Perfect 36 ACT, by a Perfect Scorer

Series: How to Get 36 on Each ACT Section:

36 on ACT English

36 on ACT Math

36 on ACT Reading

36 on ACT Science

Series: How to Get to 24 on Each ACT Section:

24 on ACT English

24 on ACT Math

24 on ACT Reading

24 on ACT Science

What ACT target score should you be aiming for?

ACT Vocabulary You Must Know

ACT Writing: 15 Tips to Raise Your Essay Score

How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League

How to Get a Perfect 4.0 GPA

How to Write an Amazing College Essay

What Exactly Are Colleges Looking For?

Is the ACT easier than the SAT? A Comprehensive Guide

Should you retake your SAT or ACT?

When should you take the SAT or ACT?

Stay Informed

Get the latest articles and test prep tips!

Looking for Graduate School Test Prep?

Check out our top-rated graduate blogs here:

GRE Online Prep Blog

GMAT Online Prep Blog

TOEFL Online Prep Blog

Holly R. "I am absolutely overjoyed and cannot thank you enough for helping me!”

BOOK REVIEW article

Book review: the psychologist's companion (6th edition).

• Human Motivation and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany

A Book Review on The Psychologist's Companion (6th Edition)

Robert J. Sternberg and Karin Sternberg, (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press), 2016, 386 pages, ISBN: 978-1-107-13961-9 (hardback), 978-1-316-50518-2 (paperback)

The sixth edition of The Psychologist's Companion ( Sternberg and Sternberg, 2016 ) is a guide to successful work in psychology, be it as a student, teacher, or researcher. It intends to accompany you all the way throughout developing, conducting, and reporting a psychological experiment. The book focuses on tips about the writing process, with a pronounced focus on papers in scientific psychology. The coverage ranges from basics like idea generation or literature research, to formal and data presentation guidelines, up to preparations for journal submissions. A separate section is concerned with successfully presenting oneself in academia, including (grant/book) proposals and lectures, or, in advanced career stages, applications for a professorship and communicating with the press. Looking at the overall selection of content, The Psychologist's Companion , like in its earlier editions, remains a valuable reference for students and scientists, now expressly also addressing teachers in its title.

Since the book addresses mainly psychology students and researchers, most parts are written as a step-by-step manual to guide the reader through different tasks that occur during an experiment. Due to the mostly chronological structure of topics that occur in the process of a study (designing informed consent forms and debriefing sheets, obtaining institutional review board approval, or the like), it can easily be used as additional reading material for practical experimental psychology courses. Correspondingly, we have employed it successfully as accompanying literature in our undergraduate experimental psychology and field research practica. Newly added to this edition are three categories of boxes to further the learning process and encourage readers to look deeper into some points the authors make, including stories from the authors' personal experience or questions requiring the reader to apply the just learned facts. With several easy-to-use and helpful checklists one can make sure not to have overlooked anything important. Because of this structure, The Psychologist's Companion not only offers the theoretical input but also the practical applications needed to keep students interested.

However, there are some limitations. Open Science (e.g., Yamada, 2018 )—not even listed in the subject index—is not substantially featured as a coherent part of the book's content. In fact, aside from open access publishing, after careful reading we could find only a brief reference without explanation to core topics like preregistration and open materials/data on p. 259 as a possibility when submitting to Psychological Science . Considering the outcomes of the Replication Crisis (overview in Schultheiss and Mehta, 2018 ) and the resulting movement in psychological research, this is no longer appropriate for a guide addressing the needs of students and researchers. Even more, some passages, if taken literally by students during their first experiences with running experiments, may mistakenly be interpreted as encouraging Questionable Research Practices (QRPs, explained e.g., in Bakker et al., 2012 ). This is exemplified in statements like calling it a myth that researchers have their to-be-tested ideas ready before data collection and stating that “One's ideas [about the outcome] develop along with the experiment” (p. 23), despite the fact that preregistration has become a widespread practice in our discipline. In addition, it is not helpful to instruct students on the same page that data sets can be analyzed in an infinite number of ways and that the method that “yield[s the] maximum payoff” should be selected, when nowadays analyses are registered prior to conducting the study and p -hacking ( Wicherts et al., 2016 ) is an acknowledged problem. This is not beneficial to the authors' actual intentions, as for example the book clearly recommends the planning of major data analyses in advance and repeatedly mentions the need to label post-hoc hypotheses as post-hoc . Thus, the authors should consider clarification and incorporating the practices detailed for example in Yamada (2018) in future editions. Especially the chapter on Planning and Writing the Experimental Research Paper should include at least an overview of the subject and the associated procedures. Also, some recurring tips like proofreading one's work before submitting it should be common sense and therefore don't need to be mentioned repeatedly. While, altogether, this is a useful and important book, it should be handled with care when used as in-class material. It is essential to give additional instructions to students regarding current research practices to avoid misunderstandings.

In comparison to other books on similar topics, this one has several advantages. While Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks ( Belcher, 2009 ) offers a detailed chronological to-do-list and even prepared sheets to fill in your progress, it is not specially written for psychologists. Furthermore, it expects the user to already have a general idea of the topic or even a prewritten script to work on, so it doesn't really apply to first-year university students. The Psychologist's Companion therefore is most helpful for beginners, especially for students writing their first paper or conducting their first experimental study. It also focuses on thematic steps whereas Belcher's book provides exact time templates.

In summary, the book can still be recommended especially to early-career researchers starting their PhD studies and to undergraduate students. The latter group may consider The Psychologist's Companion for Undergraduates: A Guide to Success for College Students ( Sternberg and Sternberg, 2017 ), which however bears a striking resemblance to the present book in topics covered and is almost identical over the course of large passages. As a final note, in the light of the present book's missing coherent incorporation of modern research transparency, some limitations and potentially misleading passages need to be made explicit to the students and to be supplemented by additional instruction on current research practices.

Author Contributions

HS and MK wrote the manuscript, with larger contributions by HS. MK then provided edits and suggestions for revision.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Bakker, M., van Dijk, A., and Wicherts, J. M. (2012). The rules of the game called psychological science. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 7, 543–554. doi: 10.1177/1745691612459060

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success . Los Angeles, CA.: Sage Publ.

Google Scholar

Schultheiss, O. C., and Mehta, P. H. (2018). “Reproducibility in social neuroendocrinology: past, present, and future,” in Routledge International Handbook of Social Neuroendocrinology , eds O. C. Schultheiss and P. H. Mehta (Abingdon: Routledge), 41–63.

Sternberg, R. J., and Sternberg, K. (2016). The Psychologist's Companion: A Guide to Professional Success for Students, Teachers, and Researchers . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Sternberg, R. J., and Sternberg, K. (2017). The Psychologist's Companion for Undergraduates: A Guide to Success for College Students. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Wicherts, J. M., Veldkamp, C. L., Augusteijn, H. E., Bakker, M., van Aert, R. C., and van Assen, M. A. (2016). Degrees of freedom in planning, running, analyzing, and reporting psychological studies: a checklist to avoid p -hacking. Front. Psychol. 7:1832. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01832

Yamada, Y. (2018). How to crack pre-registration: toward transparent and open science. Front. Psychol. 9:1831. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01831

Keywords: academic psychology, academic success, research practices, PhD students, undergraduates, writing skills

Citation: Schmiedl H and Köllner MG (2019) Book Review: The Psychologist's Companion (6th Edition). Front. Psychol. 10:556. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00556

Received: 16 January 2019; Accepted: 27 February 2019; Published: 21 March 2019.

Edited and reviewed by: Sergio Machado , Salgado de Oliveira University, Brazil

Copyright © 2019 Schmiedl and Köllner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Helena Schmiedl, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• Mass Market Paperback

• Kindle $4.79
• Mass Market Paperback $7.99

Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

• Kindle $7.19
• Paperback See all buying options
• Mass Market Paperback $8.99

• Kindle $9.11

• Paperback $18.82

Customers who bought from this series also bought

Report an issue with this series

Is this series page incomplete or incorrect? Tell us.

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top review from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

William Rabkin is a two-time Edgar Award nominee who writes the Psych series of novels and is the author of Writing the Pilot. He has consulted for studios in Canada, Germany, and Spain on television series production and teaches screenwriting at UCLA Extension and as an adjunct professor in UC Riverside’s low-residency masters program.

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Start Selling with Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Workplace Articles & More

Book review: positive psychology in practice, edited by p. alex linley and stephen joseph wiley, 2004, 770 pages.

As editors P. Alex Linley and Stephen Joseph note in their preface, positive psychology—the scientific study of what makes people feel happy and fulfilled—is a burgeoning discipline. At this crucial point in the field’s development, they want their book to be a definitive resource—not just for colleagues in academia, but for practitioners as well.

Over 42 chapters, Positive Psychology in Practice offers plenty of provocative research findings. Psychologist Tim Kasser , for example, makes an important contribution to economics by showing that when people pursue materialistic values—such as wanting to be wealthy and attractive— they report less happiness and lower life-satisfaction. Kennon Sheldon and Sonja Lyubomirsky report that simple practices, such as counting your blessings, may increase your happiness for a sustained time. This finding is significant because previous researchers have long believed a person’s potential for happiness is more or less determined by genetics at birth.

This book distinguishes itself by not only reporting on breakthroughs in positive psychology, but by emphasizing how these findings can be applied. A section dedicated to work includes a provocative chapter on how “transformative leadership”—characterized in part by leaders who do what is ethical, rather than what is expedient or cost-effective—may promote employees’ physical and mental health. Another essay discusses potential applications of positive psychology to youth organizations.

The book is especially relevant to psychotherapists. For example, Chiara Ruini and Giovanni Fava introduce a technique called well-being therapy, which draws on research suggesting that therapists can help patients not only by addressing psychological problems but by teaching them to develop positive characteristics as well, such as self-acceptance and a sense of purpose.

Linely and Joseph have certainly succeeded in creating a comprehensive overview of positive psychology. Though their book is more practically minded than most academic compilations, the volume’s breadth, and sometimes its prose, might put off non-academics. Even so, it is a terrific resource for anyone interested in the important science of positive psychology.

About the Author

Christine Carter

Christine Carter, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow at the Greater Good Science Center. She is the author of The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction (BenBella, 2020), The Sweet Spot: How to Accomplish More by Doing Less (Ballantine Books, 2015), and Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents (Random House, 2010). A former director of the GGSC, she served for many years as author of its parenting blog, Raising Happiness . Find out more about Christine here .

You May Also Enjoy

This article — and everything on this site — is funded by readers like you.

Become a subscribing member today. Help us continue to bring “the science of a meaningful life” to you and to millions around the globe.

Psychology (Book Review)

Reviews the book 'psychology: a very short introduction.'.

By Paul Chance published November 1, 2000 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016

Gifts for The Bookish A Very ShortIntroduction (Oxford, 2000; $8.95)

If the price of the Encyclopedia is beyond your reach, or if you're thinking of a person whose interest in psychology does not quite merit eight volumes, this smaller work (159 pages, including glossary and index), provides a quick and easy overview. Although the table of contents looks like the syllabus for "Psych 101," this is decidedly not a text. As a gift, it won't cause as big a splash as the Encyclopedia, but how much of a splash can you expect for less than $9?

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Teletherapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Therapy Center NEW
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

Understanding what emotional intelligence looks like and the steps needed to improve it could light a path to a more emotionally adept world.

• Coronavirus Disease 2019
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• BOOK REVIEW
• 29 March 2024

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

• Candice L. Odgers 0

Candice L. Odgers is the associate dean for research and a professor of psychological science and informatics at the University of California, Irvine. She also co-leads international networks on child development for both the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research in Toronto and the Jacobs Foundation based in Zurich, Switzerland.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Social-media platforms aren’t always social. Credit: Getty

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness Jonathan Haidt Allen Lane (2024)

Two things need to be said after reading The Anxious Generation . First, this book is going to sell a lot of copies, because Jonathan Haidt is telling a scary story about children’s development that many parents are primed to believe. Second, the book’s repeated suggestion that digital technologies are rewiring our children’s brains and causing an epidemic of mental illness is not supported by science. Worse, the bold proposal that social media is to blame might distract us from effectively responding to the real causes of the current mental-health crisis in young people.

Haidt asserts that the great rewiring of children’s brains has taken place by “designing a firehose of addictive content that entered through kids’ eyes and ears”. And that “by displacing physical play and in-person socializing, these companies have rewired childhood and changed human development on an almost unimaginable scale”. Such serious claims require serious evidence.

Collection: Promoting youth mental health

Haidt supplies graphs throughout the book showing that digital-technology use and adolescent mental-health problems are rising together. On the first day of the graduate statistics class I teach, I draw similar lines on a board that seem to connect two disparate phenomena, and ask the students what they think is happening. Within minutes, the students usually begin telling elaborate stories about how the two phenomena are related, even describing how one could cause the other. The plots presented throughout this book will be useful in teaching my students the fundamentals of causal inference, and how to avoid making up stories by simply looking at trend lines.

Hundreds of researchers, myself included, have searched for the kind of large effects suggested by Haidt. Our efforts have produced a mix of no, small and mixed associations. Most data are correlative. When associations over time are found, they suggest not that social-media use predicts or causes depression, but that young people who already have mental-health problems use such platforms more often or in different ways from their healthy peers 1 .

These are not just our data or my opinion. Several meta-analyses and systematic reviews converge on the same message 2 – 5 . An analysis done in 72 countries shows no consistent or measurable associations between well-being and the roll-out of social media globally 6 . Moreover, findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the largest long-term study of adolescent brain development in the United States, has found no evidence of drastic changes associated with digital-technology use 7 . Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, is a gifted storyteller, but his tale is currently one searching for evidence.

Of course, our current understanding is incomplete, and more research is always needed. As a psychologist who has studied children’s and adolescents’ mental health for the past 20 years and tracked their well-being and digital-technology use, I appreciate the frustration and desire for simple answers. As a parent of adolescents, I would also like to identify a simple source for the sadness and pain that this generation is reporting.

A complex problem

There are, unfortunately, no simple answers. The onset and development of mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are driven by a complex set of genetic and environmental factors. Suicide rates among people in most age groups have been increasing steadily for the past 20 years in the United States. Researchers cite access to guns, exposure to violence, structural discrimination and racism, sexism and sexual abuse, the opioid epidemic, economic hardship and social isolation as leading contributors 8 .

How social media affects teen mental health: a missing link

The current generation of adolescents was raised in the aftermath of the great recession of 2008. Haidt suggests that the resulting deprivation cannot be a factor, because unemployment has gone down. But analyses of the differential impacts of economic shocks have shown that families in the bottom 20% of the income distribution continue to experience harm 9 . In the United States, close to one in six children live below the poverty line while also growing up at the time of an opioid crisis, school shootings and increasing unrest because of racial and sexual discrimination and violence.

The good news is that more young people are talking openly about their symptoms and mental-health struggles than ever before. The bad news is that insufficient services are available to address their needs. In the United States, there is, on average, one school psychologist for every 1,119 students 10 .

Haidt’s work on emotion, culture and morality has been influential; and, in fairness, he admits that he is no specialist in clinical psychology, child development or media studies. In previous books, he has used the analogy of an elephant and its rider to argue how our gut reactions (the elephant) can drag along our rational minds (the rider). Subsequent research has shown how easy it is to pick out evidence to support our initial gut reactions to an issue. That we should question assumptions that we think are true carefully is a lesson from Haidt’s own work. Everyone used to ‘know’ that the world was flat. The falsification of previous assumptions by testing them against data can prevent us from being the rider dragged along by the elephant.

A generation in crisis

Two things can be independently true about social media. First, that there is no evidence that using these platforms is rewiring children’s brains or driving an epidemic of mental illness. Second, that considerable reforms to these platforms are required, given how much time young people spend on them. Many of Haidt’s solutions for parents, adolescents, educators and big technology firms are reasonable, including stricter content-moderation policies and requiring companies to take user age into account when designing platforms and algorithms. Others, such as age-based restrictions and bans on mobile devices, are unlikely to be effective in practice — or worse, could backfire given what we know about adolescent behaviour.

A third truth is that we have a generation in crisis and in desperate need of the best of what science and evidence-based solutions can offer. Unfortunately, our time is being spent telling stories that are unsupported by research and that do little to support young people who need, and deserve, more.

Nature 628 , 29-30 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00902-2

Heffer, T., Good, M., Daly, O., MacDonell, E. & Willoughby, T. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 7 , 462–470 (2019).

Article   Google Scholar  

Hancock, J., Liu, S. X., Luo, M. & Mieczkowski, H. Preprint at SSRN https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4053961 (2022).

Odgers, C. L. & Jensen, M. R. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 61 , 336–348 (2020).

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Orben, A. Soc . Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 55 , 407–414 (2020).

Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A. & Beyens, I. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 44 , 58–68 (2022).

Vuorre, M. & Przybylski, A. K. R. Sci. Open Sci. 10 , 221451 (2023).

Miller, J., Mills, K. L., Vuorre, M., Orben, A. & Przybylski, A. K. Cortex 169 , 290–308 (2023).

Martínez-Alés, G., Jiang, T., Keyes, K. M. & Gradus, J. L. Annu. Rev. Publ. Health 43 , 99–116 (2022).

Danziger, S. Ann. Am. Acad. Pol. Soc. Sci. 650 , 6–24 (2013).

US Department of Education. State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey 2022–2023 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024).

Google Scholar  

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Related Articles

• Public health

Why loneliness is bad for your health

News Feature 03 APR 24

Adopt universal standards for study adaptation to boost health, education and social-science research

Correspondence 02 APR 24

Allow researchers with caring responsibilities ‘promotion pauses’ to make research more equitable

Circulating myeloid-derived MMP8 in stress susceptibility and depression

Article 07 FEB 24

Only 0.5% of neuroscience studies look at women’s health. Here’s how to change that

World View 21 NOV 23

Sustained antidepressant effect of ketamine through NMDAR trapping in the LHb

Article 18 OCT 23

Abortion-pill challenge provokes doubt from US Supreme Court

News 26 MAR 24

The future of at-home molecular testing

Outlook 21 MAR 24

POSTDOCTORAL Fellow -- DEPARTMENT OF Surgery – BIDMC, Harvard Medical School

The Division of Urologic Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School invites applicatio...

Boston, Massachusetts (US)

Director of Research

Applications are invited for the post of Director of Research at Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai, India.

Chennai, Tamil Nadu (IN)

Cancer Institute (W.I.A)

Postdoctoral Fellow in Human Immunology (wet lab)

Join Atomic Lab in Boston as a postdoc in human immunology for universal flu vaccine project. Expertise in cytometry, cell sorting, scRNAseq.

Boston University Atomic Lab

Research Associate - Neuroscience and Respiratory Physiology

Houston, Texas (US)

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

Histology Laboratory Manager

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies