Psychobabble and Biobunk: Using Psychology to Think Critically about Issues in the News, 2/E
Carol Tavris

ISBN-10: 0130279862
ISBN-13: 9780130279866

Publisher: Prentice Hall
Copyright: 2001
Format: Paper; 107 pp
Published: 07/25/2000

Suggested retail price: $28.20
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A supplementary text for courses in psychology, sociology, speech, political science, English composition, and other disciplines.

This handbook features a selection of opinion essays and book reviews by Carol Tavris, written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Scientific American, and other publications. These essays, which apply psychological research and principles of scientific and critical thinking to issues in the news, may be used to encourage debate in the classroom or as a basis for student papers.

  • NEW - 16 new essays—On topics such as The Popularity of Predictions; Thinking Critically About Alternative Medicine; Thinking Critically About Mystical Messages; The Working Mother Debate; How Much Influence Do Mothers Have?; How Much Influence Do Parents Have?; How Critical Are the First Years of Life?; The Interpretation of Differences; The Paradox of Gender; Biological Politics and the Study of Gender; Emotional Epidemics and Their Consequences; The Daycare Sex-abuse Scandals; Adolescent Violence; The Limits of Medication; and Thinking Critically About Psychotherapy.

    • Show students how psychology can be brought to bear on all sorts of matters discussed in the popular culture. Ex.___

  • A springboard for students' own evaluation and analysis of issues—Readings can be used to stimulate class discussions, or as topics for written assignments and exercises.

    • Students can be asked to write or present their own points of view on a topic, drawing on research and the guidelines of critical thinking (defined and described in a prefatory “Note to the Reader”) to support their conclusions. Ex.___

  • Detailed discussion on the essential guidelines to critical thinking—e.g., asking questions and wondering, defining terms, examining the evidence, analyzing assumptions and biases—one's own and those of others, avoiding emotional reasoning, not oversimplifying, considering other interpretations, and tolerating uncertainty.

    • By asking students to respond to the author's views on a wide range of issues, the text gives students the opportunity to engage in various types of critical thinking. Ex.___

  • Coordination with major texts—A Note to the Instructor suggests how specific topics correspond to material in Wade and Tavris's Psychologyand Invitation to Psychologyand Tavris & Wade's Psychology in Perspective.

    • Provides instructors with a convenient tool for coordinating readings with the core text used in class. Ex.___

  • 16 new essays—On topics such as The Popularity of Predictions; Thinking Critically About Alternative Medicine; Thinking Critically About Mystical Messages; The Working Mother Debate; How Much Influence Do Mothers Have?; How Much Influence Do Parents Have?; How Critical Are the First Years of Life?; The Interpretation of Differences; The Paradox of Gender; Biological Politics and the Study of Gender; Emotional Epidemics and Their Consequences; The Daycare Sex-abuse Scandals; Adolescent Violence; The Limits of Medication; and Thinking Critically About Psychotherapy.

    • Show students how psychology can be brought to bear on all sorts of matters discussed in the popular culture. Ex.___

SCIENCE VS. PSEUDOSCIENCE.

 1. The Appeal of Pseudoscience: Astrology Thrives on the Gullibility Gene.

 2. The Popularity of Predictions: Call Us Unpredictable.

 3. The Misuses of Opinion Polls: For Whom Do the Polls Toll? The Silenced Majority.

 4. The Misuses of Pop-Psych Surveys: Method Gets Lost in the Imagery of Social Science Fiction.

 5. Stories versus Statistics: Anecdotes: Coat Hangers of Truth.

 6. Illusory Correlations: The Illogic of Linking Pornography and Rape.

 7. Thinking Critically about Alternative Medicine: Review of The Alternative Medicine Handbook, Barrie Cassileth.

 8. Thinking Critically about Mystical Messages: Review of Nonconscious Movements: From Mystical Messages to Facilitated Communication, Herman Spitz.

CONTROVERSIES IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT.

 9. The Working Mother Debate: Review of A Mother's Place, Susan Chira.

10. How Much Influence Do Mothers Have?: Even Moms Can't Guarantee a Perfect Life.

11. How Much Influence Do Parents Have?: Review of The Nurture Assumption, Judith Rich Harris.

12. How Critical Are the First Years of Life?: Review of The Myth of the First Three Years, John T. Bruer.

THE POLITICS AND SCIENCE OF GENDER RESEARCH.

13. Are Men and Women “Opposite Sexes”?: Disarmament for the Gender Wars.

14. The Interpretation of Differences, I: How Friendship was “Feminized.”

15. The Interpretation of Differences, II: Misreading the Gender Gap.

16. The Paradox of Gender: Review of The Two Sexes, Eleanor Maccoby.

17. Biological Politics and the Study of Gender: Rules of the Road for Biological Research.

APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO SOCIAL ISSUES

18. Emotional Epidemics and Their Consequences: Review of Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media, Elaine Showalter.

19. The Day-Care Sex-Abuse Scandals: A Day-Care Witch Hunt Tests Justice in Massachusetts.

20. The Death Penalty: Passion's Posse Claims a Victim.

21. The War on Drugs: Drop the Iron Fist and Try Rules of Moderation.

22. Adolescent Violence: Violence Is a Symptom, Not an Inevitability.

23. Bystander Apathy: In Groups, We Shrink from Loner's Heroics.

24. The Sources of Happiness: Review of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

25. The Meanings of Self-Esteem: Who Stole Grit from Self-Esteem?

26. Sexual Orientation: Review of The Invention of Homosexuality, Jonathan Ned Katz

MENTAL DISORDER AND TREATMENT.

27. Medicating the Mind: Review of Listening to Prozac, Peter Kramer.

28. The Limits of Medication: We're Only Hearing about the Quick Fix.

29. The Politics of Diagnosis: “PMS” and the DSM: You Haven't Come Very Far, Baby.

30. Thinking Critically about Psychotherapy: Review of House of Cards, Robyn Dawes.

CAROL TAVRIS earned her Ph.D. in social psychology at the University of Michigan, and her career as a writer, lecturer, and teacher has been devoted to educating the public about the importance of scientific and critical thinking in psychology, with a special focus on gender issues. She is author of The Mismeasure of Woman: Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex, which won the Distinguished Media Contribution award from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, and of Anger: The misunderstood emotion. She is co-author, with Carole Wade, of Psychology, Invitation to Psychology, and Psychology in Perspective. Dr. Tavris has given numerous addresses and seminars on, among other topics, social science literacy, gender research, critical thinking, anger, and the science and politics of the biomedical revolution. She has taught in the psychology department at UCLA and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society.

This revised and updated handbook features a selection of opinion essays and book reviews by Carol Tavris, written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Scientific American, and other publications. These essays, which apply psychological research and principles of scientific and critical thinking to issues in the news, may be used to encourage debate in the classroom or as a basis for student papers. Students can be asked to write or present their own points of view on a topic, drawing on research and the guidelines of critical thinking (defined and described in a prefatory "Note to the Reader") to support their conclusions. Although these essays can be used in many social science and composition courses, a "Note to the Instructor" suggests how their specific topics correspond to material in Carole Wade and Carol Tavris's Psychology and Invitation to Psychology and Tavris & Wade's Psychology in Perspective.

View a Sample Chapter PDF:

For Introductory Psychology


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