Types of Popular Psychology
Popular psychology commonly takes the form of:
- self-help books, for example The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck;
- advice dispensed through radio, TV, and print; for example Dear Abby, Dr. Phil and Dan Savage;
- myths such as "People use only about 10% of their brain's capacity";
- terminology that may have a basis in psychology, but which appears more frequently in the vernacular than in professional discourse—for example, inner child, left brain/right brain, emotional intelligence, Freudian slip, and enneagram;
- public perceptions about psychological methodologies that have not been scientifically validated, such as neuro-linguistic programming;
- urban legends such as "Psychologist B. F. Skinner raised his own daughter in a 'Skinner box' "
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