I like your list and could probably add but this will already overwhelm folks 
who don't realize what they do know about psychology. Maybe I would add Donald 
Norman's books on using everyday things as a good example of how much cognitive 
psychologists have contributed to everyday life.

What I would like to see you do is make sure you talk about whether or not the 
items on the list have evidence to support them. For example, it would be good 
to debunk the Rorschach (see lots of stuff written or edited by Scott 
Lilienfeld), the psychodynamic stuff in general, the uses and misuses of 
intelligence testing, the multiple intelligences stuff, the conflicting 
evidence on Kubler-Ross' formulation of grief stages, etc. 

And maybe a special episode on commonly believed in psychobabble! Here is a 
short list. 
*Sugar CAUSES hyperactivity in children.
*Listening to Mozart will make you smarter.
*Teaching babies sign language will make them smarter.
*We all have a distinct learning style that is either visual, auditory or 
kinesthetic.
*The right side of the brain is creative and emotional; the left side is rigid 
and logical. (or any other variety of popular but incorrect dichotomy)
*Most people only use 10% of their brains.
*Subliminal messages can be used to persuade others to purchase products. 
*Immediate contact between a mother and infant after birth is critical for 
bonding.
*You can “spoil a baby if you respond to its demands too quickly.
*The suicide rate is higher among adolescents than any other age group.
*In criminal eyewitnesses, confidence is closely related to accuracy. 
*Hypnosis is ... fill in with any number of misconceptions.
*Individuals commonly repress the memories of painful or traumatic experiences. 
*If you’re unsure of your answer while taking a test, it’s best to stick with 
your initial hunch.
*The defining feature of dyslexia is seeing words backwards (e.g., “pal” 
instead of “lap”). 
*Individuals can learn information (e.g., new languages) while asleep. 
*It is generally better to express anger openly than to hold it in.
*When it comes to communication styles, women talk more than men. (“Men are 
from Mars, Women are from Venus”).
*People’s attitudes are highly predictive of their actual behaviors. 
*People’s responses to inkblots tell us a great deal about their personalities 
and propensities toward mental disorders.
*“Psychological profiling” has been shown to be an effective means of 
identifying criminals.
*A large proportion of criminals are acquitted on the basis of the insanity 
defense. 
*Clinical judgment and intuition are the best means of combining information to 
reach a diagnosis for a patient. 
*High self-esteem is necessary for high achievement.
*Drug education programs (i.e., DARE) are effective in deterring drug use among 
teenagers.
*Students have a good sense of how well they know class material.
*Taste areas for sweet, sour, salty and bitter are well defined on the tongue.
*Although one could study hard and do better in school, “intelligence” is 
mostly the result of heredity and genes. 
*Instinct determines many of our behaviors.
*Vision depends on light waves that exit the eyes and hit objects in the 
environment. 

Actually, you could do a segment on Scott's book on 50 great myths. Maybe 
juxtapose it with the segment on how much more we know about "real" psychology 
than we think we do.

Annette

Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
619-260-4006
tay...@sandiego.edu


---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2009 09:12:46 -0500
>From: "Britt, Michael" <michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com>  
>Subject: [tips] List of Psychological Studies the Public Might Know  
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu>
>
>   I'm putting together notes for an upcoming episode
>   which I've decided would be on the idea of showing
>   listeners that while they might first associate
>   psychology with Freud and Pavlov, they really know
>   (or at least are somewhat familiar with) more
>   studies/concepts from our field than they realize.
>    I scoured a few sources and come up with the list
>   below, which was surprisingly longer than I thought
>   it would be, but I may be stretching things in some
>   cases as well as completely missing the obvious.  If
>   you could suggest an addition to the list that would
>   be much appreciated.  I'll post the complete list
>   once I get everyone's feedback.  Remember: these are
>   not what we as teachers would consider important in
>   the history of psychology - just
>   events/studies/concepts that the general public are
>   probably somewhat familiar with in one way or
>   another.
>   Thanks for your feedback!
>   1. The Technique of Correlation is developed  1890
>   2. Animal Intelligence (Law of Effect is developed)
>       - Edward Thorndike -  1898
>   3. The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud  1900
>   4. Intelligence Test was published in France Alfred
>       Binet  1905
>   5. Formula for the Intelligence Quotient William
>       Stern  1912
>   6. Carl Jung develops Analytical Psychology
>       (collective unconscious, archetypes,
>       anima/animus)  1913
>   7. Conditioned Emotional Resposes - Watson and
>       Rayner  1920
>   8. Rorshach's Inkblot Test  1921
>   9. Conditioned Reflexes - Pavlov  1927
>   10. Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Test published 
>       1939
>   11. The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense - Anna
>       Freud  1948
>   12. Childhood and Society (eight stages of
>       psycho-social devel) - Erikson  1950
>   13. Client Centered Therapy  1951
>   14. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) discovered  1953
>   15. Motivation and Personality is Published 
>        (hierarchy of needs) - Maslow -1954
>   16. The Development of Object Concept (Piaget -
>       object permanence, egocentrism) - 1954
>   17. Opinions and Social Pressure (Asch) - 1954
>   18. The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two
>       (Miller)  1956
>   19. The Natue of Love  1958 (Harlow's monkeys)
>   20. Cognitive Dissonance  1959 (Festinger's study)
>   21. Imprinting is demonstrated  1961 (Lorenz)
>   22. Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of
>       Aggressive Models  1961 (Bandura's Bobo Doll
>       study)
>   23. Systematic Desensitization (Wolpe)  1961
>   24. Thinking And Depression Beck, A. (1963). 
>   25. Behavioral Study of Obedience (Milgram)  1963
>   26. Human Sexual Response  (Master's and Johnson)
>       1966
>   27. Teacher's Expectancies (Rosenthal and Jacobson)
>       1966
>   28. The Split Brain in Man (Sperry)  1967
>   29. Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock (Seligman) 
>       1967
>   30. Bystander Intervention (Latane and Darley)  1968
>   31. On Death and Dying (Kubler-Ross)  1969
>   32. The Pathology of Imprisonment (Zimbardo)  1972
>   33. On Being Sane in Insane Places  (Rosenhan) 1973
>   34. Type A and B Personality  1974
>   35. Leading Questions and the Eyewitness Report
>       (Loftus)  1975
>   36. Frames of Mind: the Theory of Multiple
>       Intelligences  1983
>   37. The Jigsaw Classroom  1986
>   38. Emotional Intelligence concept - 1995
>
>   Michael Britt
>   mich...@thepsychfiles.com
>   www.thepsychfiles.com
>   Twitter: mbritt
>
> ---
> To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
> Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)

---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)

Reply via email to