There is a great book out that deals with these kinds of myths edited by
Sergio Della Sala, Mind Myths Exploring Popular Assumptions about the Mind
and Brain, published by Wiley. The chapter on the 10% myth was written by
Barry Beyerstein. He traced the myth to post Civil War "New Thought"
movement. This seems to be an equivalent to some of our modern self help
merchants. In more recent times the myth was promulgated by the Dale
Carnegie Organization where they said William James stated we only develop
10% of our "latent mental ability" There appears to have been a lecture
that James gave to the American Philosophical Association in 1906 that has
some allusion to the myth. The Beyerstein chapter doesn't include what
James exactly said but does he not think James believed we only use 10% of
our mental ability. He thinks James was being metaphorical or taken out of
context. There was nothing in James' Principles of Psychology about it.
Beyerstein says the myth persists because we want to believe that we have
greater potential and can be more talented, etc. If you look at the
psychology section of Barnes & Noble or Borders you can see how much money
is made on those beliefs.
The chapter has a very good section explaining why that myth is ludicrous.
Hope this helps
Gary J. Klatsky
Department of Psychology [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Oswego State University (SUNY) http://www.oswego.edu/~klatsky
Oswego, NY 13126 Voice: (315) 341 3474
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On
Behalf Of Matthew W. Prull
Sent: Saturday, August 21, 1999 7:33 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: 10% myth (again)
Apologies for bringing up once again the topic of the myth that people use
only 10% of their total brain capacity (I can't count how many times I've
read discussions of psychological myths on TIPS over the years). Could
someone supply with info regarding the origin of this misconception?
Thanks - MWP
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Matthew W. Prull, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor CONTACT INFO:
Department of Psychology tel: (509) 527-5890
Whitman College fax: (509) 527-5026
345 Boyer Avenue email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Walla Walla, WA 99362 http://people.whitman.edu/~prullmw
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