Reddit reviews How to Think Straight About Psychology (10th Edition)

>Freud was a strict adherent to the scientific method

No therapist nor therapy is completely successful, that would be a miracle. I don't know Freud's complete bibliography of published cases, but from what I read even Freud himself considered the case of Dora a failure. But when Freudian psychoanalysis is measured with the empirical tools we have today the success rate is not that high compared to other therapies (and none of them is 100% successful).

Anyway, I was not arguing if Freud was a good therapist or not, I was criticizing his theoretical framework. If you think he was "a strict adherent to the scientific method", you don't really know what scientific method is in the Karl Popper sense of the word.

The standard intro textbook on scientific method in psychology, How to Think Straight About Psychology by Keith E. Stanovich, have just called it's first chapter "The Freud Problem". You should find a pdf or torrent of that book online easy, check out that chapter. Or just read this or this summary.

As for Freuds view of religion being emotional immature, I find it ironic that the movement he started himself was more dogmatic than most Christian denominations alive today. Freud managed to come in conflict with almost all the intellectual capacities that he managed to lure to the cult of psychoanalysis, basically because he disagreed when people tried to evolve his ideas. Eugene Bleuer, the man who defined schizophrenia put it best: this 'all or nothing' is in my opinion necessary for religious communities and useful for political parties...but for science I consider it harmful. There is a reason that Freud is being taught in the humanites department but not in the psychology department.

I would buy an old edition, but the best introduction to psychology is How to Think Straight About Psychology. Doesn't just give an overview of the field, but explains the difference between what is and is not psychology.

http://www.amazon.com/Think-Straight-About-Psychology-Edition/dp/0205914128

From the description:


Keith Stanovich's widely used and highly acclaimed book presents a short introduction to the critical thinking skills that will help students to better understand the subject matter of psychology. How to Think Straight about Psychology, 10e helps students recognize pseudoscience and be able to distinguish it from true psychological research, aiding students to become more discriminating consumers of psychological information.

Learning Goals
Upon completing this book, readers should be able to:
Evaluate psychological claims they encounter in the general media.
Distinguish between pseudoscience and true psychological research.
Apply psychological knowledge to better understand events in the world around them.

I’m a psychology major. I highly recommend the book “how to think straight about psychology” as it goes into detail regarding why psychology is a real science. I honestly loved my major and I think it truly does apply to more than people think.

Here’s that link to the book.

I plan to do a masters in Biomedical Informatics soon. I currently work at a health insurance company for Medicare Part D being a business analyst/admin for our technology.