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The term popular psychology (frequently called pop psychology or pop psych) refers to concepts and theories about human mental life and behaviour that are purportedly based on psychology
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 and that attain popularity among the general population. The concept is closely related to the human potential movement
Human Potential Movement

The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual social environment of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in most people....
 of the 1950s and '60s.

The term "pop psychologist" can be used to describe authors, consultants, lecturers and entertainers who are widely perceived as being psychologists, not because of their credentials, but because they have projected that image or have been perceived in that way in response to their work.

The term "popular psychology" can also be used when referring to "Popular Psychology Industry".






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Encyclopedia


The term popular psychology (frequently called pop psychology or pop psych) refers to concepts and theories about human mental life and behaviour that are purportedly based on psychology
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 and that attain popularity among the general population. The concept is closely related to the human potential movement
Human Potential Movement

The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual social environment of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in most people....
 of the 1950s and '60s.

The term "pop psychologist" can be used to describe authors, consultants, lecturers and entertainers who are widely perceived as being psychologists, not because of their credentials, but because they have projected that image or have been perceived in that way in response to their work.

The term "popular psychology" can also be used when referring to "Popular Psychology Industry". Popular psychology industry is used when describing the sprawling network of everyday sources of information about human behavior.

The term is often used in a dismissive fashion to describe psychological concepts that are oversimplified, out of date, unproven, misunderstood or misinterpreted; however, the term may also be used to describe professionally-produced psychological knowledge, regarded by most experts as valid and effective, that is intended for use by the general public.

Types of popular psychology

Popular psychology commonly takes the form of:

  • self help books, for example The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck
    M. Scott Peck

    Morgan Scott Peck was an United States psychiatrist and best-selling author. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, did premedical studies at Columbia University in New York City, and received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio....
    ;
  • advice
    Advice column

    An advice column is a column at a magazine or newspaper written by an advice columnist . The image presented was originally of an older woman providing comforting advice and maternal wisdom, hence the name "aunt"....
     dispensed through radio, TV, and print; for example Dear Abby
    Dear Abby

    Dear Abby is the name of the notable advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name, Abigail Van Buren, and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name....
     and Dr. Phil
    Dr. Phil (TV series)

    'Dr. Phil' is an United States talk show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr....
    ;
  • myths
    Mythology

    The word mythology refers to a body of folklore/myths/legends that a particular culture believes to be true and that often use the supernatural to interpret natural events and to explain the nature of the universe and humanity....
     such as "People use only about 10% of their brains' capacity";
  • concepts that may or may not have a basis in psychology, such as inner child
    Inner child

    Inner child is a concept used in popular psychology and Analytical psychology to denote the childlike aspect of a person's psyche, especially when viewed as an independent entity....
    , left brain/right brain
    Lateralization of brain function

    A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side....
    , emotional intelligence
    Emotional intelligence

    Emotional Intelligence , often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient , describes a concept that involves the ability, capacity, skill or a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's Self , of others, and of Group Emotion....
    , freudian slip
    Freudian slip

    A Freudian slip, or parapraxis, is an error in speech communication, memory, or physical action that is believed to be caused by the unconscious mind....
    , fight-or-flight response
    Fight-or-flight response

    'The 'fight-or-flight response', also called the fright, fight or flight response', 'hyperarousal' or the 'acute stress response', was first described by Walter Cannon in 1915....
    , and enneagram
    Enneagram of Personality

    The Enneagram of Personality?usually known simply as the Enneagram ?is a particular application of the Fourth Way Enneagram figure. The Enneagram system describes nine distinct personality types and their interrelationships, mapped around an ancient symbol of perpetual motion....
    ;
  • public perceptions about psychological methodologies that have not been scientifically validated, such as neuro-linguistic programming
    Neuro-linguistic programming

    Neuro-linguistic programming is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behaviour and the subjective experiences underlying them" and "a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awarenes...
    ;
  • urban legend
    Urban legend

    An urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them....
    s such as "Psychologist B. F. Skinner
    B. F. Skinner

    Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an influential American psychologist, author, inventor, advocate for social reform,and poet. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974....
     raised his own daughter in a 'Skinner box' "


Popular psychology and self-help

Popular psychology is an essential ingredient of the gigantic self-help
Self-help

The term self-help refers to self-guided improvement?economically, intellectually, or emotionally?most frequently with a substantial psychology or spirituality basis....
 industry.

According to Fried and Schultis, criteria for a good self-help book include "claims made by the author as to the book's efficacy, the presentation of problem-solving strategies based on scientific evidence and professional experience, the clarity of the writing, the author's credentials and professional experience, and the inclusion of a bibliography."

Three potential dangers of self-help books are:
  • people may falsely label themselves as psychologically disturbed;
  • people may misdiagnose themselves and use material that deals with the wrong problem;
  • people may not be able to evaluate a program and may select an ineffective one;


Pop psychologists

Some figures/movements characterized at varying times as exponents of pop psychology include:

  • Lucinda Bassett
    Lucinda Bassett

    Lucinda Reddick Bassett is an United States self-help author and motivational speaker and keynote presenter....
  • Melody Beattie
    Melody Beattie

    Melody Beattie is the author of Codependent No More, which when published in 1987 by the publishing division of the Hazelden Foundation became a phenomenon of the self-help movement....
  • John Bradshaw
    John Bradshaw (author)

    John Elliot Bradshaw is an United States educator, counselor, motivational speaker and author best known for his PBS television programs on topics such as addiction, recovery, codependency and spirituality....
  • Tony Buzan
    Tony Buzan

    Tony Buzan is an author and educational consultant. He is a proponent of the techniques of Mind Mapping and mental literacy. He has worked with: corporate entities and businesses all over the world; academics; Olympic athletes; children of all ages; governments; and high profile individuals, in teaching them how to maximize the use of their b...
  • Edward De Bono
    Edward de Bono

    Edward de Bono is a Maltese people physician, author, inventor, and Organizational Psychology. He is best known as the originator of the term lateral thinking and a proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools....
  • David DeAngelo
    David DeAngelo

    Eben W. Pagan, born December 5, 1971, better known by his stage name David DeAngelo, is an United States entrepreneur, author and dating consultant....
  • Wayne Dyer
    Wayne Dyer

    Wayne Walter Dyer is a popular American self-help advocate, author and lecturer. His 1976 book Your Erroneous Zones has sold over 30 million copies and is one of the List of best-selling books of all time....
  • Werner Erhard
    Werner Erhard

    Werner Hans Erhard authored change models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations.Erhard is best known by the general public for the "Erhard Seminars Training" and the ?Forum? , which were offered to the public through by an organizational structure that included Erhard Seminars Training Inc....
     
  • L. Ron Hubbard
    L. Ron Hubbard

    Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was an American science fiction writer who devised a self-help system called Dianetics, first published in 1950, which he developed over the next three decades into a set of doctrines and rituals he called Scientology....
    /Scientology
    Scientology

    Scientology is a Scientology beliefs and practices created by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics....
     
  • David Icke
    David Icke

    David Vaughan Icke , born April 29, 1952, is a British writer and public speaker who has devoted himself since 1990 to researching "who and what is really controlling the world." A former professional football player, reporter, television sports presenter, and spokesman for the Green Party, he is the author of 20 books explaining his views....
  • Phil McGraw
    Phil McGraw

    'Phillip Calvin McGraw' , best known as 'Dr. Phil', is an United States television personality, author, and former psychologist, currently the host of his own television show, Dr....
     ("Dr Phil")
  • Anthony Robbins
  • Steven Pinker
    Steven Pinker

    Steven Arthur Pinker is a prominent Canadian-American experimental psychology, cognitive science, and author of popular science. Pinker is known for his wide-ranging advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind....


See also

  • New Age
    New Age

    New Age is a decentralized western culture social movement and new religious movement that seeks universality Truth and the attainment of the highest individual human potential....
  • Folk psychology
    Folk psychology

    Folk psychology is the set of assumptions, constructs, and convictions that makes up the everyday language in which people discuss human psychology....
  • Psychobabble
    Psychobabble

    Psychobabble is a form of prose using jargon, buzzwords and highly esoteric language to give an impression of plausibility through mystification, misdirection, and obfuscation....
  • Self-help
    Self-help

    The term self-help refers to self-guided improvement?economically, intellectually, or emotionally?most frequently with a substantial psychology or spirituality basis....


Further reading

  • Mark Jarzombek
    Mark Jarzombek

    Mark Jarzombek is a US-born architectural historian, author and critic. Since 1995 he has served as Director of the History Theory Criticism Section of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge MA, United States....
    , The Psychologizing of Modernity. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • Justman, Stewart. Fool's paradise : the unreal world of pop psychology. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005. ISBN 1566636280.
Stewart argues that influential self-help gurus misuse the rhetoric of civil rights and 1960s dissent in preaching liberation from guilt, "artificial distinctions," and virtually everything else in the pursuit of self-realization.
  • Cordón, Luis A. Popular psychology : an encyclopedia. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2005. ISBN 0313324573.
The goal is "to try to counteract the tide of misleading information about the field of psychology with a concise guide to some things that the well-informed student of psychology and the interested general public ought to know."