Practical skills and resources for assessing psychological claims Students learn critical analytical skills for evaluating psychological claims found in the media and self-help literature - skills that are often unaddressed in the average introductory psychology course. The text presents vital concepts aiding in critical evaluation of psychological information, such as falsifiability, operationism, experimental control, converging evidence, correlational vs. experimental studies, and statistics. How To feature offers practical tips for distinguishing between pseudoscience and true psychological research, transforming readers into discriminating consumers of psychological information. Expanded - The new edition includes 290 new citations providing the most up-to-date references relevant to concepts and experimental effects discussed throughout the text. Examples modeling critical thinking skills The text illustrates psychological principles using current issues , such as evidence of the connectivity principle in the issue of driving accidents caused by cell phone use and the misleading use of probability to assess flood risk. Updated - Dated examples have been replaced with new contemporary examples , including the evils of vanity publishing and why alternative medicine wastes millions of dollars in health care spending. New - The new edition provides new examples of pseudoscience encountered in the media , such as the media's suggestion that science is non-cumulative in their reporting of research on autism, reading disability, and ADHD.

New - Additional studies are cited, including Walter Mischel's famous marshmallow studies and meta-analytic studies on marriage longevity, brain training, predictors of job performance, and suicide prevention. Issues affecting the field of psychology New - New content addresses challenges in the field of psychology , including the implications of myside bias for objectivity in psychological science and how vivid presentations of neuroscientific results can skew conclusions. New - A new section examines the relationship between lab and field results in psychology , helping students better understand the real-world applications of empirical evidence. The author examines common misconceptions in psychology that are rarely discussed in other texts, but frequently raised by students. Check out the preface for a complete list of features and what's new in this edition.