Book Reviews

I recently visited my friends to see their newborn baby boy. When I arrived, the baby was just fed, clean and seemed happy. Nevertheless, after a while it started wiggling and finally crying, seemingly with no reason at all. My friend tried to comfort his son, but when all methods failed, he gave up and passed the little one to his wife, mumbling “Well, baby whisperer, maybe you know what it is that he wants.” As amusing as it was... more

The title of this book, What Therapists Say and Why They Say It: Effective Therapeutic Responses and Techniques. might be a bit misleading. At first I thought that this book is dedicated to patients trying to better understand their therapists and I found it quite amusing. However, the subtitle “Effective Therapeutic Responses and Techniques” better catches the essence of the book. It is a compendium of therapeutic techniques, one that catalogs, describes and provides examples of potential responses and interventions... more

What is mind? Is it brain activity resulting in consciousness? Are mind and consciousness synonymous with each other? Is self-awareness an illness that leads to despair, or is physicality a curse that creates the delusion of separateness leading to alienation and melancholy? Defining the mind might limit its nascent quality; however, a definition can provide a necessary frame of reference in order to develop better understanding of what the mind is. Daniel J. Siegel, a professor of clinical psychiatry at... more

“Over 2 million copies sold!” The cover says it all. No, not about the popularity and prominence of the Influence: Science and Practice, but rather about the subtle ways in which our attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of value can be manipulated by people who have knowledge of what Robert Cialdini calls “the weapons of influence.” According to Cialdini, a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and a legendary figure in the field of compliance research, these weapons of... more

We all know popular cases of people who became known for their immoral behavior: Think of Lance Armstrong, professional cyclist and seven-time-winner of the Tour de France, convicted for doping. Or the Abu Ghraib prison guards, soldiers of the U.S. army, who took photos while humiliating and abusing Iraqi prisoners under their protection. These, of course, are prominent examples that come readily to mind. However, immoral behavior also happens on the “smaller scale”: Every day, people commit tax fraud, pretend... more

Defining creativity can provide us with the necessary frame of reference to develop better understanding of what creativity is, and its impact on innovation and humanity. It is often assumed that a new product or a new idea reflects originality, but does it? What is this befuddling human phenomenon we call creativity that has immensely contributed to the advancement of our species? Is creativity a term often used to indicate the intrinsic fuel that ignites a new human idea or... more

Human consciousness can be blessing or a curse as it often impels us into self-examination. Hence, people wonder what makes them and others tick? How their attitudes are shaped? How great leaders are made? How does prejudice develop, and how can it be overcome? And the questions can go on and on. Social interactions are complicated and their impact on the individual is profound. Therefore, understanding the social context that motivates behavior becomes necessary to fathom. Social psychology is a... more

Introduction Martin Seligman is one of the best-known and most influential psychologists in the world. He is also something of a celebrity, central to the development of popular psychology and its incursion into the self-help publishing genre. Seligman is most famous today for fathering positive psychology, which celebrates 20 years of stunning growth this August. Half a century ago, he made his name with learned helplessness, a discovery that Seligman argues helped overthrow behaviorist orthodoxy and usher in psychology’s cognitive... more

Debut Novel Explores and Explodes Attachment Therapy Barbara Barrow’s intriguing new novel, The Quelling (Lanternfish Press, September 25) explores a psychological treatment called attachment therapy. Although this innocuous name connects to attachment theory, which is legitimate, attachment therapy is controversial and dangerous, as the novel demonstrates ably. In The Quelling, two sisters, Addie and Dorian, are placed in a treatment facility as children and forced to grow up under the harmful influence of daily attachment therapy. Barrow has constructed an... more