The Bluffer's Guide® to Psychology

By: Warren Mansell

Narrated by: Jack Klaff

Length: 1 hr and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Be an instant expert on psychology and Bluff Your Way with all those who seek self-knowledge. No contemplation required, just a sense of humour. From 'Cognitive Therapy' to the 'Collective Unconscious', and from 'Free Will' to 'Freudian Slips', the Bluffer's Guide to Psychology provides all you need to know to understand behaviour and (psycho) babble with the best.

Extracts from the book:
Babble and Squawk
'Hard' scientists (such as those researching physics and the biochemistry of the nematode worm) often question the status of psychology as a science. Most sensible people, who have managed to escape science as a profession, regard psychology as common sense dressed up in obscure terminology ('psychobabble').

I oink therefore I am
Psychology seems to progress using colourful analogies. Over the period of a hundred years, the science of human behaviour has been based on the behaviour of a dog, a rat, a pigeon, a thermostat, a computer and, no doubt soon, a coffee percolator. Only the philosophers can be credited with the original (and somehow more sensible) idea that the study of the human should be based on the mind of a human.

An indefinite article
Psychologists are obsessed with pointing out that the definition of any concept within psychology, such as intelligence, memory or emotion, is not precise. This also applies to psychology itself.

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©2008 Oval Projects Ltd. (P)2008 Audible Inc

Critic reviews

"Psycho-babbling for beginner....For anyone with an interest in psychology at whatever level, this book is a must read. It steers the reader on a thoroughly enjoyable and irreverently humorous whistle-stop tour of psychology...." ( The Psychologist, the official magazine of The British Psychological Society)
"Bluffer's Guides are a quick read and chock full of the basic information on any subject that's needed to pass yourself off as knowledgeable." ( Toronto Globe and Mail)

Lame

Was somewhat amusing. However, it failed to illuminate on the subject matter, and thus wasn't particularly helpful.