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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction: The Wide World of Psychomythology | |
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| Brain Power: Myths about the Brain and Perception | |
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| Most People Use Only 10% of Their Brain Power | |
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| Some People Are Left-Brained, Others Are Right-Brained | |
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| Extrasensory Perception Is a Well-Established Scientific Phenomenon | |
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| Visual Perceptions Are Accompanied by Tiny Emissions from the Eyes | |
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| Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to Purchase Products | |
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| From Womb to Tomb: Myths about Development and Aging | |
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| Playing Mozarts Music to Infants Boosts Their Intelligence | |
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| Adolescence Is Inevitably a Time of Psychological Turmoil | |
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| Most People Experience a Midlife Crisis in Their 40s or Early 50s | |
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| Old Age Is Typically Associated with increased dissatisfaction and Senility | |
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| When Dying, People Pass through a Universal Series of Psychological Stages | |
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| A Remembrance of Things Past: Myths about Memory | |
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| Human Memory Works like a Tape Recorder or Video Camera, and Accurately Records the Events Weve Experienced | |
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| Hypnosis is Useful for Retrieving Memories of Forgotten Events | |
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| Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences | |
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| Most People with Amnesia Forget All Details of Their Earlier Lives | |
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| Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Myths about Intelligence and Learning | |
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| Intelligence Tests Are Biased against Certain Groups of People | |
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| If Youre Unsure of Your Answer When Taking a Test, Its Best to Stick with Your Initial Hunch | |
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| The Defining Feature of Dyslexia Is Reversing Letters | |
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| Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles | |
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| Altered States: Myths about Consciousness | |
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| Hypnosis Is a Unique "Trance" State that Differs in Kind from Wakefulness | |
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| Researchers Have Demonstrated that Dreams Possess Symbolic Meaning | |
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| Individuals Can Learn Information, like New Languages, while Asleep | |
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| During "Out-of-Body" Experiences, Peoples Consciousness Leaves Their Bodies | |
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| Ive Got a Feeling: Myths about Emotion and Motivation | |
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| The Polygraph ("Lie Detector") Test Is an Accurate Means of Detecting Dishonesty | |
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| Happiness Is Determined Mostly by Our External Circumstances | |
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| Ulcers Are Caused Primarily or Entirely by Stress | |
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| A Positive Attitude Can Stave off Cancer | |
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| The Social Animal: Myths about Interpersonal Behavior | |
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| Opposites Attract: We Are Most Romantically Attracted to People Who Differ from Us | |
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| Theres Safety in Numbers: The More People Present at an Emergency, the Greater the Chance that Someone Will Intervene | |
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| Men and Women Communicate in Completely Different Ways | |
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| Its Better to Express Anger Openly to Others than to Hold It in | |
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| Know Thyself: Myths about Personality | |
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| Raising Children Similarly Leads to Similarities in Their Adult Personalities | |
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| The Fact that a Trait Is Heritable Means We Cant Change It | |
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| Low Self-Esteem Is a Major Cause of Psychological Problems | |
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| Most People Who Were Sexually Abused in Childhood Develop Severe Personality Disturbances in Adulthood | |
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| Peoples Responses to Inkblots Tell Us a Great Deal about Their Personalities | |
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| Our Handwriting Reveals Our Personality Traits | |
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| Sad, Mad, and Bad: Myths about Mental Illness | |
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| Psychiatric Labels Cause Harm by Stigmatizing People | |
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| Only Deeply Depressed People Commit Suicide | |
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| People with Schizophrenia Have Multiple Personalities | |
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| Adult Children of Alcoholics Display a Distinct Profile of Symptoms | |
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| Theres Recently Been a Massive Epidemic of Infantile Autism | |
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| Psychiatric Hospital Admissions and Crimes Increase during Full Moons | |
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| Disorder in the Court: Myths about Psychology and Law | |
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| Most Mentally Ill People Are Violent | |
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| Criminal Profiling Is Helpful in Solving Cases | |
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| A Large Proportion Of Criminals Successfully Use the Insanity Defense | |
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| Virtually All People Who Confess to a Crime Are Guilty of It | |
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| Skills and Pills: Myths about Psychological Treatment | |
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| Expert Judgment and Intuition Are the Best Means of Making Clinical Decisions | |
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| Abstinence Is the Only Realistic Treatment Goal for Alcoholics | |
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| All Effective Psychotherapies Force People to Confront the "Root" Causes of Their Problems in Childhood | |
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| Electroconvulsive ("Shock" Therapy Is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal Treatment | |
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| Postscript: Truth is Stranger than Fiction | |
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| Appendix Recommended Websites for Exploring Psychomythology | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |