Funny Psychology Dictionary

This is pretty funny. Check out Dr. Mezmer's Dictionary of Bad Psychology.

Some of my favorites:

Evolutionary Psychology: A branch of psychology, unwittingly inspired by Charles Darwin and Rudyard Kipling, that describes how we behave through made up stores that guess why we had to behave. In this case, the stories are about what traits our ancestors had to evolve 250,000 years ago to survive. At that time, Mother Nature or evolution was especially demanding, and selected those behavioral traits that permitted survival, much like a mom selects out table manners in her kids. Since all the evidence of this selection process has been washed away in the sands of time, this provides a wonderful opportunity for psychologists to act like trial lawyers, and fabricate evidence and design in tightly spinning plots that would do Agatha Christie proud. Evolutionary psychologists provide 'just so' stories to explain everything about human behavor, and all without the troublesome need to assemble proof. Thus, according to EP, we can run fast because our ancestors had to escape cave bears, got smart because they had to know where the cave bears were, and got sexy because they could rescue cave babes from the cave bears.

And:

Popper, Karl (1902-1994) Distinguished philosopher of science and spoil sport. Popper asserted that you cannot have scientific principles unless they can be subject to disproof or test, and that the spirit of science is to make wild and unfounded conjectures, and to challenge them unmercifully. This Socratic spirit of informed self-doubt is thankfully not needed in psychology, where every year we get new books full of untestable conclusions that purport to explain it all, without a doubt. (see Steven Pinker)

Hat-tip: Mind Hacks

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That's brilliant. It's like what the Devil's Dictionary would have been like if Ambrose Bierce *really* hated Steven Pinker.

Ever since I wrote the Dictionary over a few beers several years ago, I've been waiting for just this 'claim to flame'. This may just inspire me to write my long anticipated Mezmer Encyclopedia of Bad Psychology. So, off to the liquor store I go!

Psychology = the study of psychotics by neurotics

By PlymouthGUY (not verified) on 03 May 2011 #permalink