本书是一本应用广泛，并受到高度赞誉的教材，作者撰写此书的目的是帮助教师在教授心理学知识的同时提高学生的批判性思考能力。它既可以作为一本独立的教材，也可以作为心理学导论、批判性思维、研究方法或统计学课程的学习参考书。
通过帮助学生识别伪科学，并将其从真正的心理学研究中区分出来，本书有助于学生更明智地运用心理学知识。可被验证性、操作主义、实验控制以及实验研究和统计方法，给学生提供了独立判断心理学论述的有效工具。与上一版相比，这个*新版本扩展了信度、效度、元分析、随机取样与随机分配之间差异等问题的讨论。
本书可作为我国高等院校心理学专业双语教学的教材，以及专业研究人员的参考书。

Preface
1 Psychology Is Alive and Well (and Doing Fine Among the Sciences)
The Freud Problem
The Diversity of Modern Psychology
Implications of Diversity
Unity in Science
What, Then, Is Science?
Systematic Empiricism
Publicly Verifiable Knowledge: Replication and Peer Review
Empirically Solvable Problems: Scientists' Search for Testable Theories
Psychology and Folk Wisdom: The Problem with Common Sense
Psychology as a Young Science
Summary
2 Falsifiability: How to Foil Little Green Men in the Head
Theories and the Falsifiability Criterion
The Theory of Knocking Rhythms
Freud and Falsifiability
The Little Green Men
Not All Confirmations Are Equal
Falsifiability and Folk Wisdom
The Freedom to Admit a Mistake
Thoughts Are Cheap
Errors in Science: Getting Closer to the Truth
Summary
3 Operationism and Essentialism: But, Doctor,What Does It Really Mean?
Why Scientists Are Not Essentialists
Essentialists Like to Argue About the Meaning of Words
Operationists Link Concepts to Observable Events
Reliability and Validity
Direct and Indirect Operational Definitions Scientific Concepts Evolve
Operational De nitions in Psychology
Operationism as a Humanizing Force
Essentialist Questions and the Misunderstanding of Psychology
Operationism and the Phrasing of Psychological
Questions
Summary
4 Testimonials and Case Study Evidence:
Placebo Effects and the Amazing Randi
The Place of the Case Study
Why Testimonials Are Worthless: Placebo Effects
The Vividness Problem
The Overwhelming Impact of the. Single Case
The Amazing Randi: Fighting Fire with Fire
Testimonials Open the Door to Pseudoscience
Summary
5 Correlation and Causation: Birth Control by the Toaster Method
The Third-Variable Problem: Goldberger and Pellagra
Why Goldberger's Evidence Was Better
The Directionality Problem
Selection Bias

Summary
6 Getting Things Under……

本书是一本应用广泛，并受到高度赞誉的教材。通过帮助学生识别伪科学，并将其从真正的心理学研究中区分出来，本书有助于学生更明智地运用心理学知识。可被验证性、操作主义、实验控制以及实验研究和统计方法，给学生提供了独立判断心理学论述的有效工具。与上一版相比，这个*新版本扩展了信度、效度、元分析、随机取样与随机分配之间差异等问题的讨论。
本书可作为我国高等院校心理学专业双语教学的教材。