New and noteworthy books – February 2022
This second instalment of “new and noteworthy books” provides an overview of several interesting new psychology books and resources that have recently become available in the RUG library collection. Feedback is very welcome! You can send your comments, acquisition suggestions, or questions to a.w.sprik@rug.nl. Or leave a comment below.
The handbook of disgust research: Modern perspectives and applications – Philip A. Powell & Nathan S. Consedine (eds.) (link)
This volume brings together the world’s leading experts on disgust to more fully explore this under-studied behaviour. Includes a contribution by the Heymans Institute’s Charmaine Borg and Peter de Jong entitled “The Realm of Disgust in Sexual Behavior.”
The generation myth: Why when you’re born matters less than you think – Bobby Duffy (link)
Generations are typically presented as having specific characteristics and even a distinct identity. Such as millennials are lazy, and baby-boomers are selfish and resistant to change. The author argues that this kind of generational thinking is often wrong and leads to stereotypes and caricatures. Based on extensive amounts of empirical data, he presents a much more nuanced picture of differences between and within generations.
Feeling & knowing: Making minds conscious – Antonio Damasio (link)
The author of the classic Descartes’ Error argues in this new book that feelings are crucial to understanding consciousness. He explains how these feelings interact with the nervous system, concluding that “consciousness is really a story that the body is telling about itself.”
The bias that divides us: The science and politics of myside thinking – Keith Stanovich (link)
We don’t live in a post-truth society, according to the author, but rather a myside society. Our problem is not that we are unable to value and respect truth and facts, but that we are unable to agree on commonly accepted truth and facts. We believe that our side knows the truth. The author explains the science behind this myside bias and how we can avoid it.
Bernoulli’s fallacy: Statistical illogic and the crisis of modern science – Aubrey Clayton (link)
We have been doing statistics all wrong! According to the author, the foundation of the problem is a misunderstanding of probability and its role in making inferences from observations. The solution: a Bayesian approach.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology (link)
After a period of trial access in 2021, we now have subscription access to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. This consists of in-depth, peer-reviewed chapters written by experts in their field and covers all of psychology. Included too are some special projects, such as The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of Modern Psychology, with contributions by Annette Mülberger and Jeremy Burman. There are also specialized collections for industrial and organizational psychology, social psychology (with a contribution by Martijn van Zomeren), sport, exercise and performance psychology and the psychology of aging.
Oxford Handbooks Online: Psychology (link)
The library has extended the subscription to this series of high-quality handbooks for 2022, ensuring that the RUG has access to both the archive of handbooks and also all of the new psychology handbooks that will be published this year as well.
Also of interest:
* Born knowing: Imprinting and the origins of knowledge – Giorgio Vallortigara (link)
* Rationality: What it is, why it seems scarce, why it matters – Steven Pinker (link)
* Covid by numbers: Making sense of the pandemic with data – David Spiegelhalter & Anthony Masters (link)
* Remembering: An activity of mind and brain – Fergus I.M. Craik (link)
* The end of burnout: Why work drains us and how to build better lives – Jonathan Malesic (link)
* Sport, exercise and performance psychology: Research directions to advance the field – Edson Filho & Itay Basevitch (eds.) (link)
* Handbook of embodied psychology: Thinking, feeling, and acting – Michael D. Robinson & Laura E. Thomas (eds.) (link)
* Of sound mind: How our brain constructs a meaningful sonic world – Nina Kraus (link)
* Killer instinct: The popular science of human nature in twentieth-century America – Nadine Weidman (link)
* How to do qualitative interviewing – Bethany Morgen Brett & Katy Wheeler (link)
Sander is the subject specialist for psychology at the main university library.
