The Quick Fix summary

Half-baked psychology ideas continue to spread through the media. These days, you’ll encounter some of them through TED talks.

In her popular 2012 TED talk, Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy argued that by changing their body language, people can change how they feel. A study of college students found that those who adopted power poses felt more confident and assertive, and were more likely to take risks. There was even evidence of hormonal changes – elevated levels of testosterone and decreased levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

In 2007, the US Army realized that it was in the midst of a mental health crisis. Many soldiers were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. It’s a serious condition that can have a devastating impact on sufferers and their families.

The Army urgently needed a solution to the PTSD problem. With the help of expert psychologist Martin Seligman, they created the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, or CSF, which was rooted in positive psychology. The aim was to give soldiers a sense of optimism and resilience that would protect their mental health.

Here’s another mystery that psychologists have been trying to crack: the secret to success. Is there a key characteristic shared by successful people, such as IQ or social skills?

According to the award-winning psychologist Angela Duckworth, what really matters is grit – perseverance and determination. In her 2013 TED talk and bestselling book, Grit: The Passion of Power and Perseverance, Duckworth suggests that grit is the secret to success. According to her research, grit can be measured on a scale, and it can be used as a predictor for academic performance. It’s also a quality that people can potentially learn or develop.

Increasingly, racism is viewed as an individual problem. In the US people are told to examine their implicit, subconscious biases. In fact, you can check your biases right now if you like, using a quick online test.

The Implicit Association Test, or IAT, is promoted by Harvard University. For the racial bias test, an algorithm calculates the user’s score based on reaction times to different words and images relating to the categories of black and white, and good and bad.

If you want to have a successful career in psychology, you need to get published. And in order to get published, you have to be able to report findings that are of statistical significance. It’s even better if your findings can be turned into an exciting media story, like DiIulio’s superpredator or Cuddy’s power pose.

So what can psychologists do to help ensure that their studies result in significant findings?

Here’s some more good news: Not all psychology needs to be debunked, as there are some concepts with more solid scientific foundations.

For example, you may have heard of the concept of nudging. It’s attracted a lot of media hype – Barack Obama is one high-profile fan. And unlike the other theories we’ve looked at, nudging almost lives up to the hype.

In April 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of respected psychologists did something remarkable. 

A team of researchers led by Hans IJzerman published a paper online, arguing that in the turbulent times of the pandemic, behavioral scientists should avoid offering their insights. Essentially, psychologists were admitting the flaws and limitations of their own field, and recommending that in a moment of international crisis, psychologists shouldn’t try to influence policy.