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Zusammenfassung von The Quick Fix

Name: The Quick Fix
Rating: 4.2 (78 reviews)
Author: Jesse Singal

Jesse Singal

Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills

4.2 (78 Bewertungen)

24 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

The Quick Fix by Jesse Singal explores the ineffective methods used to treat complex social issues and how they can be improved by addressing underlying factors.

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Sozialpsychologie Das Gehirn Die Medien Kultur Alternative Perspektiven Sozialphilosophie

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What’s in it for me? A reassessment of popular psychology concepts.

Modern psychology seems to offer fascinating insights into human behavior, as well as possible solutions for some of society’s most serious problems, from violent crime to racial inequality. But psychology isn’t perfect – a lot of ideas that arise in the field are flawed, and when these get disseminated into popular culture through media such as TED talks, their accuracy tends to be beside the point.

The author is highly skeptical of the discipline and its pop-culture avatars. Through critical analysis of influential psychological concepts, he argues that we shouldn’t be so quick to believe the experts. When half-baked ideas enter the mainstream, they can actually do more harm than good.

In these blinks you’ll discover:

the real reason behind the rise and fall of violent crime in the US;
why you shouldn’t be so worried about your subconscious biases; and
that a power pose won’t actually make you feel more powerful.

Flawed psychology can do real damage.

In the 1990s, Americans were horrified by newspaper reports about young people – some as young as 11 years old – committing acts of shocking violence. Youth crime was on the rise, and, according to experts, it was only going to get worse.

One of these experts was John DiIulio, a political scientist at Princeton. It was DiIulio who came up with the idea of “superpredators” – a criminal class of people who impulsively committed senseless acts of violence.

These superpredators were the product of what DiIulio called “moral poverty,” as they had grown up in dysfunctional, abusive environments. And if they couldn’t be saved at an early age, they would have to be locked up.

The superpredator concept was popular and influential. But there was a problem: DiIulio was wrong.

Here’s the key message: Flawed psychology can do real damage.

The theory of the superpredator has since been disproven. There were actually other explanations for the youth violence of the late 80s and early 90s, such as easy access to guns, which was in turn connected to crack dealing. The predicted crime explosion never happened, and in fact, by the early 90s violent youth crime was already in decline.

Like many popular psychological concepts, the superpredator is a half-baked idea. The term was never even clearly defined, but for the media, that didn’t matter. It made a good story, and it came from an expert.

Other experts did little to debunk DiIulio’s idea, and so the myth of the superpredator continued to spread. It even resulted in dozens of American states changing their laws. In order to crack down on youth crime, many states passed laws allowing juveniles to be tried and sentenced as adults – with tragic consequences.

DiIulio’s theory also had another, inadvertent consequence. Although it wasn’t DiIulio’s intention to reinforce negative racial stereotypes, it was clear that the majority of his “superpredators” were Black, as Black people were most affected by so-called moral poverty.

The superpredator idea not only created a disconnect between public perceptions of crime and reality, but it also helped to deepen racial divides. As a result of flawed psychology, many white Americans became more afraid of black Americans.

This is a particularly extreme example. But it shows what can happen when a flawed psychological concept, promoted by experts, becomes influential.

Some popular psychology studies do not stand up to scientific scrutiny.

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.

When organizations adopt ineffective psychological programs, more effective techniques get ignored.

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.

We often overrate the importance of individual behavior and characteristics.

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.

Implicit racial bias is not as significant as you’ve been led to believe.

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.

Psychologists should use replication to test the validity of a study.

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?

Even when a psychology concept is valid, it’s important not to exaggerate its usefulness.

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.

Society needs to acknowledge the complexity of human behavior and stop searching for quick fixes.

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.

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Worum geht es in The Quick Fix?

The Quick Fix (2021) is a skeptical study of recent trends in behavioral psychology. Academic studies and TED talks may appear to make a convincing case for the power of positive thinking or the impact of implicit bias, but sometimes the evidence just isn’t there. In a complex world, the explanations for human behavior are often more nuanced than some modern psychologists would have you believe.

Wer The Quick Fix lesen sollte

Psychology skeptics
Those interested in societal problems and human behavior
Anyone who has ever viewed a TED talk

Über den Autor

Jesse Singal is a journalist with an interest in social sciences who has written for New York magazine, the New York Times and the Atlantic. He co-hosts the popular podcast Blocked & Reported, discussing controversies in internet culture. The Quick Fix is his first book.

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