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Concept
Popular psychology
Summary
Popular psychology (sometimes shortened as pop psychology or pop psych) refers to the concepts and theories about human mental life and behavior that are supposedly based on psychology and are considered credible and accepted by the wider populace. The concept is cognate with the human potential movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The term pop psychologist can be used to describe authors, consultants, lecturers, and entertainers who are widely perceived as being psychologists, not because of their academic credentials, but because they have projected that image or have been perceived in that way in response to their work.
The term popular psychology can also be used when referring to the popular psychology industry, a sprawling network of everyday sources of information about human behavior.
The term is often used in a pejorative fashion to describe psychological concepts that appear oversimplified, out of date, unproven, misunderstood or misinterpreted; however, the term may also be used to describe professionally produced psychological knowledge, regarded by most experts as valid and effective, that is intended for use by the general public.
Popular psychology commonly takes the form of:
self-help books, for example The Road Less Travelled, by M. Scott Peck;
advice dispensed through radio, TV, and print; for example Dear Abby, Dr. Phil and Dan Savage;
myths such as "People use only about 10 percent of their brain's capacity";
terminology that may have a basis in psychology, but which appears more frequently in the vernacular than in professional discourse—for example, inner child, left brain/right brain, emotional intelligence, Freudian slip, and enneagram;
public perceptions about psychological methodologies that have not been scientifically validated, such as neuro-linguistic programming;
urban legends such as "Psychologist B. F. Skinner raised his own daughter in a 'Skinner box' "
Popular psychology is an essential ingredient of the self-help industry.
Official source
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