Maria Falikman read for us the book «Classic Cases in Psychology» by Jeff Rolls.
“Psychological science, even when looking for the most general patterns, still deals with individuals. Therefore, paradoxically, patterns are more noticeable in particular cases, which the French physiologist Claude Bernard called «experiments set by nature itself.» Indeed, each of us is a kind of “accident”, the result of a rather confused experiment of nature, an intricate deviation from the so-called norm, which one of my colleagues gave a very unambiguous definition: “I don’t know, I didn’t see.”
Each of the 16 cases discussed in the book by Jeff Rolls makes you take a fresh look at the boundaries of the norm and discover much in human nature. Say, many of us dream of an infinite memory, where everything would be stored without exception and retrieved as soon as necessary. And what is it really like to live with such a memory? This is evidenced by the case of Moscow journalist Solomon Shereshevsky, who was first described by our compatriot, neuropsychologist Alexander Luria in his Little Book of Great Memory (Moscow State University, 1968).
Other cases are the story of a Mowgli boy named Victor, who in his not too long life did not manage to adapt to the society of people; little Albert and Peter, one of whom was taught to be afraid of a rabbit, and the other was weaned (sometimes fate is so unfair even to the youngest participants in psychological experiments). Finally, a famous example of split personality is the case of the young woman Eva, who was originally divided into two personalities — Eva White («White») and Eva Black («Black»): one is modest and shy, the other is impudent and frivolous. The first did not know about the second, the second knew about the first and deliberately terrorized her. In the course of therapy, a third appeared, Jane, who reconciled them. (This incident was the basis of the 1957 feature film The Three Faces of Eve, directed by Nunnally Johnson.)
Many dream of having unusual abilities. But who knows what it’s like to have them?
Jeff Rolls writes about extraordinary people with care and respect. An inquisitive reader will enthusiastically follow the turns of their destinies, and a specialist will notice that the story is being conducted strictly in terms of psychological science, that the author gradually introduces basic definitions, describes different methods of psychological testing, and clearly shows the differences between types of psychotherapy. And the style of presentation makes the book accessible and interesting to every reader.