Dmitry Leontiev read for us the book by Hans Eysenck «Paradoxes of Psychology».
“Hans Eysenck is a classic of psychology, one of the most authoritative researchers of the late XNUMXth century. It would seem that his ideas are in the past, they have already been “played out”, but this book captured me from the very first pages, which, by the way, was facilitated by the excellent translation by Sergei Stepanov. The main thing in it is not specific psychological ideas and descriptions of research, although enough space is devoted to them, but the essence of scientific thinking, brilliantly presented using the example of psychology. In this respect, Eysenck’s book, written forty years ago, is not a bit out of date.
It is about the struggle of scientific psychology with worldly prejudices, with esotericism, unscrupulousness of politicians… and even with psychoanalysis. And Eysenck does not favor him and other areas of deep psychotherapy because their representatives express far-reaching judgments about a person, his personality, behavior and consciousness, not being able to prove these judgments. He contrasts this approach with clarity of thought, clear argumentation, and the ability to give a conclusive answer to a correctly posed question. A huge wave of indignation — but not a single refutation! — caused the publication of Eysenck’s data that, in percentage terms, the positive effect of almost all types of psychodynamic psychotherapy does not exceed the number of cases of spontaneous remission, that is, the natural disappearance of symptoms after some time!
“Human nature is not so simple as to be sure, without sufficient evidence, that the actions that we consider necessary will indeed turn out to be right” — this is the essence of Eysenck’s position. He calls not to rely on any unfounded statements, whether they come from a long tradition or from the latest theories, and to check, to check what psychological science is quite capable of doing. Eysenck illustrates his ideas with research in various areas of life: school education, religious faith, sexuality, and political beliefs. He writes easily and gracefully, unobtrusively infecting us with the logic of his reasoning.
The book will be curious to many, it is very informative. But, perhaps, its main addressees are those for whom it is important to understand the real possibilities of modern psychological science as applied to practical problems. And this book will give them perhaps more than any other.”