Psy-Q: Test Yourself with More Than 80 Quizzes, Puzzles and Experiments for Everyday Life - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ben Ambridge is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Liverpool in the U.K. His article, “Why Can’t We Talk to Animals?” was shortlisted for the 2012 Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize, and was the most widely read article ever published on the Wellcome Trust Science Blog.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Daniel Crewe, Nick Sheerin and Penny Daniel at Profile; Melanie Tortoroli at Penguin; and Sally Holloway at Felicity Bryan Associates for their extremely helpful guidance, comments and suggestions; Matthew Taylor for copyediting; and Nicky Barneby for design and typesetting.

Preface: Psychology Is Everything

You’ve heard of your IQ; your general intelligence. But what’s your “Psy-Q”? How much do you know and understand about what makes you tick? And how good are you at predicting other people’s behavior . . . or even your own?

The aim of this book is to share the answers that psychology has come up with to explain how and why humans do all the things we do. But it is not some dry, dusty psychology textbook, filled—as most are—with details of long, boring experiments and byzantine theories. What you want to know is what psychology can tell you about yourself and your life. Well, I’m not going to tell you. Instead, I’m going to show you, via a series of interactive tests, quizzes, puzzles, games and illusions. Of course, we don’t have everything figured out right now. But by the time you reach the end of this book, you will not only have the very best answers that science can offer but will also have gained a powerful insight into your own psychology.

Notice that I used the word “science.” As a psychology researcher, I’m first and foremost a scientist. Psychology derives its value from following the scientific method: we come up with theories and test them, using the most controlled experiments possible. Every study that we will meet over the course of this book is drawn from the peer-reviewed scientific literature. And while scientists rarely reach a consensus on anything, the explanations and conclusions I give are based on my reading of the best evidence that is currently available, with no wild conjecture, no pseudo-science and absolutely no pop-psychology pap. So, while you’ll encounter both cutting-edge studies and plenty of classics, there are very few from the period before psychology established itself as an experimental science, somewhere in the 1950s.

But Psy-Q doesn’t just describe these studies; it is these studies. You’ll measure your personality, intelligence, moral values, thinking style, impulsivity, skill at drawing, capacity for logical reasoning, musical taste, multitasking ability, susceptibility to illusions (both visual and mental) and preferences in a romantic partner. You’ll learn how we as a species think, feel, see and respond to others. You’ll be surprised, delighted, amazed, amused, frustrated, horrified and downright baffled. You’ll turn psychologist and ask friends and family to complete the studies in order to compare your results. You’ll run to your computer to complete online versions of the studies, many at the companion Web site (www.Psy-Qbook.com). And by the end of your journey, I hope you’ll have begun to see that psychology is everything: there is literally no aspect of the human experience that cannot be investigated, in some way or other, using the methods of experimental psychology.

As for the route that you take through the book, well, it’s up to you. Although I’ve tried to put these studies in some kind of logical order, mixing up sections of different types to keep things lively, feel free to navigate your own path between cross-referenced studies or to float around at random as the mood takes you; it’s your book, your brain and your voyage of discovery. So, anchors aweigh, let’s set sail on your very own psych-odyssey.

The Raw Shark Test

Let’s start with what is almost certainly the most famous psychological test ever: the Rorschach test. To complete the test, simply write what you see in the space below each image, then turn the page to find out what your answers say about you.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

ANSWERS

1. The first card is really just a warm-up, and has fairly obvious responses that don’t actually say anything much about you. Is it a bat, a butterfly or a moth? It doesn’t matter.

2. Now we’re getting into it. Most people will say that this looks like two humans, or animals such as bears or elephants. But do you think they’re fighting, holding hands or simply saying hello? If you said the former, this may indicate that you have angry or aggressive tendencies.

3. This one definitely looks like two humans, right (perhaps with love hearts or butterflies in between them)? If you didn’t spot them, or took a long time to do so, this suggests that you may struggle with social interactions.

4. This card is often referred to as the “father card,” because whatever you say about it reflects your attitude toward your father. For example, if you saw a bear coming to devour you, you’re probably a bit afraid of your father (or all men, or authority figures more generally).

5. This is another “easy” card, designed to give you a break, and to check that you’re paying attention and not giving completely off-the-wall answers. If you didn’t say something like moth, butterfly or bat (or the Donnie Darko rabbit), you’ve got issues.

6. Number six is a sex card. Oh, come on, use your imagination! If you said animal skin or rug, you might be trying to repress your sexuality.

7. The companion to number 4, this card is often called the “mother card.” So what did you see? Two angels? Good. Two witches? Not so good. If you didn’t see women at all, this may reflect some difficulty in getting close to the women in your life.

8. The last three cards are all full-color in the original version, so you can be forgiven for struggling a little. Most people see some kind of four-legged animal. If you didn’t, it may reflect a difficulty in coping with complex situations or emotions in which—as in this card—there is a lot going on.

9. Most people struggle to come up with anything much here (perhaps a person?), though if you drew a complete blank, it may reflect difficulties in dealing with situations where you have to think for yourself.

10. Again, there’s quite a lot going on here, and no single “typical” response. People sometimes see crabs, lobsters, spiders, snakes or insects. If you brought these parts together as one—for example, answering an underwater scene—this suggests excellent organizational skills. However, since test-takers know that this is the last card, psychologists are often on the lookout for conscious or unconscious attempts to send a “take-home” message about one’s current situation or mental state.

The Rorschach test—of which you have just taken a version—was published by the Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach in 1921. Rorschach may have taken his inspiration from Gobolinks, a nineteenth-century book of children’s poetry based around inkblot people, animals and monsters (Download Gobolinks, or Shadow-Pictures for Young and Old). The theory behind the test is that, by asking patients to describe pictures rather than talk about themselves directly, we can tap into subconscious thoughts and emotions that the patients may be unaware of, or even deliberately trying to hide (something we’ll learn more about later in the section The Interpretation of Dreams).

Now, if you thought that the “answers” above...