Lisa D. Hager, Ph.D.

On this page I will post information about books I’ve read or am currently reading and that I think psychology majors or those interested in psychology (hopefully these aren’t mutually exclusive groups) would enjoy. My rating system uses ♦’s ranging from 1 (♦) to 5 (♦♦♦♦♦)–the more ♦’s the more I liked the book.

Lehrer, J. (2007). Proust was a neuroscientist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0618620109

Description: Lehrer writes about artists who anticipated ideas that would later be confirmed by neuroscience. He includes the work of 8 artists (and how their work relates to cognitive neuroscience): Walt Whitman (the mind-body link), George Eliot (individuality and anti-reductionism), Auguste Escoffier (taste and smell), Marcel Proust (constructive nature of memory), Paul Cezanne (the importance of experience in vision), Igor Stravinsky (learning to hear music), Gertrude Stein (the structure of language), and Virginia Woolf (the mystery of consciousness). This is an amazing book and I enjoyed all of the chapters and learned a great deal. Each chapter includes a description of the artists’ work interwoven with findings from research in cognitive neuroscience. My favorite chapters were the ones on Auguste Escoffier, Marcel Proust, Igor Stravinsky, and Virginia Woolf.

My Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦

Zimbardo, P. (2008). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. Random House. ISBN 978-1400064113

Description: Philip Zimbardo discusses his Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) in a first person account of the day-to-day events that occurred during the infamous 6 day experiment. He includes actual exchanges transcribed from video and audio recordings of the events. He accepts absolute responsibility for ethical boundaries that were crossed during the planned 2 week experiment that was cut short because of fears that prisoners and/or guards were going to hurt themselves or others. The chapters covering the SPE appear to be Zimbardo’s way of assuaging the guilt he has felt for not stopping the SPE earlier. I felt quite knowledgeable about the study, which along with Milgram’s famous obedience study, is standard fare for introductory psychology classes as ‘what not to do’ when doing research with human participants. As I was reading the book I realized that there was much more for me to learn about the study and it was well worth my time. The second part of the book details the atrocities at Abu Ghraib and Zimbardo’s role as an expert witness for the defense of one of the accused soldiers. Zimbardo takes a look at how systems (e.g., government) can influence individuals to act in ‘evil’ ways. Lest we walk away from the book being too pessimistic about human nature, Zimbardo uses the last chapter as a tool for teaching us how to avoid the influence of others who may not have our best interests at heart. This book is a great read for psychology professionals and students and for anyone interested in how situations can bring out the best and worst in all of us.

My Rating: ♦♦♦♦

Blum, D. (2002). Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the science of affection. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

ISBN 978-0738202785

Description: Harry Harlow is famous for his contact comfort studies where he compared the responses of rhesus macaques that were raised by a wire mother to macaques raised by a terry cloth mother. Blum gives a fascinating account of Harlow’s background and training but the focus of the book is on Harlow’s study of love at a time when psychology was dominated by behaviorism. I can’t say that I found Harlow to be a likeable person but I certainly gained a great appreciation for his courage, tenacity, and genius. The book is written in a style that will appeal to most readers and I would recommend it for anyone interested in social, developmental, comparative psychology or in the history of the discipline.

My Rating: ♦♦♦♦