What books on psychology do you consider important?
Original taken from ola_vinogradova
in 50 great books on psychology.
The numbering doesn't matter.
1. Alfred Adler. To Understand Human Nature (1927)
2. Gavin de Becker. The Gift of Fear: The Secret Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (1997)
3. Eric Berne. Games People Play. Psychology of Human Relationships (1964)
4. Robert Bolton. People Skills: How to Stand Up for Your Opinions, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts (1979)
5. Edward de Bono. Lateral thinking. Textbook creative thinking (1970)
6. Nathaniel Branden. The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1969)
7. Isabel Briggs Myers. Everyone has their own gift. MBTI: Defining Types (1980)
8. Luann Brizendine. Female Brain (2006)
9. David D. Burns. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980)
10. Robert Cialdini. The Psychology of Influence (1984)
11. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996)
12. Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper. A Guide to Rational Living (1961)
13. Milton Erickson (by Sidney Rosen). My voice will remain with you. Milton Erickson's Teaching Stories (1982)
14. Erik Erikson. Young Luther. A Psychoanalytic Historical Study (1958)
15. Hans Eysenck. Dimensions of Personality (1947)
16. Susan Forward. Emotional Blackmail (1997)
17. Viktor Frankl. The Will to Meaning (1969)
18. Anna Freud. Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms (1936)
19. Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
20. Howard Gardner. Structure of the Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983)
21. Daniel Gilbert. Stumbling on Happiness (2006)
22. Malcolm Gladwell. Insight: The Power of Snap Decisions (2005)
23. Daniel Goleman. Emotional Intelligence at Work (1998)
24. John M. Gottman. Map of Love (1999)
25. Harry Harlow. The Nature of Love (1958)
26. Thomas E. Harris. I'm ok, you're ok (1967)
27. Eric Hoffer. True Believer: Personality, Power and Mass Social Movements (1951)
28. Karen Horney. Our internal conflicts (1945)
29. William James. Principles of Psychology (1890)
30. Carl Jung. Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1968)
31. Alfred Kinsey. Sexual Behavior of the Human Female (1953)
32. Melanie Klein. Envy and Gratitude (1957)
33. R. D. Lang. The Shattered Self (1960)
34. Abraham Maslow. The Farthest Reaches of the Human Psyche (1971)
35. Stanley Milgram. Submission to Authority (1974)
36. Anne Moir and David Jessel. Sex of the Brain: The Real Differences Between Men and Women (1989)
37. I. P. Pavlov. Conditioned reflexes (1927)
38. Fritz Perls. Theory of Gestalt Therapy (1951)
39. Jean Piaget. The Speech and Thinking of a Child (1923)
40. Steven Pinker. Blank Slate: A Modern View of the Denial of Human Nature (2002)
41. V. S. Ramachandran. Ghosts of the Mind: An Exploration of the Mysteries of Human Consciousness (1998)
42. Carl Rogers. The Making of Personality: A View of Psychotherapy (1961)
43. Oliver Sacks. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1970)
44. Barry Schwartz. The Paradox of Choice: Why "More" Means "Less" (2004)
45. Martin Seligman. The New Positive Psychology: A Scientific View of Happiness and Meaning in Life (2002)
46. Gail Sheehy. Age Crises (1976)
47. B. F. Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971)
48. Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Difficult Conversations (1999)
49. William Styron. Visible Darkness (1990)
50. Robert E. Thayer. The Source of Everyday Mood: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress (1996)
This is the second book I have read by the author. The first was - . So far, I have only read three books on Butler's list, and thanks to this book, I have planned 9 more for future reading. Probably not everyone will agree with Butler’s selection, but, as we know, you can’t please everyone. However, Butler has left nothing out of the classics, and his choice of contemporaries is at least interesting. The author places the main emphasis on popular psychology - books that everyone can read and learn a lot of new things for themselves, or that were originally intended to be aimed at a wide audience.
Tom Butler-Bowdon. 50 great books on psychology. – M.: Eksmo, 2014. - 608 p.
Download the abstract (summary) in the format or
Alfred Adler. To Understand Human Nature (1927)
What we think we are lacking determines the essence of our life. Adler became famous for his idea of “birth order,” or the place we occupy in the family. The child's behavior pattern will be formed according to two scenarios, forcing him to either copy the behavior of adults in order to become more self-confident and strong, or to deliberately show weakness in order to get help and attention from an adult. Each child chooses the development model that best allows him to compensate for his own inferiority.
It was Adler who came up with his own term for this - the inferiority complex known to everyone. Although an inferiority complex can turn a person into a shy and introverted person, it can also awaken in him the need to compensate for what he lacks by overzealously pursuing a goal. This turns into a “pathological desire for power” at the expense of other people and society as a whole. Adler described Napoleon, a short man who had a huge influence on the entire world, as a classic example of an inferiority complex in action.
Adler's basic principle was that the human psyche is formed on the basis of social influence, and not hereditary characteristics. “Character” represents the unique interaction of two opposing forces: the desire for power, or personal growth, and the need for “social feeling,” or a sense of solidarity. These forces oppose each other, and each person is unique because we all perceive or reject these forces differently. Adler argued that “the adaptation of the individual to society is the most important psychological function” that a person must master.
The central idea of Adler's philosophy is that every person constantly strives to achieve a goal. If Freud considered the main driving force man his past, Adler adhered to teleological views: all people are driven by goals, conscious or subconscious. The human psyche is not static; it must develop against the background of a certain goal - selfish or social - and ultimately move towards its achievement. Adler wrote: “The most difficult thing for a human being is to know and change himself.”
Gavin de Becker. The Gift of Fear: The Secret Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (1997)
We usually think of fear as something bad, but de Becker tries to show us that fear is our gift that can protect us from evil. De Becker is not a psychologist, but his book will tell you more about the nature of intuition, fear and violent thinking than any academic publication on psychology. As de Becker notes, modern man has completely forgotten that when taking care of himself, one should rely on intuition.
We usually have all the information we need to protect ourselves from certain people or situations. Like any other animal, we have a built-in warning system for approaching danger. The problem is that modern lifestyle often dulls or completely drowns out our sensitivity.
De Bono noted that a new idea, as a rule, must overcome old idea to take its place in the human brain. Lateral thinking is a process that allows a person to restructure their patterned thinking, open their mind, and avoid clichéd and standardized thoughts. It is a way of perceiving information that leads to creative solutions. What is humor, asks de Bono, if not a sudden change in an existing pattern? If we can introduce an element of surprise into our thinking, there is no need to continue to be slaves to our patterns.
Lateral thinking is opposed to “vertical” thinking. Our culture in general and our educational system in particular emphasize the use of logic, which states that one correct statement flows into the next until it finally arrives at the “correct” solution. As de Bono himself says, “vertical thinking is used only to dig an existing hole even deeper. Lateral thinking allows you to dig a hole in a completely different place.”
Nathaniel Branden. The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1969)
Nathaniel Branden was a follower and lover of Ayn Rand, a famous American of Russian origin, philosopher and author of books and. As a result, his own books on psychology are imbued with a philosophy based on Rand's ideas of the highest rationalism and individualism. We are all rational beings in complete control of our destiny. If we agree with this truth and take responsibility for it, we begin to see ourselves in the right light. If we are unable to take responsibility for our lives and actions, our self-esteem is compromised.
Branden refutes the teachings of the two schools that were dominant at the time his book was written. Psychoanalysis, based on the teachings of Freud, presented people as “dolls manipulated by instincts”; behaviorism viewed them as “robots reacting to stimuli.” Neither took into account the powerful mind that determines our self-worth and gives us the ability to think logically. According to Branden, psychological maturity is the ability to think according to one's principles rather than one's emotions. Psychological immaturity characterizes a person who allows himself to be overwhelmed by a situation or emotion.
Isabel Briggs Myers. Everyone has their own gift. MBTI: Defining Types (1980)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI) is a test to determine personality type. First criterion. Some people can only evaluate reality using their five senses (feeling type), while others wait to receive internal confirmation of what is true or real by relying on their subconscious mind. This is an intuitive type of people. Second criterion. People choose between two ways of making decisions or two ways of judging. The first way is through thoughts associated with an impartial logical process. The second is feelings that reveal what this or that thing or event means to a person. The third criterion is a tendency towards extraversion (evaluating life from the point of view of the external world) or introversion (deep interest in the inner world of ideas). The final element of typing is judgment (J) and perception (P).
The main goal of studying personality types is to deepen knowledge about perception and judgment, the development of which is facilitated by auxiliary processes. Briggs Myers states: “Perception without judgment has no support; judgment without perception is blind. Introversion without the slightest extraversion is impractical; extroversion without introversion becomes superficial.”
The fact that people can't relate proves that we don't understand or appreciate how other people perceive the world around them. On the job, if you have some idea of how your colleague thinks, you can be more effective in getting your own ideas accepted or avoiding friction by acting like HIS type. (I'm an ISTJ; see.)
Luann Brizendine. Female Brain (2006)
In the areas of the brain responsible for speech and hearing, women have 11% more neurons than men. When it comes to speech, emotional intelligence, and the ability to retain vivid memories, women have a natural advantage over men. In men, on the contrary, most of the processes occur in the cerebellar tonsils - the part of the brain responsible for regulating fear and aggression. This may explain why men are more likely to express anger and act violently in response to a physical threat.
Women use different parts of the brain and different impulse patterns than men to perform the same task, including problem solving, communication and global perception of the world. Research has shown that men think about sex every fifty-two seconds on average, while women think about it only once a day.
A girl is born programmed to be better at noticing faces and distinguishing between tones of voice. Girls usually speak earlier than boys, due to more developed brain circuits that control speech. This trend continues into adulthood, allowing women to speak an average of 20,000 words per day versus 7,000 for men.
Various hormonal processes during adolescence cause boys and girls to go in opposite directions - boys achieve self-esteem through independence from others, girls achieve this through establishing close social connections.
Differences in achievement between men and women in mathematics and other sciences are determined by natural differences in the brains of the opposite sexes. Before puberty, girls and boys perform similarly in math and science. However, the testosterone that fills the brains of boys gives them a competitive spirit, as well as a desire to spend more hours for independent studies and at the computer. In contrast, the surge of estrogen in teenage girls increases their interest in social connections and emotional life.
David D. Burns. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980)
Feelings are not facts; you can change how you feel by changing the way you think. Burns developed and introduced a new method of treating depression - cognitive therapy. The revolutionary idea of cognitive therapy is that depression is not an emotional disorder. All the bad feelings we experience during depression originate from negative thoughts, and therefore treatment should be aimed at changing the habitual way of thinking. Burns identifies ten “cognitive disorders,” including uncompromising thinking, overgeneralization, denial of the positive, rapid decision-making, and self-labeling.
Each of us has our own “programmed records” inside us, which, as a rule, serve us well. For example, they activate our self-preservation instincts and allow us to act without much thought. But they can also be used against us if we are not fully aware of who is playing our record. Cialdini defines “weapons of influence” - ways to force us to act automatically, to retreat from our usual decision-making process.
Rule mutual exchange, found in every culture, states that we should always repay everything that is given to us, be it a gift, an invitation, a compliment, and so on. Subsequence. Nobody likes people who jump from one idea or view to another - we want others to perceive us as people who know what they want. We feel much better when we feel committed to a cause, and once this happens, we begin to do everything possible and impossible to justify our views. Marketers know that if they have struck a chord with you that is committed and consistent, they have captured you. Social proof. Research has shown that jokes seem funnier when people hear other people laugh, even if the laughter isn't real. People need “social proof” from other people. Confirmation that someone has already done it before you makes you feel more comfortable. Deficit. It is human nature to value something more when he lacks it.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Creativity (1996)
Before turning to the topic of creativity, psychologist Csikszentmihalyi wrote an outstanding book called. The main idea of the work is that attempts to pursue happiness as such are wrong. Instead, we should recognize those moments when we are truly happy, recognize what we do when we feel strong and “real,” and do as many of these things as possible. We need to create a flow of actions that we perform for the sake of obtaining basic pleasure or intellectual satisfaction, and not for some kind of external rewards.
Csikszentmihalyi argues that the common belief that creative people come up with brilliant ideas, make discoveries, do work or come up with new inventions in complete isolation is wrong. Creativity is the result of a complex interaction between a person and the environment or culture. Creative breakthroughs never fall from the sky. They are almost always the result of years of hard work and careful attention to something. Truly creative people work for the sake of the work itself, the bonus for which is the opportunity to make socially important discoveries or gain fame.
Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper. A Guide to Rational Living (1961)
The book attracted public attention to new form psychology - rational-emotional therapy (RET). According to RET, emotions are not the result of repressed desires and needs, as Freud argued, but are born directly from our thoughts, ideas, attitudes and beliefs. The most important role in maintaining our psychological health is not played by the mysterious unconscious, but by the banal statements that we repeat to ourselves every day. The stacked statements reflect our philosophy of life, which we can easily change if we want to change what we usually tell ourselves.
We tend to express our thoughts and emotions in the form of words and sentences. The latter very quickly turn into our thoughts and emotions again. It turns out that we are what we say about ourselves. Therefore, any change requires us, first of all, to pay attention to our internal conversations.
It is believed that since doctors have knowledge, they can heal. Patients who are in ignorance are nothing more than objects of healing. Milton Erickson came to a new understanding of relationships in which two people were simply trying to reach their subconscious in search of answers to questions. When Erickson himself went into trance, his voice “became” the patient’s voice (“My voice will remain with you,” he said), thereby acquiring enormous persuasive power.
Erickson's secret was his "teaching stories." Here is one of them. Ruth was a beautiful twelve-year-old girl with a wonderful character. People did everything for her because they loved her so much. However, she could suddenly hit a person, tear his clothes, or step on his foot, breaking his fingers. One day, Erickson learned that she had another fit of rage in the hospital room. When he entered, she was tearing the plaster off the walls, but he did not ask her to stop - he himself began to destroy everything, tearing the covers off the beds and breaking the windows. “Let’s go somewhere else,” he said to the girl, “this is so fun,” and went out into the corridor. When he saw the nurse, he tore her robe, leaving her in only her panties and bra. Seeing this, Ruth said, “Dr. Erickson, you shouldn't behave like that,” and brought a sheet for the nurse to cover herself with. Looking at herself from the outside, she corrected herself and turned into a calm child. (The nurse, who “accidentally found herself” in the corridor, agreed to play along with the doctor.)
Erik Erikson. Young Luther. A Psychoanalytic Historical Study (1958)
Erikson's great contribution to the development of psychology was his assertion that the question “Who am I?” will appear repeatedly before any person throughout his adult life. While Freud divided the process of psychological development into five stages, from infancy to adolescence, Erikson went much further, identifying eight “psychological” stages, extending from birth to old age. When one of the stages ends, we experience a crisis: our personality is reassessed, and we are faced with the choice of further growth or stagnation. Whatever our choice, it lays another cornerstone in the structure of our personality. Speaking about the intensity of such turning points, Erickson completely debunks the myth that life after twenty turns into a period of stability.
Erickson discovered a new genre - "psychological biography", or the use of psychological analysis to describe the lives of famous people. In Luther he saw an example of an identity crisis. Rebellion usually begins in adolescence, but Luther was 34 years old when he began to openly oppose the church. Erickson explains this by saying that young people must initially believe fiercely in something in order to later oppose it, and Luther fiercely believed in the divine authority of the church institution. Perhaps he would never have become openly critical if he had not gone through the experience of unfailing affection and devotion. Luther changed the world through his theological views, but these views were the result of working through his personal demons and identity crisis.
Hans Eysenck. Dimensions of Personality (1947)
The book was based on the research method of factor analysis, which allowed Eysenck to draw conclusions regarding differences in personality types based on data from a huge number of surveys. Eysenck categorized people according to two global dimensions, or “supertraits”: extraversion/introversion and neuroticism. Eysenck believed that these supertraits were determined at the genetic level. In the 1950s, Eysenck attacked the scientific validity of psychoanalysis, arguing that there was absolutely no evidence that it helped cure patients suffering from neuroses. This helped transform psychotherapy into a more responsible and specific field of science. A lot of Hans Eysenck’s later books were published in Russian.
Most of us have someone in our lives—be it a spouse, a child, or a co-worker—whom we try to “appease” in order to avoid relationship problems. The essence of emotional blackmailers fits into one general formula: “If you don’t do what I want, you will suffer.” Forward warns that if your spouse, colleague, friend or relative does any of the following, you are a potential victim of blackmail:
Ultimately, we are the ones who misbehave. Partners are surprised at how harsh and difficult their significant other can suddenly become: the usual compromises necessary in close relationships are replaced by peremptory decisions. By punishing us, blackmailers believe that by doing so they are maintaining order or teaching us a lesson, while an unyielding attitude gives them a sense of security and relief.
Forward says to always keep one important thing in mind: “Emotional blackmail may look like it has something to do with you, but in most cases, it has nothing to do with you at all. On the contrary, it originates within the blackmailer himself and aims to eliminate a certain instability within him.” Blackmailers always try to emphasize that their motivation is greater than ours and that there is actually something wrong with us, such as being selfish and uncaring. Blackmailers are excellent political strategists who will always be able to twist their most illogical demands so that they will be “undoubtedly” correct for everyone. Any person who speaks out will become bad or crazy.
Whenever we surrender, we stop trusting our “inner compass”, which usually tells us what to do to maintain our own integrity. The more we begin to turn into what the blackmailer wants to see in us, the more we lose the appearance of our own Self.
Victor Frankl. The Will to Meaning (1969)
Frankl's most famous work was the book. “The Will to Meaning” is dedicated to explaining the principles of the psychology of meaning developed by Frankl - logotherapy (from the Greek word “logos” - meaning). This makes the book more difficult to read, but overly useful for life. The book also expresses an opinion about the inconsistency of the theory of behaviorism and its attempts to define man as a complex product of his environment. Frankl did not deny that we are shaped by biology or environmental conditions, but he insisted that there is always room for free will within a person. We may experience problems related to the balance of chemical elements in the body or psychological diseases such as fear of open space, but in parallel we experience other types of ailments (labeled by him as noogenic), which are directly related to conflicts of morality and soul.
Frankl viewed his psychology as existential, but compared to the existentialism of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, which was associated with the meaninglessness of life, logotherapy had an optimistic beginning. Frankl liked to say that a Statue of Responsibility should be erected on the West Coast of America to complement the Statue of Liberty. We live in an era of relativism that denigrates real values and meaning that exist independently of our judgment. There is no single “meaning of life”; there is only the individual meaning of life for specific people. There is no point in asking the question: “What is the meaning of life?” - unless we address it towards our own life and our own set of questions and problems. This unique aspect of meaning is called conscience.
Anna Freud. Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms (1936)
The term "defense" as applied to psychology was first used by Sigmund Freud in 1894. With his help, he wanted, as Anna said, to describe “the struggle of the Self against painful or intolerable ideas or effects” that can lead to neuroses. The self resorts to defense in order to protect itself from the flow of demands from its own subconscious, such as sex or aggression. The job of a psychoanalyst is to teach a person to become aware of his inner needs. I may try, with the help of intellectual analysis, to dispel the demands of the subconscious, to contain them, to project them onto something else, or simply to abandon them.
If the Self reflects the normal way of thinking of a person, and the Id represents the subconscious, the Super-ego, according to the terminology of Sigmund Freud, is the part that reacts to social and public rules. Anna Freud wrote that the super-ego is “a pest that prevents the ego from establishing a friendly understanding with its own instincts.” The superego sets high standards that view sex as bad and aggression as antisocial.
Freud recognized that the description of the various defense mechanisms that arise in response to anxieties and fears cannot be considered an exact science. Psychoanalysts have been replaced by psychotherapists and cognitive psychologists who are not too interested in what a person had in the past and what he had previously strived for. Their main task is to correct a person’s erroneous way of thinking, which led to unsatisfactory emotions and forms of behavior.
Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
Freud noted that from the perception of dreams as “divine inspiration,” humanity came to a scientific approach explaining that sleep is only the result of “sensory stimulation.” For example, while in a sleeping state, we hear external noise, which passes into our sleep in order to get some kind of explanation. According to this explanation, common dreams in which a sleeping person sees himself naked simply indicate that a blanket has fallen from him in the dream, dreams in which people fly are caused only by the rise or fall of the lungs, and so on. However, in many dreams there are also moral or ethical dimensions that can hardly be associated with physical factors alone.
Almost all dreams are “wish fulfilling,” that is, they reflect a deep motivation or desire that we strive to fulfill. As a rule, these desires go far into a person’s childhood. Some authors believed that dreams are a direct reflection of everyday events. Freud came to the conclusion that both the physical sensations experienced by a person in a dream and the memories of what happened to him during the day constitute “a cheap building material that is always ready for use as soon as it is needed.” In other words, it is not the cause of the dream, but a simple element used by the psyche to create the dream.
We suppress most of our desires, and their only chance to reach our consciousness is to appear before it during sleep. The reason why we forget our dreams so easily, according to Freud, is hidden in the fact that the mind actively seeks to reduce the influence of the subconscious in its territory - waking life.
Freud's work in the field of psychoanalysis of patients led him to believe that neuroses are a response to repressed sexual desires and that dreams are also reflections of these repressed emotions. The child experiences sexual attraction to one of the parents and wants to defeat the other, which later became known as the “Oedipus complex.”
Freud's discovery that people were not as in control of their minds as they had been led to believe was associated with attacks on the idea of human free will, which inevitably led to harsh condemnation, especially in America, and as a result psychoanalysis as a whole was considered scientifically unsound.
Gardner argues that each person is a unique combination of seven different types of intelligence, through which we connect with the outside world and achieve the satisfaction of our own goals. The “structures of the mind” include two types that are usually valued in traditional education (linguistic and logical-mathematical), three types directly related to the arts (musical, bodily-kinetic, spatial), and two more types defined as “personal intelligence” "(interpersonal, intrapersonal). Developing an education system that can accommodate the uniqueness of each child is great idea. The main lesson of the book is that we should stop worrying about how our brains measure up to measurement standards. Because it's real smart people are those of us who know our strengths and who build our lives in accordance with this knowledge.
Millions of years ago, an increase in the frontal lobe of the brain gave humanity a significant advantage: the ability to draw different pictures of the future, make a choice between them and, thereby, control the world. We are able to predict what can make us happy in the future. Gilbert's main point about happiness is that it is subjective. As a rule, we perceive the future irrationally: we weigh the pros and cons, but run them through our own brain to see what emotional reaction it all gives us. The future we envision for ourselves is determined by how we feel now. How can we know what will make us happy in twenty years? To find out how you will feel in a certain situation in the future (related to your career, moving to another city, or having children), you just need to find out the opinions of people who have already been through it.
Malcolm Gladwell. Insight: The Power of Snap Decisions (2005)
Malcolm Gladwell, a journalist who has been working at The New Yorker since 1996, attracted public attention with a book devoted to how small ideas or changes can reach a critical mass that will trigger an uncontrollable development of events, the so-called social epidemic. Blink: The Power of Flash Decisions became Gladwell's second best-selling book. It is a psychological work that draws on the research of University of Virginia professor Timothy Wilson, who studies the problems of the “adaptive unconscious.” This is the part of our mind that leads us to make the right decision, even if we don't know how it turns out.
Gladwell notes that humans developed the ability to make instant decisions for the sake of their own safety. In life-threatening situations, people must be able to make immediate, correct decisions based on the information they have. In essence, we are guided by the work of two minds: one that must carefully weigh things, analyze them and classify them into various categories; and the second, who first assesses the situation and only then asks questions. Often the instant decisions we make about someone are just as good as if we had been thinking about them over time.
Gladwell emphasizes that collecting as much as possible more information before taking action is not always the best strategy. Gladwell introduced the concept of “thin slicing,” which represents “our unconscious mind’s ability to find patterns in situations and behavior by drawing on extremely thin layers of lived experience.”
Gladwell argues that we judge a person to be courageous, intelligent, and whole just based on their appearance, even though their activities do not support this. 58% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are taller than 180 centimeters, but people with this height make up only 14.5% of the entire American population.
In the old days, jobs were given to a person based on his education or technical skills. Today, academic knowledge or technical ability is only an initial requirement for employment. In addition, what makes us a real “star” is the presence of such qualities as flexibility, initiative, optimism, adaptability to change and empathy. Goleman cites data obtained from a study of 120 companies. Employers wanted their employees to have:
In 1973, Goleman's mentor David McClelland published in American Psychologist famous article, which argues that traditional academic and intelligence tests cannot reliably reflect how well a person will do their job. Instead, people must take tests that determine their level of “competencies” that play a more important role in the job. Goleman identifies five key points: self-awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy, communication skills.
The higher the position we hold in a company, the more emotional intelligence determines how well we perform at work. At the highest levels of management, technical skills become less important.
John M. Gottman. Map of Love (1999)
Gottman reveals the shocking truth about marital conflict: "Most marital disputes simply have no solution." His research showed that 69% of conflicts are based on open-ended or intractable problems. Married couples spend a lot of time and energy trying to change each other, but the most important differences are hidden in values and different worldviews - things that don't change in principle. Happy couples know this and therefore accept each other “with all their flaws and shortcomings.”
Gottman writes that a marriage ends in court not because of disputes, but because How partners argue. Conversations and arguments that begin with criticism, sarcasm, or contempt. Personal criticism, not a complaint or remark about a specific action of your spouse. Making mocking remarks, rolling your eyes, ridiculing, or calling people names in an attempt to make someone feel bad about themselves. Gottman states that most principles for creating a strong and happy marriage center around one thing: important factor- friendship.
The idea behind behaviorism was that babies—whether animal or human—love their mothers for the milk they provide because it satisfies a basic need. Harlow worked with young macaques and discovered that babies may love their mothers not for their milk, but for the warmth and care they give. The experiments also changed the usual idea that babies love their mother at the level of conditioned reflexes only because she provides them with the milk so necessary for survival. It was obvious that the ability to obtain milk was not the main factor for the monkeys; much higher value had physical contact, or “motherly love.”
Thomas E. Harris. I'm okay, you're okay (1967)
Each of us contains "information" from Parent, Adult and Child that shapes our thinking and decision-making, and Harris believed that transactional analysis would help liberate and bring to the fore the Adult state - the voice of reason. Harris used Eric Berne's work (Games People Play) as the basis for his own book. The adult personifies the objectivity that inspired Socrates. It is the voice of reason and morality that allows us to grow and test how appropriate the solutions offered by the Child and Parent are in a particular situation. Although Bern's book is about transactional analysis Perhaps considered more profound, I Am Okay, You Are Okay, written by Harris, became a bestseller because it provided an easier explanation of the concept of coexistence of the Parent, Adult and Child within us.
Eric Hoffer. True Believer: Personality, Power and Mass Social Movements (1951)
The book is a fascinating analysis of mass movements and their ability to shape a person's views. Why are mass movements so powerful? Because they are filled with passion. The one who joined the ranks of the revolution strives for the biggest and most dramatic changes in his own life. The leaders of mass movements do not promise gradual and incremental changes, but a complete change in the way of life of the people who believe in them. If we are not happy with who we really are, the grassroots movement created pride, purpose, confidence and hope in our lives. “Faith in the ‘sacred cause’ partially replaces the faith in ourselves that we have lost.” The desire to part with the sense of self leads to a huge increase in self-esteem and a sense of self-worth. People join mass movements for a sense of belonging and camaraderie - feelings that are so lacking in a society of economic freedom and competition.
The promise of a mass movement to radically change the world for the better makes it possible for its participants to disregard all previously existing moral norms and restrictions. A sacred or glorious outcome justifies any means, and true believers are willing to commit terrible acts against other people. Hoffer warns that we must be especially careful “on days when hopes and dreams are running through the streets.” They are usually harbingers of disaster.
It is the narrow-mindedness of a true believer that feeds his strength. If the world is simply black and white, then the action is understandable and justified. Only open-minded and open-minded people face surprises and contradictions in life. If an ordinary person, in order to improve his living conditions, works on what he already has, a true believer will not rest until he feels like he is part of the process of radically changing the whole world at once. Such hatred of the present has already brought a lot of grief.
Karen Horney. Our Inner Conflicts (1945)
Horney opposed Freudian dogma by arguing that people should not always be prisoners of their subconscious or past. She wanted to find the root cause of psychological problems, defining them as problems of the present that can be cured. Horney wanted to make the process of analysis so clear that people could analyze themselves. In this way, she anticipated the emergence of cognitive therapy and self-help psychology. According to Horney's theory, all neurotic symptoms (also called "drive") indicate unresolved internal conflict. For example, a woman assures everyone of her great love for children and at the same time forgets about their birthdays. Horney's idea of a "sincere" person living in complete harmony with his true and real Self is no different from the concept of the "self-actualizing person" put forward by Abraham Maslow.
William James. Principles of Psychology (1890)
James concluded that habits are “discharges of the nervous system,” creating new pathways along which nerve impulses travel. Once one of these pathways is created, it becomes much easier for the nerve impulse to travel along it again and again. James developed the famous formula for calculating self-esteem: Self-Esteem = Success / Intentions. He pointed out that we experience a huge “lightening of our hearts” when we stop chasing potentials or illusions that will never become reality, such as wanting to look younger or lose weight, or become a musician or a famous athlete. Every illusion that doesn't come true is one more little thing that will bring us disappointment and become an obstacle to achieving real success.
Many other works of W. James have been published in Russian. In particular, Psychology is an abbreviated version of the Principles of Philosophy, which was prepared by James himself as a textbook on psychology in 1892.
Carl Jung. On Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1968)
This small work by Jung (about 40 pages) is usually published in collections, for example, The Matrix of Madness. We can fall into the trap of lack of knowledge about ourselves. The world of ancient symbols, once used to decipher changes in life and find meaning, has today been replaced by science. Modern men and women live in a spiritual void that was once easily filled by mythology and religion. Only a new kind of psychology that truly recognizes the depth of the human psyche will be able to tame this hidden anxiety. In 1912, Jung finally broke off relations with Freud, and two years later he refused membership in the International Congress of Psychoanalysts. Freud considered Jung to be his successor (see Psychological Types, 1921).
Alfred Kinsey. Sexual Behavior of the Human Female (1953)
Between 1938 and 1956, Kinsey studied 17 thousand people, 5 thousand of whom he interviewed personally. Sexual Behavior of the Human Female was based primarily on the stories of 5,940 white American women and 1,849 other women. Kinsey tried to look at the problem of sexuality and sex through human history. The book revealed surprisingly frank information about the intimate secrets of women who had been taboo for so long. Here are just some of the results. Women, like men, are able to experience orgasm during sleep: 65% of women have sexual dreams and 20% achieve orgasm during sexual dreams. The common belief that has convinced us for thousands of years that masturbation is harmful to our health did not find any confirmation in Kinsey's research. The only possible harm was, rather, psychological in nature - respondents reported increased anxiety due to feelings of guilt. Women are less aroused by breast caresses, unlike men, who get great pleasure from touching women's breasts. Only 50% of women admitted to fondling their breasts to achieve sexual arousal. By the age of forty, a quarter married women, who participated in Kinsey's surveys, engaged in extramarital sexual relations. Men and women at the moment of strong sexual arousal have absolutely similar facial expressions to people who are being tortured. When sexual intercourse reaches its peak, the sense of touch and pain, as well as vision, weakens in both sexes. Educated women tend to have richer sexual experiences because they consider themselves “enlightened” and have fewer complexes about female sexuality.
The chapters on human sexual anatomy and physiological responses during sexual intercourse and orgasm have, through their detailed presentation, expanded Americans' knowledge of their own bodies more than any other textbook has done. Even today, a rare reader will not find anything new for himself on the pages of this book.
Melanie Klein. Envy and Gratitude (1957)
Before Freud, people believed that childhood was a time of complete happiness. However, Freud showed that children experience deep conflicts, which are responsible for the formation of adult personality. Taking over Freud's baton, Melanie Klein made a huge contribution to the formation of an entire branch of psychoanalysis, focused on the study of the first months of a person's life. It is during infancy that people develop a primarily envious or grateful view of the world. A child's ability to fully express his love for his mother in infancy develops his ability to enjoy life and love as an adult. However, some children, according to Klein, grow up to be more aggressive and greedy, and also harbor a grudge against their mother, because they do not feel that their needs are being fully met. Such babies turn into envious people in adulthood. In contrast, infants who are able to absorb all the good aspects of their parent(s) essentially have a positive and grateful outlook on life, as well as loyalty, courage in their own beliefs, and a “gentleness of character.”
R. D. Lang. The Shattered Self (1960)
Lang's work focuses on the nature of people suffering from schizoid disorders and schizophrenia. Since then, the science of schizoid illness has made great strides in finding a biological and neurological basis for it, but his description of what a person actually feels when he suffers from multiple personality disorder, goes crazy or experiences an emotional breakdown remains the best of its kind.
Abraham Maslow. The Farthest Reaches of the Human Psyche (1971)
Although the term "self-actualization" was coined by another psychologist, Kurt Goldstein, it was Maslow who made the concept widely known. Before Maslow, psychology was divided into two camps - the "scientific" behaviorists and positivists, who believed that no idea in psychology makes sense until it is proven, and psychoanalysts, who adhere to Freud's theories. Maslow became the founder of the “third force” - humanistic psychology, which does not want to consider people as machines reacting only to external impulses, or as pawns of the forces of the subconscious. We need to eat, drink and sleep, but Maslow argues that as soon as these basic needs are satisfied, “meta-needs” begin to awaken in a person, directly related to the values of being, which also must be satisfied. This is what Maslow’s famous “pyramid of needs” looked like. If you study successful and self-actualized people, you will see that they are able to perfectly combine two things: to achieve unprecedented heights and at the same time not to lose touch with reality.
In 1961 and 1962, Yale University paid volunteers a small sum of money to take part in what they thought was “a study of memory and learning.” The “student” was tied to a chair with straps and asked to memorize a list of words divided into pairs. If he could not remember them, the "teacher" was instructed to send a small electric shock to the student. With each incorrect answer, the voltage increased. In reality, no current passed from the control panel to the student's chair, and the volunteer student was actually an actor pretending to be in great pain. The experience described in the book Submission to Authority: An Experimental View is one of the most famous in the history of psychology.
Most people followed the experimenter's orders and increased the voltage. Moreover, as Milgram notes, “most subjects continued to carry out orders up to the highest value on the control panel.” This happened even as they heard the students screaming and begging to be released. And although they knew that the experiment was cruel and pointless, in most cases they simply could not bring themselves to abandon it. Their minds developed various defense mechanisms that allowed them to justify their actions.
Milgram's most astonishing discovery was that people didn't lose their conscience, they simply turned it in a different direction. In this regard, they felt an obligation to those people who gave orders, and were loyal to them, and not to those who, through their fault, experienced pain. The desire to please the authority was stronger than the suffering of another participant in the experiment, screaming in pain. Milgram notes that the human tendency to obey authority is due to the elementary desire for survival. There must be leaders and followers, there must be a hierarchy for everything to work. Man is a herd animal, and he does not want to rock the boat in which he sits. People are not cruel by nature, but they become so if authority demands it of them. This was the main lesson learned from the experiments.
As Milgram notes, this forms the basis military training. Soldiers undergo special training that turns them into agents of an idea, rather than free-thinking individuals, and this is what determines the ease with which they commit terrible acts. Other people cease to be people for them and turn into a “single threat.”
The spelling Milgr is no less common. A m. A later edition of Experiment in Social Psychology was also published in Russian, which, among other things, describes experiments with submission to authority. It should be noted that this is not the only interpretation of the experimental results; cm. ).
Piaget discovered that when children talk, most of the time they are not talking to anyone in particular. They just think out loud. He identified two types of speech - egocentric and socialized. Why do young children ask the question “Why?” Because they want to find out the intention of everyone and everything, even if it is an inanimate object, because they do not understand that not everything in this world has an intention.
Steven Pinker. Blank Slate: A Modern View of the Denial of Human Nature (2002)
In the well-worn debate about the biological versus the social, people are still trying to find the answer: do we come into this world with our talents and characteristic features or we are completely shaped by culture and environment. Pinker believes that a person is shaped more by the patterns embedded in his own brain, rather than by culture or surrounding circumstances. Enlightenment philosopher John Stuart Mill noted the importance of experience and the flexibility of the human mind, imagining it as a piece of paper on which one can write. This idea was called the “blank slate”. Pinker emphasizes that such a concept implies the fact that “the human mind has no innate structure and can be built depending on the desire of society or our own desire.”
The irony is that the vacuum created by the idea of a blank slate is often exploited to the advantage of totalitarian regimes that believe they can change vast swaths of the population at will. Pinker asks, “How many more “human modification” projects do we need to go through to abandon the idea of a blank slate once and for all?
Pinker argues that the human mind, having gone through the thousand-year struggle for survival that Darwin told us about, could never be a blank slate. People with an inquisitive mind capable of solving the most complex tasks, and a subtle instinct, in the course of natural selection they defeated other people and passed on their genes to the generations that followed them. People with too malleable and flexible thinking were simply “pushed out” of this struggle.
Biologists interested in human evolution, as well as some open-minded anthropologists, have shown that a range of “socially determined” factors, such as emotions, differences between the sexes, etc., are to a large extent programmed by nature.
V. S. Ramachandran. The Birth of the Mind: Mysteries of Our Consciousness (1998)
Ramachandran refers to the iconic work of Thomas Kuhn, which notes the tendency of science to suppress or ignore unusual cases if they do not fit into generally accepted theories. Ramachandran's position turns everything upside down. He has full confidence that we can get to the root of many problems through the study of unusual cases. In addition to introducing the reader to the anatomy of the brain, the book contains many fascinating facts. A Sherlock Holmes aficionado, Ramachandran admits that he is not your average scholar, and so includes quotes and sayings from the likes of Shakespeare and healing guru Deepak Chopra, as well as references to Freudian dogma and Indian religions.
I read Vileyanur Ramachandran. . What makes us human
Carl Rogers. The Making of Personality: A View of Psychotherapy (1961)
The shift in emphasis towards the positive “possible” (as opposed to the problematic “real”) made Rogers, along with Abraham Maslow, one of the most influential figures of the new humanistic psychology. Her core message was to take personal development and human potential for granted in the modern world. Although the book is written in a difficult-to-understand style, once you get the hang of the ideas, you will find them to be an endless source of inspiration. At the heart of Rogers' work was the idea that life is a continuous process. An accomplished person, he believed, would always perceive himself as “a stream of becoming, and not as a completed product.” The main mistake people make is that they try their best to control absolutely every aspect of their existence. This only leads to a gap between their personality and sense of reality. Rogers has had a significant influence on contemporary self-help thinkers. For example, one of Stephen Covey is that a person should “seek first to understand, and then to be understood.
Oliver Sacks. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1970)
The 24 chapters of the book contain detailed descriptions of countless strange and interesting cases of diseases and the style of writing is more like a novel. The English psychologist Charles Sherrington imagined the brain as a “magic machine”, constantly weaving various things together into a fabric of common meaning. According to Sachs, this analogy is certainly better than comparing the brain to a computer, since it explains the personal nature of a person's sensations and his ability to find meaning in them over time.
Barry Schwartz. The Paradox of Choice: Why "More" Means "Less" (2004)
People tend to think that having more choice makes us feel more satisfied because it is, in fact, a form of power. In fact, with a narrower range of options to choose from, we feel more satisfied with what we have. Given that our decisions are often wrong, and given the number of decisions we need to make, wouldn't it be more logical to settle for "perfectly acceptable" things, instead of always striving for the "best"? Schwartz makes a funny division of people into “maximalists” and “satisfiers.” Maximalists are people who will not feel happy until they get the “best”, no matter what the circumstances.
Satisfied people may well be content with what they already have and not think about the existence best options. The concept of satisfiers was first introduced by an economist in the 1950s. Simon's great point was that if you think about the time you spend making decisions, being satisfied with what you already have seems like the best strategy for living.
Schwartz asks a fair question: “So, maybe freedom of choice is not as wonderful as we all used to think”? Ultimately, all the time we spend searching for the best among thousands of options could be time invested in priceless relationships. After all, real happiness comes from relationships with family and friends. Since too many choices force us to compare and cause anxiety, the recipe for human happiness consists of only two parts: make sure that the decisions you make do not imply ambivalence; and don't forget to appreciate the life you have. The book includes two tests that can help you determine whether you are a “maximalist” or a “satisfier.”
Martin Seligman. The New Positive Psychology: A Scientific View of Happiness and Meaning in Life (2002)
Seligman is known as the founder of the "positive psychology" movement. Having collected data from several hundred studies, Seligman made the following conclusions regarding the factors that conditionally bring happiness to a person’s life. Money. If money is more important to a person than other values, he is always dissatisfied with both his income and life in general.” Materialists are never happy. Marriage. Marital union increases the level of happiness. Communication skills. People who spend most of their time alone tend to report lower levels of happiness. Floor. Women are both sadder and happier than men. Religion. Religious people tend to be happier and more satisfied than non-religious people. Health does not affect the level of life satisfaction or happiness, as we used to believe. Climate has no effect on happiness levels. Finally, intelligence and higher education have no effect on a person's happiness.
All of the above factors have traditionally been considered as the main reasons that determine a person’s happiness. However, the study showed that taken together they determine the level of happiness by only 8-15%. True happiness and satisfaction in life determines the development of “character.” By strengthening and improving our individual strengths, we achieve satisfaction and happiness that are genuine. Seligman argues that the desire to correct your own weaknesses throughout your life is wrong. The greatest success in life and real pleasure - true happiness - comes from developing your strengths.
Does your past determine your future happiness? Seligman thinks not. Is it possible to increase your level of happiness? Seligman believes that people have certain levels of happiness or unhappiness that are inherited, such as body weight. Our level of happiness cannot be increased over a long period, but we can live at the very top of the level given to us by nature. In the West, people find it useful to express their anger rather than bottle it up. But Seligman argues that it would be more correct to do the opposite. Eastern philosophy: “Feel anger, but do not express it” is the key to happiness.
Gail Sheehy. Age Crises (1976)
Sheehy found that age-related crises occurred with predictable regularity at approximately the same ages. People tried to blame what they felt on the events happening around them, however, external factors were not the main reason. Sheehy was the first researcher to break down human life stages into decades for easier study and understanding. The search for oneself is a process that Jung called “individuation” and Maslow defined as “self-actualization.” Sheehy found her own definition: “finding your own individuality.” Whatever we call it, this is the main purpose of each of the stages of our lives. The main highlight of “Age Crises” is the description of real people, living alone or in couples, whom Sheehy interviewed specifically for writing this book.
B.F. Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971)
In his theory " operant behavior"Skinner went much further than Pavlov. Humans are not simply thinking machines, he argued, but are endowed with the ability to change their actions depending on the consequences of their behavior. Similar philosophical theory explained the existence of a whole range of incredible differences between people, but at the same time kept pace with the ideas of behaviorism that man, in fact, is a creation of the world around him.
Skinner notes that we perceive people as the “central source” of behavior, when it would be more correct to regard behavior as a response to influences from the world. We don't need information about a person's state of mind, feelings, personality, plans, or goals to study behavior. To understand why people act in one way or another, it is enough to know the circumstances that prompted them to take these actions.
Punishment, according to Skinner, is the inept treatment of people who have not understood or responded adequately to the great goals of society. The best way Changing human behavior involves developing alternative forms of action. You can't force a goal or intention on people, but you can make some behaviors more attractive and others less attractive. Given the powerful shaping power of the environment, Skinner writes, it will be much more effective to use cultural resources to “continue to create a more perfect environment than a more perfect person.” We can't change the mind. We can only adjust the environmental conditions that push a person to different actions.
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. (1999)
The authors defined the subject of their study as follows: “things that a person finds most difficult to talk about and that he tries to avoid.” For example: dismissing a person, breaking a relationship, communicating with your mother-in-law or mother-in-law, reprimanding another person, asking for a salary increase. Stone, Patton, and Heene suggest replacing our difficult conversations with learning conversations.
Educational conversations increase the level of self-confidence of all parties involved because they help dispel the atmosphere of mutual blame and replace it with constructive listening. In turn, this leads to an increase in the level of trust and the transformation of conflicts into mutual understanding. If we shift our focus and try to understand the other person's attitude towards an issue, instead of tirelessly conveying our opinion to him, the conversation will instantly become easier and freer of emotional tension.
We should not confuse emotionality with clearly expressing emotions, such as “It hurts me” or “This makes me angry.” And don’t even think about translating your emotions into judgments about another person. Some people find it difficult to start a sentence or conversation with the words, “I feel,” but saying them out loud can make the other person listen to you.
William Styron. Visible Darkness (1990)
The book was published in Russian in a collection. Styron believes that much of the literature on depression tends to be "slightly optimistic." Some patients respond well to medications or certain forms of therapy, but our knowledge of this problem is not yet deep enough to make unconditional promises. People suffering from depression certainly hope for a speedy recovery, but when a miracle does not happen, they fall into an even deeper state of depression.
Robert E. Thayer. The Source of Everyday Mood: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress (1996)
It was not published in Russian. Thayer defines mood as “a background feeling that persists over a long period of time.” Mood differs from emotions in that emotions always have a clearly identifiable cause, which mood does not have. Compared to emotions, the study of mood has received so little attention due to its ephemeral and elusive nature. While emotions are a phenomenon associated with what is happening in the human brain, mood is the result of processes occurring simultaneously in both the mind and the body, which are in constant and complex interaction with each other. Thayer's research led him to the conclusion that most of our moods originate in two dimensions: energy and tension. Depressed mood is characterized by low energy levels and increased tension (with accompanying feelings of hopelessness). While an elevated mood implies increased energy and decreased tension (we feel like we can accomplish more and are full of enthusiasm).
The additional list of 50 books includes the following books that interested me.
Antonio Damasio. Descartes' error: emotions, reason and human brain. (1994) The Great Explorer Theory human brain rejects the idea of a separation of soul and body, and also shows that emotions form a vital part of the processes of rational thinking and decision-making. It was not published in Russian. You can find the author's book in Russian.
Leon Festinger.. (1957) The famous theory that people try to stick to their opinions even when they are wrong. Published in Russian by the Rech publishing house in 2000.
Elizabeth Loftus. Eyewitness testimony. (1979) A forensic expert raises the issue of the reliability of eyewitness testimony in criminal cases. Loftus is also known for her research into problems associated with memory repression syndrome. It was not published in Russian.
Douglas McGregor. The human side of the enterprise. (1960) Psychologist McGregor became a management guru with his Theory X (directive control by superiors) and Theory Y (employees' need for self-motivation). McGregor's main source of inspiration was Abraham Maslow's theory of humanistic psychology. It was not published in Russian.
Read by: Marina Vishnyakova, Managing Partner of PM Team
Isabel Briggs Myers, Peter Myers MBTI: Defining Types. Everyone has their own gift." Publisher: “Business Psychologists”, 2010
Colleagues, I haven’t felt such pleasure for a long time. And, first of all, this pleasure is due to the fact that the book managed to surprise me, who has been studying MBTI for more than 10 years. The number of endnotes I made throughout the text shows, but does not exhaust, the depth of surprise.
And now, in order.
First, I must point out that my previous review (of Naomi Cuenc's MBTI: The Complete Guide to Interpretation) was inaccurate. With my NT type's inattention to earthly facts, I mixed up the names of the respected Isabel Briggs Myers's husband and their son. The S-lawyer whose down-to-earth manner first made Isabel Catherine Briggs's mother think about the diversity of the human species community was named Clarence. And Peter Myers is already their son, who has done a lot to develop and promote the technique, since he has the most suitable type for this purpose - ENFP. After the recent death of Isabel Briggs Myers, Peter remained the only bearer of knowledge "from the original source" In all other respects, the first review remains unchanged, including the recommendation that those who have long and lovingly studied MBTI not read Naomi’s book.
But I don’t recommend reading the book by Isabel Briggs Myres and Peter Myers, but it seems that I myself will now be able to discuss MBTI with colleagues only if my interlocutor has read this book[i]. This is not just the hardware necessary for a deep understanding of the method! The book is also a constant intelligent opponent, which, of course, is especially valuable (maybe most valuable) for all thinking people who are professionally involved in MBTI.
However, being a natural skeptic, I tend to be especially careful in analyzing extreme situations - like those things that caused me to initially have a negative reaction (forgive me Naomi Kuenk, I honestly tried in the book "MBTI: The Complete Guide to Interpretation" to find something for yourself positive...), and that information that immediately evoked a bright positive response.
Therefore, having slightly tempered my internal squeals of delight from reading Isabelle Myers’ text, I began to think - what exactly made me so happy? And, it seems to me, I found the reason: Isabelle (and Peter) are N-people. And I too - N. The book was written by my like-minded people, like-minded people))), in the N-language. My joy is the delight of finding my own pride among a sea of strangers. That is, as I now believe, all those people who, firstly, know how to think, and secondly, are pronounced intuitives, will clearly love the book. But how smart S-people will perceive it is not obvious to me. Maybe my rejection of Naomi Cuenk’s book is also mainly due to the fact that it was written by an absolute S-person in his own S-language?
Therefore, for the purity of the experiment, I would advise both books (Naomi and Isbel) to be reviewed by a pronounced S-person. To a lawyer. And then publish a certain weighted average opinion of different people.
And, of course, despite wonderful books, please do not perceive MBTI as a panacea for all problems or an explanation from the Creator about the person he created - “where is his button”! We are more complex than any explanation about us, guys. And this is very good!
Well, since now I can calmly say that all the necessary attempts at objectivity have been observed, I will continue to consistently praise an excellent book!
Let's start with the fact that I devoured the book in two days. At the time I read it, I was on a business trip in London. I think Londoners thought I was an obvious nerd because I pulled a book out of my bag at any moment of pause - on the tube, in the park, in the double decker, in the pub, while waiting for a meeting with a business partner, in those five minutes when the partner went to get us coffee before the movie started, and just, as they say, found him where he was!
The book left me in amazement on more than one occasion. I now understand that I can only be confident in my leading form of perception reality - intuition. But everything else floats for me.
By the way, the bad news for lovers of formal, counting methods of research, confirmed by the creator of the test, Isabel Myers, is that to obtain accurate data, a completed test is not only not enough, it is even harmful in some way, because the result always turns out crooked IF it is completed test a person will simply answer the questions, especially IF he is an introvert. For everything to turn out right, you need a sequence of stratifying yourself according to the leading ways of perceiving and assessing reality BEFORE filling out the test. That is, first we think, and then we fill in. Isn't it lovely?
The first and second chapters of the book teach this very competently - justifications for the differences are given using clear examples and commented additions made by the authors of the methodology to Jung's theory of archetypes.
The third chapter seems more boring than the previous ones, since it contains statistics on self-diagnosis by students and different groups of workers in the USA, BUT it must be read carefully - there are excellent traps hidden inside for arrogant psychologists who believe that they know everything about MBTI. I got caught amateurishly several times! I won’t give tips on traps - let everyone find their own ambush and have a chance to grow wiser!
The remaining 6 chapters of the second part are interesting reading about different variants preferences, judgments, access to 16 types, analysis of the difference between them and wonderful examples of what, for example, successfully socializing introverts show the world almost not the opposite type, in relation to what they really are. Because the their extroversion - accumulated, and not congenital. And not socializing Introverts quite normally sit inside their own analytically constructed world. Moreover, this will only be visible to a very attentive observer and listener, since all people naturally give complete information about themselves to those who are ready to perceive it. Another thing is that the forms of transmission and forms of reception are completely different. If based on the surface observations and/or test results, an error in assessing the type of introvert is guaranteed.
On the other hand, I am completely at peace with my own conclusions (drawn within the framework of the UN program - see footnote) regarding the types inhabiting the USA and England, and those given in the book. Isabel Myers makes the case for Americans' supposedly frequent N-ness as a natural consequence of the demands of innovation on pioneering territories. Therefore, she assumes that all S-people remained in England, strong in its traditions (pp. 73-75). At the same time, the observations that I have indicate an overwhelming number of SP types in the United States - and also because it is the SP type that is motivated by risk, change of activity, does not tolerate routine - and therefore is constantly looking for adventures for its head: be it ensuring the physical security of a business, digging people out from under the rubble after disasters, or developing virgin lands and other new uncharted lands. Isabel, however, admits that N is not the dominant type in the United States, but only because there are generally fewer N people than S. This discrepancy seems to me similar to the projection of the American Isabel Myers, expressed by N, who fell into the “sympathy trap” , because we tend to endow the people we like or those groups of people with whom we associate their personal traits (and approved ones). Therefore, I would rather classify the conclusion about the strict N-belonging of Americans who are strangers to me as a high level of patriotism and association with Isabelle’s country than the actual spread of N-people throughout the United States due to innovation. What exactly contributed to the growth of the share of N-people in the United States was the policy of importing brains, which led to widespread immigration of smart and talented people from all countries. However, according to Murphy's law, the amount of intelligence is a constant quantity, but humanity is increasing. Therefore, the influx of several tens or even hundreds of thousands of smart scientists cannot have a big impact on the statistics due to massive waves of adventurers (SP) of all stripes breaking into the United States from everywhere, including. through risky illegal border crossings from Mexico, for example.
And regarding the S hypostasis of the English - especially in the SJ version - I would also disagree. The British's attachment to rules is not at all the same as that of the pronounced SJ nation - the Germans. For the Germans, everything is simple: do what is written. But among the British - nooo... What is written is not a rule, it is a social iceberg, where only the tip is formulated, and 90% is in the “implied” area. Therefore, a foreigner who strictly follows the rules of behavior prescribed by the British themselves may, unexpectedly for himself, look like a complete boor[v]. Such an implicit, different from formalized the embodiment of the rules of social life is a clear characteristic of the N-style. A similar difference between what is written and what is embodied is found among all N-peoples - for example, among the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians. And the subtle, insidious English humor? Purely different, after all, compared to the simple S-humour of the Germans (SJ) and Americans (SP)! For those naive S-people, humor is a “pure laugh” based on simple everyday facts, and for the British it is skillfully to delve into the very core of a phenomenon and ridicule its crystal lattice. Eyebrow movement and intonation are what will kill a clumsy opponent. However, a down-to-earth person will most likely not understand English humor. This is fun for the enlightened and dedicated... intuitives, most likely... In short, not everything is as simple and obvious with the Americans and the British as it sounded in the book by Isabel Briggs Myers.
However, to seriously challenge the conclusions of Isabel Myers, such offhand comments are not enough, so I will not write about all the discrepancies I found in the book, about which I do not yet have a firm opinion about who is right. Moreover, the essence of this text is not my possible dispute with the creator theory (ha-ha, people of my type don’t care who the main guru is; it’s especially nice to argue with the main guru, because you have a brain!), and a review of what you’ve read. However, it is clear to everyone who thinks, as I already wrote above, that if there is a desire to argue (not in the spirit of “this is nonsense,” because this is not an argument, but a statement, namely, to speculate about the different roots and causes of phenomena that have a similar external manifestation), then the text of the book is an excellent reason, at least and ambiguous. By the way, thank God that it is ambiguous (unlike Naomi Cuenk’s text), because there is nothing more depressing than banal, supposedly truisms.
By the way, I deliberately do not quote the book so that the pleasure of the intelligent reader is not smeared.
The third part already shows how everything read and understood is refracted in specific situations in business, marriage, children, choice of profession, etc. When reading this part, you want to continuously take notes, because thoughts like: “Oh, that’s why!” And I thought that if a person stubbornly does not enter into a specific business situation, then he is perhaps far from the world of NF, but it turns out that this is a frequent ambush of SFs, regardless of other letters! If my idea interests the reader, then in order to understand it, you need to read three parts of the book.
The fourth part should be read by everyone, and especially by those who have small children - in order to stop at least now in the crippling of their souls and give them the opportunity to show their gift - exactly according to the title of the book. At the same time, you can understand your own complexes, phobias, etc. and start working with them. At the same time, since we are talking about children, I again want to remind you that the technique is good and pleasant, but not 100% true - simply because there are no 100% truths in relationships between people. Everything is purely contextual. Therefore, it is not worthwhile to immediately change the tactics of raising a child - this may cause him deeper trauma than previous crooked pedagogical efforts. As always, you should think first and then change specific actions.
Before publication, the book received respected reviewers. In particular, my teacher Yulia Borisovna Gippenreiter gave positive feedback, which was important for me in assessing the adequacy of my own enthusiasm. True, Yulia Borisovna is also NT, and a fisherman is a fisherman...
In general, I now have a book:
A) beloved;
B) desktop;
C) a reason to challenge some of the conclusions made in the book, when I have accumulated enough material - i.e. catalyst for thinking.
And thinking is my favorite hobby! I wish the same for all of us.
As they say in Hollywood films: special thanks to Dima Kuzin for an excellent book review project on www.zubry.ru. And special thanks to my family and friends for their many years of patient experimentation in MBTI typology experiments and their good sense of humor in this matter.
[i] I foresee the question: “How can you, mother, study the method without reading this book, which has already been published many times?” I answer: the Americans taught me the method during the UN programs - they gave a large number of English-language manuals with pieces from Jung, Myers-Briggs, and the work of all followers. Some years. I also had a testing ground there different people(different in age, nationality, gender, religion, race, etc.) - more than 3,000 people. That is, knowledge was immediately given with practice. With all the pros and cons of this approach. And only then I myself mastered Jung and everything translated and non-translated that appeared among us. And she herself has written a lot on this topic since the late 90s. Actually, I wrote about the fragmentary access to the methodology for our specialists Yu.B. Gippenreiter in his annotation to this publication.
And here I would like to especially bow to the translator, who managed to wonderfully translate things that relate to figurative thinking. The book, by the way, was generally published very well by Nauka - it’s a pleasure to pick it up!
Moreover, now I seem to be able to classify those people whom I have known well and for a long time as completely different types - which explains a lot of previously inexplicable discrepancies! With a bit of humor, of course.
And then I realized that I am an introvert. Simply - able to socialize. And I breathed out a sigh of relief, because before that all the people I knew took my favorite phrase that I would definitely prefer reading a smart book to any party as coquetry and convinced me of it! I felt guilty and the need to justify myself. And I also understood why my business partner and friend Alexander Kutuzov and I need a 3-5 second pause before starting a public speech to switch the toggle switch inside with introversion for extroversion and not turn into a dry cockroach skin by the end of the event. While my two other friends and partners interesting things, Igor Mann and Radmilo Lukic, such a pause is not needed. They sight sing. At the same time, all four of us know how to communicate, have developed social connections, we get to know and charm a new acquaintance in five seconds, we can sell ice to Eskimos, and we really like to read smart books (and do this all the time). Those. You can't determine anything by external behavior.
[v] Someday I’ll write an article about the art of small talks among the British - then all these conclusions will be more obvious.
Either a lot has been written about the Myers-Briggs personality typology and it is incomprehensible, or little and even more incomprehensible. And, despite the fact that the test for its determination is often criticized, it remains an important key to understanding personality characteristics. Generally speaking, it is used to determine how people perceive the world and make decisions. Many Western companies require passing the Myers-Briggs test for employment. Also, according to the authors of Wikipedia, about 70% of American graduates are tested in order to find out their strengths and choose their future profession. And in general, it provides an opportunity for self-analysis, which is why we have prepared this article and online test for you.
The background to the emergence of typology goes back to the works of Carl Jung, who, in his book “Psychological Types” published in 1921, suggested that there are four main psychological functions that help a person perceive the world. These are feelings and sensations. This work was much more fundamental than the ideas of the American Katherine Briggs, who was simply interested in the differences in the characters of different people. But, having become acquainted with Jung’s typology, she, supported by her daughter Isabel Briggs-Myers, began to study this issue in detail and even published a couple of scientific articles. She also identified four types, and was based, by her own admission, on the works of Jung. But later the theory was significantly expanded by her daughter, giving it a modern outline.
This happened during the Second World War. It was then that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI is actually a typology; the term “socionics” is also often used). This was not a “naked” theory - the researchers relied on original tests that they themselves compiled. The purpose of the research was the most noble: on the basis of testing, to determine individual personal preferences in work and to select for women who were supposed to replace men who had gone into the army in production, occupations where they could properly demonstrate their talents. Later, in the 50-60s, prominent scientists spoke positively about the typology, and new experiments were carried out to refine the methodology. But besides its followers, the MBTI also has a number of critics who point out that the Myers-Briggs typology almost duplicates the research of C. Jung in the theoretical part and does not always demonstrate its validity in practice.
The essence of the MBTI psychological testing system is that, by measuring unique combinations of a person’s personal factors, it is possible to predict his propensity for a certain type of activity, his style of action, the nature of his decisions and other features that allow him to feel comfortable and confident. For and why 4 scales (descriptors) were invented by which personality is studied:
Let's look at each scale in more detail:
Introverts (I-type) are not necessarily closed and uncommunicative people, as “yellow” publications often portray. They can be sociable and sociable, but they learn and work better when alone. Such people prefer thought over words, so they always think before saying something.
In contrast to extroverts (E-type), whose sociability borders on talkativeness. They are happy to be and work with other people. They solve problems not alone behind closed doors, but through discussion, which allows them to find a compromise. But such situations arise more often - the nature of human communication, and even in abundance, makes itself felt.
In simple terms, the EI scale tells about the general orientation of consciousness:
The translation of the word “sensing” as “common sense” is not entirely accurate. People belonging to the S-type, when assessing a situation, take into account all the details that can be understood and felt thanks to “sensors” - vision, smell, touch. They rely on external, already known data and are consistent in their decisions, which they carefully consider and weigh. They are always accurate, guesses that are not confirmed by facts do not matter to them, and only what is happening here and now is of paramount importance.
N-types are more likely to rely on intuition. Often these are people with a developed personality, for whom the world is a concentration of opportunities. They are more careless about the facts, but are able to see the global picture, a variety of ways in which events can develop.
In simple words, the SN scale reflects the chosen method of orientation in a situation:
Decision making is based on a well-known dichotomy: emotions and intelligence (IQ vs EQ). T-types are people for whom everything comes first. They follow the voice of reason and make decisions only after carefully thinking things through. Representatives of this type analyze information well, and are also fair and objective.
In simple words, the TF scale is how a person makes decisions:
Those who belong to the R-type are not capable of comprehensive control and planning, but can perceive a lot of information through several channels at once. They are multitasking, good at working under tight deadlines, and don’t panic when things go wrong. For such people, change comes very easily, because skill is their strong point.
J-types, on the contrary, are single-tasking and prone to algorithmization. What is important for them, first of all, is stability; they try to eliminate chaos and approach the solution of any problem fully armed, having thought through everything in advance. Such people are able to set goals well, determine priorities and achieve results.
In simple words, the JP scale is how a solution is prepared:
The Myers-Briggs test, along with many other tests popular in world practice, is included in the course. After completing it, you can get a detailed description of your personality, strengths and weaknesses, and inclinations in order to better understand yourself and use this knowledge for self-development.
The test below will determine which “pole” for each dichotomy a person is more inclined to. The test contains 20 questions: 5 questions for each descriptor. It is an odd number of questions for each scale that makes it possible to get your inclination towards one or another pole (an even number would make it possible to get an intermediate result: 50 to 50).
Before starting the test, it is important to understand the following things:
You have received a result that is one of 16 personality types that are formed as a result of the intersection of the 4 descriptors described above, containing 2 elements each (four in a square - 16). These 16 types are assigned conditionally common noun for each type, to make it easier to navigate:
Realist, administrator, leader(ESTJ: extrovert, sensory, logical, rational). A very efficient, socially adapted type, he always feels the need to bring the work he has started to completion. Plans activities and treats surrounding things practically. Tends to show love and care for loved ones, loves noisy fun and company. He is good-natured, but harsh, can be hot-tempered and stubborn.
They see the world “as it is” and translate their perceptions into objective language. They feel the need to impose their assessments on others, establishing a firm course of action that is based on a specific program. Managing order somewhere is the most natural activity for them.
Commander, entrepreneur(ENTJ: extrovert, intuitive, logical, rational). He is able to clearly identify his own capabilities and abilities, is easily inspired and starts new things, and is interested in dynamic sports that give extreme sensations. Feels new trends, takes risks, relying on intuition. Confidently uses new technologies in her work, deeply analyzes herself and the world around her. Inclined to positive thinking and close communication with people.
They have a need for control and unusual leadership abilities. They are wide open to countless possibilities and meanings, which are translated into the language of objective mental operations and lead to orderly and timely activity. For them, life is revealed in struggle, in argument, in clashes with others in the name of knowledge.
Organizer, inspector(ISTJ: introverted, sensory, logical, rational). Loves order and rigor, delves deeply into work, analyzing information from different angles. It is distinguished by a certain pedantry. He looks at things realistically and takes on a task only if he knows for sure that he can complete it. Inspires trust, but prefers short business contacts with other people.
They have a sense of responsibility. Their behavior is focused on the final result. Objective, specific, immediate information is immediately transferred “internally” and carefully analyzed. Their inclination towards everything that is “here and now” does not allow them to take anything for granted or assume anything. Everything they see is an objective and tangible reality for them, in which they immediately establish a certain order.
Exhorter, mentor(ENFJ: extrovert, intuitive, ethical, rational). A very emotional person, prone to empathy and displaying a wide range of emotions. He has expressive facial expressions and eloquence. Able to anticipate various events and prepare for them in advance. Picks up inconsistencies in other people's words and emotions. Often unsure of a partner's love and prone to jealousy.
Their attention is focused on those around them, and they are well aware of who needs what. Their rich imagination and inspiring nature express themselves in a very concrete and organized manner, which allows them to fulfill their fantasies. They have the ability to intuitively comprehend the situation with an attentive and caring attitude towards the position of all participants.
Teacher, educator, enthusiast(ESFJ: extrovert, sensory, ethical, rational). Able to influence people through emotional pressure, he gets along well with them, can cheer them up, is inclined to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of another person and show love and care for loved ones. In his work he achieves everything on his own, loves when other people emphasize his merits.
The predisposition to decision provides them with everything they need to make it easy to establish contacts with anyone. Their subjective sensitivity brings harmony to any situation, while at the same time trying to streamline it, to direct the course of events in a certain direction; and they do it gently but persistently.
Analyst, visionary, inspiration(INTJ: introvert, intuitive, logical, rational). He knows how to distinguish the important from the secondary, does not like empty talk, and is prone to clear, practical thinking. In their work, this type likes to use unusual ideas, while demonstrating their independence. Uses intuition where he does not know the exact answers. Does not like noisy companies, finds it difficult to establish relationships with other people.
Their rich inner world contains limitless possibilities, which are realized in the form of a desire to improve and perfect everything. Words, plans, projects, ideas, people - they want to make everything better than it actually is. In their opinion, even the best can be made even better. They strive for completeness.
Inspirer, consultant, advisor, humanist(INFJ: introverted, intuitive, ethical, rational). He subtly senses the nature of relationships between people, attaches great importance to trust, and does not forgive betrayal. He is able to identify the hidden abilities of others and is endowed with the talent of an educator. He is passionate about self-education, people often turn to him for advice. We are very vulnerable, it is difficult to tolerate aggression and lack of love.
Their driving force—inward-directed intuition—provides them with an endless stream of ideas and possibilities. And the greater the role introversion plays in INFJs, the more fluid, malleable and open life seems to them. But the outside world changes the direction of this flow of inspired creative activity: they feel called to serve people and do this in a very organized and orderly manner.
Executor, guardian, protector(ISFJ: introverted, sensory, ethical, rational). Recognizes pretense and falsehood in relationships, divides people into friends and strangers, managing psychological distance. He defends his views and principles. He knows how to stand up for himself and his loved ones, and cannot tolerate the moral superiority of other people. Able to deeply analyze himself and others.
Neat, good-natured, committed to order and extremely diligent and caring, they draw strength from themselves and from everything they see, hear, feel, touch and taste. These forces are aimed at serving others, while all activities are clearly calculated and planned. They see their purpose in helping others and making them happier.
Inventor, seeker, dreamer(ENTP: extrovert, intuitive, logical, irrational). He has a wide range of interests, knows how to adapt to new conditions and easily switches to new methods of work. He is a generator of ideas and does not like traditions and routine. Able to explain complex ideas, being a pioneer in them. He is more prone to synthesis in thinking, creates a new idea from ready-made components.
Their ingenuity is constantly being sought for in a variety of professional and non-professional fields. It originates in a predisposition to intuition, which opens up limitless possibilities for them, combined with their objective decision-making ability, aimed at the world around them. This results in everything being converted into ideas and patterns. They are more attracted to new ideas, they are in constant tension of activity.
Fidget, marshal, realist(ESTP: extrovert, sensory, logical, irrational). Tends to use physical force in order to achieve victory at any cost. Obstacles only increase his desire to win. Likes to lead and cannot stand being subordinated. Analyzing the situation, he likes to draw up a specific plan of action and strictly follows it.
Their attention is directed to people and the world of objects. Information is collected using the five senses. The information is then assessed and analyzed objectively, but they remain fluid and open to new alternatives. They are able to give a quick, accurate, practically valuable, objective and clearly expressed answer in any situation.
Mediator, champion(ENFP: extrovert, intuitive, ethical, irrational). Able to subtly feel other people, has developed imagination. Loves creative work and cannot stand monotony and routine. Sociable, loves to give good advice in the field of interaction with people.
Their combination of extroversion, intuition, sensitivity, and receptivity gives them a unique ability to collaborate effectively, engage in diverse endeavors, and handle the unexpected. They perceive life in the diversity of its possibilities and interpret these opportunities in terms of their impact on people. All this is accompanied by active interaction with the outside world, and their inquisitive attitude allows them to navigate the constant change of situations.
Animator, politician, activist(ESFP: extrovert, sensory, ethical, irrational). Able to see the capabilities of others, using this knowledge for the purpose of manipulation. Guides the weaker ones, clearly identifying their weak points. He likes to keep his distance; in communication he is more likely to be guided by his own interests. In the eyes of others he tries to look like an outstanding, original person, but often he is not.
For them, only that which relates to the “here and now” is sufficiently reliable. They live mainly for the present moment. More people start than finish. Their focus on immediate results makes them intolerant of all sorts of procedures, templates and other obstacles. They try to use every minute to engage in useful conversation. They strive for harmony in human relationships.
Architect, critic, analyst(INTP: introvert, intuitive, logical, irrational). This type is an erudite with a philosophical mindset. He is careful, makes a decision only with confidence in its correctness, analyzing the past in its connection with the future. Does not like violent manifestations of emotions, appreciates coziness and comfort.
Their thoughtfulness encourages them to explore whatever their intuition supplies them with. Their desire for objectivity requires careful analysis of all information, and their impartiality and mobility ensures receptivity to unexpected and new facts, whatever they may be. This combination of predispositions leads to a paradoxical goal: they are forever trying to piece together an ever-increasing amount of data. However, the constant influx of new messages and facts prevents this. And as a result, all thoughts, ideas and plans, no matter how finally they are formulated, inevitably change at the last moment, as soon as “new data” about external or internal influences become available to the researcher. Therefore, they are in constant tension.
Master, craftsman(ISTP: introvert, sensory, logical, irrational). Sensations are for him the main source of knowledge of the world. Shows empathy, subtly feels and loves other people, rejects artificiality and falsehood. He is distinguished by a technical mindset, loves to work with his hands, while always meeting the required deadlines.
Focused on themselves, prone to objectivity in decision-making, they are more inclined to wait and analyze the situation rather than immediately offering their solution and rushing into battle. Their view of the world is extremely specific, but combined with their inherent openness, this can lead to more unpredictable actions than one might expect.
Contemplator, lyricist, healer(INFP: introvert, intuitive, ethical, irrational). A dreamy and lyrical person, he knows how to intuitively predict events, has a good understanding of people, loves and “feels” them. He has a good sense of humor and wins the affection of other people. This type attaches great importance to appearance. He doesn’t know how to save money, and while working he likes to rest for a long time.
The desire for self-knowledge, self-determination and agreement with oneself. Due to the qualities of introverts, their thoughts are directed towards themselves, the qualities of intuitionists provide them with a sense of the endless possibilities contained within a person. Sensitivity makes you think about how to use these opportunities for your own benefit and for the benefit of others, and the qualities of the perceiver allow you to remain receptive to the constant flow of new information.
Inventor, composer(ISFP: introvert, sensory, ethical, irrational). Knows how to enjoy ordinary life, calmly enduring monotony and routine. Gets along easily with people, respecting their personal space, while demanding the same attitude from them. Likes to joke, entertain, avoids conflict situations. He is often a helper and loves to feel needed and significant in the eyes of other people.
Gentle and caring, open and lively, thoughtful and reserved, practical and down to earth. These are people who do not want to lead and influence others, who do not strive to remake the world or even fully understand it, but accept it as it is.
(2nd century AD)
4. Martha Beck "Find Your North Star" (2001)
5. Bhagavad Gita
6. Bible
7. Robert Bly "Iron John" (1990)
8. Boethius “Philosophical Consolation” (6th century AD)
9. Alain de Botton "How Proust can change your life" (1997)
10. William Bridges, Transitions: Finding the Meaning of Life's Changes (1980)
11. David D. Burns "Feel the Joy" (1980)
12. Joseph Campbell and Bill Moers "The Power of Myth" (1987)
13. Richard Carlson "Don't sweat the small stuff... and everything is small stuff" (1997)
14. Dale Carnegie “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (1936)
15. Deepak Chopra "Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" (1994)
16. Paolo Coelho "The Alchemist" (1993)
17. Stephen Covey, “The Seven Habits of Truly Effective People” (1989)
18. Michal Csikzentmihalyi “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” (1990)
19. Dalai Lama and Howard S. Cutler "The Art of Happiness" (1998)
20. Dhammapada (teachings of Buddha)
21. Wayne Dyer, "Genuine Magic: Creating Miracles in Everyday Life" (1992)
22. Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance" (1841)
23. Clarissa Pinkola Estes "Women Who Run with the Wolves" (1992)
24. Viktor Frankl "Man's Search for Meaning" (1959)
25. Benjamin Franklin "Autobiography" (1790)
26. Shakti Gawain "Creative Visualization" (1978)
27. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Awareness: Why It May Matter More Than IQ (1995)
28. John Gray "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" (1992)
29. Louise Hay "You Can Be Healed" (1984)
30. James Hillman "The Soul Code: In Search of Character and Calling" (1996)
31. Feel Your Fear and Release It by Susan Jeffers (1987)
32. Richard Koch "The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Doing More with Less" (1998)
33. Helen J. Langer, Mindfulness: Choice and Control in Everyday Life (1989)
34. Lao Tzu "Tao Te Ching" (V-III centuries BC)
35. Maxwell Maltz "Psychocybernetics" (1960)
36. Abraham Maslow "Motivation and Personality" (1954)
37. Philip S. McGraw" Life Strategies: do what works, do what makes sense" (1999)
38. Thomas Moore, "Care for the Soul: Depth and Holiness in Everyday Life" (1992)
39. Joseph Murphy "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind" (1963)
40. Norman Vincent Peale "The Power of Positive Thinking" (1952)
41. Carol S. Pearson, The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By (1986)
42. M. Scott Peck "The Road Less Traveled"
43. Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrug" (1957)
44. Anthony Robbins "Awaken the Giant Within" (1991)
45. Florence Scavell Shinn, “The Game Called Life and How to Play It” (1925)
46. Martin Seligman “The Optimism That Can Be” (1991)
47. Samuel Smiles "Help Yourself" (1859)
48. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin "Phenomenon" (1955)
49. Henry Daved Thoreau "Walden, or Life in the Woods" (1854)
50. Marianne Williamson "Return to Love" (1994)
The numbering doesn't matter.
1. Alfred Adler. To Understand Human Nature (1927)
2. Gavin de Becker. The Gift of Fear: The Secret Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence (1997)
3. Eric Berne. Games People Play. Psychology of Human Relationships (1964)
4. Robert Bolton. People Skills: How to Stand Up for Your Opinions, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts (1979)
5. Edward de Bono. Lateral thinking. Textbook of Creative Thinking (1970)
6. Nathaniel Branden. The Psychology of Self-Esteem (1969)
7. Isabel Briggs Myers. Everyone has their own gift. MBTI: Defining Types (1980)
8. Luann Brizendine. Female Brain (2006)
9. David D. Burns. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (1980)
10. Robert Cialdini. The Psychology of Influence (1984)
11. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention (1996)
12. Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper. A Guide to Rational Living (1961)
13. Milton Erickson (by Sidney Rosen). My voice will remain with you. Milton Erickson's Teaching Stories (1982)
14. Erik Erikson. Young Luther. A Psychoanalytic Historical Study (1958)
15. Hans Eysenck. Dimensions of Personality (1947)
16. Susan Forward. Emotional Blackmail (1997)
17. Viktor Frankl. The Will to Meaning (1969)
18. Anna Freud. Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms (1936)
19. Sigmund Freud. The Interpretation of Dreams (1900)
20. Howard Gardner. Structure of the Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983)
21. Daniel Gilbert. Stumbling on Happiness (2006)
22. Malcolm Gladwell. Insight: The Power of Snap Decisions (2005)
23. Daniel Goleman. Emotional Intelligence at Work (1998)
24. John M. Gottman. Map of Love (1999)
25. Harry Harlow. The Nature of Love (1958)
26. Thomas E. Harris. I'm ok, you're ok (1967)
27. Eric Hoffer. True Believer: Personality, Power and Mass Social Movements (1951)
28. Karen Horney. Our Inner Conflicts (1945)
29. William James. Principles of Psychology (1890)
30. Carl Jung. Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (1968)
31. Alfred Kinsey. Sexual Behavior of the Human Female (1953)
32. Melanie Klein. Envy and Gratitude (1957)
33. R. D. Lang. The Shattered Self (1960)
34. Abraham Maslow. The Farthest Reaches of the Human Psyche (1971)
35. Stanley Milgram. Submission to Authority (1974)
36. Anne Moir and David Jessel. Sex of the Brain: The Real Differences Between Men and Women (1989)
37. I. P. Pavlov. Conditioned Reflexes (1927)
38. Fritz Perls. Theory of Gestalt Therapy (1951)
39. Jean Piaget. The Speech and Thinking of a Child (1923)
40. Steven Pinker. Blank Slate: A Modern View of the Denial of Human Nature (2002)
41. V. S. Ramachandran. Ghosts of the Mind: An Exploration of the Mysteries of Human Consciousness (1998)
42. Carl Rogers. The Making of Personality: A View of Psychotherapy (1961)
43. Oliver Sacks. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1970)
44. Barry Schwartz. The Paradox of Choice: Why "More" Means "Less" (2004)
45. Martin Seligman. The New Positive Psychology: A Scientific View of Happiness and Meaning in Life (2002)
46. Gail Sheehy. Age Crises (1976)
47. B. F. Skinner. Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1971)
48. Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. Difficult Conversations (1999)
49. William Styron. Visible Darkness (1990)
50. Robert E. Thayer. The Source of Everyday Mood: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress (1996)
All books on the list are of equal value. The numbering doesn't matter.
1. James Allen. The Way to Prosperity (1905)
2. (2000)
3. David Bach. Automatic Millionaire (2003)
4. F. T. Barnum. The Art of Making Money (1880)
5. Genevieve Berend. Your Invisible Power (1921)
6. John S. Bogle. The Little Book of Common Sense Investments (2007)
7. Richard Branson. Losing My Virginity (2002)
8. Lawrence Cunningham. Warren Buffett Essay (1997)
9. Rhonda Byrne. Mystery (2006)
10. Andrew Carnegie. The Gospel of Wealth (1889)
11. Felix Dennis. How to Get Rich (2006)
12. Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. Life or Trick (1992)
13. Peter Drucker. Business and Innovation (1985)
14. T. Harv Eker. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (2005)
15. Conor O'Clery. The Billionaire Who Wasn't There (2007)
16. Charles Fillmore. Prosperity (1936)
17. Joel L. Fleishman. Foundations (2007)
18. Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom (1962)
19. Thomas Friedman. Discworld (2005)
20. James Wallace and Jim Erickson. Hard Drive (1992)
21. Michael E. Gerber. The Entrepreneurship Myth - A New Look (1995)
22. Benjamin Graham. The Intelligent Investor (1949)
23. Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. Millionaire in a Minute (2002)
24. Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism (2000)
25. Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks. Ask and it will be given to you (2004)
26. Napoleon Hill. Keys to Wealth (1965)
27. Conrad Hilton. Be My Guest (1957)
28. Joe Carbo. How to Make Money by Being Lazy (1973)
29. Guy Kawasaki. The Art of the Start (2004)
30. Robert Kiyosaki. Cash Flow Quadrant (1998)
31. Peter Lynch. Win on Wall Street (1989)
32. Andrew McLean and Gary W. Eldred. Real Estate Investing (2005)
33. Jerrold Mundis. How to get out of a debt hole, not get into it again and live well (1988)
34. William Nickerson. How I Turned $1,000 into Three Million in Real Estate in My Free Time (1969)
35. Susie Orman. Women and Money (2007)
36. Paul Zane Pilzer. God Wants You to Be Rich (1995)
37. Katherine Ponder. Open Your Mind to Prosper (1971)
38. John Randolph Price. Book of Plenty (1987)
39. Dave Ramsay. Once again about financial peace of mind (2003)
40. Ayn Rand. Capitalism (1966)
41. Anita Roddick. Business Not as Usual (2000)
42. Sanaya Roman and Dwayne Packer. The Making of Money G (1988)
43. Howard Schultz. Pour Your Heart Into It (1997)
44. Marsha Sinetar. What you love brings you prosperity (1987)
45. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1778)
46. Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. My Millionaire Neighbor (1996)
47. Donald Trump. The Art of the Deal (1987)
48. Lynn Twist. Soul of Money (2003)
49. Max Weber. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-905)
50. Muhammad Yunus. Banker for the Poor (1999)
1. Horeisho Alger. Dick the Ragged One (1867)
2. Warren Bennis. How to Become Leaders (1989)
