This vein is so rich that we could hardly wait to mine it. Psychology became a science in its own right in the mid-19th Century; few such professionals have skimped on publishing since then. So you can imagine the trove of titles we had to choose from.
Should we build our list from a historical perspective or explore books that address today's psychological conditions? The Paradox of Choice seemed to mock us; you'll read about that book later in this article.
Pushing that paradox aside, we chose the best psychology books to suit our times. And you're welcome to join the discussion. You should let us know which are your best psychology books in the comments section.
Best Psychology Books: Before We Start
Note that there's a fine line between psychology texts and self-help books. The first category explores the human psyche and its drives across several themes. The second delivers targeted information people need for self-improvement. For instance, Alain de Botton's book, The School of Life, aims to equip readers with tools to navigate the modern world.
By contrast, Jon Ronson's The Psychopath Test relates the true story of a man who faked psychopathy to get out of a prison sentence. Rather than making himself a caricature of lunacy, he posed as rational, intelligent and in control. It worked and he now serves his sentence in a mental institution.
After laying out those facts, Mr Ronson points out that company leaders and politicians exhibit the same characteristics. He then draws the conclusion that psychopaths are everywhere; indeed, they rule the world. He concludes by inviting the reader to speculate whether knowing about the psychopaths in our midst is useful.
These two works have different intents but you'll find both of them in your bookstore's psychology section. This blurring of lines - of what's psychology and what feeds the self makes it difficult to choose the best psychology books.
Not that there's anything wrong with books about achieving personal happiness. But we're looking for works that provoke discussion and advance psychological study. Thus, we give the first type of book a pass and talk only about the best psychology books that deliver insights into human psychology.
Psychology Books Must-Read: The Body Keeps the Score
Dr Bessel van der Kolk dedicated his career to studying trauma and helping patients heal. Along the way, he discovered that trauma, far from being only a psychological wound, changes the victims' bodies and brains. He posits that healing should move beyond talk therapy and medication to include neurofeedback, meditation, yoga and more.
Dr van der Kolk narrates his patients' journeys and his conclusions with compassion, leaving the door open for more discoveries. Thus, some of today's most famous psychologists, physicians and geneticists are exploring the genetic link that proves inherited trauma. This psychology book must-read is the first step in your journey to understanding epigenetics and the physical effects of lingering trauma.
Best Psychology Books: Games People Play
As we go about our business, we constantly make judgments, calculations and adjustments to get what we want. That doesn't make us bad; it's how humans and society work.
But as our world becomes more competitive, the games we play take a more harmful turn.
Today, we see the fallout of this hyper-competitiveness. Revenge porn is an example of such; the person posting such content needs to obliterate the one who hurt them. Social media has expanded the games we play; such platforms are full of braggarts proclaiming they're better than the rest of us.
The late Dr Eric Berne was a psychiatrist but his insights into psychology qualify this work as one of the best psychology books ever written. He first published it in 1964, with updates and edits in 1978 and 1996.
The language used in Games People Play might feel a bit out-of-date but the observations are valid for our times.
A Psychology Books Must-Read: Survival of the Friendliest
Conventional wisdom states that humans have gotten as far as we have because we have the most developed cognition. We can imagine things and then, we create what we imagined. As a species, we're curious, too. Is that really all it took for the human animal to advance so far beyond other species?
Dr Brian Hare and his co-author, Vanessa Woods posit the Theory of Evolutionary Friendliness is what got us where we're at. It states that humans learned to domesticate themselves. This self-domestication allows us to communicate and coordinate with others, suppressing our instincts to fight rivals.
As an anthropologist, Vanessa Woods is not on the list of famous female psychologists but her work ranks with the best of them. Dr Hare teaches evolutionary biology at Duke University even as he continues to research cognitive evolution.
Together, they wrote one of the best psychology books in recent times.
The Paradox of Choice: A Psychology Book Must-Read
Finally, we come to the paradox mentioned in this article's introduction. It describes having so much to choose from that doing so becomes overwhelming. Let's say you're in a shop with lots of clothes in all styles and colours, and lots of people milling about. All as hip music blares from the loudspeakers.
All that input makes it impossible to decide anything. In his book, Dr Barry Schwartz reasons that too much stimulus debilitates and overwhelms people's ability to choose. He argues that choice overload impacts people psychologically. By reducing the array of choices, shops could help reduce consumer anxiety.
Though not on the list of the world's most famous psychologists, Dr Schwartz's 2004 Paradox is gaining wider traction. Especially now, with money so tight and consumers more mindful of every penny they spend. And as shops go above and beyond to attract consumers. Reading this book will help you understand why less truly is more.
The Psychology of Pandemics: One of the Best Psychology Books
Dr Steven Taylor's tome was just a few months ahead of its time. When he pitched the title to his publisher, that worthy thought it had potential but nobody would pick it up. He approached another publishing house, which greenlighted the project in 2019. A few months later, the coronavirus held the world hostage.
Dr Taylor studied past pandemic events to inform his work. He examined people's distaste for hygiene protocols and safety precautions, and their refusal to vaccinate.
In his book, he explores the psychological impacts pandemics cause, such as uncertainty, social isolation and dealing with loss.
As you go through each chapter, you'll find patterns of behaviour from past pandemics repeated in the one we lived through. Lashing out in fear, xenophobia and aggressive behaviours are common adaptive techniques in such times.
Dr Taylor stresses the importance of psychology in pandemic times, and that psychological techniques could curb pandemic spread.
A Psychology Books Must-Read: Obedience to Authority
In 1961, Dr Stanley Milgram conducted one of the most controversial psychological experiments in psychology's history. He recruited 40 male participants, telling them the experiment was meant to test memory and learning.
In reality, he designed it to test subjects' willingness to comply with authority.
The experiment called for the participant to administer what they thought were increasingly stronger electric shocks to a 'student'. Dr Milgram found that participants would continue to administer 'electric shocks' as long as they were under orders to do so.
The experiment's biggest revelation was the participants' willingness to exceed their moral boundaries to obey.
Dr Milgram initiated this experiment at the height of the Nazi war crimes trials in Israel. The defendants' constant refrain, "We were just following orders" prompted him to investigate how far one might go under orders.
He discovered that 65% of his study's participants were willing to administer 'lethal shocks' under orders.
The Lucifer Effect: The Psychology Books Must-Read
The Stanford Prison Experiment (SFE) is arguably the world's most renowned psychological study. In 1971, Dr Phil Zimbardo recruited 24 volunteers to participate in a 'psychological study of prison life'.
He divided the participants into prisoner and guard groups and gave them clothing to reflect their roles. He then ushered them into the university's Psychology Faculty basement.
The 'prisoners' got no special instructions but the 'guards' were encouraged towards sadism and cruelty. During the first couple of days, all the participants thought it was a lark but soon, 'prisoners' exhibited clear psychological distress. Dr Zimbardo planned to run the experiment for two weeks but he had to call it off after only six days.
Thirty-six years after the experiment, Dr Zimbardo published this written account. In it, he discloses his thoughts and conclusions about the original SFE and then details more than 30 years of research he conducted. He expounds on the social and psychological factors that drive good people to commit immoral acts.
Dr Zimbardo draws parallels between his aborted SFE and prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib. He also references the Milgram Experiment, the Asch Paradigm and Dr Albert Bandura's studies on moral disengagement, among others.
In all, it reads like the Who's Who of controversial but famous psychology experiments.
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