The Conflicted Mind : And Why Psychology Has Failed to Deal with It

Human beings are paradoxical. We think of ourselves as positive and fair-minded, but our behaviour lets us down. We are health conscious, yet we still continue to smoke. We love our family, but say terrible things to them. The Conflicted Mind explores how the conflicting subsystems of the human mind, one slow, deliberate and conscious, one fast, automatic and unconscious, operate together to such telling effect. This unique book examines classic social psychological research in this new light, including Allport's research on conflicted racial attitudes, Festinger's research on cognitive dissonance, Milgram's obedience experiments, Bateson's research on conflicted communication, Pennebaker's work on emotional disclosure to resolve conflicting memories, and Dichter's clever manipulation of the conflicted mind to sell cigarettes. Geoffrey Beattie shows that these classics of social psychology, although imaginative, were flawed, which social psychology must remedy if it is to make the kind of impact it aspires to. Written in the author's distinct open and engaging style, The Conflicted Mind offers a groundbreaking perspective on why we act in the way we do, and is a fascinating resource for researchers, specialists, and students in the field, as well as the general reader. Book jacket.