[Vídeo] 9 Psychology Books You Must Have

Books that cannot be missing for those who study, are trained or like to know more about psychology.

Hello friends!

When we started studying mathematics, we learned set theory. In set A we have the inclusion of certain elements, in set B of others. Between the set A and B perhaps there is the intersection, we can think of the exclusion of elements, etc.

When we are going to make a list of the best we are mentally creating a set. In our case, first, the set of psychology books:

Group A: Psychology Books

Second, we have created the list of the best Psychology books.

Group B: Best psychology books

Third, from the best psychology books, we pulled out the books you should have.

In the organization of books, for those who don’t know, there is the faculty of librarianship. Not only for the organization of books, but, well, this is one of the functions of the profession. Before moving on to the list of 9 must-have books and the corresponding video, I would like to share a little story with you. read on The words and things, by Foucault.

Organization in sets

Jorge Luis Borges in the essay (The analytical language of John Wilkins) says of a certain Chinese encyclopedia, in which it is read that the animals of the world are divided into:

a) belonging to the emperor;

b) embalmed;

c) domesticated;

d) piglets;

e) mermaids;

f) fabulous,

g) free dogs;

h) included in this classification;

i) who act like crazy;

j) innumerable;

k) drawn with a very fine camel hair brush,

l) et cetera;

m) who have just broken the vase;

n) that from afar look like flies.

The list is very funny, as it makes us escape from the classification logic and overlaps countless sets. I share it to show how every creation of a set is arbitrary. For example, in our List of 9 Psychology Books You Must Have I include 2 books on psychoanalysis. Is this possible?

In my opinion yes, due to the great influence that Freud had on psychology. And not only in clinical psychology. Let’s move on to the 9 Books:

9 Psychology books you must have

See the video:

1) Book of Psychology, (various authors)

2) History of Psychology, by Schultz and Schultz

3) The Weave of Concepts, by Renato Mezan

4) Introductory Lectures to Psychoanalysis, Parts 1, 2 and 3, by Freud

5) Jung’s Memories, Dreams and Reflections

6) Man and his Symbols, by Jung

7) On behaviorism, by Skinner

8) Skinner’s Behavior Analysis

7) DSM-5, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses

In the end, it’s a hopeless task to make a list of best books, because we’ll keep feeling that something is missing. My choice is based on books that are useful for study – like the first two that are more general and of constant reference.

Mezan’s books about Freud and Freud’s book help us to start studying psychoanalysis. Anyone who has studied a little psychology will know how psychoanalysis influences their development. Even in cognitive psychology we see this influence.

Jung’s books are a very personal choice. After all, I’ve studied Jung since before entering college, I’m doing a PhD on his red book and yours Complete Works and we have the Courses on the website www.cursojung.com

However, the two books by the creator of analytical psychology also help us to understand the historical moment of the emergence of psychology. Jung was born in 1875, very close to the date of creation of the first psychology laboratory by Wundt in 1879.

Through Memory, Dreams and Reflections we can see how, in the beginning, to study psychology it was necessary to study medicine. In a way, we were also able to visualize how the emergence of scientific psychology (and psychiatry worthy of the name) occurred almost concurrently with the birth of psychoanalysis.

The man and his symbols, on the other hand, it is an excellent introduction to the vast field of the unconscious, which Jung liked to call the unknown. There we see the explanation of dreams, symbols and archetypes, types of people and the most fundamental process he called the individuation process, the process of becoming who you are.

Continuing on the list and leaving aside the history of psychology, psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, I recommend two easy-to-read books for anyone who likes behavioral psychology. Behaviorism or behaviorism is a theoretical line quite different from psychoanalysis.

In the history of psychology, let us consider 3 great forces: psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanism-existentialism.

The assumption of behavioral theory is that we can study psychology from behavior. The thesis is that human (and animal) behavior has rules that are objective and that are like laws, that is, behavior happens according to function relations (old nomenclature: causes and effects).

To study behaviorism, I suggest two books.

about behaviorism that explains the theoretical assumptions and undoes a series of myths that were created around the approach and Behavior Analysis – both by Skinner – is quite didactic and self-explanatory about the main concepts.

Finally, we have the DSM-5, which is one of the most criticized books by almost everyone, but which gathers statistics on the prevalence of mental illnesses and the classification and definition of what constitutes each mental disorder.

Conclusion

From our short list, we ended up not citing the books by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow that are representatives of the third force of psychology.

Evidently, it was also missing to mention books from each area of ​​activity in our field: organizational psychology, school, HR, social, etc.

But as the objective was to cite the main books for those who want to start studying psychology, I believe that the list is defensible.

If you want to include a book (or more books) in our list of books that every psychology student and professional should have, please leave your comment below!

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