The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills
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- Create Date：2021-06-23 06:51:58
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：Jesse Singal
- ISBN：0374239800
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Summary
An investigative journalist exposes the many holes in today's bestselling behavioral science， and argues that the trendy， TED-Talk-friendly psychological interventions that are so in vogue at the moment will never be enough to truly address social injustice and inequality。
With their viral TED talks， bestselling books， and counter-intuitive remedies for complicated problems， psychologists and other social scientists have become the reigning thinkers of our time。 Grit and "power posing" promised to help overcome entrenched inequalities in schools and the workplace; the Army spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a positive psychology intervention geared at preventing PTSD in its combat soldiers; and the implicit association test swept the nation on the strength of the claim that it can reveal unconscious biases and reduce racism in police departments and human resources departments。
But what if much of the science underlying these blockbuster ideas is dubious or fallacious？ What if Americans' longstanding preference for simplistic self-help platitudes is exerting a pernicious influence on the way behavioral science is communicated and even funded， leading respected academics and the media astray？
In The Quick Fix， Jesse Singal examines the most influential ideas of recent decades and the shaky science that supports them。 He begins with the California legislator who introduced self-esteem into classrooms around the country in the 1980s and the Princeton political scientist who warned of an epidemic of youthful "superpredators" in the 1990s。 In both cases， a much-touted idea had little basis in reality， but had a massive impact。 Turning toward the explosive popularity of 21st-century social psychology， Singal examines the misleading appeal of entertaining lab results and critiques the idea that subtle unconscious cues shape our behavior。 As he shows， today's popular behavioral science emphasizes repairing， improving， and optimizing individuals rather than truly understanding and confronting the larger structural forces that drive social ills。
Like Anand Giridharadas's Winners Take All， The Quick Fix is a fresh and powerful indictment of the thought leaders and influencers who cut corners as they sell the public half-baked solutions to problems that deserve more serious treatment。
With their viral TED talks， bestselling books， and counter-intuitive remedies for complicated problems， psychologists and other social scientists have become the reigning thinkers of our time。 Grit and "power posing" promised to help overcome entrenched inequalities in schools and the workplace; the Army spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a positive psychology intervention geared at preventing PTSD in its combat soldiers; and the implicit association test swept the nation on the strength of the claim that it can reveal unconscious biases and reduce racism in police departments and human resources departments。
But what if much of the science underlying these blockbuster ideas is dubious or fallacious？ What if Americans' longstanding preference for simplistic self-help platitudes is exerting a pernicious influence on the way behavioral science is communicated and even funded， leading respected academics and the media astray？
In The Quick Fix， Jesse Singal examines the most influential ideas of recent decades and the shaky science that supports them。 He begins with the California legislator who introduced self-esteem into classrooms around the country in the 1980s and the Princeton political scientist who warned of an epidemic of youthful "superpredators" in the 1990s。 In both cases， a much-touted idea had little basis in reality， but had a massive impact。 Turning toward the explosive popularity of 21st-century social psychology， Singal examines the misleading appeal of entertaining lab results and critiques the idea that subtle unconscious cues shape our behavior。 As he shows， today's popular behavioral science emphasizes repairing， improving， and optimizing individuals rather than truly understanding and confronting the larger structural forces that drive social ills。
Like Anand Giridharadas's Winners Take All， The Quick Fix is a fresh and powerful indictment of the thought leaders and influencers who cut corners as they sell the public half-baked solutions to problems that deserve more serious treatment。
Reviews
Stephanie Davis
，
Great review of the need for skepticism and Unquestionable Research Methodology。 I am coining a new acronym as he did so often URM。 Can't wait to use this with my AP Psychology classes。 Great review of the need for skepticism and Unquestionable Research Methodology。 I am coining a new acronym as he did so often URM。 Can't wait to use this with my AP Psychology classes。 。。。more
Kaden Powell
，
An interesting book。 Vaguely reminds me of Freakonomics， but maybe not quite as fascinating。 I appreciate the nuanced arguments， but it can drag on a little。 And， unfortunately， leaves me， as a lay person， skeptical （which is probably good）， but also confused and distrustful （which might be bad）。 Worth a read to understand a lot of the cultural reasons why self-help， etc。 is such a big deal。
Michael Fraser
，
Fascinating examples of some debunked psychology science
Eric
，
Jesse Singal has long been one of my favorite writers and this book doesn't disappoint。 Scientific skepticism and social sciences: this is totally my jam。 One reason I loved this book is it showed me just how much TED talks have been lying to me， and how much social science I've been taking for granted that it turns out is not well supported by the evidence。 Maybe some people dislike learning those sorts of truths， but for me it's refreshing and illuminating and I love the increase in knowledge Jesse Singal has long been one of my favorite writers and this book doesn't disappoint。 Scientific skepticism and social sciences: this is totally my jam。 One reason I loved this book is it showed me just how much TED talks have been lying to me， and how much social science I've been taking for granted that it turns out is not well supported by the evidence。 Maybe some people dislike learning those sorts of truths， but for me it's refreshing and illuminating and I love the increase in knowledge that comes from having to modify some of my worldview。 I especially appreciated how he made the case that much of the social psychology "quick fixes" were about individual behavior modification which ignores the larger societal forces that should change。 。。。more
Stetson
，
Jesse Singal's The Quick Fix is booked as a sober dismantling of the "PrimeWorld" of behavioral science。 "PrimeWorld" is "a worldview fixated on the idea that people's behavior is largely driven - and can be affected - by subtle forces，" such as "unconscious influences" and other individual-based， low-cost interventions。 Toward this end， Singal's project succeeds but does so in a wandering and sometimes ambivalent fashion。 Thus， The Quick Fix makes for an interesting but periodically frustrating Jesse Singal's The Quick Fix is booked as a sober dismantling of the "PrimeWorld" of behavioral science。 "PrimeWorld" is "a worldview fixated on the idea that people's behavior is largely driven - and can be affected - by subtle forces，" such as "unconscious influences" and other individual-based， low-cost interventions。 Toward this end， Singal's project succeeds but does so in a wandering and sometimes ambivalent fashion。 Thus， The Quick Fix makes for an interesting but periodically frustrating or befuddling read。There is a clear need for popular criticisms of flashy yet low quality， non-replicable science that is laundered through various media and journalistic venues often for sociopolitical purposes。 There are disturbing institutional investments in flimsy interventions like Martin Seligman's Penn Resilience Program or bunk instruments like the implicit association test （IAT）。 However， Singal's criticisms often fail to pack a punch and sometimes chase undeserving targets （e。g。 Cass Sunstein， Richard Thaler， and Daniel Kahneman）。 The poor choice in targets， especially late in the book， is where Singal's writing grows a bit discursive because he has to dedicate significant portions of time to praising the concepts and researchers that he'll later critique in a marginal way。 Instead of squandering scarce scrutiny on well supported behavioral science concepts like nudging， it would have behooved Singal to focus more on what plausible and effective alternative solutions exist to the purported "quick fixes。" Singal regularly gestures at institutional policy as solutions but provides few examples of what this looks like and fails to spend time identifying which sociopolitical problems need institutional solutions。 What the reader is left to surmise is that Singal thinks negative behavioral outcomes associated with low socioeconomic status result from complex， multi-causal， system-level processes that correspondingly require institutional interventions。 These problems are supposedly remedied by wealth redistribution and means-tested social programs （some of the tangible interventions Singal gestures to）。 Unfortunately， we already know such system-level interventions are often as ineffective yet more costly than "PrimeWorld" solutions。 Moreover， this framing elides the sources of the inequality Singal appears to abhor。 Ironically， some of the stronger empirical explanations for said inequality emanate from the behavioral sciences， specifically behavioral genetics - a topic Singal studiously avoids in The Quick Fix though makes some subtle nods at （Singal is definitely aware of this field and its major takeaways）。I still recommend The Quick Fix。 It is just that because I know and respect Singal's work， I expected and wished for more out of this book。 。。。more
Ravi Raman
，
Eye opening I’ve devoured my share of psychological self-help nonfiction。 From power poses， to priming， to life hacks; pop psychology seems to be more popular than ever。 This book exposes the truth about these findings。 All too often constructed on shaky data， and forced into the limelight with the appeal of TED presentations， much modern self-help literature offer simple solutions to very complex problems。 There’s something in human nature that seems to desire such remedies。 However， are they t Eye opening I’ve devoured my share of psychological self-help nonfiction。 From power poses， to priming， to life hacks; pop psychology seems to be more popular than ever。 This book exposes the truth about these findings。 All too often constructed on shaky data， and forced into the limelight with the appeal of TED presentations， much modern self-help literature offer simple solutions to very complex problems。 There’s something in human nature that seems to desire such remedies。 However， are they true？If you’ve ever been curious about the validity of the modern self-help and psychology movement， read this book。 You’ll come away with a more critical eye。 I for one， will continue to read many of those books， but will be less apt to buy in to what they’re saying。 。。。more
Erik Larsson
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A nuanced criticism of what Singal calls "primeworld"-defined by him as a wordlview that views human behavior as "shaped rather easily by primes and other subtle influences — an irrational bias here， a too-pessimistic mind-set there — and that these influences can often be easily dispelled with low-cost psychological tweaks that target individuals to help solve societal problems"。 The seduction of this worldview lies in its easy， often monocausal diagnoses for solutions to social problems that a A nuanced criticism of what Singal calls "primeworld"-defined by him as a wordlview that views human behavior as "shaped rather easily by primes and other subtle influences — an irrational bias here， a too-pessimistic mind-set there — and that these influences can often be easily dispelled with low-cost psychological tweaks that target individuals to help solve societal problems"。 The seduction of this worldview lies in its easy， often monocausal diagnoses for solutions to social problems that are in fact incredibly complicated。 These well-intentioned solutions， from advocating for increased self-esteem， to calling for more grit， to an Implicit Bias test for highlighting prejudice， may have some effect， Singal notes， but the incentives for selling a hyperbolic psychological panacea often leads to overhyped and empirically under-supported claims seeing extraordinary investments in public and private spending。 Singal carefully documents the rise of popular appeal in certain "fads" （not all of which are self-helpy; the third chapter charts the ascent of the notion of a "superpredator" and its derogatory effects on public safety policy）， and then reveals the shortcomings of such an approach （often in the form of peer-reviewed meta-analyses）。 The larger replication crisis in psychology is explored， as well as the often difficult to predict lab-to-real world external validity of such measures。 Overall， really well explained。 Explains how statistical noise and cherry-picking of data can lead to a clinical confirmation-bias。 Kudos to Singal for also not swinging the pendulum the other way and throwing out all of these findings as being completely without merit。 An important book for all social scientists。 Calls for a careful and deliberate scientific method （and statistical review） which acknowledges uncertainty and understands the improbability that any best-selling fad idea， particularly ones that appeal to us because they seem to say we have greater control over our circumstances than we in fact do， truly serves as a panacea for our social ills。 Hope this book and others like it lead to better science！ 。。。more
Kayson Fakhar
，
This book has a very interesting point that systemic issues cannot be solved with some tiny adjustments or "quick fixes"。 It goes through a bunch of examples that psychology tried to apply these quick fixes， even at a national level， with little empirical background and it all ended with just wasting resources。 I liked the point， the narration， examples， topics， but what I think was a reason for me to drift away was the fact that it's so U。S-centered。 I'm sure if you live in the U。S this will be This book has a very interesting point that systemic issues cannot be solved with some tiny adjustments or "quick fixes"。 It goes through a bunch of examples that psychology tried to apply these quick fixes， even at a national level， with little empirical background and it all ended with just wasting resources。 I liked the point， the narration， examples， topics， but what I think was a reason for me to drift away was the fact that it's so U。S-centered。 I'm sure if you live in the U。S this will be much more fun but for me， there were some details that I have no idea about and no interest in。 Overall， it's a solid 4/5。 。。。more
Rishabh Srivastava
，
This book is half a study of “fad” social science ideas that were falsely adopted by mainstream politicians， and half the author’s rants on social issues。 The former is great， the latter is notMy main takeaways from the book were:- Often， movements that are started by activists instead of researchers gain so much momentum that it becomes impossible to stop them。 Because by that time， researchers don’t have the political/economic/funding incentives to discredit bad policy - The fads that spread t This book is half a study of “fad” social science ideas that were falsely adopted by mainstream politicians， and half the author’s rants on social issues。 The former is great， the latter is notMy main takeaways from the book were:- Often， movements that are started by activists instead of researchers gain so much momentum that it becomes impossible to stop them。 Because by that time， researchers don’t have the political/economic/funding incentives to discredit bad policy - The fads that spread the most are often the ones that ask the least of us。 Like raising the self esteem of black kids in inner city neighbourhoods to improve their learning outcomes instead of hiring better teachers - Claims that are nuanced and scientifically defensible are often not the ones that make for a good story and spread- The incentive of of thought leaders is “what is the one idea that explains something massive， never mind the nuance”。 Researcher care more about the nuances around an idea- Decision makers who don’t get their hands dirty don’t know the difference between what’s a fad and what’s substantive。 So the thought leaders often beat out the serious researchers when it comes to public acceptance - When people chose to be less skeptical about a new “thought leadership” idea， it’s because it speaks to something that they already want to believe 。。。more
Lara Simone Bhasin
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I enjoyed the chapter about implicit bias tests and the one about power posing， but I guess I just wasn’t that interested in the other topics。
Andrew
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。。。I realized that I had simply assumed the test did what its most enthusiastic proponents said it did， despite the rather audacious nature of their claim: that a ten-minute computer task with no connection to the real world could predict subtle forms of real-world discrimination。-p5， on the IAT The above is Jesse Singal reflecting on the know well-known IAT （implicit association test）。 What catapulted the test into every major corporate boardroom and university classroom was enthusiasm about or 。。。I realized that I had simply assumed the test did what its most enthusiastic proponents said it did， despite the rather audacious nature of their claim: that a ten-minute computer task with no connection to the real world could predict subtle forms of real-world discrimination。-p5， on the IAT The above is Jesse Singal reflecting on the know well-known IAT （implicit association test）。 What catapulted the test into every major corporate boardroom and university classroom was enthusiasm about or misunderstanding of pretty weak data。 Many smart people are still unaware of this。The IAT actually has quite small effects （not zero， but of questionable real-world significance， and certainly less than it was “sold” as having）。 Similar concepts have been misunderstood or poorly communicated by their authors， predominantly in psychology or adjacent fields， thereby propelling those inflated research findings into the TED Talk stratosphere。 Some of it is publish-or-perish。 Some is p-hacking。 Some is the public’s limited attention span or lack of depth of understanding of science。Jesse Singal is an excellent guide for the average reader， who doesn’t have time to sift through the recent explosion of pop psychological concepts。 Whether it’s superpredators of the 1980s and 1990s （basically mythical）， the IAT， racial sensitivity training， the Penn Resilience Program， the idea of “grit”， power posing （viz。 physically pose in a certain way and you will assume that psychological mindset！）， misunderstandings about racism in policing （a big one）， White Fragility， or microaggressions – the literature is likely less impressive than you have been led to believe。He entreats us:“。。。push back against conceptual fuzziness and insist that terms， particularly terms that are novel or emotionally arresting or both， be defined in a careful， coherent， falsifiable way。” 。。。more
Matthew Mechtly
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Singal does a tremendous job of summarizing much of the more complex academic literature for lay-people like me who don't have the time to go through the dozens of papers related t0 power-posing （and several other popular psychology trends）。 Following his dissection of the large academic corpus in many domains， he then points out that these popular psychology fads typically have the same structure: simple， minimally taxing "hacks" that promise significant benefits for minimal investment。 Singal Singal does a tremendous job of summarizing much of the more complex academic literature for lay-people like me who don't have the time to go through the dozens of papers related t0 power-posing （and several other popular psychology trends）。 Following his dissection of the large academic corpus in many domains， he then points out that these popular psychology fads typically have the same structure: simple， minimally taxing "hacks" that promise significant benefits for minimal investment。 Singal proceeds to advocate more systemic changes， claiming that the appropriate level to try to solve many of these problems is larger societal changes: these quick-fixes don't work， so we have to change the larger institutions as a whole in order to change anything。While I appreciate his work documenting how many of these pop-psych fads are ill-founded at best， I think he ignores a large portion of the solution space entirely， refusing to even admit that it's potential or offering a preemptive rebuttal。 That neglected category is more difficult changes at the individual level。 To address many of these problems， we can change institutions （obviously something that is very difficult and often requires a large majority of people） or individual can change themselves。 Yes， within the category of individuals changing themselves is a small subset of these pop-psych "solutions" that take 5 minutes to do and don't change anything， as Singal proved。 However， there's also a larger set of more difficult interventions at the individual level that Singal doesn't even acknowledge exists。 I found this exclusion somewhere between poorly-considered and dishonest。Simplified example to demonstrate exactly what I mean with respect to the argument progression。 Problem: too many people are obese。 Pop-psych solution that doesn't actually work: imagine yourself losing weight for 3 minutes every day until the weight magically falls off。 Or take apple cider vinegar。Singal's response: intervene at the societal/structural level （perhaps soda or fast food taxes in this example）。Me: Jesse， do you think hard interventions that you didn't even mention might work？ Perhaps people should take responsibility for themselves and exercise？In short， I think his prescription was purposefully narrow， though I appreciate his thoroughness on documenting the problem of pop-psych solutions。 。。。more
Patrick Hurley
，
This is a really interesting read - the overall premise is that the author is recounting a number of social psychology "half-baked" ideas that catch on and become widely disseminated， with various negative consequences， and even heavily invested in despite flimsy or incomplete evidence supporting their effect。 The overall story of what's going on is that "when society accepts a false story， it's often because that story tells society something it wants to hear， or something that seems to explain This is a really interesting read - the overall premise is that the author is recounting a number of social psychology "half-baked" ideas that catch on and become widely disseminated， with various negative consequences， and even heavily invested in despite flimsy or incomplete evidence supporting their effect。 The overall story of what's going on is that "when society accepts a false story， it's often because that story tells society something it wants to hear， or something that seems to explain what's going on at the moment。" The author tackles a number of different topics spanning several decades （e。g。， self-esteem interventions; the concept of super predators; power-posing; resilience training for soldiers suffering from PTSD; grit; implicit bias and the implicit association test; social priming; and nudges）。 Overall he does a fantastic job of recounting each of these topics， how their message was overstated and projected to the population at large， and why they caught on and became popular。 He also does a great job of explaining， in layman's terms， research issues like failures to replicate studies' findings， questionable research practices like p-hacking and HARKing， and others。 The only major gripe I had with the book is that the chapter on nudges felt like it was thrown in as an afterthought and didn't follow the same logic/thesis as the rest of the book。 Every other chapter in the book followed the formula of recounting ideas that were indeed based upon exaggerated effects or "half-baked" ideas。 That is， these ideas were extremely limited in value， but became popularized and people believed they were real effects while they often had no impact whatsoever。 The chapter on nudges changed this slightly and reads more like "yeah， nudges actually DO work， but to really change things we have to make structural changes to our society to address the underlying problems。" This is undoubtedly true， but that doesn't make nudges a half-baked idea or an idea that has no value or legitimate influence on behavior。 It felt forced and disjointed to me。 To me， the author would've been better served filling this chapter with some other social psychology topic that has come under scrutiny during the replication crisis， like ego depletion （and I say this as someone who has published multiple depletion papers）。 That would've tied in more closely to his central thesis and wouldn't have caused the mismatch in messaging right near the end of the book。 The final chapter/conclusion of the book rescues the nudge mis-step a bit， as the author delves into some of the reasons why society comes to accept these half-baked ideas and why they become popular and widely disseminated。 I thought this was really masterfully done， and really put a bow on the rest of the book。 All in all， I'd recommend reading this if you're into popular psychology / social psychology work and the impact it can have on our daily lives。 It is eye-opening at points and will give lay people a really good idea of how to properly contextualize this type of material and perhaps be more critically discerning when reading about popular research findings in the future。 All said， I would give this a 4。25/5。 。。。more
Janna
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Listen to my review on the Audiobook Reviews in 5 Minutes podcast: https://podcast。jannastam。com/episode。。。As a communications professional， I see the language of positive psychology and terms like grit as inextricable from current trends in employee communications。 Many senior leaders use these ideas and associated language to sound authoritative and lend scientific credibility to the workplace culture。 I have personally attended employee meetings within the last 10 years where power posing， a Listen to my review on the Audiobook Reviews in 5 Minutes podcast: https://podcast。jannastam。com/episode。。。As a communications professional， I see the language of positive psychology and terms like grit as inextricable from current trends in employee communications。 Many senior leaders use these ideas and associated language to sound authoritative and lend scientific credibility to the workplace culture。 I have personally attended employee meetings within the last 10 years where power posing， a popular life hack in which people stand in a posture that they mentally associate with being powerful， like Wonder Woman， was demonstrated and encouraged as a way for women to gain confidence and win in the workplace。 And yes， I participated in power posing and I’ll own that cringe-worthy moment。 It seemed harmless enough at the time。 I have also been encouraged by a past employer to take the IAT test and I have helped to facilitate unconscious bias training workshops as part of an Inclusion and Diversity initiative。 Looking back at my personal experience and evolving beliefs， combined with Singal’s argument， I feel less discouraged by my own skepticism over these psychological interventions and more likely to question the latest behavioural science headlines。 Singal’s ideas are well-organized and his consistent narration style makes this an easy listen。 。。。more
Lynn
，
Wasn’t sure what I was getting with this book but it turned out to be very good。 Often when I pick up a psychology book， it is a thin， not very intellectual and often “pop” psychology that stinks of BS。 Even when this was against pop psychology， you never know。 But this author is the real deal， he writes for The Atlantic which seems increasingly like pop psychology and science in the last year so I worried there too。 Author goes over all the way people embrace pop psychology and magnify it for f Wasn’t sure what I was getting with this book but it turned out to be very good。 Often when I pick up a psychology book， it is a thin， not very intellectual and often “pop” psychology that stinks of BS。 Even when this was against pop psychology， you never know。 But this author is the real deal， he writes for The Atlantic which seems increasingly like pop psychology and science in the last year so I worried there too。 Author goes over all the way people embrace pop psychology and magnify it for financial gain。 It’s also very murky and can be interpreted many ways。 Most people are never going to real the actual research on something and more likely to look to unreliable sources and authorities。 And say and do what everyone else does because it brings approval and community even if it’s not true。 Brings to mind everyone going Gluten Free but never bother to get a blood test to see if they need it or not。 They often claim to “feel better”。 I’ve never even met anyone who had the blood test and diagnosed as allergic to gluten。 Anyway， the author brings up the popular claim of “mental health”， how super predators came to be a concept， grit， positive thinking， and more。 Education is very susceptible to lousy research and invalid repetitions that go on for ever。 Learning styles and four pillars of reading come to mind。 。。。more
Allyson
，
Listened to Audible。 I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting and had previously heard the author speak on a podcast。 I think unfortunately there was not enough interesting content to fill an entire book。 His premise would be better stated in a 45-60 minute podcast or long-form article。 The takeaway was rather evident at the very beginning， to not trust all hyped social psychology trends。 By diving into the flawed research methodology behind 'power posing' and 'grit'， I didn't beco Listened to Audible。 I thought the premise of this book sounded interesting and had previously heard the author speak on a podcast。 I think unfortunately there was not enough interesting content to fill an entire book。 His premise would be better stated in a 45-60 minute podcast or long-form article。 The takeaway was rather evident at the very beginning， to not trust all hyped social psychology trends。 By diving into the flawed research methodology behind 'power posing' and 'grit'， I didn't become a more enlightened person and my individual activities won't change。 Would not recommend this book。。。maybe try to catch the author on a podcast。 。。。more
Nathan
，
In depth dive into some of the more "self help" psychology that has been popularized by TED talks and other similar platforms。 This book really talks about the replication crisis and how a combination of over-claiming research press releases， cuts to important science reporting jobs， and politicians looking for an easy out will push "novel" psychology ideas。 Often these concepts have little actual evidence behind them but are pushed as revolutionary ways to solve large social problems。 The ideas In depth dive into some of the more "self help" psychology that has been popularized by TED talks and other similar platforms。 This book really talks about the replication crisis and how a combination of over-claiming research press releases， cuts to important science reporting jobs， and politicians looking for an easy out will push "novel" psychology ideas。 Often these concepts have little actual evidence behind them but are pushed as revolutionary ways to solve large social problems。 The ideas stemming from these "quick fix" ideas put all the pressure on an individual to become their own solution to societal problems outside of their control instead of re-evaluating certain governmental and economic structures that lead to poor outcomes for a large swath of society。 Would recommend。 。。。more
Daniel
，
This book is a great rebuttal of the fad psychology polluting our LinkedIn feeds。 In a nutshell: if it's too good to be true， it probably is。 I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is a "complete takedown of everything you learned in PSYC 101。" As someone who literally took a class called PSYC 100， I would say the bread & butter foundations of the field: things like Operant Conditioning， Classical conditioning， and good experimental design still remain intact。 Much of the best work being done This book is a great rebuttal of the fad psychology polluting our LinkedIn feeds。 In a nutshell: if it's too good to be true， it probably is。 I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is a "complete takedown of everything you learned in PSYC 101。" As someone who literally took a class called PSYC 100， I would say the bread & butter foundations of the field: things like Operant Conditioning， Classical conditioning， and good experimental design still remain intact。 Much of the best work being done in the field， for example in vision psychophysics， has much more of a basis in science than "power posing" which seemed too good to be true from the start。Each of the chapters is a vignette of a different fad psychology trope that went viral， only to be brought into serious question after more rigorous study。 The concept of the "quick fix" is supposed to be the thread that binds these chapters together， but one criticism I have is that the book leans more towards being a series of disjoint magazine articles。 Yes， "power posing" and "positive psyc" are certainly quick-fixes， but the chapter on superpredators didn't seem so much of a "quick fix" as just bad-to-nonexistent science。 As for the chapter on 'grit': even the author admits Angela Duckworth didn't have any 'quick fix tonic' to increase grit。 Unscrupulous consultants may have taken her idea and run way too far with it， but as the author points out: Duckworth's error， if any， was just introducing a new personality trait that wasn't different enough from trait conscientiousness。 Because of these chapters， I would argue the banner "Quick Fix" doesn't really unite all the content in the book， so much as "bad psychology & science causes bad public policy。" （In 2018） One of the latest big scandals in psychology is whether or not the Stanford Prison Experiment was indeed a true abusive situation， or whether all the students were "in on the joke" and the strong conclusions drawn from it are questionable。 Personally， I wouldn't call the public policy fallout of the Stanford Prison Experiment a "quick fix" and to the authors credit this wasn't included， so perhaps the editing process kept the book more germane than I am giving it credit。Now would I recommend this book？ As someone who has a background in psychology and neuroscience， I wouldn't say "drop everything and read this now。" If you already know what "p-hacking" is and how "preregistration of experimental design" is one of the proposed solutions， you probably have already heard well over 50% of what's in this book。For everyone amplifying the latest pop psyc fad on LinkedIn: Yes。 absolutely， this is what everyone needs to read before they hit that retweet button or share that TED talk。 。。。more
Rick Wilson
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I really love reading。 And oftentimes that’s because I will occasionally stumble across a book like this。 A book that is that is a full baked version of a half baked idea that I have。 This book was wonderful。 If you go through my reviews you’ll see I’m not a fan of a lot of pop psychology despite returning to it regularly like a moth attracted to a porch light。 （Note: i’ll probably go back and hyperlink some of these， be patient with me） I love learning about the human condition whether that’s t I really love reading。 And oftentimes that’s because I will occasionally stumble across a book like this。 A book that is that is a full baked version of a half baked idea that I have。 This book was wonderful。 If you go through my reviews you’ll see I’m not a fan of a lot of pop psychology despite returning to it regularly like a moth attracted to a porch light。 （Note: i’ll probably go back and hyperlink some of these， be patient with me） I love learning about the human condition whether that’s through classical literature， history， or psychology books。 Best guess is that it’s a trauma response from macro events that deeply affected my childhood。 I think all these books have something to say， even if that something is obfuscated by bullshit or self interested nonsense。 A couple days ago I lampooned “noise“ by Daniel Kahneman and Cass Sunstein because it was such a poorly done book despite talking about a fairly important subject。Anyways， I’ve been working around this idea that a lot of modern psychology is pretty bad and slowly categorizing the varying levels of badness and deliberate versus unintentional bullshit represented within。 It’s not anything I’ve directly written down， despite keeping a kind of mental abacus on it。 As a general rule， self-help books don’t contribute much of anything to anything， If you read “How to Win Friends…” You’ve read them all。 Maybe Atomic Habits gets a good bump for speaking intelligently despite not really containing any sort of replicable research or evidence， the author speaks to that problem and I think it’s a strong book despite that。 You have the actual “based on good research” stuff。 This is some of the trauma reading。 And even that it’s dubious depending on who writes it。 Peter Levine seems like he’s just kind of disassociated from reality permanently。 Bessel is coasting on his one seminal book that’s slowly getting outdated。 And there’s some newer interesting research coming out by like Gabor matè。 But as a whole it’s not real good， and I think that stems from the fact that we really don’t know fundamentally what makes people tick。 Even rolling further into a wide audience things that are sociological and nature often times seem to conveniently allow the author to justify their worldview。 All the more so if they have a financial interest vested in confirming that worldview。 I’m looking at you Rebecca。 But that’s been a problem in a lot of fields， workplace productivity， social justice， homelessness， you name it。 Often times these books are some of the more difficult to separate the bullshit from the valuable parts because truth and self interest are entwined like snakes on that medical staff thing。 （Google says it’s a caduceus。）Well then you start getting into some of the books I’ve been recommended from coworkers。 Things like The Secret， The Happiness *whatever， Grit， Who Moved My Cheese， etc。 and these are all books people individually like but when I read them they typically produce the sort of eye roll that requires a good THUNK on the back of the head to undo， least my eyeballs get stuck。 these books are basically junk food for those that want to temporarily feel better and then have a gut ache afterwards。 They’re more of a hustle than they are helpful。 So there’s all these bits and pieces。 And over the past couple years I’ve slowly been trying to fit them together and determine why it is some of them I sort of like and some of them I don’t like at all。 And some of it I can put my finger on， people who succeed at sports will always tell you “keep trying” because they have such a high level of survivorship bias that is just unrecognized。 Honestly you can say the same thing about a lot of successful memoirs， people like Steve Jobs survive and succeed despite being assholes not because of it。 Luck is a huge part of a sort of a triad that seems to involve hard work， predisposition， skill， And luck。 This book intelligently speaks to the fallacies and problems with all of the above。 Like a Spring cleaning for your brain to get rid of lots of questionable research that doesn’t replicate。 And it takes a step back to discuss some of the global problems and how that colors the nature of emergent research and fad cycles。 I’m grateful the author wrote it， I’m delighted I read it， and hopefully I can find more like this that will help reduce the noise out there。 。。。more
David King
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Rather eye-opening in exposing the dirty little secrets about accepted wisdom based on inconclusive studies， misapplied statistics， and ‘the science。’
Rachel
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It was just ok。 It was interesting， as someone who was not previously familiar with the details of the replication crisis， to learn about these prominent examples。 However， I felt that the book would have been better/more interesting if he had stuck to the topic at hand （the replication crisis in psychological research and， more specifically， how and why the reporting on said research is so inaccurate and misleading） and how to fix THAT issue。 Instead at the end of each chapter he veers off into It was just ok。 It was interesting， as someone who was not previously familiar with the details of the replication crisis， to learn about these prominent examples。 However， I felt that the book would have been better/more interesting if he had stuck to the topic at hand （the replication crisis in psychological research and， more specifically， how and why the reporting on said research is so inaccurate and misleading） and how to fix THAT issue。 Instead at the end of each chapter he veers off into what might be the proper way to fix the issue that the overblown research findings purported to solve， which is clearly outside his wheelhouse and also not why I picked up the book。 He ends up with such suggestions as increasing the "substitutability" in fields like "the law" in order to allow women to better advance in the workplace。 Which to me feels like basically a nonsensical suggestion if you know anything about the legal field， and on top of that， he doesn't even ask if it is DESIRABLE to sacrifice something like whatever the opposite of substitutability is in a given field just so the amount of women in said field would increase。 Obviously I don't expect him to address something that complicated and debatable in a book like this， I just think he should've left the question of how to solve these issues alone and focused the book more on the issues with accurately reporting research and how to solve that problem。 。。。more
Isaac
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Each chapter of this book is basically a self contained essay about a psychology finding that crossed over into the mainstream （self-esteem， super predator's， positive psychology， grit， IAT）。 In each Signal reviews the research， and the spread and impact of the ideas and in most he gives a pretty nuanced post-mortem。 Some research was sloppy or plain fraudulent， some researchers got wrapped up in their celebrity and started generalizing their findings more then they should and sometimes the rese Each chapter of this book is basically a self contained essay about a psychology finding that crossed over into the mainstream （self-esteem， super predator's， positive psychology， grit， IAT）。 In each Signal reviews the research， and the spread and impact of the ideas and in most he gives a pretty nuanced post-mortem。 Some research was sloppy or plain fraudulent， some researchers got wrapped up in their celebrity and started generalizing their findings more then they should and sometimes the researchers lose control of it entirely and the public runs with their misconceptions。The book also examines the reproducibility crisis in psychology generally， showing how deep it goes and also presenting some of the solutions on the table to improve the state of the field。Overall I really liked the topic， and I really like Jesse Singal's treatment。 He gives very accessible accounts of the research， he fearlessly marches into some fraught political topics， he's looks at a lot of bad science but is also willing to take a critical eye and theories like Nudge which has an excellent track record。 。。。more
Brett T
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Over the last 20 or 30 years， a number of interesting ideas have reared their heads and suggested that they may offer simple keys to dealing with a number of social ills。 Though they may seem counterintuitive on first glance， they back up their bold claims with solid psychological research that proves the claims are true。 The originators of the ideas become gurus， building impressive consulting empires that help get the ideas into workplaces， schools， public policy discussions and government or Over the last 20 or 30 years， a number of interesting ideas have reared their heads and suggested that they may offer simple keys to dealing with a number of social ills。 Though they may seem counterintuitive on first glance， they back up their bold claims with solid psychological research that proves the claims are true。 The originators of the ideas become gurus， building impressive consulting empires that help get the ideas into workplaces， schools， public policy discussions and government or military branches。 Their opinions are sought out via public speeches and presentations， sometimes even in areas outside the expertise that raised their profiles in the first place。And then nothing changes。Which， according to investigative journalist Jesse Singal， is more or less what we should have expected to happen if the data backing up the claims had been investigated properly。 In The Quick Fix， he tells the story of some of these ideas， their initial acceptance without nearly enough questioning or critical evaluation and how others who come along later wind up doing that work in order to explain why what sounded too good to be true was。 Among his targets are the rise of self-esteem educational emphasis in the 1990s， the "superpredator" scare from the same era threatening gangs of teens completely without moral codes beginning to roam the streets hunting for prey， "positive" psychology practices， implicit bias testing and some others。In some cases， rational or common-sense ideas are simply stretched far beyond their legitimate boundaries by wishful thinking or institutional bias。 The originators of "positive psychology" thought their discipline could benefit mentally healthy people by exploring ways they could stay healthy， just as physicians offer advice to their patients on maintaining their health and avoiding illness。 From there they grew a discipline that promised mental health benefits， but those promises were backed by shaky and misinterpreted research。 Since the ideas behind some of the program matched the institutional self-portrait of some organizations， including the United States military， those groups adopted the programs in order to help deal with the issues they faced， such as post-tramautic stress disorder。 Their limitations finally became apparent when they didn't get anything like promised results。In other cases， the human tendency to find what we want to find combined with some of the flaws of our current research culture -- the tendency to over-emphasize "new" results or to discard more nuanced findings in favor of unequivocal but less-supported ones -- and led researchers astray。Although some of the psychological fads that Singal unmasks are ones that cut in directions he prefers， he simply follows the research data that he finds even when it works against them。 Quick Fix gores oxen both left and right because the human tendency to look for simple， easy fixes to complicated problems that ask very little of us as individuals knows no political divide。 His own leanings will show up when he suggests the kinds of policy fixes that he says would work， but a right-of-center person uncovering the same methodological flaws would suggest similarly complex solutions from his or her own point of view。Singal's style in Quick Fix is straightforward but not dry and takes advantage of the occasional opportunity the subjects afford for some humor。 In his closing passages on possible solutions to our love affair with fad psychology he notes the help made possible by "Bayesian analysis，" which essentially says that if your data suggest a result is common but you know it isn't common in the real world where people live， it's time to re-analyze the data。 He does go for the dry in sections such as that， but it's dry of the humor variety instead of style。Non-fiction books are evaluated as much on their success at raising or answering the questions posed by their different theses as they are on style and Singal succeeds in pointing out just how easily fad psychology pervades society and muddies the waters for people seeking solutions for modern problems。 A couple of the chapters seem to cover very similar ground and the book would improve by exchanging one of them for a different case study。 Even so， The Quick Fix clearly succeeds in showing why our modern society's problems require solutions that can either be quick or they can fix things， but they almost certainly can't be both。 。。。more
Reilly
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I am more of a novel reader so it took me a while to get through it， but this book was really enlightening to a topic I have no previous insight to。 Particular highlights for me included the chapters on power pissing， the super predators， and the implicit bias test。 This book is a well written and accessible read on fad psychology and I would recommend it to people with and without interest in that topic alike。
Eriche
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I had no expectations going into this book but binged the audiobook in a day or so。 Necessary for combatting a world saturated with perpetual misinformation around every corner and sadly between many pages of books。
Jeremy
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This is a fairly scathing takedown of a number of ideas that have become well known in the social science world。 Things like power posing， grit and social priming， all of which are mostly bunk。 Each chapter took one of these ideas， gave the history of it and really good explanations for why the studies that backed these up were poorly done or didn't replicate。 Generally speaking， psychological and social science studies need some Socratic humility。 I loved Thinking， Fast and Slow when it came ou This is a fairly scathing takedown of a number of ideas that have become well known in the social science world。 Things like power posing， grit and social priming， all of which are mostly bunk。 Each chapter took one of these ideas， gave the history of it and really good explanations for why the studies that backed these up were poorly done or didn't replicate。 Generally speaking， psychological and social science studies need some Socratic humility。 I loved Thinking， Fast and Slow when it came out。 I still think there is lots of good stuff in that book， but there is quite a lot in that book that would not make it if it was written today。 I read Duckworth's book on grit， didn't really enjoy it， but it also has been relegated to the dustbin of history。 It's so easy to get drawn in to interesting new studies and findings， but a great deal of skepticism is owed to the social sciences （not just social sciences）。 。。。more
Mark
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The Quick Fix is remarkable in that it takes a serious， complicated issue — the proclivity of weakly-evidenced， sexy-sounding social science claims to grab attention and funding — and makes it understandable and fun。 If your eyes glaze over when you hear talk about p-values， p-hacking， the replication crisis， or bayesian probabilities， have no fear: Singal capably explains the relevant technical details in ways I immediately grasped， and that feel like they'll stick with me。 Topics that by all r The Quick Fix is remarkable in that it takes a serious， complicated issue — the proclivity of weakly-evidenced， sexy-sounding social science claims to grab attention and funding — and makes it understandable and fun。 If your eyes glaze over when you hear talk about p-values， p-hacking， the replication crisis， or bayesian probabilities， have no fear: Singal capably explains the relevant technical details in ways I immediately grasped， and that feel like they'll stick with me。 Topics that by all rights should have been dry and tedious are transformed by Singal's fun， approachable writing into something that would rate as a good conversation fodder at a beer garden。Even 70 pages in， I could feel my worldview changing。 Hardly a credulous person， I nevertheless have sometimes been seduced by TED talks claiming that "one simple trick" fixes a complicated social problem。 Because of this book， I now have at least enhanced immunity to the siren song of simple solutions to complex systemic problems。And yet， despite the sober thesis of the book — that social ills are more complicated， more nuanced， and more difficult to solve than claimed by the quick fixes that dominate the headlines — this is not a pessimistic read。 Singal offers a hopeful vision for pragmatic， scientifically sound interrogation of the world that can guide humanity in our quest to do the slow， thoughtful， rewarding work of making things better。 。。。more
Tom
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This was a really interesting read for someone on the periphery of academia。 The author， journalist Jesse Singal， takes a critical eye looking at various fads in social psychology。 Through detailed data analysis and many conversations with experts， Singal explores topics from Grit to positive psychology to implicit association tests。 I remember reading Grit for a book club a few years ago and The Quick Fix does a great job of highlighting the appeal of many of these issues while also showing the This was a really interesting read for someone on the periphery of academia。 The author， journalist Jesse Singal， takes a critical eye looking at various fads in social psychology。 Through detailed data analysis and many conversations with experts， Singal explores topics from Grit to positive psychology to implicit association tests。 I remember reading Grit for a book club a few years ago and The Quick Fix does a great job of highlighting the appeal of many of these issues while also showing the statistical and motivational factors that skew their data and cause them to spread like wildfire despite dubious underpinnings。 It certainly will make me more critical of TED talks and other 'easy' fixes to complicated societal problems。 My one （minor） bone to pick with the book is with it's last chapter， which is about Sunstein， Thaler and their Nudge phenomenon。 In the rest of the book， Singal focuses on the dubious statistical underpinnings of these topics that cause real world problems or terrible spending。 With Nudge， the critique is not about the baseline research - that seems pretty sound - but shifts to a weird argument that Nudge-based 'fixes' focus on easy， cost-effective tweaks to policy/procedure but don't solve larger structural problems。 I guess that's true， but the rest of the book seems to show that understanding （let alone solving） large structural problems is really complicated。 I don't see why spending small amounts of money prompting people to make good decisions and do things more efficiently should be a problem， especially with the context of the rest of The Quick Fix。Overall though， this is a really well-researched book that highlights some major problems in academia and research these days。 。。。more
David Mihalyi
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A great book discussing how a series behavioral life hacks rose to great prominence in the past decades。 They were proposed by psychology researchers at top universities and offered to solve big societal problems such as racism， sexism and PTSD。 At their peak they were turned into popular TED talks， best-selling books and an array of trainings and interventions offered to roll them out。 But lately it has become increasingly clear that the benefits of these interventions fall well short of what t A great book discussing how a series behavioral life hacks rose to great prominence in the past decades。 They were proposed by psychology researchers at top universities and offered to solve big societal problems such as racism， sexism and PTSD。 At their peak they were turned into popular TED talks， best-selling books and an array of trainings and interventions offered to roll them out。 But lately it has become increasingly clear that the benefits of these interventions fall well short of what they promised。Singal's book walks through a number of prominent examples and （in my reading） breaks down the underlying cause for their failure into two parts。First， It discusses why and how a particular group of highly influential studies which found large effects from behavioral interventions were later debunked。 Some simply failed to replicate even when closely following instructions， others were not generalizable or reported tiny effect sizes or did not have any credible underlying theory。 The stories described here are a recount of the work by other psychologists who scrutinized these initial results。 This culminated into psychology's "replication crisis" and led to major reckoning for researchers in this field 。 Having only been partially aware of the how that crisis had unfolded， I learned a lot from these （often stats heavy） insights。 Second， it discusses how these particular study results （before becoming debunked） were oversold in the marketplace of ideas。 How "grit” （self-confidence boosting） interventions offered cure to PTSD， power-posing to overcome sexism， implicit bias test to defeat racism。 Here it describes the process through which the published results of some causal link between an intervention and behavioral change in a lab setting are then blown up into much bolder claims on solutions to societal problems。 He documents how the authors， university press offices and journalists play a role in pushing such messages。 He also discusses the role of major institutions generating demand for such quick societal fixes。 Although the complexities in trying to address problems such as racism， PTSD， sexism are obvious to specialists and careful observers， but Singal recounts how leaders in the army， HR departments of major firms， politicians fell in love with these quick fixes。 In essence， they needed to deliver something that shows they care and are committed to act， but without needing to confront the complex underlying structural problems。As an economist， I felt like many of the problems in behavioral psychology research the books described are actually quite applicable to my own field as well。 There are plenty of papers in our field that don't hold up to scrutiny as well as incentives to oversell results。 There is also the tension between small scale interventions which may show promising results and the complexities in implementing policy reforms on a societal scale。 。。。more
Eric
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