101 Things I Learned in Psychology School

101 Things I Learned in Psychology School: Summary

In 1848, construction worker Phineas Gage was directing a crew that was blasting rock for a railroad bed. An explosion drove a thirteen-pound iron rod into his face. The rod passed upward behind his left eye, tore through his brain, exited the top of his skull, and landed eighty feet away. Gage did not die. His intelligence, his memory, and his basic bodily functions, from eating and breathing to regulating his own temperature, all stayed intact. Yet something about him reportedly changed. The previously well-mannered, conscientious man became crude and moody.

This story opens the summary because it shows exactly what the book proves across 101 short lessons. Almost everything you assume about your own mind turns out to be inaccurate, misleading, or the exact opposite of what you'd guess. Psychologist Tim Bono and his co-author Matthew Frederick don't hand you one single grand theory of the mind. Instead they hand you a huge, carefully organized pile of small, surprising truths, one lesson at a time. They show how your brain, your memory, your decisions, and your relationships actually work. They also show why your own mind lies to you in good faith, without any intent to deceive, and what you can actually do about it. We'll cover why you can't blindly trust your own memory and your perception, and why a well-meaning reward or punishment can backfire. Then we'll look at where the line between healthy and sick actually falls, if it falls anywhere at all, and finally at what you can do with all of this in your everyday life.