The 10 Best Psychology Books

Are you a passionate amateur psychologist, is the bookworm in you crying out for food, and do you love to further explore this legendary mystery called humanity ? Then you've come to the right place!

We have put together a small but fine list of what we consider to be the best psychology books. Our criteria? Entertaining to read, easy to understand, and clear in application. Here we go! 

1. DOMINIK SPENST ― THE 6-MINUTE DIARY

This bestseller, now translated into 20 languages, condenses the theoretical foundation of positive psychology and transforms it into an effective, easy-to-use tool. With this book, you build positive habits such as gratitude, optimism, and self-love in just 6 minutes a day. If you fill out The 6-Minute-Diary daily, your stress and negative feelings are scientifically proven to decrease. At the same time, your resilience and self-efficacy increase.

This book is for you if:

• you want to train your eye for the positive in your life and wish for a more mindful and fulfilling life
• you want to finally find out what makes you happy through targeted self-reflection questions
• you are looking for a simple and sound tool in which the necessary theory is explained compactly and entertainingly, but above all, you finally want to get started

2. STEFANIE STAHL ― THE CHILD IN YOU MUST FIND HOME

Probably the most popular book on the market right now when it comes to building happy relationships, strengthening your self-esteem, or simply learning something about the far-reaching effects of childhood experiences.

With very clear examples, psychotherapist Stefanie Stahl explains how even the smallest conflicts from our childhood often unconsciously burden our (friendly and romantic) relationships in adulthood ― and how they can even influence our subjective perception. This bestseller not only offers a fireworks display of "aha moments".

You also get a whole armada of practical do-it-yourself-instructions to find, understand, and transform these (often hidden) wounds of your so-called "shadow child" into positive, conscious behaviours.  

"If I can only love what is perfect, then it is not true love."
― Stefanie Stahl

This book is for you if:

• you want to sustainably improve your relationships (including the one with yourself)
• you wonder why you (or others) always have the same problems in relationships
• you finally want to understand why some people sometimes behave completely irrationally and incomprehensibly

3. PAUL WATZLAWICK ― HOW TO BE UNHAPPY 

Quick to read, easy to understand, and essential on any psychology bookshelf. With witty and vivid stories and a good-natured wink, Watzlawick shows how we so readily get in our own way in our pursuit of happiness. So after reading this, you'll finally know what mindset best makes you unhappy and why you always end up in the wrong line ;-) 

"Many people know that they are unhappy. But even more people do not know that they are happy."
― Albert Schweitzer

This book is for you if:

• you do not want to pore over thick tomes
• you need quick and reliable aha moments for your everyday life
• you like to chuckle and can also laugh at yourself

4. LAUREN SLATER ― OF PEOPLE AND RATS

What makes people give others (seemingly) lethal electric shocks? And how do you live on with this guilt? Perhaps you have already heard of the famous Milgram experiment. But do you know what happened to the participants after the experiment?

Probably that is exactly why this non-fiction book reads like a thrilling novel. Because in addition to the most significant psychological experiments of the 20th century, Laurie Slater addresses exactly what is always overlooked in the retelling of scientific experiments: the people behind them. So she actually manages, for example, to track down a participant of the Milgram experiment and learns from him how participating affected his later life (and his psyche). 

This book is for you if:

• you want a different overview of the most significant psychological experiments of the 20th century
• you want to learn what effects psychological experiments have on the participants
• you want to be reminded why research ethics are so damn important

5. MARTIN SELIGMAN ― THE HAPPINESS FACTOR

"We must be able to use the sharp sense of pessimism for reality when we need it, but without having to linger in its dark shadow."
― Martin Seligman 

Seligman is practically the Godfather of Positive Psychology. As a former self-proclaimed pessimist, he understands exactly why the glass is so often half empty. But he also knows which basic approaches a pessimist can use to become an optimist without losing their sense of reality.

With a whole series of proven approaches and studies, Seligman shows how you can deliberately promote and train positive states. In addition, you can use a test to discover your so-called "signature strengths" – your individual advantages – and learn how to use them to further increase your positive feelings (and perhaps even those of others). 

This book is for you if:

• you are curious about what the DNA code of your strengths is
• you often catch yourself sinking into bad moods on autopilot, and you want to actively do something about it
• you want to increase your sense of happiness

 

6. ROBERT CIALDINI ― THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION

Another Godfather, this time in the field of persuasion. But anyone hoping for a snappy manipulation tutorial will be disappointed. This book is an extremely entertaining and scientifically precise examination of why people say "yes" in the first place. Using the six basic principles of persuasion, you will learn a lot about human decision-making.

For example, how you can decisively protect yourself from others' unwanted attempts to persuade you. Or how you can stand up more firmly for something that really matters to you. The practical applicability of this book is impressive, which is probably why this international bestseller has been considered a standard work in marketing for years.

This book is for you if:

• your decision-making ability needs to recharge its batteries
• you no longer want to ask yourself afterwards: "Why did I agree to this in the first place?"
• you have trouble standing up convincingly for yourself and are looking for solutions

7. DANIEL KAHNEMAN ― THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

We like to think we know how reality works. Well, now Mr Kahneman comes around the corner with this (fairly thick) book and tells us why that thing with our perception of reality is not our greatest strength at all. Habituation effects, thinking errors, slow and fast thinking – all of this and much more contributes to why our perception is not always our wisest advisor and is often more fragile than we think (psychologists also call this "cognitive biases").

The Nobel Prize winner explains psychological phenomena using many everyday examples that repeatedly get in our way on the path to a relaxed and simple life – and how best to deal with them so we don't constantly trip over the same things.

This book is for you if:

• you want to sustainably change your ways of thinking
• you want to understand what happens in our brain when we judge people, facts, or things
• you want to decisively improve your everyday judgments and perspectives

8. VIKTOR E. FRANKL ― MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING. A PSYCHOLOGIST'S EXPERIENCE IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP

"The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why."
― Mark Twain 

What makes us keep going even under the most inhumane conditions, yes, perhaps even survive? How do we cope when fate strikes with all its power and our life, our everyday life, and everything familiar suddenly completely falls apart?

When the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl (the German title is not translated correctly) arrives at the concentration camp, he experiences firsthand what an extreme situation does to the human psyche. He sees people despair. He sees how prisoners who become guards treat their fellow prisoners more brutally than the SS guards. 

But he also realises that our ability to recognise meaning, even under the most adverse circumstances, can (re)motivate us and literally save our lives. ...saying yes to life despite everything is an impressive account of experience, peppered with profound philosophical reflections on the enormous power that meaning gives us. A very good guide for anyone who wants to explore the meaning of life.

This book is for you if:

• you may have experienced a severe misfortune yourself and are looking for help to get back on your feet
• you are fascinated by extreme human situations and have always wondered why and how one does not break under such fate
• you want to learn how you can use the power of "meaning" for your life

9. CHARLES DUHIGG ― THE POWER OF HABIT

An important book for creatures of habit – that is, for us humans. Here you will learn more about the science behind your good and bad habits. You will learn the enormous power they exert on our lives and why it is often so difficult for us to say goodbye to unpleasant habits despite our best intentions (and initial successes).

Fortunately, habits are not dead ends, and you will find plenty of inspiration for self-help in this book. After reading it, you will be perfectly informed about what your habit triggers are, how you can supplement your everyday habits with new ones, and even how you can turn your bad habits into good ones.

This book is for you if:

• you want to give your inner lazy bones a real kick in the butt
• you finally want to understand why all your good intentions so often run out of fuel
• you need more effective tools than good intentions that will finally get you to your goals

10. SHAWN ACHOR ― THE HAPPINESS PRINCIPLE

Do you need practical advice based on the most important discoveries of modern psychology to become happier and more successful? Are you not afraid to say goodbye to common success myths? Then you have come to the right place.

Harvard lecturer Shawn Achor takes you by the hand and shows you the seven core principles of positive psychology thatare provento help you advance your career. No unnecessary, pompous "rah-rah" attitude, but sound studies on human potential and how we can find the best access to it. So that you can really get off to the start you wish for.

This book is for you if:

• you want to perform your work more passionately, productively, and resiliently
• you want to learn techniques such as the "Zorro Circle," with the help of which you can create a kind of leverage effect for your productivity and thus gradually pursue ever larger goals
• you want to learn with fun how to reprogram your brain for success

Of course, a separate list could be created for each of the points listed here. Which books do you think should not be missing from any bookshelf if you want to deal with psychology? We are curious about your comments and suggestions. 

That is not enough for you yet and you need more reading material? No problem! Here you will find our list of the best books on habits.

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This post is by Lena Schulte, full-time jokester and online editor. Since her studies in cognitive science, she has been fascinated by human consciousness and likes to conduct secret perception experiments in the editorial office.

 

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