How to Kill an Earworm: And 500+ Other Psychology Facts You Need to Know

by Jana Louise Smit

Discover why you were always afraid of a monster under your childhood bed, why people truly believe in their “lucky” lotto numbers, and more with hundreds of quick facts, research-based explanations, and challenging quiz questions on everything from the psychology of our ancient ancestors to the dark side of the world of psychology.

Did you know:
-The fear of losing your cell phone is real…and there’s even a name for it.
-The way you kiss might actually be based in science?
-That gaslighting actually has a psychological “cousin” known as “moonwalking”?

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, which means there’s a lot of ground to cover. But this isn’t your average “intro to psychology” book. Instead, How to Kill an Earworm is here to help you learn those little-known trivia facts you really want to know.

This must-have guide features hundreds of fun facts and challenging quiz questions about psychology, covering everything from influential historical figures who impacted the study of psychology as we know it today to learning psychological principles you might not realize are at work right now in your everyday life. Did you know about the dark side of daylight savings time? What about the way kids’ cereal boxes are intentionally designed to manipulate the child’s emotions?

From “zombie behaviors” to the “doorway effect”, it’s time to dive into over 500 psychological facts you definitely didn’t know before picking up this book!

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. It wasn't bad, and it had some interesting stuff, but it was a bit hard to sit and read a lot of it at a time. It's more of a bathroom kind of read in my opinion, but not in a bad way. I wasn't a fan of the little quizzes where you had to flip to the last pages for the answer, but they were interactive to the reader and I could see how a lot of people would enjoy that

[David Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is chock-a-block full of facts about psychology, shared in a breezy, fun way. The book begins with a brief history of psychology; the body of text is divided into the various disciplines within psychology (developmental, behavioral, cognitive, personality psychology, forensic/abnormal psychology, social psychology). The book is studded with pop quiz questions (answers in the back). -- I enjoyed this book and learned a great deal (which, unfortunately, I am likely to forget). I was struck with how many psychological elements that still affect us in the 21st century can be traced back to our most 'primitive' ancestors. I hope I will recall some of the content -- such as the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath, some of the ways in which supermarkets and other box stores influence sales, the item most stolen from supermarkets, the 'dark triad' (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), why it is new fathers tend to gain 15 pounds, and some of the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways in which we manipulate others. Highly recommended! (Oh? you ask: What is the item most stolen from supermarkets. -- Believe it or not: it's CHEESE!)

[Kate Wise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting! Not the most exciting read, but cool enough. I love knowledge and random facts so it intrigued me! It helped that they were quick facts because I've been extremely busy and it's easier to pause in the middle of reading when you aren't invested in a plot. I hate nonfiction but my English teacher suggested this to me. If you're wanting to get into nonfiction, this could possibly be a good place to start! I thought that the pages were the cutest things and the layout was really fun! I typically skipped over the mini quizzes but sometimes they would catch my eye and I would see if I could get the answer correct. It was a cute little book!

[Anonymous · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the format of this book. It had short, interesting bits of information on each page with a one question quiz on every page or two. It was fun to just randomly open it up and read.

The reason why I didn't give it a higher rating was that, despite the intriguing title, the information contained in the book was stuff you've already heard before or is just common sense. Overall, I did like the book, especially the way it was laid out in an easy to read way.

[Kim Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

short book about how your brain works and other psychological facts, such as emotion, narcisstic behavior and how sales works to get you to buy stuff. Lots of short facts and trivia about psychology. There were a series of quizzes in each chapter. However, the quizzes did not have answers within the chapters so not really sure how you would know the answers - I would eliminate those or incorporate them into the text. Fun beach read. Fast read.

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

We enjoyed this, especially the trivia questions, but we knew a lot of the stuff from other media sources and an entire star off for no citations. You cannot make psychological claims and not cite them! Not in this librarian’s world. But it was a lot of fun to read and the questions led to some interesting conversations.

[Heather Wiese · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just a collection of short facts, written in a max of 5 sentences, that would be better suited to a tear-away daily calendar. The facts are interesting, but reading it in book form isn’t.

The book is even broken into titled chapters and then proceeds to not actually discuss any information that the chapter title suggests.

I found this very frustrating and gave up.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to Kill an Earworm: And 500+ Other Psychology Facts You Need to Know (Paperback)


Oh my goodness... I love nonfiction and trivia stuff but it does drone on. I enjoyed some of it and not so much on other stuff.

3 stars

Happy Reading!

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, quick read. The titular question, however, has a very common-sense resolution that feels a little disappointing; like "clickbait" for bookworms.

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting odd facts

[Citybones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nada especialmente chocante, pero entretenido, ameno y rápido de leer. Bastante bien organizado y que despierta interés en una variedad grande de topics para buscar más información en otras partes.

[Alana]

A big ol’ Didja know? Fun.

[Jerry Pridemore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun book

[Arjun · Rating 5 out of 5]

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8 Oct
Chapter 3
Biopsychology and Behavioral Psychology