The COVID-19 pandemic that turned the world upside down in early 2020 also gave rise to an “infodemic” of misinformation and conspiracy theories. This chapter tackles three issues. We first explore the political and ideological underpinnings of the COVID-19 infodemic and its organizational, rhetorical, and ideological links to climate denial. We then highlight the legitimacy of political grievances in light of government pandemic policies. We conclude by proposing a sketch of the boundary between politically-motivated denial of science on the one hand and legitimate political arguments on the other.

Democracy requires factual information and an attentive electorate. The electorate are a key part of a functioning democracy, where they choose between candidates, parties, and policies based on their own political beliefs, which are influenced by information. Because the world of politics is complex, human beings are bounded in their capabilities for decision making and must develop strategies to navigate through an overwhelming amount of political information to form beliefs and make decisions. Political belief systems – or “ideologies” – help people organize this complex political world. However, a large portion of the American public do not have a coherent political belief system, and instead rely on cues and elites to make decisions and form attitudes on the issues of the day. This kind of reliance is efficient, but can also lead people to become vulnerable to mis- and disinformation, fake news, conspiracy theories, and extreme polarization, which can have detrimental consequences for democracy.

The third force movement, grounded in the principles of existential philosophy, focuses on the individual in quest of identity, values, and authenticity. The nineteenth century writings of such figures as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Dilthey formed the background for the view of the person as alone and dehumanized. The twentieth century works of Sartre, Camus, and Jaspers offered further expression to the basic state of anxiety and absurdity. The personalism of Emmanuel Mounier and Karol Wojtyła reintroduced the person within psychology. The methodological writings of Husserl and Heidegger contributed to the development of phenomenology as a means of investigating the holistic character of human experience. The combined existential–phenomenological psychology was an application of a new orientation in clinical settings, by such psychologists as Merleau-Ponty and Binswanger. In America, the humanistic viewpoints of Allport, Bühler, Maslow, May, and Rogers agreed generally with the European movement, and a center of existential-phenomenological psychology emerged at Duquesne University. Although it did not generate a comprehensive alternative to behaviorist formulations, the third force movement has exerted an impact on clinical applications, especially in therapeutic efforts.

Humans have two kinds of beliefs, intuitive beliefs and reflective beliefs. Intuitive beliefs are a fundamental category of cognition, defined in the architecture of the mind. They are formulated in an intuitive mental lexicon. Humans are also capable of entertaining an indefinite variety of higher-order or "reflective" propositional attitudes, many of which are of a credal sort. Reasons to hold reflective beliefs are provided by other beliefs that describe the source of the reflective belief as reliable, or that provide an explicit argument in favour of the reflective belief. The mental lexicon of reflective beliefs includes not only intuitive, but also reflective concepts.

The breadth of psychology’s history underscores the importance of learning about the present from the past, and psychology’s past is certainly fascinating. Several approaches to the study of intellectual history, particularly for psychology, are presented, as are some of the major recurring themes that are addressed in the book. Finally, the study of the history of psychology as an area of specialization within the discipline focuses on the resources available for serious pursuit.

Belief in biological races remains prevalent in the early 21st century despite opposing logical arguments and an abundance of converging evidence from multiple scientific disciplines. Structural and interpersonal racism, among the most salient issues today, are empowered and perpetuated by false claims and misconceptions about human origins, kinships, and differences. The best current science and historical knowledge make clear that races are cultural inventions that are not aligned with biological realities. Acknowledging the errors and falsehoods that provide the framework for biological race belief is not an attempt to deny real genetic variation or the importance of cultural races. This chapter reviews critical challenges to biological race belief and presents examinations of three of the most contentious and confounding race topics: IQ tests and intelligence, health and healthcare disparities, and sports as a popular source of misinterpretation and confusion. An evidence-based perception of humankind offers both laypersons and scientists a more productive position from which to understand our diversity and alleviate racism.

This chapter illustrates various examples of delusions and then reviews three issues regarding their nature. The first issue concerns the characterization of delusions as mental states. The philosophical debate between those who consider delusions as beliefs and those who propose otherwise is examined. The second issue concerns the pathological nature of delusions. The grounds for and implications of pathologizing a belief are elucidated. This issue suggests that the extension of pathological beliefs does not coincide with that of delusions. Furthermore, it highlights how delusions are held by patients who are “hijacked” by their illness, thus exempting them from responsibility for the negative consequences of delusions. The third issue concerns the psychopathology of delusion. I discuss theories regarding the causes of delusions, including abnormal inferences, abnormal experiences, or both, suggesting that the cause of delusions is likely to differ among different mental disorders.

Two parallel trends prepared scholars for the investigation of the mind–body relationship so that a model of psychological inquiry could evolve. The first trend was methodological, characterized by the triumph of empiricism. Scientific innovations by Francis Bacon and Newton were firmly based on careful observations and quantification of observables. Using inductive methods, moving from observed particulars to cautious generalization, empiricism stood in contrast to the deductive methods of the Scholastic philosophers. The second trend occurred in the attempt to develop conceptions on the nature of humanity and was more a philosophical enterprise. Spinoza taught that mind and body are manifestations of the same unity of the person. Human activity, although unique because of humanity’s higher intellectual powers, is determined by the laws of nature. Descartes stated that the first principle of life is self-awareness of the idea, and all else that we know proceeds from self-reflection. His dualism of the interaction between mind and body distinguishes psychology from physiology. Descartes’ views were developed in the French and British philosophical traditions; Spinoza influenced the German efforts to develop a model of psychology.

Psychology’s past in Eastern civilizations were an inherent part of the religious and moral philosophies. In an overview of those non-Western traditions in psychology, points of interaction between East and West occurred in Persia, which served as a crossroad between India and the Arab world. Ancient Indian culture followed the traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism. The writings of the Vedas, especially the Upanishads, provided the foundation for Hindu philosophy. In China, imported Buddhism taught that self-denial and proper thinking were necessary to achieve well-being. However, the older philosophical movement of Confucianism offered a stronger basis for Chinese intellectual progress. Both Buddhism and Confucianism were exported to Japan, where they were transposed into Japanese philosophies to support nationalistic aspirations. Two Middle Eastern cultures, Egyptian and Hebrew, are important as predecessors for the ancient Greeks whose philosophical formulations would provide the foundations for the emergence of psychology. Egyptian achievements in art and architecture left us a legacy, especially expressed in astronomy and medicine. The Jewish foundation of monotheism and law, along with an understanding of the person as a unity of spirit and matter, interfaced with the Greek culture that was to dominate the Mediterranean world.

Human beings form beliefs about the way the world works according to the information that is available to them, their processing ability, and their existing knowledge. However, in such an information-rich world, they sometimes trust their intuitive beliefs rather than their reflective ones. Intuitive beliefs tend to have a bad press in our modern world, as they are often regarded as suboptimal and even erroneous. In the present chapter, we aim to restore their reputation. First, we provide an overview of the two types of beliefs, in the light of dual-process theories whereby people can engage in either fast, almost automatic thinking processes, or slower, more deliberative ones. We then identify contexts in which intuitive beliefs provide compelling cues for daily human activities and sometimes outperform reflective beliefs. Finally, we discuss how intuitive beliefs can even be beneficial for reasoning and learning.