essay introduction psychology

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Introduction to Psychology

(22 reviews)

Copyright Year: 2015

ISBN 13: 9781946135131

Publisher: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing

Language: English

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Reviewed by Linda Freeman, Professor of Psychology, Valencia College on 6/1/20

At our learning institution, the preponderance of our students select General Psychology in order to fulfill their general education requirement. Since most of our students are not psychology majors, texts oriented towards giving a student an... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

At our learning institution, the preponderance of our students select General Psychology in order to fulfill their general education requirement. Since most of our students are not psychology majors, texts oriented towards giving a student an adequate primer of the field are preferred. Hence, this text seems to be a good selection for this type of student. The author's approach to relevant topical areas is an overarching one. This text sufficiently covers the subfields in psychology, without bogging down the reader in the intricacies of our discipline. In particular, I appreciated this author's approach to human development, which tends to be a content heavy area. Additionally, the learning objectives at the beginning of the chapter give a clear roadmap to the reader. The content area named "key takeaways" give the reader a nice annotated summary of important topical areas. For professors who want to be more indulgent in the content, the author provides a section on "exercises and critical thinking." The questions posed appear to be sufficiently provocative and relevant.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I find that the text content provides an accurate portrayal of the field. Topical areas are presented in an unbiased, factual manner; however, the exercises on critical thinking provide the student an opportunity to think more "contextually" about the information presented.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

There are topical areas in psychology that are ubiquitous to the field. For example, Freud's Personality Theory or Zimbardo's Social Psychological contributions. These theories form the bedrock of our disciple upon which new research is laid upon. For example, the emergence of Positive Psychology and Neuroscience have provided a new and fascinating lens through which we look at human behavior. To this extent, the text seems to present a conventional view of psychology with dash of 21st century psychology. There is a section dedicated to addressing "positive emotions," although it is limited. Additionally, the surgent topic of mindfulness practice is not covered nor the relevance of Neuroscience in our understanding the connection between the brain and human behavior.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written with an adequate amount of clarity and directness. Frankly, I think the author does a superb job at addressing the heart of the theoretical matter. Also the demonstration videos provide further clarity on the content. The examples provided seem to be relevant and compelling. Further, the design of each chapter lends itself to clarity. The beginning of the chapter presents clear learning objectives, which serve as an expectational guide, and ends with a summary of key points to consider.

Consistency rating: 4

There are intra-correlations made within each chapter; however, there are few inter-connections made between different chapters. Within each chapter, there is consistency between the concept presented, its description, and the examples used to further elucidate its meaning. For those seeking to give a student a more holistic view of psychology, the text is limited. For example, if you are seeking to provide students a broader sense of how internal emotions and cognitions along with external social events interface, you will have to create your own addendum to the chapter content.

Modularity rating: 5

Each chapter covers a specific topical area in psychology that is later expanded upon in the chapter. The content areas are directly aligned with the learning objectives presented at the beginning of the chapter and flow into the key summary points very well. The chapter gives a sufficient amount of information to the reader to answer the critical thinking questions posed at the end of the chapter.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of the text is superb and consistent throughout the text. The author appears to have set up a predictable cadence to each chapter beginning with learning outcomes, chapter content, and ending with a synopsis of key points.

Interface rating: 5

The text does not appear to present issues related to interface. Navigation through the chapter is clear and direct. The examples and features are crisp and clear. There are no elements that may distract the reader from the topical area being covered. There is a high amount of congruency between the outcomes, the content, examples, exercises, and key points.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I do not see any significant grammatical errors in the text.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

Although the text is not culturally offensive, it does lack cultural depth. Today's classrooms, comprised of students from various cultures, text material needs to appeal to a wider audience and challenge students to think more deeply about the broader social context. Overall, I would've liked to have seen more culturally relevant information in the chapters on Personality, Social Psychology, Psychological Research, and Psychological Disorders. For example, details about the cultural determinants of personality, the role of culture in prejudices and stereotyping, the ability of researchers to generalize their investigational results to culturally diverse populations, and how the cultural context needs to be accounted for in psychological disorders would have highlighted the all important role of diversity in our discipline.

Reviewed by Kathleen Cain, Professor of Psychology, Gettysburg College on 4/21/20

The book doesn't necessarily cover every conceivable topic in psychology, but it covers all of the main subfields in psychology and presents at least a few of the central findings, concepts, and theories in each subfield. In some respects, the... read more

The book doesn't necessarily cover every conceivable topic in psychology, but it covers all of the main subfields in psychology and presents at least a few of the central findings, concepts, and theories in each subfield. In some respects, the book strikes me as more focused and less sprawling than many introductory psychology textbooks. A student who reads this book may be less likely to be overwhelmed with information, but at the same would be able to grasp a clear sense of general issues, research issues, and research findings in each topic. According to the introduction, the author has focused intentionally on presenting topics in a way that leaves students with a sense of coherence about the field rather than with a set of random facts. The critical thinking questions at the end of the sections are helpful in addressing this focus.

The book was accurate and clear. I particularly liked the way that it described key research and illustrated research findings with graphs and other images. It definitely provides an accurate overview of the field.

I'm slightly concerned that the latest edition is from 2015, as psychology changes rapidly based on new research findings. However, the book certainly covers the classic studies very well. Sometimes we can be overly concerned with giving students the latest information when the reality is that they're lacking many of the basics - so my concern about the date of publication is not a deep one. Certainly 21st century psychology is represented effectively in the book, too, so it's not just a book on the history of psych by any means. However, I do hope that the author continues to update material included in the book.

The writing is clear both at the micro level of individual sentences and paragraphs and at the macro level of lucid organization. The writing style aims for a literate audience and in that sense may challenge students who need simpler prose and multiple real life examples to make concepts clear. Some of the mainstream publisher textbooks excel in examples that make the concepts come alive, and this book has less of those. There are also fewer helpful additions such as definitions of terms in the margins that one would see in other textbooks. However, each chapter in this book includes several compelling examples that are explained well, and the writing is crisp and clear, which I greatly appreciate. There is also a bit more depth than many books provide about psychological research, which I personally love about this book, but which may not work for every student audience. Some other textbooks are pitched at a simpler level - but these books can still let students get bogged down in the sheer volume of information, a problem that this book often avoids successfully. Finally, this book includes numerous video clips, which are a terrific addition and really strengthen the clarity of the information provided.

Each chapter is internally consistent in terminology and framework, and the book is organized consistently. I do wish that there were a bit more of an effort to link content in individual chapters with content in other chapters so that students can see some of the broader connections in what they're reading.

Each chapter covers one subfield of psychology (e.g, developmental, cognitive) and in turn is divided into several subsections of several pages each. One could easily rearrange or even drop a few chapters, and within a chapter, while one would want to go in order of concepts from basic at the beginning to more complex at the end, one could easily drop a subsection.

The organization is a significant positive feature of this book. The material is presented consistently in a clear and concise way, and topics flow logically from one to the next.

Interface rating: 4

I didn't have any major navigation problems, and the video links that I clicked worked well. A few figures didn't show up, though, and once in a while there was a blank or nearly blank page (not missing text, just a slightly awkward arrangement of the text with blank space in between).

I found a very small handful of typographical errors, but I didn't notice grammatical errors. In fact, the writing was quite strong.

I thought that cultural presentation was one of the weaker areas of this book. While there are some references to a variety of cultures and some photos of people from a variety of backgrounds, some of the written statements about culture were simplistic (e.g., on p. 26, a sentence reads, "Psychologists have found that there is a fundamental difference in social norms between Western cultures (including those in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) and East Asian cultures (including those in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia)." There is no mention of nuance, of common ground, or of the variability among individuals within cultures.). In the section on intelligence, the author mentions variation among US racial and ethnic groups in IQ scores, but offers only a superficial explanation of why these differences exist. There is no mention of the role that discrimination plays in perpetuating some of these differences. In the chapter on social psychology, the material on stereotyping and prejudice was accurate, but again presented with less depth than I would prefer. While I did not see offensive material, I thought the author could have done more to present cultural variation and various cultural issues with nuance and depth.

Reviewed by Colette Jacquot, Adjunct Professor, University of Texas at Arlington on 3/4/20

I was hoping I could adopt this textbook for my classes because I realize how expensive books are and the tremendous stress that this expense alone can place on my students. However, I would use only some of the content in this textbook as... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 1 see less

I was hoping I could adopt this textbook for my classes because I realize how expensive books are and the tremendous stress that this expense alone can place on my students. However, I would use only some of the content in this textbook as supplementary material but would need to spend an inordinate amount of time supplementing it to cover major themes which my students need to master.

Content Accuracy rating: 1

From what I read, the textbook seems accurate as far as its content. However, it is inaccurate regarding representing an Introductory to Psychology textbook. The chapters discuss only a few topics instead of addressing a number of vital subjects that introductory psychology students need to master.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 1

First, the Social chapter tackles classic experiments well (e.g., Milgram, Asch, Zimbardo, Sherif) and social influence but fails to address other central topics, such as sexism, ageism, heterosexism, and others. Instead, this chapter discusses bystander effect which is a tangential topic at best. Learning is another insufficient topic that is touched on but it is across two chapters: direct and indirect learning. Moreover, instead of devoting an entire chapter to memory, the textbook discusses it at the end of the Indirect Learning chapter. Furthermore, the Cognition and Intelligence chapter covers how to teach a child shape and numbers and how prior learning (i.e., memory) can interfere with problem solving but that is all regarding cognition. As far as discussing therapy, there is a chapter titled, “The Science of Psychology and Human Potential” which addresses only a few therapeutic interventions: ABA, learned helplessness, CBT, relapse, and conduct disorder interventions.

Clarity rating: 2

The way that these chapters are organized seems arbitrary and therefore unclear. Again, in order for a textbook to be considered for adoption, it must not only be clear but also be thorough to cover all of the material needed for an introductory class.

Consistency rating: 3

The textbook fails to address major psychological issues that an introductory class needs to cover.

Modularity rating: 1

The smaller sections are insufficient. Not only are major themes left out of the book but also tangential topics are included (e.g., bystander effect instead of sexism, ageism, and other vital topics).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 1

A more complete textbook including respected information that other Introduction textbooks cover should be created. Specifically, it is organized differently from any other psychology textbook I have seen. Instead of the typical chapters – Motivation, Learning, Cognition, Social, and others – the book parcels chapters into inadequate topics.

Interface rating: 2

I could not find the search option anywhere.

I did not see any grammatical errors.

By omitting major themes in psychology, the text is actually insensitive to some misunderstood groups, e.g., older adults, women, overweight people, and other underrepresented groups.

Perhaps it is a good starting point, but I suggest adding a significant amount of material that introductory psychology students need to learn.

Reviewed by David Foster, Professor, Open Oregon Educational Resources on 4/19/19

The text aligns well with APA standards for Introductory Psychology. The devil is in the details, however. I have reviewed a number of intro textbooks in developing the curriculum for a dual enrollment psychology course. I have found no one text... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text aligns well with APA standards for Introductory Psychology. The devil is in the details, however. I have reviewed a number of intro textbooks in developing the curriculum for a dual enrollment psychology course. I have found no one text that covers every possible aspect of the standards. That being said, this text provides materials covering the APA standards on a level commensurate with leading introductory texts. One constructive criticism would be to add a list of key terms for each section and/or chapter. Such lists are provided in other open source texts and seem very useful.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The material seems to be accurately conveyed, again, on a level commensurate with leading intro textbooks.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text provided relevant info that corresponds to APA learning standards. Additionally, the open nature of the text automatically lends itself to easy updating and customization.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is written at a level that is accessible for introductory psychology students.

Consistency rating: 5

The book used a consistent approach in displaying the materials in separate submodules within each chapter and providing a chapter summary at the end.

I appreciate the modularization of text in to smaller, more accessible units.

The topics are presented in a clear and logical fashion. I especially appreciated the organization of the developmental chapter by increasing age rather than theorist.

Interface rating: 3

I reviewed the pdf version of the text. There were some display issues as some pictures and logos were a little blurred and therefore distracting. Additionally, this version of the text did not appear to be paginated correctly. At times, the figure heading would appear at the bottom of the page while the figure itself would be on the following page by itself (leaving 3/4's of the page blank)

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I did not detect any grammatical errors. However, proofreading is not my strong suit.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text appeared to be culturally appropriate.

Great value for the price!

Reviewed by Bridget Coddou, Instructor, Nicholls State University on 4/12/19

In my opinion, this book does an excellent job of covering all of the areas and ideas of the subject of Psychology. The index is appropriate, but I was not able to find the glossary. I like the depth of the information and how it is displayed. ... read more

In my opinion, this book does an excellent job of covering all of the areas and ideas of the subject of Psychology. The index is appropriate, but I was not able to find the glossary. I like the depth of the information and how it is displayed. I believe that the course should absolutely match the level of the students. As an Instructor that teaches both Intro and higher level Psychology courses, I think that it is imperative for us to be parallel with the students level of interest and strive to motivate them to learn. Too much information can become overwhelming for students as well as sway them away from the content. When teaching intro, I try very hard to teach my students the basic concepts as well as pose a "to be continued" mindset, in order to increase the likelihood that they will be eager to continue their education in Psychology courses. This book does just this.

Overall, the accuracy is error-free and unbiased based off of my observations. I do want to point out that in Chapter 12, when discussing the DSM, it is important that we continue to explain our classification system in terms of how it is used today. The author talks about the different Axis in the DSM due to this being a 2015 version of the text. This classification system no longer exists. It would be important for those teaching this material to be up-to-date and aware of the changes.

As stated above, the book does seem to be up-to-date except for Chapter 12 where they go into detail about the Axis system of the DSM. We are now in the DSM-V where we do not have an Axis classification system. This will be the one area that the author will need to keep up-to-date when discussing diagnoses.

This textbook does an excellent job in writing and is lucid. The language and picture examples make it very easy to read and understand. One advantage to moving to a digital textbook is that the student can use internet resources to connect the content. The videos that are included throughout the text are convenient. We like convivence when learning. It is one less step to that the student has to do; therefore, it increases the likelihood that the student will learn that particular concept.

There were no inconsistencies noted in this text.

I think that the Modularity of the text is appropriate; however, I do think that having some thumbnails to show the Chapters would be really nice for the student as well as the Instructor. It will make it easier to sort through the material if you have multiple Chapters on an exam.

I love the organization of this text. It is very easy to follow. Considering that I am a person that usually likes paper, I think that this digital text is attractive and organized. We want to make learning inviting and I really feel like this text does just this.

As stated above, this text is very clear and easy to understand. I think that the text could use more end of chapter questions/quizzes and I would like to see glossary words at the end of each particular chapter. I think that this helps the student organize and structure their ideas.

No grammatical errors were noted.

No note of any insensitive or offensive language/content in this text. In order to prevent such accusations, the author may want to include something the Introduction or Acknowledgements that a lot of the information provided is based off of research and findings in particular studies. I think that this is the rule not the exception when teaching Psychology. So many topics can and due become controversial, but if we preface these ideas at the outset of our discussions/writings, people tend to remain open-minded and accepting of new ideas.

Overall, I think that this textbook is absolutely appropriate for an Introductory course. I found it very easy to use which I believe is the absolute first step of engagement for students. I tell my students all of the time in Intro, I want to set the foundation for you in this course. I want them to see it as just that. Learning enough to understand the basic concepts and promoting interest in order to fuel the mind to explore Psychology more in-depth in subsequent courses.

Reviewed by Melissa Cannon, Assistant Professor, Western Oregon University on 3/6/19

The text seems fairly comprehensive in how it introduces the domains of psychology and roots them in empirical research. Several areas lack depth, which is understandable for an introductory text, but many also seem to lack cultural breadth and... read more

The text seems fairly comprehensive in how it introduces the domains of psychology and roots them in empirical research. Several areas lack depth, which is understandable for an introductory text, but many also seem to lack cultural breadth and could be strengthened by adding more contemporary perspectives. Taking “Growing and Developing” as an example, the author does not address the full bio-psycho-social nature of development across the life course, skips over middle childhood, and misses key theories such as Brofenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and Carstensen’s selectivity theory in later life. The Learning Objectives in each section help to prepare students for what they will be learning, and the Key Takeaways following each section help to summarize concepts, but I find that it is really helpful for students to have a glossary of terms as well which would then be indexed at the back of the book.

I did not find inaccuracies or errors, but some cultural bias (see below under “Cultural”) and issues with relevance of the information and ample citation. For example, on page 225, the paragraph introducing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease includes only a single citation, dated 1995. There are several examples where adding citations (especially more recent ones) would enhance the credibility of the author’s content (e.g., describing structuralism on page 16; ethics in section 2.1; neuroplasticity on page 88; stimulants in section 5.2; psychotherapy in section 13.4).

Some of the references are out of date (e.g., the references in section 6.5 are all from 10 years ago or earlier, with several from the 1990s). Videos that are accessed through hyperlinked text may have been taken down (e.g., the “Stepping Reflex” video on page 220).

The writing seems to be at an appropriate level and not too heavy in jargon/technical language for an introductory course. I felt that some of the text boxes dropped into the chapters were not contextualized sufficiently, however. For example, the “War of the Ghosts” example on page 23 is used to illustrate Bartlett’s research on the cognitive and social processes of remembering. The story itself is confusing, however, and inserting it into the text doesn’t seem to help accomplish the author’s goal. Also, in the beginning of Chapter 6, “The Repository for Germinal Choice” is used to present the classic “nature versus nurture” argument, but it seems like an odd choice given the problematic nature of the story itself: essentially, the efforts of an American millionaire to create a more superior human race. Using a critical lens, a student would be able to detect the outrageously unethical rationale for this millionaire’s “experiment,” but that point should be highlighted more clearly and it seems like a more appropriate example could have been used in the first place.

The text is fairly consistent in terms of organization and framework. I had a hard time understanding why some of the chapter summaries were not at the ends of the chapters (e.g., Chapters 4 and 7).

I appreciate the way that the text is broken into subsections and short paragraphs without feeling disconnected or choppy. The author did a very nice job with this.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The first several chapters are presented in a logical fashion. My preference would be to have “Growing and Developing” follow Chapters 8-11, then be followed by the chapters on psychological disorders. Social cognition should also be presented earlier, perhaps after “Learning” and “Remembering and Judging.”

Depending on the format in which the book was downloaded, this book seems to have a relatively user-friendly interface. The Contents at the beginning are hyperlinked (e.g., in PDF and iBook formats), making it easy to navigate to different sections.

So far as I can tell, there are few (to no) grammatical errors.

The text relies heavily on dominant cultural perspectives and lacks emphasis on the diversity of human nature. It would be helpful to explain differences in race, ethnicity, and nationality (especially as the author uses categories such as “Jews” “East Asians” and “African Americans” for comparison) as well as differences in sex, gender, and sexual orientation, and to cite contemporary sources (e.g., a 1984 one was used on p. 371 to describe discrimination, and a 1994 one was used on p. 439 to explain sexual orientation). The author uses the outdated term “mentally retarded” or “retardation” (p. 367). They also use the binary gender schema (i.e., men versus women) and equate gender identity disorder with transsexualism without effectively explaining gender identity (i.e., transgender/non-binary gender identification are not discussed). They refer to LGBTQ individuals as “homosexuals” (p. 439) and apply a heteronormative lens in discussing sexuality. They also explain that eating disorders can lead people to be “too fat or too thin” (p. 436) which some may perceive as body shaming.

Overall, I found this to be a good text for introducing students to the vast, complex field of psychology. In the classroom I would draw attention to areas of the text that need updated/augmented and describe the most current research findings, adding cross-cultural and international perspectives. I would generally encourage students to use a critical lens while reading this text and to contribute their own personal insight/ideas particular with regard to issues such as culture, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and socioeconomic status.

Reviewed by Kristin Flora, Associate Professor of Psychology, Franklin College on 1/23/19

A few emerging areas of psychology, such as health psychology and I/O psychology are not represented. While I/O is not currently commonplace in other introductory texts, Stress and Health typically warrants a chapter. Stress is included in the... read more

A few emerging areas of psychology, such as health psychology and I/O psychology are not represented. While I/O is not currently commonplace in other introductory texts, Stress and Health typically warrants a chapter. Stress is included in the chapter on Emotion and Motivation, which perhaps negates the need for a separate chapter (since stress is a major component of health psychology). Additionally, there is little mention of Vygotsky in Chapter 6. If that is important to an instructor, s/he will need to augment. Finally, there does seem to be a lot of attention paid to PTSD; it is significantly discussed in 3-4 chapters. This is not necessarily a critical comment, but something that stood out in my review of the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

In the spirit of simplification and parsimony, the author omits some information that better shows the complexity and nuance of some of the phenomenon. For example, when discussing REM there is no mention of muscle paralysis that accompanies this stage of sleep. Or when explaining Ainsworth’s Strange Situation, the author states there are 4 attachment styles. While there are, only 3 of them came from Ainsworth’s initial research. Disorganized was identified later. More critically, it is evident that this edition has not been updated to reflect changes in the DSM. When moving from DSM-IV to DSM-V the Axes system was eliminated yet the text still spends ample time explaining this old diagnostic system. Relatedly, in Chapter 10 when eating disorders are explained only Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are presented; Binge Eating Disorder is now a recognized eating disorder. There are multiple other examples that would require the instructor to update this information so that the students are learning the most accurate material.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

At various places in the text the references seem outdated (e.g. Chapter 3 where most stem from the 1990s). A more egregious example is in Chapter 11 where the author cites a study from 1928 when describing the stability of personality in children. Certainly this could be effectively used from a historical perspective, but the contextual language does not suggest that is the intent of using this article. In Chapter 13, the pie chart depicting the proportion of types of therapy practiced is from 2001, making it nearly 20 years old. Finally, some more contemporary issues such as e-cigarettes and binge drinking could be incorporated in Chapter 5, along with recent legislative changes regarding recreational marijuana

Overall I think the language is clear and straightforward, with a few exceptions. For example, Chapter 4 explains how the trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory of color vision are correct, but the author could elaborate by explaining what part of the visual process each theory best explains. Additionally, some of the information in tables or figures could be better expressed. Two examples would be Marcia’s theory of identity in Chapter 6 which is presented as a table but would work better as a matrix and Figure 3.11 which demonstrates that bodily regions that require greater motor control are afforded more space on the motor cortex. The homunculus would be a better visual.

In the author’s preface there is note that each chapter begins with an ‘attention grabbing story’ yet I didn’t see one for Chapter 2. Additionally, the inclusion of video clips and other ancillary material varies across chapters, with some having a lot of embedded resources while others have relatively few.

The sections seem appropriate in length to serve as standalone ‘units’. I very much appreciate the key takeaways and critical thinking questions found at the end of each section instead of the end of the chapter. This eases the use of this text by instructors.

This text follows the general format of most introductory texts, with the exception of ending with social psychology instead of disorders and treatment. Otherwise, there were a few spots within chapters – specifically chapters 4 and 6 – where some of the information seems a bit disjointed or out of order.

Some of the images seem a bit odd with respect to formatting (small, offset to the left, leaving a lot of white space to the right). Unsure if this is a pedagogical tool to allow those students who print the chapters room to annotate or if it was just a stylistic decision by the editorial team? When images aren’t small and left justified, they are very large images of prominent psychologists which I’m not sure are helpful or necessary (size, not overall inclusion). The tables are drab: black and white, small font. Students may very well skip over them.

As noted earlier, the text is very well written. The only grammar error I noted was that when discussing the work of the Harlows that the author notes they were affiliated with Wisconsin University rather than the University of Wisconsin.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

I certainly didn’t find evidence of offensive language, but also thought there weren’t intentional attempts to integrate cross-cultural research. A specific example of this is when referencing the Muller-Lyre illusion noting the finding that cultures that utilize different housing structures that don’t use 90 degree angles are less likely to be susceptible to this illusion (carpentered world hypothesis) Or in Chapter 5 when discussing cocaine to note that some indigenous tribes chew on the leaves of the coca plant to maintain alertness. I think there is opportunity for the author to point out cultural differences in the presence of some of the more common psychological disorders. For instance, depression often manifests as more somatic symptoms in Asian cultures rather than sadness and despair that we tend to see in Western cultures.

Overall the key concepts are present. In its current format, instructors could augment areas that are weaker and/or pull in more contemporary examples. The greatest weaknesses are the outdated information re: psychological disorders and diagnosis and a relatively light integration of cultural differences. Graphics could be enhanced to be more engaging for students, but the text itself is well-written.

Reviewed by Dr.Aradhana Mehta, Adjunct Faculty, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI on 6/19/18

This book cover most of the topics for the introduction to Psychology course. though the topic of stress, Coping and Health Psychology. The text and easy to understand and presented in a great manner. There are 14 chapters in total giving a... read more

This book cover most of the topics for the introduction to Psychology course. though the topic of stress, Coping and Health Psychology. The text and easy to understand and presented in a great manner. There are 14 chapters in total giving a complete understanding of the introductory course for psychology.

I found this open Library Textbook to be accurate, error free apart from a few topics like Stress and Coping. Some of the terms used in chapter 12 and 13 are not in use in this present age. They can improvise some examples from Cross culture as well.

The content is good and up-to-date. As mentioned earlier a few terms need to be changed in Chapter 12 & 13 to the new terms used in DSM V. In addition they can enhance the interactive learning process of the student by adding some videos and quizzes to the book.

The content is very well written and have clarity. It present the theoretical and the applied perspective very clearly.

It maintains the consistency and the flow throughout the book.

Modularity rating: 4

Each chapter is broken into several different sections in a very simple and understandable manner. All the subtopics are well connected.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Organization of the text is good. Though the topic of emotions and stress can be separate. As the topic of health and stress is very important in interesting for the young population. The content table should be there in the beginning of each chapter to give the clarity to the students what the chapter will be covering.

There are some graphs and visual aids in the book. Though I will recommend the addition of a few videos and quizzes to promote the interactive learning for the students.

Grammar of the book is great.

Author was very careful and sensitive about the cultural relevance. Additions of some more cross cultural videos/example will enhance the over all perspective of these topics through the world.

Over all it seems adequate and cover most of the topics for the college level course. In addition to the content if some more cross cultural example, videos and interactive quizzes are added to it, this text book will be great for a college level course. Though most of the examples int he text are based on the american culture.

Reviewed by Troy Ertelt, Instructor, Lake Superior College on 5/21/18

Provides comprehensive coverage read more

Provides comprehensive coverage

Content was error-free and without clear bias.

Content was relevant and appropriately updated. Text should be usable for a long period of time.

At times the tone was very academic and might limit accessibility for undergraduate non-majors, but overall, clearly written.

No problems with consistency were noted.

It seemed an instructor could pick the most important sections and exclude those that were less relevant without any problems.

Standard but appropriate organization and structure

The only drawback is the relatively limited number of photos, illustrations, tables, charts, and graphs.

No concerns

No offensive or insensitive content. Clear attempts at inclusion.

Reviewed by Kendra Miller, Psychology Instructor, Anoka-Ramsey Community College on 6/20/17

I compared this textbook with the textbook I currently use, "Discovering Psychology, 7th edition," by Hockenbury, Nolan, and Hockenbury. The textbook I currently use has only 14 chapters and two Appendices. I have seen textbooks with more... read more

I compared this textbook with the textbook I currently use, "Discovering Psychology, 7th edition," by Hockenbury, Nolan, and Hockenbury. The textbook I currently use has only 14 chapters and two Appendices. I have seen textbooks with more chapters that may perhaps also be more comprehensive, but may also be overwhelming to get through in a traditional 16 week course. Therefore, I prefer the more brief or concise versions of introductory textbooks. I think this textbook is comparable in comprehensiveness to the textbook I currently use, with one major exception: "Introduction to Psychology has no separate chapter on "Stress, Health, and Coping." Although this topic is addressed in Chapter 8 with "emotion," my preference would be to have an entirely separate chapter devoted to stress (especially since combining motivation and emotion into one chapter is already a lot of material). Here are a few of my thoughts on the comprehensiveness of each chapter:

Chapter 1: Missing from the "Schools of Psychology" table: Biological, Humanistic, Positive Psychology, and Evolutionary Psychology. The text I currently use discusses Structuralism and Functionalism within the section on the history of psychology, but separates out the "origins of psychology" (where Structuralism and Functionalism are discussed) from "contemporary psychology." Also, although I realize that it would be impossible to include everyone, I feel like there are too many important psychologists missing from the timeline, and the timeline should add in what some of the early theorists did. I do like how Chapters 1 and 2 give separate attention to the history of psychology and the scientific method (my current textbook combines the two). I like how this chapter differentiates between values and facts, and discusses the potential limitations of way we collect and interpret data to understand behavior in our everyday lives.

Chapter 2: I would like to see a little more focus on critical thinking in this chapter, though it is briefly discussed. I would also add in why it's necessary to replicate research, and how a journal article is different than other reports of studies seen in the media. I think the table that lists the conceptual variable and the operational definition would be very useful to students.

Chapter 3: I didn't see norepinehrine discussed. Plasticity is discussed, but would also like to see separate definitions of functional and structural plasticity. I also did not see Broca's and Wernicke's areas discussed.

Chapter 4: I did not see a definition of "transduction." Also missing are the monocular cues of texture gradient and motion parallax, as well as any discussion on bottom-up vs. top-down processing. The "carpentered world hypothesis" could be included discussion of the effects of experience on perceptual interpretations.

Chapter 5: Needs some attention to research on multi-tasking. A table with examples of circadian rhythms throughout the day would be helpful. Some concepts are discussed but terminology related to those concepts are not mentioned, such as sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations, and myoclonic jerk. Sleep-related eating disorder was also not covered. I enjoyed the information provided on the "need to escape everyday consciousness." Very interesting.

Chapter 6: I would like to see some discussion on genotype vs. phenotype and epigenetics. I also didn't see research on types of temperament or theories of gender development presented.

Chapter 7: Some concepts were discussed without the associated terminology (such as "biological preparedness" and the "overjustification effect"). I would also like to see discussion on "learned helplessness."

Chapter 8: The "semantic network model" was discussed somewhat but not labeled as such.

Chapter 9: "Thinking" was not included in this chapter (as it is in the textbook I currently use), and was addressed somewhat instead in the previous chapter, though not in a comprehensive way. I prefer "thinking" to be addressed in the same chapter as intelligence and language.

Chapter 10: I did not see theories of motivation, such as instinct, drive, incentive, arousal, humanistic theories) discussed.

Chapter 11: This chapter was about as comprehensive as it is in the textbook I currently use.

Chapter 12 and some of 13: Needs to be updated to align with the newest edition of the DSM.

Chapter 14: Sufficiently comprehensive.

There was no chapter or appendix covering Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

I found this textbook to be accurate in comparison with the information provided in the textbook I currently use, aside from the need to update the information in Chapter 12 to reflect changes to the DSM.

For the most part, up-to-date (aside from Chapter 12), but a few more relevant examples would catch the attention of students (especially related to media use).

I liked the exercises/critical thinking questions found at the end of the sections. This gives students an opportunity to find ways to make the material relevant to their own lives with personal examples.

I think that concepts were adequately defined and found the textbook easy to read.

The textbook has no consistency issues that I could find.

I found the modularity to be adequate.

For the most part, the organization/structure/flow of this text was good. I only have a few minor recommendations. Within Chapter 3, I feel like the material about how the brain is studied could be placed at the beginning of the chapter; where it is placed seems to disrupt the flow of the chapter, in my opinion. In Chapter 10, I would like to see evidence for the facial feedback hypothesis tied in with the James-Lange theory.

Most of the links to the videos provided within each chapter did not work. I love the use of videos to illustrate course material. However, links seem to change so quickly on the internet that this is a significant issue.

I would recommend adding in a banner above each chapter number for visual interest.

I did not find any grammatical errors.

I feel this is an area that could be expanded, as there seemed to be very few examples that provided a cross-cultural perspective.

Overall, I think the scope of this text was adequate for an introduction to psychology course, though I'm not sure how much updating has occurred since it was distributed in 2010. I would recommend updating the links to the videos within the material and updating Chapter 12 to align with the changes in the new DSM. I would also like to see supplements (PowerPoints and test bank) created for this textbook.

Reviewed by Michelle Shelton, Assistant Professor, George Fox University on 4/11/17

This book provides the content and information that many general psychology textbooks do. In comparing it with three other general psychology textbooks I have used over the years, it is equal to all of them in terms of the topics covered and the... read more

This book provides the content and information that many general psychology textbooks do. In comparing it with three other general psychology textbooks I have used over the years, it is equal to all of them in terms of the topics covered and the level of comprehensiveness.

The content appears to be accurate and error-free. There is a slight bias, as there is with most textbooks, but it in no way clouds the content or the information.

In terms of relevance, the author does a good job with providing information, resources, and citations for the pioneering works in the field. With any general psychology textbook there is a large emphasis on the historical context of the field, theorists, physiology, and behavior. I found the sections on the brain to include some of these seminal works, but very little current information and research on this important structure.

The book's clarity is strong and well-designed. It is very reader-friendly and easy to navigate. The structure of each section lends itself to a good dialogue of the material. The opening story of each chapter is an excellent way to engage students in the material in a very practical sense.

The book is consistent in both terminology and framework. The key terms are highlighted for ease of use, and the figures and tables are labeled and placed in appropriate areas of the text.

I enjoyed the chapters being broken down into different, distinct sections. While I assigned the entire chapter as reading, I planned my activities and assignments to include a graded item from each of the sections. By doing this I knew students were engaged in each of the sections, and for my planning as a professor, it worked very well.

As previously mentioned, the book is well organized, easy to use, and has a great flow to it.

For the most part the interface had no glaring issues. My only criticism of the interface was that there were no page numbers within the body of the book. When I open the book on my laptop, there are no page numbers listed even in the table of contents. When I open the text on my iPad there are numbers for the start of each chapter, but not on the individual page. This made it very difficult to help students navigate to a certain page for information. I also had student complaints about not having page numbers when needed for a citation.

If there were grammatical errors in the book they did not stand out.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

There was not a strong emphasis on cultural relevance. On a positive note there were no issues with cultural insensitivity either. General psychology textbooks tend to be a bit culturally neutral, however there could be added cultural implications to the topics.

Overall this textbook is of the same caliber that most general psychology textbooks are, but it has the significant advantage of being free to the end user.

Reviewed by Troy Pilgrim, Adjunct Instructor, Rogue Community College on 4/11/17

The text covers many key components typically found in an introduction of psychology class. read more

The text covers many key components typically found in an introduction of psychology class.

Content is in keeping with the cannon. I observed no errors.

Content is in keeping with the traditional approach to introducing psychology to community college or undergraduate students. The format of the text allows for an introduction to a variety of domains covered in the field of psychology.

The text is written is such a manner as to reflect college-level expectations. Though it can be dry reading at times (as with most texts), it is far from boring.

This text is not only consistent, but it's progression of subjects easily build upon each other.

The text is easily divisible into sections conducive for a trimester system.

The topics provide a nice overview of the many facets of psychology and easily build on each other.

Navigation is straightforward. The images provided are relevant and are not obtrusive.

I observed no glaring grammatical issues.

I observed no areas of concern in this domain.

Reviewed by Vanessa Washington, Adjuct Instructor , Concordia University, Portland on 2/15/17

This textbook covers a large range of subjects within the field of psychology; however, some chapters were shortened and brief in their coverage, while others were thorough and extensive in depth of material. Some aspects of the material did not... read more

This textbook covers a large range of subjects within the field of psychology; however, some chapters were shortened and brief in their coverage, while others were thorough and extensive in depth of material. Some aspects of the material did not include most recent research and changes in our fields understanding (for example, the discussion around emotion, arousal and the fight/flight system did not include an introduction to trauma or how the growing body of research shows consistently the impact of early trauma on physical/biological and emotional/mental development). The questions for critical thinking facilitated active learning of what was discussed in the chapter. The progression of chapters followed a logical order from a learning and instructing point of view

The content presented and discussed was accurate; however, certain topics were much more skim in the information provided; this could be resolved through accessing additional learning materials. As a learner in an introductory course, the errors detected would likely go unnoticed. As an instructor and with more comprehensive understanding, the errors were minimally noticeable; nothing observed was falsely reported, simply lacking as comprehensive discussion as possible. The coverage on drugs and addiction was inclusive of updated research that goes against our prior understanding of the impacts of illicit drugs; I was happy to read this inclusion. The prenatal development section briefly covered environmental contributions to birth defects and harmful developmental impacts, including only a sentence or two on the damage of various substances. The discussion around whether our actions are largely due to nature or nurture did not include material around various theories of heritability, leaving the discussion to sound largely based from a personal perspective. The chapter discussing intelligence appeared slightly biased; while reviewing the differences in intelligence between men and women and different races, there was more heavy material presented to support these differences in IQ being partially based in genetics, without a discussion around how social norms and environmental factors also come into play when looking at the findings around differences between social groups and intelligence. Information around the fight or flight system and the brain processes involved in responding to threats was minimal and insufficient, again discussing differences between men and women in their biological arousal response systems, and without addressing the growing body of knowledge around activation of these processes.

Much of the information included in an introductory course is historical, and therefore relevance and longevity should not be a concern. The critical thinking questions and the boxes with real life examples are great in that they reflect updated culturally relevant examples in terms of topics, current themes around the United States political, cultural (etc) climate; however, as culture and times changes, these would be easily adaptable/changeable

This text was very clear and engaging. The layout was inviting, the use of font adjustments (italics, bold face, etc) supported focused learning and signaled when definitions/jargon were given/explored. Each chapter section starts with clear objectives for the reader, and key takeaways, followed by critical thinking questions. Each chapter concludes with a summary of key concepts covered.

The book is written in an engaging manner; difficult concepts are balanced with engaging examples from lived experience. Discussion questions are written to invoke thoughtful responses and personal engagement with the material. Even chapters that may be more challenging for students (research and statistics) are written and therefore read with ease and discussed with engaging and relevant examples.

The chapter lengths were really remarkable for what was covered; they were chunked out in a manner that were short to read and that encouraged engagement with the text. I was shocked at the depth of material and the quality of engagement for also having short and brief chapters - this I think will go a long way with students who are just being introduced to the field of psychology. There were links provided throughout the text; however, I was unsuccessful in getting these links to work and so I cannot report on the usefulness or appropriateness of these learning supplements.

Chapters followed a logical progression of material and each chapter included engaging examples and prompts for future learning or current critical engagement with the material. It was easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to move between chapters. Each chapter provided useful materials in terms of definitions and clarity in previously discussed material

Display features were clear and useful. Links however, were not working for me regardless of how I tried to open them. I was excited to see the option of having youtube videos, examples of personality tests, etc; however, ultimately they were not accessible for use. I was able to highlight the text; however, in the format I was using, I was unable to highlight multiple sections; once I tried, my previous highlighted portion was removed.

This was very well written; there were no grammatical errors that I observed.

Culture in terms of inclusiveness was absent; there was not much included in terms of information that may vary between cultures. When there was discussion of differences between groups of people in regard to race, sex and gender, these differences were named and yet poorly explored; therefore, readers lost opportunities to engage the material with a global view, and potentially could have formed biased or incomplete information about various groups.

Reviewed by Dr. Natikca Robinson, Associate Professor, J Sargeant Reynolds Community College on 2/8/17

This book covers all the chapters needed to give students an understanding of psychology. The chapters are of adequate length and relates to life situations. The concepts in each chapter are explained in a way which is easier for students to... read more

This book covers all the chapters needed to give students an understanding of psychology. The chapters are of adequate length and relates to life situations. The concepts in each chapter are explained in a way which is easier for students to understand.

In this area, the book is very accurate. The content does not differ from introductory concepts in psychology.

In this area, the book is very relevant and will have longevity. The way the text is written, new information can be added with ease. Through the short chapters, there is room to expand the chapters and display the relevance of each chapter to daily life.

The book uses psychology jargon correctly and in a way in which students can gain understanding.

The consistency in this textbook is awesome. The text and concepts flow throughout each chapter.

Through the use of shorter chapters, concepts can be easily explained. Class discussions can easily be formed.

The chapters are broken down in a fashion which are easy to read and create lectures. One chapter is broken down into elements which connect to one another. There aren't any gaps in the information that is being presented.

The textbook meets this element very well. No interface issues. The images were accurate and pertained to the chapters.

The textbook did not have any grammatical errors.

The textbook incorporated various elements of cultural relevance. The examples provided enhanced the chapters.

Reviewed by Mary Ann Woodman, Adjunct Professor, Rogue Community College on 8/21/16

Text covers all the areas of Psychology for an introductory course except for Health Psychology. This is always the first chapter I teach so that students can begin to practice a more healthy lifestyle and learn how to manage stress and anxiety. ... read more

Text covers all the areas of Psychology for an introductory course except for Health Psychology. This is always the first chapter I teach so that students can begin to practice a more healthy lifestyle and learn how to manage stress and anxiety. The glossary, index, table of contents are great. I especially like the chapter openers with real world examples, key takeaways, the applications for everyday life and the empirical research examples. The text is easy to read, has relevant visuals and easy comprehension for community college level. I appreciate the references and occasional video clips. The learning objectives and summaries are concise and valuable.

Most of the content seems accurate. The chapter on Psychological Disorders needs to be upgraded to reflect the DSM V. Such terms as "mental retardation," "hypochondriasis" and "pain disorder" for example are no longer used. Autism spectrum disorder needs updating as well. The statistics graph is taken from 2001-3 and not from 2015-16. The statement that "Most Psychologists go into research" does not seem accurate. Students are exploring their career options in the fields of Social Science. The statement that "emotional IQ texts are unreliable" in summary of chapter 9 also does not seem accurate, unless unreliability is defined and also applied to intelligence IQ tests.

This text is written and designed well in a format that would be easy to implement updates. I would include more female psychologists and their work. It is missing cultural diversity. I would also add some of the new movements in Psychology, such as Positive Psychology, Epigenetics, Neurogenesis, Cultural Psychology, Energy Psychology, Health Psychology and alternative treatments in Naturopathic Medicine for healing illness. The book could use more examples that are related to young people and their daily life. I appreciate the section in chapter 6 on Parenting as an example. The section on nature/nurture, free will/determinism, consciousness/unconsciousness, offers an opportunity to introduce students to a both/and as well as a paradoxical mindset rather than an either/or viewpoint.

The text is well written and in language that student's can easily understand. Technical terms are explained well and references related to content. The book does not seem overwelming which many college textbooks seem to be. Based on the amount of time given to teach an Introductory course, this book has some advantages.

Consistency and framework of the text are great. Terminology well defined and used in a consistent fashion Author's dual theme of behavior and empiricism flows well throughout his work. Structure of presenting each topic is the same in each chapter.

The sub units in the textbook make it easy to teach and to break into lesson plans. There is a smooth flow to the subject matter. It would be helpful to have a section bridging one subject to the next so that students could see the interface and relationship of each topic; very little disruption moving from one topic to the next. In some places, the font seems a bit small.

Organization, structure and topical format seems very logical and clear. Text is missing a chapter on Health and Stress Management which highly relevant to the life of a college student.

The textbook includes graphs and visuals that are appealing and easy to study. History of Psychology section has a great chart. Like the videos spotted throughout the text. I would include a chart on the various careers in Psychology since young people are exploring job options.

I could not find any grammar or spelling errors.

The author appears to be careful about cultural sensitivity. However, it lacks examples, case studies research and critical thinking exercises that would bring forth more cultural education for the reader. Young people are growing up with global consciousness and curiosity about ethnic and cultural diversity. Important to include Native American perspectives also. Some excellent video clips from around the world that pertain to every subject studied in an introductory Psychology course.

I appreciate this textbook and would consider using it at the community college level. All of the sections have clear content, great graphs and visuals, and stories pertinent to the subject matter. I would include a section on lucid dreaming in chapter 5 on consciousness. I would also include some of the research on the evolution and phenomenology of consciousness separate from the brain. Student's are fascinated by these topics and it is very relevant to their developmental processes. Integrating practices in Positive Psychology, such as meditation, mindfulness and references to this field of study would be very valuable. Kohlberg's work on Moral Development and Bronfenbrenner's Model could also be included in the chapter on developmental Psychology.

Reviewed by Beth Dietz, Professor, Miami University on 8/21/16

The book covers in great detail all of the chapters that would appear in a typical introduction to psychology textbook, with the exception of a chapter on stress and coping. The book starts with an introductory chapter that includes the... read more

The book covers in great detail all of the chapters that would appear in a typical introduction to psychology textbook, with the exception of a chapter on stress and coping. The book starts with an introductory chapter that includes the definition of psychology, as well as an interestingly-written history of psychology. I appreciate that the author devotes an entire chapter (chapter two) to psychology as a science/ research methodology. The remaining 12 chapters cover psychology in the same order I do in my course – from the level of the cell (Brains, Bodies, and Behavior) to the social world (Psychology in Our Social Lives). So, with the exception of a chapter on stress and coping (which I cover in my course) the breadth of coverage is excellent, with all of the typical and expected chapters. But the depth of coverage is also excellent. Each chapter is deceivingly dense with material. Breaking each chapter into smaller “modules” and topics makes the chapters seem shorter than they actually are. In fact, I cannot say enough about the book’s organization. Each chapter consists of four to five logically-flowing sections, which, among other things, makes this textbook available as a “brief” version for those interested in less coverage.

Pedagogically, the text uses some learning aids, including a list of learning objectives at the outset of each section, visual aids, including embedded videos, chapter summaries, and “Exercises and Critical Thinking” activities at the end of each section. While not entirely comprehensive, these learning aids help to support some learning goals of an introductory course.

If accuracy is defined as being free of errors in reporting, then, overall, the coverage of material in the text is accurate. There were no obvious errors that were detected. If accuracy is defined as the absence of bias, there is nothing that would likely be glaring to the typical undergraduate reading the text. The author approaches introduction to psychology from a scientific perspective, which is evident in the coverage of research (both breadth and depth). Because I teach the course from the same perspective, I appreciate this position. The author did a good job of including timely and important research.

The textbook is quite research-oriented. At an undergraduate level, a strong focus on research can be intimidating and at times, confusing and frustrating. The author balanced the amount of research, the type of research, and examples very well. The amount of coverage is appropriate for an introductory textbook. The research and examples are relevant for undergraduates taking an introductory course. It is noteworthy that the author did not shy away from including and explaining complex experimental research. The author did an excellent job of breaking down the pieces and including the relevant parts. With regard to longevity, this text could have used for several years without needing updates, but it was published six years ago and is in need of inclusion of more recent research and examples.

The book’s strength is the clarity of the writing. The author uses language and jargon that is accessible to most undergraduates. For key terms, it might be helpful to have an index or a glossary for each chapter. Each chapter starts with an example, which helps to provide relevant context for students. The author then lays the groundwork and builds upon it as the chapter unfolds. The use of excellent examples also helps to provide the context.

The book is consistent in its content, organization, and style of writing. Each chapter begins with an example that is likely to be relatable to most readers. Subsequent sections begin with student learning outcomes, which should also help to frame the material for students. The chapter summaries are also consistent from chapter to chapter.

One of the strengths of the text is its modularity. Each chapter is broken into several different sections, which could probably stand on their own (ie., an instructor could assign sections of a chapter, rather than the entire chapter). One advantage of modularity is that is allows for a customized text, where an instructor could pull various sections of the text to create a customized textbook for students. A disadvantage of modularity is that flow and connectedness is compromised. By design, this text is very modular and, although topics can build on one another, there is an intentional lack of connection between chapters. Of course, this necessary shortcoming can be resolved by instructor intervention.

The organization and flow of the text is good, with the already-noted issue of the modularity compromising the connection between chapters. The text is organized in a logical fashion, starting with analysis of behavior at the level of the cell and moving up to the final chapter, which is an analysis of behavior from a social perspective. Within each chapter, the structure and flow is also good. Each chapter/section starts with learning objectives and ends with critical thinking exercises. There are enough visuals and video links in each chapter to break up the narrative portions and reinforce the content.

I read the text as a pdf and did not attempt to download or read it on an iPad or Kindle, for example; nor did I print it. The translation of the text and visuals was good. The visuals showed up well in a pdf and the video links worked well. The bookmark feature in the pdf was also helpful and made it easy to move from section to section. A missing piece was the ability to mark up the text, takes notes, highlight, and save the place where I finished reading. These issues might be resolved if I had downloaded it to an iPad or e-reader. Because other ebooks have these features, I think students will miss this and be potentially disadvantaged.

The book is written very well. I did not notice any grammatical errors. I think I found a few typos, but nothing that disrupted or compromised the integrity of the text.

A focus on culture is not a strength of the text. While there were mentions of culture in some chapters, it was not included in every chapter despite the availability of the research. Even though the text is a bit outdated (2010), there are ample opportunities to include culture and diversity.

Reviewed by Mike Mensink, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Stout on 8/21/16

Two versions of this text were compared across formats, the open source 1.0 http://open.lib.umn.edu/intropsyc/ version as well as the updated 2.1 version, located at... read more

Two versions of this text were compared across formats, the open source 1.0 http://open.lib.umn.edu/intropsyc/ version as well as the updated 2.1 version, located at http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/catalog/editions/stangor_2_1-introduction-to-psychology-2-1 . As a competitor comparison, I referenced the introductory text our institution currently uses (Myers & DeWall, 2015). For those who are curious, the unattributed author is Dr. Charles Stangor, who prefaces the textbook by stating that the focus of Introduction to Psychology is on behavior and empiricism. This emphasis is further supported with chapter openers that focus specifically on real-world examples in applied domains, as well as additional exercises and critical thinking activities for readers. Generally, this text compared favorably in terms of comprehensiveness to other introduction to Psychology textbooks. Research methods, biological psychology, neuroscience, sensation and perception, consciousness, human development, learning, memory, intelligence, language, emotion, motivation, social process, personality, and psychological disorders are all represented. The represented areas of psychology all align with other introductory texts (e.g., Myers & DeWall, 2015). I did not note any major areas of psychology missing; however some other users have suggested that the social processes chapter may be more appropriate as the final chapter in the text. A test-bank, instructor manual, and lecture slides are also available with version 2.0, however I did not see these materials available with version 1.0. A table of contents is available, as is a marginal glossary for each chapter.

I did not encounter any glaring accuracy errors in theoretical or research content. As with any introductory psychological textbook, the author typically demonstrates the greatest conceptual accuracy and strength in their own content area (social psychology, in this instance). In other areas (for example, cognitive processes), I found some issues with how certain aspects were described, however these are better related to clarity than accuracy (see below).

In terms of content relevance, the author provided adequate citations of seminal studies that one would expect in an introductory textbook. I also appreciated the applications to everyday life that appeared at the end of each chapter, which also contained many recent studies to help students better understand cutting-edge work in the field.

Clarity rating: 3

I generally found the writing clarity to be adequate, although there were some areas that either didn’t flow as well as other introductory texts or contained a basic explanation I did not find effective. For example, as a cognitive psychologist, there were some concepts within the learning and memory chapters that I would generally explain differently to students to increase clarity. Specifically, I would suggest a cleaner distinction between cognitive processes and memory storage areas; and a better explanation of the important differences between working memory and short-term memory. Due to the nature of publication in this source, replacements of the author’s name with ‘unnamed author’ and publisher with ‘unnamed publisher’ cause some breaks in coherence for the reader.

Each chapter contains the same organization and layout: A real-world showcase of the chapter content, an application in the chapter of applications to real world problems, and a focus on empirical research studies.

Generally, later chapters that build on understanding psychological research methods can be replaced or reorganized as seen fit by the instructor. However Chapters 1-3 are better left in their original order so students can build on basic descriptions of psychological science, research methods, and biological origins of behavior. As noted earlier, some users have reported a preference for moving Chapter 11: Psychology in Our Social Lives to the end of an instructional sequence.

Chapter organization is well replicated across the textbook and appears in a similar sequence as other introductory texts. Content generally builds upon less complicated content to more complex theories and findings. As noted by the author, this text is somewhat shorter than other introductory texts, which may be of interest to instructors.

The html version of 1.0 is basic in nature but generally well organized and easy to navigate. However there is no option for a full text search within the native html environment. Several reference links did not function, suggesting that this version may need updating (see the 2.1 version mentioned earlier).

While some sentences were awkward for introductory readers, I did not find any major grammatical issues.

Apart from specifically focused content on socio-cultural issues, the focus of this text is not on specific differences between cultures; but on differences of individuals across cultures. This is generally appropriate for an introductory psychology text.

Reviewed by Donna Weber, Senior Lecturer, University of Wisconsin-Stout on 1/7/16

The textbook included the topics and chapters that I expect to be included in a General Psychology course. My attempt was to see this textbook from the perspective of a college freshman. Some may be psychology majors, however most will not. ... read more

The textbook included the topics and chapters that I expect to be included in a General Psychology course. My attempt was to see this textbook from the perspective of a college freshman. Some may be psychology majors, however most will not. This may be the one chance for them to understand that psychology is important and to know the value of studying and appreciating human behavior. I think this text meets that goal.

The content appears to be accurate.

The dramatic examples given to make the points known, will be remembered for a long time. Time passes quickly and with the digital speed of changing, few things can remain relevant for long periods of time. The book seems to be organized in a fashion so that the content can be updated quite easily when needed.

The text is written and arranged in a user friendly manner so that a freshman could quite easily read and comprehend the material.

The consistency of the format and layout of the chapters allows the reader to know what to expect and thus provides a level of comfort going into a chapter that might otherwise be new and difficult for the reader.

The topics can be arranged or reordered if desired by the instructor.

The topics are arranged in an appropriate order. With the instructor bridging the topics, the precise order can be reordered to the preference of the teacher or needs of the students. The order can easily be changed to match a relevant current event, [local or world] that might call a topic to be in the spotlight.

The layout is impressive including: the introduction with the purpose of the chapter; the learning objectives; key words highlighted; charts; videos; key takeaways; experiences and critical thinking; everyday application examples; easy to locate reference citations at the point of topic; and the summary at the end of the chapter. These all add variety, excitement, interest, and repetition of the concepts to be learned.

Everything seems to be in order.

The diversity of culture is somewhat lacking.

I liked the textbook, had fun and enjoyed the review! I think students will like it.

Reviewed by Stephanie Judson, Visiting Assistant Professor, Cleveland State University on 1/12/15

The text covered most expected areas that would be in an introduction to psychology text, however there was no chapter devoted to the field of industrial/organizational psychology nor an introduction to essential statistical knowledge and less... read more

The text covered most expected areas that would be in an introduction to psychology text, however there was no chapter devoted to the field of industrial/organizational psychology nor an introduction to essential statistical knowledge and less depth regarding others topics (i.e., language and intelligence combined into one chapter). In-depth information for each topic was provided and each chapter included questions that would facilitate active learning.

Information provided was generally accurate however I took issue with the overuse of the word “psychologist” in a particular chapter in that the term was applied to non-psycholoigsts. The consistent reference to research and scientific literature was helpful and would allow students understand the importance of scientific inquiry in the field. I felt that more citations were needed throughout though, given the attempt of the author to reinforce the importance of scientific literature, particularly for highly charged information (i.e., racial differences in IQ, rates of sexual minorities in the US population). In particular, an unusually low statistic of LGBTQ individuals was provided at one point and it was unclear where this information was drawn from.

Text was published in 2010 and the most recent citations are from 2011. The text did discuss temporally relevant examples such as current TV shows which would likely draw students in. I also appreciated the helpful information about how to evaluate websites which is quite relevant given that students increasingly use and will use the internet to find information. However, this text references to outdated DSM and therefor much information (particularly related to the five axis system of diagnosis and that related to autism spectrum disorder) is outdated.

Text was written at an appropriate reading level of college students and avoided the overuse of technical jargon. The writing style and reading level of this text would be accessible to most first year college students.

The text was consistent in its presentation of information regarding formatting, depth, and use of real life and research related examples.

Text was broken up into easily readable sections. Also, chapters are an appropriate length and are broken into reasonable length modules.

The text was missing a table of contents and index (in the PDF version) which made it difficult to quickly review the flow of the book or where to find information. The broad based introductions to chapters were inviting and provided an easy way to ease into a new topic area. Information flowed logically regarding the order of the topics across chapters.

Sometimes key words were italicized and sometimes phrases were - text would have benefited from a consistent use of bolding to emphasize key terms. Some tables were somewhat lackluster whereas some were more engaging (i.e., different colors). Some figure headings were not close to the actual figure in the PDF version. Pictures would have made the text more engaging. There was also a missing figure at one point. There were references to video clips however it's unclear how to access them through the PDF version.

I found minimal grammar errors however, there were several typos (i.e., existence of unneeded text, missing spaces).

My largest critique of this text is in reference to the male and Euro-centric approach the material. This is seen through examples used and pictures (i.e., figures predominantly presented images of white, male bodies). There was very little discussion of the importance of oppression, discrimination, power, and privilege related to human behavior and research. There was little to no discussion of the historical impacts of psychologists of color or women psychologists. LGBTQ individuals were referred to as "homosexuals" which is outdated and offensive to many. This text would greatly benefit from more diversity in cultural examples and discussion of how human behavior is impacted by cultural identities.

Reviewed by Linda Lee, Assistant Professor, California Polytechnic State University on 7/15/14

I agree with other reviewers that while the book is concise and provides a good introduction to different domains of psychology the breadth and depth of discussion on certain topics (i.e. motivation) is lacking. I am a developmental psychologist... read more

I agree with other reviewers that while the book is concise and provides a good introduction to different domains of psychology the breadth and depth of discussion on certain topics (i.e. motivation) is lacking. I am a developmental psychologist in training and will therefore focus my comments on Chapter Six (Growing and Developing). In this chapter, the author provides a review of classic theories in developmental psychology (e.g. behaviorism, psychodynamic, Piaget's cognitive development) but fails to adress some of the more modern theories (e.g. Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model). The discussion of Vygtosky's sociohistorical theory also lacks depth. I feel that an inclusion of current criticisms (e.g. most pariticipants in developmental research are White) and progress in the field of development psychology (e.g. multidisciplinary in nature) helps to challenge students to go beyond the basic knowledge and think critically about issues in psychology.

The content is accurate and for the most part unbiased. However, as mentioned previously, the failure to include examples from a diverse cultural context and/or to use only examples from one particular cultural context can be misleading.

For the book to be relevant, examples must be up-to-date and meaningful to students. I find the many examples in this book interesting but from students' point of view, the examples may not be as appealing. For example, there are few examples of relevant issues such as the use of mobile devices or social media throughout the chapters. However, for instructors who adopt the book, I do see the updates relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

The written text is lucid and easy to understand. The flow from paragraph to paragraph is clear and intuitive.

The text is internally consistent.

The book is well organized and does not overwhelm the readers with enormous blocks of text. The key takeaways are useful for students to review important concepts in each section. The exercises and critical thinking are to some extent helpful to build on the concepts learned. I also like some of the opening vignette (e.g. the case of PTSD in Chapter 7). However, I also agree with other reviewers that the modularity lacks transition between chapters and can send the unintended message that the different disciplines in psychology are compartmentalized instead of intertwined.

The chapters are well organized. Depending on the discipline of the instructor who adopts the text, the order of the textbook can be moved around. The graphs, images, diagrams, and illustrations are helpful to clarify difficult concepts (e.g. IV and DV; assimilation vs. accommodation). Although the video clips are classics in any introduction to psychology courses and the inclusion of them a bonus, more recent video clips should be incorporated to improve the engagment of students.

Other than some minor inconsistencies in font size with printed PDF version of the text, the text is easy to navigate and features are helpful.

No grammatical errors.

The examples provided throughout the chapters are not culturally diverse and are therefore limited in their applicability. As previously mentioned, the introduction to Vygotsky's theory in Chapter Six (Growing and Developing) is brief and does not include a discussion on the cultural component of human development. The lack of emphasis on the cultural nature of human development is problematic especially in the United States when ethnic diversity is on the rise.

Reviewed by Jennifer Poole, Chair, Department of Psychology, Langara College on 10/9/13

In the author's preface, he states that the typical length of introductory psychology textbooks serves as a detriment to student learning. Consistent with his concern, his text is not as comprehensive as others I have used to teach introductory... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

In the author's preface, he states that the typical length of introductory psychology textbooks serves as a detriment to student learning. Consistent with his concern, his text is not as comprehensive as others I have used to teach introductory psychology. Whereas a typical text in this area might include 16 to 18 chapters, his text has only 14 – specifically, it is missing a separate chapter on Stress, Health, and Coping (stress receives some coverage in Ch. 10 but other topics in that chapter on Emotion and Motivation are not covered as a result). Many of his chapters are also shorter in length and contain less content than the texts I would typically use. Some of the chapters combine topics (e.g., Ch. 9 - Intelligence and Language) that are often treated in separate chapters in other texts. I suspect that this text may have initially been designed for use in an American one-semester introduction to psychology course. In BC, introductory psychology is offered across two semesters, often as two separate courses (e.g., Psych 101 and Psych 102). Some missing topics include an introduction to inferential statistics (Ch. 2), an in-depth discussion of the application of psychological principles to the workforce, achievement motivation (Ch. 10), etc. The text contains a Table of Contents but no Index. Although the author states (in the Preface) that the text contains a marginal glossary of key terms, I could not find such a glossary. However, when I hover my cursor over a key term, a box with the key term's definition pops up.

For the most part, I found the content to be accurate, error-free, and unbiased. However, I took issue with Stangor's initial presentation of the "Science" of psychology (in Chapter 1). I found his use of Dr. Phil as an example of a psychologist to be misleading. Such an example seems to contradict the author's stated pedagogy of emphasizing psychology's empiricism and seems to feed student misconceptions about what psychology is. He also seems to mention Freud a lot (end of section 1.1, Ch. 5) – again, not a good example of the empirical aspect of psychology. Although Stangor presents criticisms of Freud's Psychodynamic theory in Chapter 11, he still overemphasizes this theory's contribution to the field and glosses over the major concern of lack of falsifiability. Also, PTSD seems to be over-represented in terms of problem behaviours (two of 12 chapter openers describe cases related to PTSD; PTSD is discussed in four chapters - 7,10, 12, and 13).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 2

Some of the content of this text is out-of-date. For example, in section 1.2, Stangor refers to APS as the American Psychological Society, as opposed to the Association of Psychological Science. The discussion on the DSM (and associated Figure 12.6, and Table 12.3) needs to be updated to the DSM-V (see also criteria for ADHD in box at beginning of Chapter 13). Also, whenever Stangor discusses the influence of nature and nurture, he tends to pit them against each other – the old "nature versus nurture" jargon (see Chapter 11 on Personality - is personality more nature or nurture?; Chapter 9 on Intelligence – is intelligence nature or nurture? ). A more contemporary viewpoint is "nature through nurture" which would be exemplified by the inclusion of a discussion on epigenetics. The text presents some recent research in the area of neuroscience – but it needs more, otherwise it risks becoming obsolete in the next few years. The text would also benefit from the inclusion of more research on the impact of technology on student behaviour (e.g., how/ why does the use of cell phones impact our driving?; are our personalities evident in our online spaces , like facebook?). If we want to show students why psychology matters, we need to present more research that is personally and contextually relevant to them (e.g., how does stress impact today's students?). Although I appreciated the attempt to insert appropriate videos and images, I found this book's screen display to be very text heavy and not very engaging. I currently use ebooks to teach my hybrid introductory psychology classes and I think the images used in those books are superior to Stangor's – the images occur more frequently throughout the text, and they are more colourful and in many cases, more relevant to the student lifestyle. Also, the ebooks I use tend to be more interactive – students can actually complete an exercise on a particular concept right after they have read about it by clicking on an icon in the ebook.

The text is well-written and easy to understand. Adequate context is provided when introducing new psychological concepts and explaining them. One exception is in the box on emotional intelligence at the end of section 9.1. The terms reliability and construct validity are used without being previously discussed or defined. They are defined later in Chapter 11.

The text is mostly internally consistent. Each chapter (with the exception of Chapters 1 and 2) begins with a "chapter opener" that describes an interesting case study. Learning objectives are presented at the beginning of each section of a chapter (alth

This text could easily be subdivided into smaller reading sections – instructors could assign particular sections within a chapter. Chapters could be assigned in any order to accommodate introductory psychology courses which are typically offered as two courses. However, I think this modularity comes at a price. Psychology is a discipline where there are recurring themes. I find the lack of delineated connection between chapters disconcerting.

The topics are presented in a logical, clear fashion. The one exception is the inclusion of a discussion of social dilemmas at the end of Chapter 7 on Learning. This discussion doesn't really fit with the rest of the chapter; a clear explanation of how/ why it fits into this chapter is missing.

The full reference for each citation in the text seems to be embedded in the body of the text throughout the whole book. I am not sure if this was some glitch in the formatting of the version of the text I downloaded but it was exceedingly disruptive to the flow of reading. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out where the next sentence began after the reference! Also the font in a number of the Figures is too small to read (for example, Fig. 1.5, 2.2, 3.17, 4.29, 5.9, 9.4, 10.4, 10.6, 10.8, 13.7, 14.9, 14.13, 14.15). There is an issue with the formatting of Table 5.1 (the latter part of the table is cut-off).

The text contained few grammatical errors - I think I only found two typos!

The text is fairly ethnocentric. It does not include any introduction to or discussion of the differences between individualistic and collectivist cultures. Although the author provides some research on ethnic and cultural differences (e.g., discussion of stereotype threat and ethnic differences on IQ test performance in Chapter 9, etc.), I think it would benefit from the inclusion of more research findings on cultural diversity, especially given the multicultural composition of our Canadian post-secondary institutions. The following are some examples of where the discussion of cultural differences could be expanded: i) How do cultural perceptions influence the onset and prognosis of psychological disorders? (Chapter 12) ii) In Chapter 9, the author states that "Intelligence is defined by the culture in which it exists," but there is no elaborative discussion on the meaning of intelligence in collectivist cultures. iii) At the end of Section 11.1, the author states that "there is evidence that the Big Five factors are not exactly the same across all cultures" but he doesn't elaborate on these differences. Such a statement seems to contradict an earlier observation that "Big Five dimensions seem to be cross-cultural, because the same five factors have been identified in participants in China, Japan, Italy, Hungary, Turkey, and many other countries." iv) Chapter 10 would benefit from the inclusion of a discussion on cross-cultural differences in the perception and expression of emotion, as well as cross-cultural differences/ similarities in happiness. For example, many argue that happiness is only important in societies that emphasize individualism. v) Likewise, Chapter 13 would benefit from an inclusion of the effect of culture on treatment outcomes. vi) Research presented on causal attributions in Chapter 14 is only true for individuals in individualistic cultures. What type of self-serving attributions do people from collectivist cultures make? What does cross-cultural research reveal about the fundamental attribution error?

This text is very American in content. No Canadian reviewers are listed. All American statistics would need to be replaced with Canadian ones (e.g., Table 12.1, Figure 13.2, etc.). Specifically, the section on ethics in Chapter 1 would need to be revised to be consistent with Canadian policies. The discussion of Bilingualism and Cognitive Development in Chapter 9 needs to be modified to include the Canadian example of French Immersion. The case at the beginning of Chapter 11 could be replaced with a Canadian twin example - there are many to choose from. Also, it would be nice to include some examples from our Aboriginal culture. This review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.

Reviewed by Denise Iacobucci, Faculty, Camosun College on 10/9/13

When conducting this review I compared this text to four other introductory textbooks (Gerrig, Zimbardo, Desmarais, & Ivanco, 2010; Myers, 2013; Passer, Smith, Atkinson, Mitchell, & Muir, 2011; Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner,2013). The... read more

When conducting this review I compared this text to four other introductory textbooks (Gerrig, Zimbardo, Desmarais, & Ivanco, 2010; Myers, 2013; Passer, Smith, Atkinson, Mitchell, & Muir, 2011; Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner,2013). The Preface and Approach and Pedagogy sections of this text do a good job of declaring the focus on both human behaviour and empiricism and how this focus limits coverage of topics found in many other introductory textbooks. Limited coverage reduces number of chapters and chapter size. For example, it is customary to find an overview of all perspectives of psychology within the first chapter or two (ie. as in Myers, 2013; Passer, Smith, Atkinson, Mitchell, & Muir, 2011). Stangor provides a table (Table 1.3) of different areas of psychology in Chapter One, but does not review humanistic psychology, the biological/neuroscience perspective, and/or Gestalt Psychology as one might expect. Although humanistic psychology is covered in Chapter 11(Personality) on page 631 it comes much later in the text and is discussed in terms of personality theory development. Although Stangor on p. 23 in Chapter 1 comments on the growing number of women in psychology, he does not highlight historical contributions of women and other cultures (i.e., Margaret Washburn, Maime Phipps Clark) to the field of psychology. Similarly, in Chapter Six (Growing and Developing) there is less focus on gender development, aging well, and later adult development with no reference to systems theory/bioecological theory in development (i.e. Bronfenbrenner, 2004) (i.e., Gerrig, Zimbardo, Desmarais, & Ivanco, 2010). Generally, Stangor's text has limited coverage of health psychology, stress and well-being, motivation & achievement, and Canadian researchers. There is also limited discussion of cultural differences and similarities regarding topics and research throughout the text. On-line versions of the text as noted here http://www.saylor.org/courses/psych101/ have a nicely laid out Table of Contents, the printed version or pdf version does not. Including this in the printed copy would be helpful to students in order to navigate the material. Similarly, chapter summaries that include a list of key terms covered within a chapter have been very helpful to introductory psychology students. The insertion of key terms at the end of a chapter along with an addition of a glossary for terminology would make this text more accessible and easy to navigate.

The inclusion of video clips on concepts, research, and applicable stories enables students to see psychology as they read through each chapter online. This is an advantage over commercial texts; however, these links are not always easily accessible via the pdf, WORD, downloaded versions. The HTML zip file did have these links. Although this text has a moderate number of basic images to illustrate concepts throughout each chapter, these could be updated and increased in number to keep students engaged with the material. Many other commercial introductory texts have more realistic and colourful images to depict concepts throughout each chapter. For example, Chapter 7 (Learning) has four images including charts and graphs while other commercial introductory texts have 30 or more images on learning (i.e., Myers, 2013; Passer et al., 2011). Addition of pictures of researchers would also highlight the people contributing to psychological science. I noted some issues with image consistency within a chapter. For example, in Figure 3.6 – Cross-section of the brain is not very clear with the green space indicating the frontal lobe being very small. However, in Figure 3.10 frontal lobe location is more clear and consistent with other texts.

The lack of information on certain topics, such as epigenetics, gender development, work/achievement motivation, cultural perspectives in combination with the static vs. active phrasing of definitions can, at times, date this text. Stangor's definition of learning "the relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviour that is the result of experience" (p. 348) is static when according to the definition offered by Myers (2013, p. 266) "the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviours". The active/present tense phrasing of this definition, in my opinion, is more dynamic. Given the Houston Community College (2011)example of editing this text, updating this version by adding sections is possible.

The text is clear and easy to understand. For the topics covered, they are well explained.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. Stangor indicates in the Preface that each chapter has a "chapter opener" (p.8). This is not the case and I would add this feature to Chapters 1 and 2.

The modularity of this text lends itself well to updates and edits.

Generally, Chapters 1 through 10 flow well. My preference would be to move the social psychology chapter (Stangor's Chapter 14) to follow the personality chapter (Stangor Chapter 11), rather than having social psychology last in this text.

Although it is helpful to see italicized words in the body of the text, bolded words draw student's attention to the importance of these concepts. Adding a bolded type face along with a list at the end of the chapter would be helpful to introductory students. In the hard copy and downloaded pfd/Word copies I noted many that the Psychology in Everyday Life sections were written in a smaller font and subsequently not as easy to read. As noted in previously, not all video links worked when reviewing the text online – if information was provided about the source in the text it was easy to look this up and review these clips. As well, this online resource could have more interactive online exercises for students throughout the text. As noted in previous answers, diagrams and figures could be improved to provide more realistic images of biological components of psychology (i.e., the neuron, brain, synapse).

Grammatical errors did not stand out as I read for content, organization, consistency et cetera. I did note spacing issues between words a few times in the text. For example, on page 30 on my hardcopy and WORD document/pdf downloaded copies the words "ofevolutionary" required a space between the words, p. 310 "usinglongitudinal" and on p. 657 "Thesocial". These spacing issues between words seemed to be in the pdf, WORD and hard copies. Perhaps this comment is better suited in the interface answer.

For me, the text is culturally dated (ethnocentric) based on what is not discussed and some of the examples used in the text. Of the 12 chapters that have Chapter Openers, only 3 of these used examples from outside the United States. The other examples were from Canada and Australia. Highlighting research from psychologists in different countries and cultures would add to this text as would more discussion on cultural as context for behaviour. For example, Chapter 11, does not discuss in detail how collectivist cultures differ on personality research versus more individualistic cultures. Chapter 14 on group behaviour does not address how culture mediates group behaviour as discussed in many other commercial texts (i.e. Myers 2013, Gerrig et al, 2010). Today's students in British Columbia are from all over the world and I think this text could do a much better job of including cultural perspectives and examples within each chapter. Although Stangor mentions the importance of culture in Chapters, he does not extend the discussions on how & why culture is important to psychology theory and research. For example, in Chapter 12 - the social cultural influences provided are socioeconomic status, homelessness, abuse, and discrimination are all culturally specific. There is limited discussion on disorders unique to different cultures (i.e., phobias), disorders more predominantly found in certain cultures et cetera. The focus is on the American population. Commercial texts often cover the cultural variations in disorders (i.e. Gerrig et al, 2010). Based on the review I would recommend changing the White Ghost story in Chapter 1 and supplementing Canadian and more International examples in the Chapter Openers.

I believe it is important to provide an overview of all the major psychological perspectives in the first chapter or two. I would add those sections/content noted in answer to question 1 and 3 of this review. In particular additional content on student/worker motivation, health psychology and stress incorporating student examples would be useful. As noted in question 11 highlighting Canadian researchers Canadian researchers on topics discussed in text. As well, I think it would be helpful to create a student guide to the text as did Houston Community College (2011)or add student glossary, index of terms to the text. As well, the chapter summaries require more active reviews - such as multiple choice question review or something similar that has answers somewhere in the text or online where students can check their understanding of material. This review originated in the BC Open Textbook Collection and is licensed under CC BY-ND.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introducing Psychology
• Chapter 2: Psychological Science
• Chapter 3: Brains, Bodies, and Behavior
• Chapter 4: Sensing and Perceiving
• Chapter 5: States of Consciousness
• Chapter 6: Growing and Developing
• Chapter 7: Learning
• Chapter 8: Remembering and Judging
• Chapter 9: Intelligence and Language
• Chapter 10: Emotions and Motivations
• Chapter 11: Personality
• Chapter 12: Defining Psychological Disorders
• Chapter 13: Treating Psychological Disorders
• Chapter 14: Psychology in Our Social Lives

Ancillary Material

About the book.

When you teach Introduction to Psychology, do you find it difficult — much harder than teaching classes in statistics or research methods? Do you easily give a lecture on the sympathetic nervous system, a lecture on Piaget, and a lecture on social cognition, but struggle with linking these topics together for the student? Do you feel like you are presenting a laundry list of research findings rather than an integrated set of principles and knowledge? Have you wondered how to ensure your course is relevant to your students? Introduction to Psychology utilizes the dual theme of behavior and empiricism to make psychology relevant to intro students. The author wrote this book to help students organize their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level. Five or ten years from now, he does not expect his students to remember the details of most of what he teaches them. However, he does hope that they will remember that psychology matters because it helps us understand behavior and that our knowledge of psychology is based on empirical study.

This book is designed to facilitate these learning outcomes, and he has used three techniques to help focus students on behavior:

Chapter Openers: Each chapter opens showcasing an interesting real world example of people who dealing with behavioral questions and who can use psychology to help them answer them. The opener is designed to draw the student into the chapter and create an interesting in learning about the topic.

Psychology in Everyday Life: Each chapter contains one or two features designed to link the principles from the chapter to real-world applications in business, environment, health, law, learning, and other relevant domains. For instance, the application in Chapter 7 on Development, ”What makes good parents“ applies the concepts of parenting styles in a mini-handbook about parenting, and the application in Chapter 3 is about the difficulties that left-handed people face performing everyday tasks in a right-handed world.

Research Foci: Introduction to Psychology emphasizes empiricism throughout, but without making it a distraction from the main story line. Each chapter presents two close-ups on research — well articulated and specific examples of research within the content area, each including a summary of the hypotheses, methods, results, and interpretations. This feature provides a continuous thread that reminds students of the importance of empirical research. The research foci also emphasize the fact that findings are not always predictable ahead of time (dispelling the myth of hindsight bias), and also help students understand how research really works. The author's focus on behavior and empiricism has produced, Introduction to Psychology, a text that is better organized, has fewer chapters, and is somewhat shorter than many of the leading books. Now, you don't have to believe us. Check the book out online or order your desk copy today.

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Introduction

Chapter outline.

Clive Wearing is an accomplished musician who lost his ability to form new memories when he became sick at the age of 46. While he can remember how to play the piano perfectly, he cannot remember what he ate for breakfast just an hour ago (Sacks, 2007). James Wannerton experiences a taste sensation that is associated with the sound of words. His former girlfriend’s name tastes like rhubarb (Mundasad, 2013). John Nash was a brilliant mathematician and Nobel Prize winner. However, while he was a professor at MIT, he would tell people that the New York Times contained coded messages from extraterrestrial beings that were intended for him. He also began to hear voices and became suspicious of the people around him. Soon thereafter, Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to a state-run mental institution (O’Connor & Robertson, 2002). Nash was the subject of the 2001 movie A Beautiful Mind . Why did these people have these experiences? How does the human brain work? And what is the connection between the brain’s internal processes and people’s external behaviors? This textbook will introduce you to various ways that the field of psychology has explored these questions.

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• Publication date: Apr 22, 2020
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Early history

Behaviourism, freud and his followers, after world war ii and sputnik.

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• Table Of Contents

psychology , scientific discipline that studies mental states and processes and behaviour in humans and other animals.

The discipline of psychology is broadly divisible into two parts: a large profession of practitioners and a smaller but growing science of mind , brain , and social behaviour. The two have distinctive goals, training, and practices, but some psychologists integrate the two.

(Read Sigmund Freud’s 1926 Britannica essay on psychoanalysis.)

In Western culture , contributors to the development of psychology came from many areas, beginning with philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle . Hippocrates philosophized about basic human temperaments (e.g., choleric, sanguine , melancholic) and their associated traits. Informed by the biology of his time, he speculated that physical qualities, such as yellow bile or too much blood, might underlie differences in temperament ( see also humour ). Aristotle postulated the brain to be the seat of the rational human mind, and in the 17th century René Descartes argued that the mind gives people the capacities for thought and consciousness : the mind “decides” and the body carries out the decision—a dualistic mind-body split that modern psychological science is still working to overcome. Two figures who helped to found psychology as a formal discipline and science in the 19th century were Wilhelm Wundt in Germany and William James in the United States . James’s The Principles of Psychology (1890) defined psychology as the science of mental life and provided insightful discussions of topics and challenges that anticipated much of the field’s research agenda a century later.

During the first half of the 20th century, however, behaviourism dominated most of American academic psychology. In 1913 John B. Watson , one of the influential founders of behaviourism, urged reliance on only objectively measurable actions and conditions, effectively removing the study of consciousness from psychology. He argued that psychology as a science must deal exclusively with directly observable behaviour in lower animals as well as humans, emphasized the importance of rewarding only desired behaviours in child rearing, and drew on principles of learning through classical conditioning (based on studies with dogs by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov and thus known as Pavlovian conditioning ). In the United States most university psychology departments became devoted to turning psychology away from philosophy and into a rigorous empirical science.

Beginning in the 1930s, behaviourism flourished in the United States, with B.F. Skinner leading the way in demonstrating the power of operant conditioning through reinforcement. Behaviourists in university settings conducted experiments on the conditions controlling learning and “shaping” behaviour through reinforcement, usually working with laboratory animals such as rats and pigeons. Skinner and his followers explicitly excluded mental life, viewing the human mind as an impenetrable “black box,” open only to conjecture and speculative fictions. Their work showed that social behaviour is readily influenced by manipulating specific contingencies and by changing the consequences or reinforcement (rewards) to which behaviour leads in different situations. Changes in those consequences can modify behaviour in predictable stimulus-response (S-R) patterns. Likewise, a wide range of emotions , both positive and negative, may be acquired through processes of conditioning and can be modified by applying the same principles.

Concurrently, in a curious juxtaposition , the psychoanalytic theories and therapeutic practices developed by the Vienna-trained physician Sigmund Freud and his many disciples—beginning early in the 20th century and enduring for many decades—were undermining the traditional view of human nature as essentially rational. Freudian theory made reason secondary: for Freud, the unconscious and its often socially unacceptable irrational motives and desires, particularly the sexual and aggressive, were the driving force underlying much of human behaviour and mental illness . Making the unconscious conscious became the therapeutic goal of clinicians working within this framework.

Freud proposed that much of what humans feel, think, and do is outside awareness, self-defensive in its motivations, and unconsciously determined. Much of it also reflects conflicts grounded in early childhood that play out in complex patterns of seemingly paradoxical behaviours and symptoms. His followers, the ego psychologists, emphasized the importance of the higher-order functions and cognitive processes (e.g., competence motivation , self-regulatory abilities) as well as the individual’s psychological defense mechanisms . They also shifted their focus to the roles of interpersonal relations and of secure attachment in mental health and adaptive functioning, and they pioneered the analysis of these processes in the clinical setting.

After World War II , American psychology, particularly clinical psychology, grew into a substantial field in its own right, partly in response to the needs of returning veterans. The growth of psychology as a science was stimulated further by the launching of Sputnik in 1957 and the opening of the Russian-American space race to the Moon . As part of this race, the U.S. government fueled the growth of science. For the first time, massive federal funding became available, both to support behavioral research and to enable graduate training. Psychology became both a thriving profession of practitioners and a scientific discipline that investigated all aspects of human social behaviour, child development , and individual differences, as well as the areas of animal psychology, sensation , perception , memory , and learning.

Training in clinical psychology was heavily influenced by Freudian psychology and its offshoots. But some clinical researchers, working with both normal and disturbed populations, began to develop and apply methods focusing on the learning conditions that influence and control social behaviour. This behaviour therapy movement analyzed problematic behaviours (e.g., aggressiveness , bizarre speech patterns, smoking , fear responses) in terms of the observable events and conditions that seemed to influence the person’s problematic behaviour. Behavioral approaches led to innovations for therapy by working to modify problematic behaviour not through insight, awareness, or the uncovering of unconscious motivations but by addressing the behaviour itself. Behaviourists attempted to modify the maladaptive behaviour directly, examining the conditions controlling the individual’s current problems, not their possible historical roots. They also intended to show that such efforts could be successful without the symptom substitution that Freudian theory predicted. Freudians believed that removing the troubling behaviour directly would be followed by new and worse problems. Behaviour therapists showed that this was not necessarily the case.

To begin exploring the role of genetics in personality and social development , psychologists compared the similarity in personality shown by people who share the same genes or the same environment . Twin studies compared monozygotic (identical) as opposed to dizygotic (fraternal) twins, raised either in the same or in different environments . Overall, these studies demonstrated the important role of heredity in a wide range of human characteristics and traits, such as those of the introvert and extravert , and indicated that the biological-genetic influence was far greater than early behaviourism had assumed. At the same time, it also became clear that how such dispositions are expressed in behaviour depends importantly on interactions with the environment in the course of development, beginning in utero.

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50+ Research Topics for Psychology Papers

How to Find Psychology Research Topics for Your Student Paper

• Specific Branches of Psychology
• Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy
• Human Cognition
• Human Development
• Critique of Publications
• Famous Experiments
• Historical Figures
• Specific Careers
• Case Studies
• Literature Reviews
• Your Own Study/Experiment

Are you searching for a great topic for your psychology paper ? Sometimes it seems like coming up with topics of psychology research is more challenging than the actual research and writing. Fortunately, there are plenty of great places to find inspiration and the following list contains just a few ideas to help get you started.

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information.

I can always tell when a student really cares about the topic they chose; it comes through in the writing. My advice is to choose a topic that genuinely interests you, so you’ll be more motivated to do thorough research.

In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have the option to select any topic from within psychology's broad reach. Other instances, such as in an  abnormal psychology  course, might require you to write your paper on a specific subject such as a psychological disorder.

As you begin your search for a topic for your psychology paper, it is first important to consider the guidelines established by your instructor.

Research Topics Within Specific Branches of Psychology

The key to selecting a good topic for your psychology paper is to select something that is narrow enough to allow you to really focus on the subject, but not so narrow that it is difficult to find sources or information to write about.

One approach is to narrow your focus down to a subject within a specific branch of psychology. For example, you might start by deciding that you want to write a paper on some sort of social psychology topic. Next, you might narrow your focus down to how persuasion can be used to influence behavior .

Other social psychology topics you might consider include:

• Prejudice and discrimination (i.e., homophobia, sexism, racism)
• Social cognition
• Person perception
• Social control and cults
• Persuasion, propaganda, and marketing
• Attraction, romance, and love
• Nonverbal communication
• Prosocial behavior

Psychology Research Topics Involving a Disorder or Type of Therapy

Exploring a psychological disorder or a specific treatment modality can also be a good topic for a psychology paper. Some potential abnormal psychology topics include specific psychological disorders or particular treatment modalities, including:

• Eating disorders
• Borderline personality disorder
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Schizophrenia
• Antisocial personality disorder
• Profile a  type of therapy  (i.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, psychoanalytic therapy)

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Cognition

Some of the possible topics you might explore in this area include thinking, language, intelligence, and decision-making. Other ideas might include:

• False memories
• Speech disorders
• Problem-solving

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Human Development

In this area, you might opt to focus on issues pertinent to  early childhood  such as language development, social learning, or childhood attachment or you might instead opt to concentrate on issues that affect older adults such as dementia or Alzheimer's disease.

Some other topics you might consider include:

• Language acquisition
• Media violence and children
• Learning disabilities
• Gender roles
• Child abuse
• Prenatal development
• Parenting styles
• Aspects of the aging process

Do a Critique of Publications Involving Psychology Research Topics

One option is to consider writing a critique paper of a published psychology book or academic journal article. For example, you might write a critical analysis of Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams or you might evaluate a more recent book such as Philip Zimbardo's  The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil .

Professional and academic journals are also great places to find materials for a critique paper. Browse through the collection at your university library to find titles devoted to the subject that you are most interested in, then look through recent articles until you find one that grabs your attention.

Topics of Psychology Research Related to Famous Experiments

There have been many fascinating and groundbreaking experiments throughout the history of psychology, providing ample material for students looking for an interesting term paper topic. In your paper, you might choose to summarize the experiment, analyze the ethics of the research, or evaluate the implications of the study. Possible experiments that you might consider include:

• The Milgram Obedience Experiment
• The Stanford Prison Experiment
• The Little Albert Experiment
• Pavlov's Conditioning Experiments
• The Asch Conformity Experiment
• Harlow's Rhesus Monkey Experiments

Topics of Psychology Research About Historical Figures

One of the simplest ways to find a great topic is to choose an interesting person in the  history of psychology  and write a paper about them. Your paper might focus on many different elements of the individual's life, such as their biography, professional history, theories, or influence on psychology.

While this type of paper may be historical in nature, there is no need for this assignment to be dry or boring. Psychology is full of fascinating figures rife with intriguing stories and anecdotes. Consider such famous individuals as Sigmund Freud, B.F. Skinner, Harry Harlow, or one of the many other  eminent psychologists .

Psychology Research Topics About a Specific Career

​Another possible topic, depending on the course in which you are enrolled, is to write about specific career paths within the  field of psychology . This type of paper is especially appropriate if you are exploring different subtopics or considering which area interests you the most.

In your paper, you might opt to explore the typical duties of a psychologist, how much people working in these fields typically earn, and the different employment options that are available.

Topics of Psychology Research Involving Case Studies

One potentially interesting idea is to write a  psychology case study  of a particular individual or group of people. In this type of paper, you will provide an in-depth analysis of your subject, including a thorough biography.

Generally, you will also assess the person, often using a major psychological theory such as  Piaget's stages of cognitive development  or  Erikson's eight-stage theory of human development . It is also important to note that your paper doesn't necessarily have to be about someone you know personally.

In fact, many professors encourage students to write case studies on historical figures or fictional characters from books, television programs, or films.

Psychology Research Topics Involving Literature Reviews

Another possibility that would work well for a number of psychology courses is to do a literature review of a specific topic within psychology. A literature review involves finding a variety of sources on a particular subject, then summarizing and reporting on what these sources have to say about the topic.

Literature reviews are generally found in the  introduction  of journal articles and other  psychology papers , but this type of analysis also works well for a full-scale psychology term paper.

Topics of Psychology Research Based on Your Own Study or Experiment

Many psychology courses require students to design an actual psychological study or perform some type of experiment. In some cases, students simply devise the study and then imagine the possible results that might occur. In other situations, you may actually have the opportunity to collect data, analyze your findings, and write up your results.

Finding a topic for your study can be difficult, but there are plenty of great ways to come up with intriguing ideas. Start by considering your own interests as well as subjects you have studied in the past.

Online sources, newspaper articles, books , journal articles, and even your own class textbook are all great places to start searching for topics for your experiments and psychology term papers. Before you begin, learn more about  how to conduct a psychology experiment .

What This Means For You

After looking at this brief list of possible topics for psychology papers, it is easy to see that psychology is a very broad and diverse subject. While this variety makes it possible to find a topic that really catches your interest, it can sometimes make it very difficult for some students to select a good topic.

If you are still stumped by your assignment, ask your instructor for suggestions and consider a few from this list for inspiration.

• Hockenbury, SE & Nolan, SA. Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers; 2014.
• Santrock, JW. A Topical Approach to Lifespan Development. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2016.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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