Understanding Psychology

by Feldman, Robert S.

• ISBN13: 9780073531939
• ISBN10: 0073531936
• Edition: 8th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-08
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

Students First.Understanding Psychologyis written around the philosophy that an effective textbook must be oriented to students-informing them, engaging them, exciting them about the field, and expanding their intellectual capabilities-because when students understand psychology, they learn psychology. No matter what brings students into the introductory course and regardless of their initial motivation,Understanding Psychology, Eighth Edition, draws students into the field and stimulate their thinking. This revision integrates a variety of elements that foster students' understanding of psychology and its impact on their everyday lives. It also provides instructors with a fully integrated supplements package to objectively gauge their students' mastery of psychology's key principles and concepts and to create dynamic lectures.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Psychology

Psychologists at Work

A Science Evolves: The Past, the Present, and the Future

Psychology’s Key Issues and Controversies

Psychological Research

The Scientific Method

Conducting Psychological Research

Critical Research Issues

Mastering the Experimental Method: The Difference between Dependent and Independent Variables

Neuroscience and Behavior

Neurons: The Basic Elements of Behavior

The Nervous System and the Endocrine System: Communicating Within the Body

The Brain Mastering the Action Potential

Sensation and Perception

Sensing the World Around Us

Vision: Shedding Light on the Eye

Hearing and the Other Senses

Perceptual Organization: Constructing Our View of the World Mastering the Difference between Sensation and Perception

States of Consciousness

Sleep and Dreams

Hypnosis and Meditation

Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of Consciousness

Learning

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Cognitive Approaches to Learning Mastering the Distinction between Reinforcement and Punishment

Memory

The Foundations of Memory

Recalling Long-Term Memories

Forgetting: When Memory Fails

Cognition and Language

Thinking and Reasoning

Problem Solving

Language

Intelligence

What is Intelligence?

Variations in Intellectual Ability

Group Differences in Intelligence: Genetic and Environmental Determinants

Motivation and Emotion

Explaining Motivation

Human Needs and Motivation: Eat, Drink, and Be Daring

Understanding Emotional Experiences

Nonverbal Behavior and the Expression of Emotions

Sexuality and Gender

Gender and Sex

Understanding Human Sexual Response: The Facts of Life

The Diversity of Sexual Behavior

Sexual Difficulties: When Sex Goes Wrong

Development

Nature and Nurture: The Enduring Developmental Issue

Prenatal Development: Conception to Birth

Infancy and Childhood

Adolescence: Becoming an Adult

Adulthood

Personality

Psychodynamic Approaches to Personality

Trait, Learning, Biological, Evolutionary, and Humanistic Approaches to Personality

Assessing Personality: Determining What Makes Us Distinctive

Health Psychology: Stress, Coping, and Well-Being

Stress and Coping

Psychological Aspects of Illness and Well-Being

Promoting Health and Wellness

Psychological Disorders

Normal Versus Abnormal: Making the Distinction

The Major Psychological Disorders

Psychological Disorders in Perspective

Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic, Behavioral, and Cognitive Approaches to Treatment

Psychotherapy: Humanistic, Interpersonal, and Group Approaches to Treatment

Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment

Social Psychology

Attitudes and Social Cognition

Social Influence

Prejudice and Discrimination

Positive and Negative Social Behavior Mastering Attitude Change

Going by the Numbers: Statistics in Psychology

Descriptive Statistics

Measures of Variability

Using Statistics to Answer Questions: Inferential Statistics and Correlation

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.