Cognitive Psychology [Hardcover]

Douglas Medin PhD (Author), Brian H. Ross (Author), Arthur B. Markman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0471458201 | ISBN-13: 978-0471458203 | Edition: 4

This coherent overview of cognitive psychology is organized in terms of themes that cut across topic areas. Written by well-known researchers, the book is completely current in describing ongoing controversies in research; it provides summaries of key experiments that distinguish between them; and it encourages the reader to think critically about current research and theories. The focus on the importance of physical and computational constraints on cognition is preserved throughout the book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Douglas Medin (Ph.D., University of South Dakota) taught at the Rockefeller University, University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan before assuming his current position as CAS Visiting Committee Research and Teaching Professor at Northwestern University. Best known for his research on concepts and categorization, his recent research interests have extended to decision making, cross-cultural studies of reasoning and categorization, and cognitive dimensions of resource use. He teaches courses in cognitive psychology, psychology of thinking and reasoning, decision making, and culture and cognition. He is the editor of the journal Cognitive Psychology and is a past editor of the Academic Press series, Psychology of Learning and Motivation.

Brian Ross received his Sc.B. in Psychology from Brown University and his M.A. from Yale University before receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He teaches at the University of Illinois, where he is Professor of Psychology and also in the Beckman Institute. He teaches courses in cognitive psychology, the psychology of thinking, introductory statistics, problem solving, and mathematical models of memory. His research has examined issues in categorization, problem solving, learning and memory. He is series editor for The psychology of learning and motivation, as well as associate editor of the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Arthur Markman received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Illinois after completing his Sc.B. in Cognitive Science at Brown University. He worked at Northwestern University and Columbia University before moving to the University of Texas at Austin, where he is now Professor of Psychology and Marketing. He teaches courses in cognitive psychology, research methods and statistics, reasoning, and decision making and knowledge representation, and he supervises the honors program. His research has explored similarity, categorization, and decision making. He served as Executive Officer of the Cognitive Science Society from 2001-2003.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 4 edition (April 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471458201
• ISBN-13: 978-0471458203
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much ambiguity, February 3, 2009

By 

D. Garcia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cognitive Psychology (Hardcover)

I find this book to be terribly frustrating. I have only read a few chapters in this book (a great deal of that material several times) and concepts that this book introduces are just not clear. the abnormal psychology book that Sue Sue and Sue wrote is phenomenal, every key concept is clearly defined, and it is immediately discussed and then supplemented with examples and extra information. With this Cognitive Psychology book I feel like every important concept is shrouded in fog. There are far too many examples and few terms are defined immediately and with accuracy. With this said, I would suggest this book for people that would like to supplement their reading, due to the massive amounts of examples in this book. For some, this book may be perfect, I just prefer a more direct approach that other psychology books offer.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dismal, June 18, 2009

By 

Erhinoceros - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cognitive Psychology (Hardcover)

This is by far the worst psychology textbook I have ever come across. It is poorly worded, repetitive, and abrasively organized. The material is interesting enough but it is largely an incredibly frustrating book to read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Skim it or Be Confused, January 9, 2011

By 

Brad (phoenix, AZ, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cognitive Psychology (Hardcover)

I had to use this book for a class. Because of the subject, a lot of information was necessarily stretched out and over-elaborated upon, but poorly. The authors' rarely described cited studies in a way that made sense. I found myself re-reading such passages over and over trying to figure out what exactly was going on in the study, to no avail. I would have been better advised to skip any such study descriptions and move on to the description of the point of the study. I feel like I was part of an experiment just reading this book. Can I have the control version of the text book that makes sense please?