Psychology (Hardcover)

~ David G. Myers (Author) "What's it like being married to a psychologist?..." (more)
Key Phrases: yellow appendix, unhypnotized people, cerebral cortex lying, United States, North America, William James (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

David Myers’s Psychology is a textbook like no other—always fresh, always introducing effective new tools for teaching and learning, and always attuned to the fascinating ways that new research can shape the introductory psychology course.  The new Eighth Edition is vintage Myers.  It redefines excellence for an introductory psychology textbook, raising the standard with its expanded emphasis on diversity and gender issues, its incorporation of new frontiers in research studies in such areas as neuroscience and cognition, new learning features, and its expanded media/supplements package.
 
Myers continues the tradition of previous editions of bonding psychological science with a broad perspective that engages both the mind and the heart.

About the Author

DAVID G. MYERS is Lecturer at Hope College, Michigan --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 928 pages
• Publisher: Worth Publishers; 8th edition (March 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716764288
• ISBN-13: 978-0716764281
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,686 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, November 1, 2005

By	Jeremy "Jeremy" (Cairns, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychology (Hardcover)

I approached the book with scepticism but to my surprise and to the credit of the author and the profession of psychology, they don't proclaim to know it all. The limits of science and psychology are acknowledged and talked about which I think was well needed, like the rest of us they are only human too. You can see that a lot of time and energy has gone in to making this book what it is. Psychology and all the terminology that goes with it make it appear to the laymen as being quite arcane and only for academics and those interested in university courses. This book brings it all out and explains it in a way that not only makes the subject matter interesting but easier to grasp than if presented in a book of lesser quality. The content matter helps you to see the human condition from a logical and thoroughly researched angle and is certainly of college quality as that is what the book was originally intended for.

If you are considering studying psychology or would just like to know what it is all about then certainly buy this book the content is comprehensive with information and chapters to do with learning, sensation, the developing person, states of consciousness, emotion, memory, personality, psychological disorders and many more with too much to detail here.

The sections of the text that explain the scientific method are interesting and could be applied to most areas of life. As I learnt we tend to make errors of judgments all of the time in relation to other countries, cultures, people, and just about everything else. That is one of this books best points and also one of it's main themes and that is that it's all about thinking smarter, thinking outside the box, avoiding assumptions and the overuse of heuristics, examining matters in a more methodical and careful way and developing the ability to see events and issues from another perspective and more objectively. In short and as is stated in the book "Don't believe everything you think".

To gain a good understanding of the concepts presented in the book requires concentration and quite a lot of time spent reading because the text is so comprehensive.

Just a few snippets of the information that I found interesting were;
1. Psychology had its roots in philosophy
2. Everything psychological is biological, we are a mind embodied.
3. Sleep deprivation and how our sleep debt can accumulate for up to two weeks.
4. The differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
5. Theory X vs. Theory Y workplace managers.
6. Howard Gardner's theory that intelligence is divided into 8 categories words, music, numbers, space, self, people, body/movement, nature.
7. Self reliant individualism vs. socially connected collectivism with the pros and cons of both.
8. Operant conditioning and classical conditioning and how cognition plays it's part.
9. The different parenting styles such as Authoritative, Authoritarian, and just plain old destructive indifference.
10. The fundamental attribution error (This is one that everyone should know)

Because this book is 700+ pages, interesting illustrations and photographs add to the overall quality of the book and assist the reader to understand the text, though the web site that accompanies the book helps you to reinforce what you have already read and learnt. The Psychsim 5 online tutorials were I thought very good with animations, flash cards, and various other online activities that all combine to make for some very interesting, interactive learning.

The bottom line: The book presents you with a foison of facts and an extraordinary amount of knowledge that you can use in your every day life as-well to understand yourself and others better or prepare and use for a university course, it also goes a long way to blowing popular and often wrong and ill informed bubble gum psychology out of the water. Psychology with this book is fun and you will get a lot out of it, well worth the money even with the US dollar converted to Australian.

Here's a thought, it wouldn't hurt to see some of this material about psychology taught in schools and the workplace to up people's emotional intelligence, and more to the point why is it not common practice already?

54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding intro to human behavior, December 8, 2003

By	Chris Haynes (Stone Mountain, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Psychology (Hardcover)

For anyone with a general interest in human behavior, I can't think of a better book to read.

I took a psychology course during my undergraduate years in the late 1980's and though both of my parent have doctorates in psychology, before reading this book, which is the assigned text for a psych class I'm currently taking, I never really had a very good appreciation for the science of psychology. I credit this enlightenment as much to the authors ability to bring the subject matter alive and present it in a very interesting, organized manner, as to the inherent curiosity I have for why people do the things they do combined with the necessity to complete a psychology requirement for the current degree I am seeking.

The abundant pedagogical features include concise previews beginning each major section and reviews following, definitions of important terms in the margins, breaking chapters into manageable sized sections, providing copious references to research that serves to make abstract concepts relevant and real, and including so many visual aids ( illuminating tables, graphics, charts, and photos ) into the text that you'd be hard pressed to find consecutive pages without one. These pluses, combined with a casual conversation style that makes it a joy to read, makes this a text worth every penny. I enjoyed this book so much that most of this semester, since the lectures paled in comparison, I skipped class altogether and just read the book.

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Heads up!!!, May 23, 2002

By	M. Elaine Greene (Cleveland, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychology (6th Edition Study Guide) (Paperback)

Heads up all buyers! This paperback edition is not the text book that you are looking for. The description does not mention the paperback is just a study guide! If you need the text book buy the hardback!