Description
Book SynopsisA Brand New European Text and Interactive E-Book for the Introductory Course! This exciting new textbook from Comer, Gould and Furnham, will help students to understand that psychology is around them every day and that its principles are relevant to a whole host of life questions.
Table of ContentsAbout the Authors xvii
List of Contributors xix
To the Instructor xxi
To the Student xxv
Chapter 1 Psychology: Yesterday and Today 1
What Is Psychology? 2
Psychology’s Roots in Philosophy 4
The Founding of Psychology 6
Psychology in the 21st Century: Cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience and Evolution 12
The Diversity of Psychology and Psychological Literacy 14
Summary 19
Key Terms 21
Chapter 2 Psychology as a Science 23
What Is a Science? 24
Is Psychology a Science? 27
How Do Psychologists Conduct Research? 30
How Do Psychologists Make Sense of Research Results? 36
What Ethical Research Guidelines Do Psychologists
Follow? 42
Summary 45
Key Terms 46
Chapter 3 Biological and Cognitive Development 47
Understanding How We Develop 49
How Is Developmental Psychology Investigated? 52
Before We Are Born 54
Infancy 55
Early and Middle Childhood 60
Adolescence 64
Adulthood 67
Summary 69
TYING IT TOGETHER 70
Key Terms 71
Chapter 4 Social and Emotional Development 73
Before We Are Born 74
Infancy 76
Childhood 82
Adolescence 86
Adulthood and Old Age 88
Atypical Development 93
Summary 96
TYING IT TOGETHER 98
Key Terms 98
Chapter 5 Behavioural Neuroscience 99
How Do Scientists Study the Nervous System and the Brain? 100
How Does the Nervous System Work? 103
The Brain’s Structural and Functional Organization 110
Neurons and the Communication Systems of the Brain, Nervous System and Body 121
Building the Brain 125
Brain Side and Brain Size 128
Neurological Diseases 129
Summary 132
TYING IT TOGETHER 133
Key Terms 135
Chapter 6 Genes, Environment and Evolution 137
The History of Evolutionary Approaches to Psychology 138
The Principles Behind Evolutionary Psychology 141
Main Areas of Research in Evolutionary Psychology 144
Criticisms and Misunderstandings of Evolutionary Approaches to Human Behaviour 155
The Future of Evolutionary Psychology 156
Summary 160
TYING IT TOGETHER 162
Key Terms 163
Chapter 7 Perception and the Senses 165
Introducing Perception: Common Features of the Senses 166
The Chemical Senses: Smell and Taste 170
The Tactile Senses: Touch, Pressure, Pain, Vibration 176
The Auditory Sense: Hearing 181
The Visual Sense: Sight 186
Summary 197
TYING IT TOGETHER 199
Key Terms 200
Chapter 8 Consciousness 201
Part 1: The Philosophy Of Consciousness 203
Defining Consciousness 203
Is Consciousness ‘Mysterious’? 203
What’s in the World? Part 1: Material Stuff or Mental Stuff 204
What’s in the World? Part 2: Material Stuff and Mental Stuff 208
Summary of Part 1 211
Part 2: Studying Conscious States 212
When We Are Awake: Conscious Awareness 212
Preconscious and Unconscious States 215
Hypnosis 217
When We Are Asleep 219
Why Do We Sleep? 220
Rhythms of Sleep 220
When We Sleep 221
Sleep at Different Ages 225
Sleep Deprivation and Sleep Disorders 226
Psychoactive Drugs 228
Depressants 229
Stimulants 230
Hallucinogens 231
Psychoactive Drugs 232
Summary 233
TYING IT TOGETHER 235
Key Terms 236
Chapter 9 Learning 237
What Is Learning? 238
Classical Conditioning 242
Operant Conditioning 248
Observational Learning 256
Factors that Facilitate Learning 258
When We Learn 260
Prenatal and Postnatal Learning 262
Learning and Gender 265
Learning Difficulties 266
Summary 268
TYING IT TOGETHER 270
Key Terms 271
Chapter 10 Memory 273
What Is Memory? 274
How Do We Encode Information into Memory? 276
How Do We Store Memories? 282
How Do We Retrieve Memories? 286
Why Do We Forget and Misremember? 290
Memory and the Brain 296
Memories in the Young and Old 298
Disorders of Memory 300
Summary 303
TYING IT TOGETHER 305
Key Terms 306
Chapter 11 Language and Thought 307
Language 308
Language and Thought 318
Thought 321
Summary 332
TYING IT TOGETHER 334
Key Terms 335
Chapter 12 Intelligence 337
What Do We Mean by Intelligence? 338
Additional Types of Intelligence 345
How Do We Measure Intelligence? 348
Is Intelligence Governed by Genetic or Environmental Factors? 355
The Brain and Intelligence 364
Extremes in Intelligence 368
Summary 371
TYING IT TOGETHER 373
Key Terms 374
Chapter 13 Motivation 375
Theories of Motivation 376
Biological Motivations: Hunger 384
Biological Motivations: Sex 390
Psychological Motivations: Affiliation and Achievement 398
Summary 403
TYING IT TOGETHER 404
Key Terms 405
Chapter 14 Emotion 407
What Is Emotion? 408
Where Do Emotions Come From? 415
The Range of Emotional Experiences 423
Summary 430
TYING IT TOGETHER 431
Key Terms 432
Chapter 15 Personality 433
The Psychodynamic Perspective 434
The Humanistic Perspective 440
The Trait Perspective 442
The Situationist and Interactionist Perspectives 448
Biological Foundations of Personality 450
Personality and Group Differences 455
Personality Disorders 460
Personality Assessment 462
Summary 466
TYING IT TOGETHER 467
Key Terms 468
Chapter 16 Social Cognition, Social Relations and Social Functioning 469
Social Cognition: Attitudes 471
Social Cognition: Attributions 478
Social Relations 481
Social Functioning 487
Summary 488
TYING IT TOGETHER 490
Key Terms 490
Chapter 17 Social Forces, Group Processes and Language 491
Social Forces 492
Intragroup Processes 497
Intergroup Relations 503
Language and Social Groups 506
Summary 509
TYING IT TOGETHER 511
Key Terms 511
Chapter 18 Stress, Coping and Health 513
What Is Stress? 514
Responding to and Coping with Stress 521
Stress and Health 530
Summary 537
TYING IT TOGETHER 538
Key Terms 539
Chapter 19 Psychological Disorders 541
Defining, Classifying and Diagnosing Psychological Disorders 542
Models of Psychological Disorder 548
Mood Disorders 553
Anxiety Disorders 557
Schizophrenia 564
Other Psychological Disorders 568
Summary 573
TYING IT TOGETHER 576
Key Terms 577
Chapter 20 Treatment of Psychological Disorders 579
Treatment in the Modern Context 580
Biological Treatments 583
Behavioural Therapies 587
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies 590
Non-Empirical Therapies 593
Humanistic and Existential Therapies 593
Psychodynamic Approaches 594
Formats of Therapy 596
Does Therapy Work? 598
Some Final Thoughts about the Field of Psychology 600
Summary 600
TYING IT TOGETHER 603
Key Terms 604
Glossary 605
References 617
Name Index 677
Subject Index 689
