With a strong emphasis on application--without neglecting research and science--this text focuses on helping students use the findings and knowledge of psychology in their own lives and careers. As the only introductory psychology text written by authors with extensive business experience, this book seeks the ideal balance between psychology's practical and scientific sides. It highlights psychology's scientific nature while simultaneously emphasizing its practical value--how students can actually use and apply the material they read on the job and outside of the classroom. Psychology: From Science to Practice emphasizes three key goals: - Make it clear to students how they can actually use the findings and knowledge of psychology in their own lives and careers. - Present psychology as a science. - Discuss the major findings of psychology without overwhelming students with too much detail.
BRIEF TOC (See FULL TOC below)
Chapter 1: Psychology: What It Is…and What It Offers
Chapter 2: Biological Bases of Behavior
Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception: Making Contact with the World Around Us
Chapter 4: States of Consciousness
Chapter 5: Learning: How We’re Changed by Experience
Chapter 6: Memory and Cognition: Remembering, Thinking, Deciding, Creating
Chapter 7: Human Development
Chapter 8: Motivation and Emotion
Chapter 9: Personality and Intelligence: Understanding Individual Differences
Chapter 10: Health, Stress, and Coping
Chapter 11: Mental Disorders
Chapter 12: Psychological Treatments: Reducing the Pain and Distress of Mental Disorders
Chapter 13: Social Thought and Social Behavior
Chapter 14: Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Understanding Human Behavior at Work
FULL TOC
Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
ONE Psychology: What It Is… and What It Offers
The Field of Psychology: What It Is and How It Started
The Origins of Modern Psychology: Multiple Strands Come Together
Psychology: Grand Issues, Key Perspectives
Key Perspectives in Psychology: The Many Facets of Behavior
Psychology In the Twenty-First Century: Expanding Horizons
Evolutionary Psychology: A New Perspective on "Human Nature"
The Exportation of Psychology: From Science to Practice
Growing Recognition of Diversity and Commitment to a Multicultural Perspective
Psychology and the Scientific Method
The Scientific Method: Its Basic Nature
Advantages of the Scientific Method: Why Common Sense Often Leads Us Astray
The Scientific Method in Everyday Life: The Benefits of Critical Thinking
Research Methods in Psychology: How Psychologists Answer Questions About Behavior
Observation: Describing the World Around Us
Correlation: The Search for Relationships
The Experimental Method: Knowledge through Systematic Intervention
Psychology: What’s In It For You?
Using This Book: An Overview of Its Special Features
Psychology Lends a Hand: How To Study Psychology—or Any Other Subject—Effectively
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
TWO BIOLOGICAL BASES OF BEHAVIOR
Neurons: Building Blocks of The Nervous System
Neurons: Their Basic Structure
Neurons: Their Basic Function
Neurotransmitters: Chemical Keys to the Nervous System
The Nervous System: Its Basic Structure and Functions
The Nervous System: Its Major Divisions
The Endocrine System: Chemical Regulators of Bodily Processes
The Brain: Where Consciousness Dwells
The Brain Stem: Survival Basics
The Hypothalamus, Thalamus, and Limbic System: Motivation and Emotion
The Cerebral Cortex: The Core of Complex Thought Two Minds in One Body? Our Divided Brain
How Psychologists Study the Nervous System and the Brain
The Brain and Human Behavior: Where Biology and Consciousness Meet
How the Brain Functions: A Modern View
Plasticity of the Human Brain: How the Brain Is Shaped by Experience
The Brain and Human Speech
Psychology Lends a Hand: The Potential Role of Brain Plasticity in Cognitive Processes
The Brain and Higher Mental Processes
Heredity and Behavior: Genetics and Evolutionary Psychology
Genetics: Some Basic Principles
Disentangling Genetic and Environmental Effects: Research Strategies
Evolutionary Psychology: Genes in Action
Psychology Lends a Hand: Promoting Prosocial Behavior to Reduce Aggression
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
THREE SENSATION AND PERCEPTION: MAKING CONTACT WITH THE WORLD AROUND US
Sensation: The Raw Materials of Understanding
Sensory Thresholds: How Much Stimulation is Enough?
Sensory Adaptation: “It Feels Great Once You Get Used to It!”
Vision
The Eye: Its Basic Structure
Light: The Physical Stimulus for Vision
Basic Functions of the Visual System: Acuity, Dark Adaptation, and Eye Movements
Color Vision
Vision and the Brain: Processing Visual Information
Hearing
The Ear: Its Basic Structure
Sound: The Physical Stimulus for Hearing
Pitch Perception
Sound Localization
Touch and Other Skin Senses
Pain: Its Nature and Control
Psychology Goes to Work: The Harmful Effects of Noise: Turn Down the Sound at Work and At Play!
Smell and Taste: The Chemical Senses
Smell and Taste: How They Operate
Smell and Taste: Some Interesting Findings
Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
Perception: Putting It All Together
Perception: The Focus of Our Attention
Psychology Lends a Hand: Exceeding the Limits of Our Attention: Why Do Cell Phones Interfere with Driving?
Perception: Some Organizing Principles
Constancies and Illusions: When Perception Succeeds—and Fails
Some Key Perceptual Processes: Pattern and Distance
PSI: Perception Without Sensation?
Psi: What Is It?
Psi: Does It Really Exist?
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
FOUR STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Biological Rhythms: Tides of Life—and Conscious Experience
Circadian Rhythms: Their Basic Nature
Individual Differences in Circadian Rhythms: Are You a Morning Person or a Night Person?
Disturbances in Circadian Rhythms: Jet Lag and Graveyard- or Swing-Shift Work
Psychology Lends a Hand: Coping with Jet Lag and the “Blahs” of Graveyard-Shift Work: Some Techniques That Can Help
Waking States of Consciousness: From Controlled Processing to…Intuition
Controlled and Automatic Processing: Two Basic Modes of Thought
Intuition: Thought Outside Consciousness Awareness
Sleep: The Pause That Refreshes?
The Basic Nature of Sleep
Why Do We Sleep? The Many Functions of Sleep
Effects of Sleep Deprivation
Sleep Disorders: No Rest for Some of the Weary
Dreams: “Now Playing in Your Private, Inner Theater…”
Hypnosis: Altered State of Consciousness…Or Social Role Playing?
Hypnosis: How It’s Done and Who Is Susceptible to It
Hypnosis: Contrasting Views about Its Nature
But Yet…Evidence That Hypnotism Does Involve More Than Suggestion
Psychology Lends a Hand: Hypnosis: Effective Against Pain?
Consciousness-Altering Drugs: What They Are and What They Do
Consciousness-Altering Drugs: Some Basic Concepts
Consciousness-Altering Drugs: An Overview
Psychology Goes to Work: Drug Testing at Work—What Are Your Rights?
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
FIVE LEARNING: HOW WE’RE CHANGED BY EXPERIENCE
Classical Conditioning: Learning That Some Stimuli Signal Others
Pavlov’s Early Work on Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning: Some Basic Principles
Classical Conditioning: The Neural Basis of Learning
Classical Conditioning: Exceptions to the Rules
Classical Conditioning: A Cognitive Perspective
Classical Conditioning: Turning Principles into Action
Operant Conditioning: Learning Based On Consequences
The Nature of Operant Conditioning: Consequential Operations
PSYCHOLOGY LENDS A HAND: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? The Wisdom of Using Punishment with Children
Operant Conditioning: Some Basic Principles
Operant Conditioning: A Cognitive Perspective
Applying Operant Conditioning: Solving Problems of Everyday Life
Observational Learning: Learning From the Behavior and Outcomes of Others 184
Observational Learning: Some Basic Principles
Observational Learning and Aggression
Observational Learning and Culture
PSYCHOLOGY GOES TO WORK: Using Behavioral Modeling and Mental Rehearsal to Teach Computer Skills
Observational Learning: Some Practical Applications
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
SIX MEMORY AND COGNITION: REMEMBERING, THINKING, DECIDING, CREATING
Human Memory: How We Remember, Why We Forget
Memory: An Information-Processing Model—and Beyond
Our Different Memory Systems
Memory for Factual Information: Episodic and Semantic Memory
Memory for Skills: Procedural Memory
Forgetting: Largely a Matter of Interference—but What Kind of Interference?
Memory Distortion and Construction: How Memories Are Sometimes Changed—or Created
Memory in Everyday Life: Autobiographical Memory and Memory for Emotions
Psychology Goes To Work: Using Memory Principles to Boost the Fairness, Accuracy, and Favorableness of Your Own Performance Appraisals
Memory and the Brain: Evidence from Memory Impairments and Other Sources
Cognition: Thinking, Deciding, Creating
Psychology Lends a Hand: Improving Your Memory: Some Useful Steps
The Limits of Human Cognition: Why We Aren’t—and Can’t Be—as Rational as We’d Like
Thinking: The Foundation of Consciousness
Decision Making: Choosing Among Alternatives
Psychology Lends a Hand: Making Good Decisions: Avoiding Major Pitfalls
Creativity: Generating the Extraordinary
Summary and Review of Key Questions
Key Terms
Psychology: Understanding Its Findings
Making Psychology Part of Your Life
MyPsychLab
Study Guide
SEVEN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Physical Growth and Development During Childhood
The Prenatal Period
Prenatal Influences on Development
Physical Development during Our Early Years
Perceptual Development during Childhood
Cognitive Development during Childhood: Changes in Our Ability to Understand the
World around Us
Piaget’s Theory: An Overview
Piaget’s Theory: A modern Assessment
Beyond Piaget: Children's Theory of Mind And Research on the Information-Processing Perspective