Synopses & Reviews
In PSYCHOLOGY: THEMES AND VARIATIONS, BRIEFER VERSION, Wayne Weiten continues his proven combination of a scientifically rigorous text with selective pedagogy that makes learning easy for students. Weiten?s approach is backed by a straightforward writing style, unparalleled in-text visuals and didactic art program, and in-book review to help users prioritize and retain the core concepts. Weiten surveys psychology?s broad range of content with three aims: to illuminate the process of research and its intrinsic relationship to application (themes); to show both the unity and diversity of the subject (variations), and to invite users to the study of psychology by respecting their ability to master its fundamental concepts. Weiten?s themes (including empiricism, theoretical diversity, sociohistorical contexts, multifactorial causation, cultural heritage, heredity and environment, and subjectivity of experience) and variations provide unifying threads across chapters that help users see the connections among different research areas in psychology.
Synopsis
Weiten's PSYCHOLOGY: THEMES AND VARIATIONS, EIGHTH EDITION maintains this book's strengths while addressing market changes with new learning objectives, a complete updating, and a fresh new design. The book continues to provide a unique survey of psychology that meets three goals: to demonstrate the unity and diversity of psychology's subject matter, to illuminate the research process and its link to application, and to make the text challenging and thought-provoking yet easy from which to learn. Weiten accomplishes the successful balance of scientific rigor and a user-friendly approach through the integration of seven unifying themes, an unparalleled didactic art program, real-life examples, and a streamlined set of learning aids that help users see beyond research to big-picture concepts. Major topics typically covered in today's courses are included, such as evolutionary psychology, neuropsychology, biological psychology, positive psychology, applied psychology, careers, and multiculturalism and diversity.
Synopsis
PSYCHOLOGY: THEMES AND VARIATIONS, BRIEFER EDITION, 8TH EDITION helps you experience the excitement of this fascinating field, while helping you study and retain what you learn! Filled with practical ways that you can apply psychology to your everyday life, this best-selling psychology textbook is an experience in learning that you'll remember long after you complete your introductory psychology course. Critical Thinking Applications in every chapter give you specific critical thinking strategies you can apply to what you read. Every chapter of this book offers tools to help you focus on what's important--showing you how to study in ways that help you retain information and do your very best on exams.
About the Author
Wayne Weiten is a graduate of Bradley University and received his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Illinois, Chicago, in 1981. He currently teaches at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has received distinguished teaching awards from Division Two of the American Psychological Association (APA) and from the College of DuPage, where he taught until 1991. He is a Fellow of Divisions 1 and 2 of the American Psychological Association. In 1991, he helped chair the APA National Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology and in 1996-1997 he served as President of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Wayne Weiten has conducted research on a wide range of topics, including educational measurement, jury decision making, attribution theory, stress, and cerebral specialization. His recent interests have included pressure as a form of stress and the technology of textbooks. He is also the co-author of Psychology Applied to Modern Life (Wadsworth, 2006) and the creator of an educational CD-ROM titled PsykTrek: A Multimedia Introduction to Psychology.
Table of Contents
1. The Evolution of Psychology. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Improving Academic Performance. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Developing Critical Thinking Skills: An Introduction. 2. The Research Enterprise in Psychology. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Finding and Reading Journal Articles. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: The Perils of Anecdotal Evidence: "I Have a Friend Who . . ." 3. The Biological Bases of Behavior. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Evaluating The Concept of "Two Minds in One" CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Building Better Brains: The Perils of Extrapolation. 4. Sensation and Perception. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Appreciating Art and Illusion. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Recognizing Contrast Effects: It's All Relative. 5. Variations in Consciousness. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Addressing Practical Questions About Sleep and Dreams. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Is Alcoholism a Disease? The Power of Definitions. 6. Learning. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Achieving Self-Control Through Behavior Modification. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Manipulating Emotions: Pavlov and Persuasion. 7. Human Memory. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Improving Everyday Memory. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Understanding the Fallibility of Eyewitness Accounts. 8. Cognition and Intelligence. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Measuring and Understanding Creativity. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: The Intelligence Debate, Appeals to Ignorance, and Reification. 9. Motivation and Emotion. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Exploring the Ingredients of Happiness. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Analyzing Arguments: Making Sense Out of Controversy. 10. Human Development Across the Life Span. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Understanding Gender Differences. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Are Fathers Essential to Children's Well-Being? 11. Personality: Theory, Research, and Assessment. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Understanding Personality Assessment. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Hindsight in Everyday Analyses of Personality. 12. Stress, Coping, and Health. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Improving Coping and Stress Management. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Thinking Rationally About Health Statistics and Decisions. 13. Psychological Disorders. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Understanding Eating Disorders. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Working with Probabilities in Thinking About Mental Illness. 14. Treatment of Psychological Disorders. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Looking for a Therapist. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: From Crisis to Wellness--But Was It the Therapy? 15. Social Behavior. PERSONAL APPLICATION: Understanding Prejudice. CRITICAL THINKING APPLICATION: Who Can You Trust? Analyzing Credibility and Social Influence Tactics. Appendix A. Answers to Concept Checks. Appendix B. Statistical Methods. Appendix C. Careers in Psychology. Appendix D. Behavior and Sustainability.