Psychology: A Complete Introduction

by Sandi Mann

Overview

Written by Dr Sandi Mann, Senior Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, Psychology: A Complete Introduction is designed to give you everything you need to succeed, all in one place. It covers the key areas that students are expected to be confident in, outlining the basics in clear jargon-free English, and then providing added-value features like summaries of key experiments, and even lists of questions you might be asked in your seminar or exam.

The book uses a structure that mirrors the way Psychology is taught on many university courses. Chapters include key topics in psychology research; cognitive issues, including language, emotion, memory and perception; individual differences - intelligence, personality and gender; social psychology; mental health and psychological disorders/abnormal psychology and the treatment of such; the nervous system; and sleep.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473609303
Publisher:	Mobius
Publication date:	11/08/2016
Series:	A Complete Introduction Series
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	213,316
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dr Sandi Mann is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire. She has authored or co-authored more than ten psychology books as well as numerous papers and articles. She runs two independent centres related to clinical and business psychology and, in addition to being actively involved in teaching and research, is a regular contributor to national and international media outlets, including television, newspapers and academic journals. Her research interests lie in emotions, workplace issues and parenting.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

What is psychology?

The nature-nurture debate

Subfields of psychology

Other psychology professions

2 Psychology research 17

The hypothesis

The experiment

Correlational research

Observational methods

Reliability and validity

Internal and external validity

Demand characteristics and the Hawthorne Effect

The ethics of research

3 Perception and attention 33

Visual perception theory

The Gestalt Theory of Perception

Visual attention

Selective attention and hearing

Perception of pain

4 Memory 51

Encoding

Storage

Retrieval

Types of memory

Memory failures

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

Effects on memory: smell, emotions and stress

False memory

5 Learning 67

Classical conditioning

Operant conditioning

Social Learning Theory

6 Language and thought 85

Language acquisition

The relationship between language and thought

Non-verbal communication

Reasoning

Problem-solving

Creativity

7 Emotion 101

How many emotions?

Theories of emotion

Facial expression

Functions of emotions

Emotion regulation

8 Intelligence 119

Some definitions

Models and theories of intelligence

Fluid vs crystallized intelligence

Measuring intelligence

Emotional intelligence

9 Personality and motivation 135

Defining personality

Theories of personality

Assessment of personality

Motivation

10 Developmental psychology 155

Attachment Theory

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

Vygotskys Development Theory

Stages of moral development

Stages of play

11 Gender and sexuality 173

Sexual identity

Gender socialization: do we treat boys and girls differently?

The rise of non-gendered parenting

Sexual orientation

Transgender and transsexual

12 Social influence 189

The Bystander Effect Social facilitation

Compliance and weapons of influence

Obedience

Conformity

Minority influence

13 Social and group processes 207

Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination

Attributional bias

Attitudes and attitude change

Group polarization

Groupthink

14 Stress and mental health 223

Stress

Anxiety

Phobias

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Depression

Eating disorders

15 Psychological disorders 241

Bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia

Personality disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

16 Psychological therapies 261

Behaviour therapy

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

Psychodynamic therapies

Humanistic therapies

ECT (electro-convulsive therapy)

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)

Mindfulness therapy

Medication

17 The brain and nervous system 279

The central nervous system

The peripheral nervous system

The somatic and autonomic nervous systems

Neurotransmitters

The endocrine system

18 Sleep 295

Why we steep Stages of sleep Dreams

Sleep disorders Hypnosis

Circadian desynchronization and shift work

References 311

Index 317

Answers to fact-checks 327