Reviews for Psychology + Introductory Psychology Video Toolkit

The average rating for Psychology + Introductory Psychology Video Toolkit based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-07-17 00:00:00 CARL JEEMAN Psychology is meant as an introductory book to the field of psychology, and is often used in psychology studies for this very purpose (as a matter of fact, I read it as part of my bachelor course Introduction of Psychology). In that sense, it seems to succeed, as it covers a varied amount of topics that are all integral parts of the field of psychology. To name them, this book has chapters on: foundations/methods of psychology, adaptiveness of behaviour (genetic/evolutionary, and learning), physiological mechanisms of behaviour (neural control, motivation, and emotion), sensation and perception, human intellect (memory, consciousness, reasoning, and intelligence), growth of the mind and person (development of thought/language, and social development), sociology (social perception and attitudes, social influences), personality, and mental disorders (including treatment). Though the content is varied, broad, and interesting, the writing style is not. To say that Peter O. Gray writes “engaging” and “readable”, and has made sure that his book is “comprehensive” and “thought-provoking” – as it says on the description on the back – is really stretching it. First and foremost, Gray’s writing is far from engaging – in fact, he has a tendency to go on long, boring rants, and just as soon as you think it’s starting to get interesting, he stops. Because that’s introductory for you; not much detail, to say the least. Granted, his writing can come across as readable and comprehensive, but it surely is far too vague for a university/college textbook. There’s so much fluff surrounding the text that it’s difficult to think along with his arguments and theories, not to mention that it’s tediously boring, and horrendously annoying if you wish to look something up quickly. Using this book for exams was a hell I don’t enjoy looking back at. Thought-provoking, then? I wouldn’t think so, except for the fact that Gray might’ve piqued my interest on some topics, leading me towards searching more material on the subjects. However, what he covers in his book is fairly general and well-known. All that said, I suppose I could still recommend this book to those who’re looking into an introductory to psychology, whether you’re a student of it or not. Gray succeeds in giving an overview of all the different aspects of psychology (though not all), and he provides the reader with interesting experiments and some nice illustrations (the design of the book is good overall). However, he has not succeeded in making a very suitable university/college textbook, since it’s far too fluffy and vague for that, unfortunately.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-01-15 00:00:00 Isaac Taylor Followed the reading while listening to an Intro to Psych Yale Open Course lectures on iTunes U, and it was great! I took several Psychology courses back in my undergrad and it was fun to go back through and review the different theories and schools of thoughts and explanations of behavior. I still learn from these foundational principles in my life today.