Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Explorations Into the History of Psychological Research

This book is a great crash course into the studies that made psychology famous (infamous?). For psychology students, most of these stories will be familiar, but they are delved into in good detail with the hindsight that only time can give you. A great reference book for those in and not in the field.

This book does an excellent job of summarizing the most important contributions of psychological research in its relatively young history. As a psychology professor, I plan to use this book in the classroom -- many of my colleagues already do. It gives students a great history lesson and also familiarizes them with past and current theories in the field of psychology. We especially love how the author includes more recent studies that have resulted from the original 40 studies -- current directions, so to speak. Great book!

This is a great book. If you are an undergraduate, don't sell your book. YOu may think you've heard about these studies and you wouldn't refer back to the book, but I wish I hadn't sold mine. They are the landmark studies that I keep wishing I could use for a paper, and will probably be on the GRE. Little Albert afraid of every furry thing, Bandura's learning through observation, and even some Freud, though he didn't really do any studies and it ticked off my prof that he was in there. I'm now re-buying the book because there have been too many times I've wished I've had it since the class was over a semester ago.

I read this book when I took Introduction to Psychology several years ago, and now I use it in the classes I teach. It's a wonderful collection of classic studies organized by topic. The original articles have been edited, so that they are easy for the beginning student to read. This book is a great way to introduce the science of psychology to students.

I would expect a book on such intricate studies such as this to be difficult to read and confusing, but instead it leaves the reader with an incredible clarity of mind. The writing style is so engaging and effortless that you find yourself in the middle of a difficult subject before you know it. Actually, it reads like a novel, a novel of discovery.