Psychology: A Very Short Introduction

Psychology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Very helpful overview of psychology- with some particular personalities missing (Freud, for example).

The other reviews of this book mention its benefits for those looking to fulfill their curiosity of the subject, but this small book is also a great refresher for people who have previously studied Psychology. As a teacher, I just found out I will be teaching Psychology as an elective course. I couldn't be more excited, but it has been a few years since I took courses, both at the high school and college level. This was a great, quick overview of the field that got my mind back in focus. I would highly recommend this to others.

A sleeves-rolled-up, business-like, straightforward survey of the field. Psychoanalysis is given short shrift. Freud gets a brief mention, but Jung, Adler and Reich get none at all. Not surprisingly, parapsychology, hypnotherapy and other fringe theories and therapies are also totally ignored. This is mainstream, orthodox psychology as taught at undergraduate level, the tradition that began with William James and is current in the profession. The authors go for breadth rather than depth and manage to cover a surprising array of topics, and do so in a reliable and authoritative manner. They do slip up a couple of times, for example when mentioning linguistic relativity and reiterating the old myth about the plethora of Eskimo words for 'snow'. They wisely stay well away from the philosophical dimensions of the subject, such as the nature of consciousness. They simply use 'consciousness', 'awareness' and 'mindfulness' as if their meanings were transparent, which is fair enough in a book of this nature. In these Very Short Introductions, space is at a premium and the few illustrations should be carefully chosen. Here we have a picture of a happy couple standing atop a hill, supposedly to illustrate the difficulty of distinguishing drives from goals. Would I be right in assuming it is actually a picture of one of the authors with a friend? A touch of irritating self-indulgence. So, not the best entry in this series, but if you are looking for a current introduction to mainstream psychology and psychiatry, readable and informative, this is an excellent choice.

This is the second book I've read it the Very Short Introduction series and it has proved to be a continued success. This is a subject that has interested me for a few years but I've never got around to finding out about properly; now I know the basics and am very interested to learn more. It is superbly written in an accessible style with witty and thought-provoking examples and simple format and balanced writing that puts forward various competing theories as well as the facts. Although it does not go into detail of theories of specific psychologists, there are whole volumes in the series of Freud and Jung, which I intend to purchase soon. This book has really opened up my mind to a fascinating topic and I am now considering studying it further. The two authors benefit from a combination of real expertise with the ability to speak to a novice. Whole-heartedly reccomended.