Psychology: An Introduction - Nick Hayes, Sue Orrell

This book is brilliant if you want a excellent and comprehensive book on an introduction to psychology. I first used this book to complete a project on how the brain works and I found it to be very detailed and it also has great pictures to accompany the text that is written in this book.

This book can be used as a textbook, for courses like GCSE psychology or GNVQ in health and social care. (I personally used it for both, I have also used this book for the HND course that I am presently on).

Back to the book.

At the beginning of the chapters in the book, it gives you a brief description of what is in the chapter, with key words that are highlighted in black. Then the author of the book goes in to that subject in a lot of detail covering all the key words that are bold.

Throughout this book, there are blue highlighted sections which put psychology in action. Covering real life situations, with the use of psychology. I particularly found these sections very useful for assignment work. There is also some case studies and ethical issues / studies that are also highlighted in blue. This makes it easy to locate.

There are 7 sections that are covered in this book which are:-
Nature and nurture
Physiological psychology
Cognitive psychology
The individual
Social psychology
Developmental psychology
Methodology

Nature and nurture

In this section of this book, it covers:- The process of maturation, forms of learning and also the nature-nurture debate on perception. I found this section interesting and very useful.

Physiological psychology

This section of the book covers how the brain works, emotion, sleep, dreaming and cognitive function of the brain.

Cognitive psychology

This section of the book covers language, memory and perception.

The individual

I personally found this section of this book exceptional. This section of the book covers self, gender and identity.

Social psychology

This section of the book covers communication and social groups and beliefs.

Developmental psychology

This section of the book is mainly dedicated to child development. It includes subjects like the social learning approach to child development.

Methodology

This section of the book covers psychological research methods.

Throughout this book there is sections dedicated to further reading and self-assessment questions. There is also a classroom section, where you can find short answer questions and essay question to help you revise the topics that you want to cover. There is also a comprehensive glossary at the end of this book.

I would personally recommend this book to anyone that is studying psychology as part of his or her course or people who just want an introduction to this subject.

Details about this book

Title: Psychology: An Introduction

Authors: Nicky Hayes and Sue Orrell

Published by: Longman

ISBN: 0-582-31893-9

This book costs 13.99 and is available from www.amazon.co.uk