Cognitive Psychology for Dummies

by Peter J. Hills, J. Michael Pake

Cognitive psychology made easy. An accessible and entertaining introduction to the field, "Cognitive Psychology For Dummies" tracks to a typical college course, making it the perfect supplement for students in need of a clear--and most importantly, enjoyable--overview of this fascinating topic. Having found most textbooks too dense and jargon-laden, the authors demystify the core concepts of cognitive psychology and provide you with the tools you need to succeed.

Although written for psychology students, it's also a handy resource for anyone looking to understand the underlying concepts of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a popular treatment for people suffering from anxiety and other psychological disorders. Makes complicated subject matter accessible and enjoyable. Serves as a suitable supplement to classroom learning. Explains core concepts in plain English

"Cognitive Psychology For Dummies" is the easy-to-read book that finally makes sense of cognitive psychology.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Design, Science, Textbooks

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2012

Reviews

[Conrad Toft]

An easy read covering most topics.

[Jiyoon]

An easy-to-read book that covers the most essential topics of cognitive psychology. This book helped me get a good idea on what cognitive psychology is about.

[Edd Sanders]

This was my first ''Dummies'' book. But I am familiar enough with the ''line'' to say this book did it justice. At the time of writing, the average rating is 3.6. I think it's awfully low. For someone who has never read a book about cognitive psychology, this was very illuminating. For sure, it has very little depth, but it doesn't have to have it.
My suspicion is, most people who reviewed it badly were already knowledgeable about cog. psy. and were left disappointed. That's unfair. Book offers great range of topics in this relatively unknown but nonetheless fascinating field.
Personally, I am not a fan of nonfiction authors trying to be funny in their books. It rarely works. And in books about ''serious'' matters, the author might come off as full of themselves. That was present here, but I didn't feel it crossed the line to drag the book down. I suspect many disagreed and that would explain the low rating.
Consecutively, I can recommend this book to people who have absolute ZERO knowledge in the field and aren't rubbed the wrong way by ''posh humor''.
While I give this book a 4/5, because it's not perfect, the ultimate judgement in my eyes is whether or not it is worth a reread. Yes or no. I can surely say I will be returning with a highlighter, because it offers a lot of practical information. Something you could use to improve your memory and understand brain chemistry. This is very a much a cog. psy. book for the laymen like me, and therefore great at its true purpose. Disregard any and all criticisms (besides for style) levied at it by pretentious psychology know-it-alls. :)

[James B]

I used this to help prep for 3rd year Cognition class exams, alongside class materials, and it worked a treat. The Dummies books are always beneficial, and this one also had some great study tips and report writing guides.

[Iola Shaw]

But too dense to ingest as an audio book, but a good listen and hopefully I will listen again very soon and see how much has stuck....

[Umakant]

Very good insight into basics

[Justin]

I didn't find the way this was organized useful

[Kimberly Maynard]

it was fine i just had to return it to the library before coming to korea LMAO hope I can do more cogsci readings tho

[Mira]

I just really like psychology.

[Georgina]

An effective entry level overview. Some parts I remember from my psychology A Level. Lots to be taken from this that will influence my teaching.

Key areas are language aquistion, memory and how emotions affect the ability to recall information.