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Essentials of Psychology
What do dreams mean? How important is childhood, really? Why do we forget this--and remember that? There's nothing more fascinating--or frightening--than the ins and outs of the human mind. But understanding the complex links between our brains, our emotions, and our behavior can be challenging. This book unravels even the most arcane mysteries of psychology, including: The human drive for food, sex, and other desires What happens when thinking and emotions go awry Why we fall in love with one person and not another How we can develop a strong sense of self When traumatic events can change who we are Scientific information is coupled with real-life examples to help you grasp the basic principles and theories of psychology. With The Essentials of Psychology, you'll be able to achieve a better understanding of yourself--and everyone else around you, too!
264 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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291 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 26, 2025
Essentials of Psychology - Cherry & Mattiuzzi
Mar - Apr, 2025
Levels of Consciousness
Conscious: active awareness.
Preconscious: stores memories if needed in future.
Subconscious: handles information and mental process that do not require conscious thought.
Unconscious: stores those memories you are unaware of. Can be brought to surface in hypnosis.
Nonconscious: stores information that you are not aware of but is necessary for you to live out your daily life.
Classical conditioning shows that psychologically, people will associate a stimulus with a response. This can be the reason why people exhibit emotion after seeing certain things or images. You can manipulate people's emotions by providing certain things or images or stimuli.
B.F. Skinner said that to understand a person, one must look outside the person, at the consequences of his or her actions, instead of trying to figure out the inside of the person. In other words, the person's experiences of past and current consequences are what shape that person's behavior.
Operant Conditioning is reliant upon the behavior being reinforced, either positively or negatively, which in turn will determine whether the behavior increases or decreases it's likelihood of future occurrences. There're three types: reinforcers, punishment, and neutral consequences. Smoking is considered a reinforcer because even though it deteriorates your health, its punishment is far away in time, while relaxing feeling, feeding the addiction has an immediate effect.
Use reinforcer or punisher can help change people's behaviors. But be careful, punishment stops behavior but doesn't teach what's correct behavior.
A prototype is basically the most recognizable example of a concept and is therefore the representative of that concept.
Step-by-step method to solve a problem:
1. recognize the problem exist.
2. build a representation of the problem, defining it by stating the problem as it was first introduced and the problem's goal.
3. create a list of possible strategies and evaluate each.
4. choose the best strategy, and apply.
5. reflect on the effect of that strategy, see if it worked.
Gestures and nonverbal communication also important in conveying a message.
High IQ is no guarantee for life success, other factors such as motivation, social support, and hard work also play a major role in life success.
Motives
Basic motives: survival (hunger and thirst), social (sex and maternal expression), and curiosity (conscious investigation)
Other theories:
Instinct theories;
Drive theories that motivate humans to fulfill needs like hunger and thirst;
Incentive theories suggest that behavior is motivated by external rewards such as money, security, and recognition;
Arousal theories suggest people are motivated to maintain optimal arousal levels. Arousal activities such as exercise or watching horror films, relaxing activities such as meditation, yoga, or a hot bath.
Humanistic theories emphasize the role of self-concept and the need to achieve your full potential. One of the most famous psychologies Abraham Maslow suggested that the ultimate human motivator is the desire for self-actualization.
Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are all examples of eating disorder; however, the most prevalent eating disorder in our society is obesity.
What you contribute is what you get back. Acting disinterested toward people who approach you causes them to stop approaching you, leaving you in a self-created world of solitude. Being friendly and responsive to people will make them feel warm and encourages them to approach you.
When confronted with a situation, people often do things they don't like. Their behavior is affected then, not only by our beliefs and attitudes, but by social pressures as well.
Studies show that we may also act differently with attractive people than we do with people we find unattractive because of deep-rooted psychological and social factors.
Evolutionary bias: attractiveness associated with health, fertility, and good genes.
Social conditioning: beauty as a sign of success or value.
Self-esteem dynamics: people may feel nervous or insecure around attractive people, which change their behavior -- trying to impress, becoming more reserved, or even more competitive.
Reward system: research showing people get a small dopamine boost when interacting with attractive faces.
Expectations and Stereotypes: attractive people are often expected to be more social and charismatic, so others might mirror that or respond in ways that align with those expectations.
Compliance
Two type of compliance: conformity and obedience
Rebellion often develop when none of the choices presented to an individual are favorable.
Part of growing up is learning how to distinguish between what you believe, what others want you to believe, and how willing you are to understand another point of view.
Friendship and Romantic relationship
Once you start building friendships, it's only a matter of time before a serious, loving relationship can start to evolve. Romantic love is comprised of three key elements: caring, attachment, and intimacy. Intimacy is shared at a greater level when experiences are exchanged in more depth. Stronger feelings emerge and more is at stake.
The right blend of physical attractiveness, likeness, and intimacy usually is what makes her fall in love with one person.
Depression
When all sense of hope is lost and the desire to live a full, healthy, goal-oriented life has diminished, depression takes over every aspect of the person's being, including disrupting eating and sleeping habits, thought processes, and the ability to form and sustain positive relationships.
Types of depression:
Major depression: combination of symptoms that interfere with every aspect of a person's life.
Dysthymia: a less severe form of depression that is not disabling but still produces feelings of despair.
Bipolar disorder: also called manic-depressive illness, in which a person experiences an emotional series of extreme highs and lows that are often unpredictable in nature.
Coping with stress
Unhealthy and unproductive ways of coping: drugs, alcohols, overeating, obsessive shipping, gambling, developing an addiction to television, or expressing anger toward others.
Problem-Solving approach: find out the problem and develop a plan to solve the problem.
Emotional approach: avoid when knowing failing, but come back later to conquer it.
Positive psychology and subjective well-being: staying in tune with your needs and desires, know who you are, accept who you are, encourage yourself, help yourself and ask for help when it's needed, involve yourself.
How Can People Help Prevent Suicide
First, don't brush off or dismiss the person's suicidal talk by minimizing the situation or trying to paint a rosy picture that "everything is going to be all right". Instead, focus on actively listening to the person's feelings without expressing judgement. Be emotionally supportive, and encourage the person to seek help from a trained mental health professional.
Mar - Apr, 2025
Levels of Consciousness
Conscious: active awareness.
Preconscious: stores memories if needed in future.
Subconscious: handles information and mental process that do not require conscious thought.
Unconscious: stores those memories you are unaware of. Can be brought to surface in hypnosis.
Nonconscious: stores information that you are not aware of but is necessary for you to live out your daily life.
Classical conditioning shows that psychologically, people will associate a stimulus with a response. This can be the reason why people exhibit emotion after seeing certain things or images. You can manipulate people's emotions by providing certain things or images or stimuli.
B.F. Skinner said that to understand a person, one must look outside the person, at the consequences of his or her actions, instead of trying to figure out the inside of the person. In other words, the person's experiences of past and current consequences are what shape that person's behavior.
Operant Conditioning is reliant upon the behavior being reinforced, either positively or negatively, which in turn will determine whether the behavior increases or decreases it's likelihood of future occurrences. There're three types: reinforcers, punishment, and neutral consequences. Smoking is considered a reinforcer because even though it deteriorates your health, its punishment is far away in time, while relaxing feeling, feeding the addiction has an immediate effect.
Use reinforcer or punisher can help change people's behaviors. But be careful, punishment stops behavior but doesn't teach what's correct behavior.
A prototype is basically the most recognizable example of a concept and is therefore the representative of that concept.
Step-by-step method to solve a problem:
1. recognize the problem exist.
2. build a representation of the problem, defining it by stating the problem as it was first introduced and the problem's goal.
3. create a list of possible strategies and evaluate each.
4. choose the best strategy, and apply.
5. reflect on the effect of that strategy, see if it worked.
Gestures and nonverbal communication also important in conveying a message.
High IQ is no guarantee for life success, other factors such as motivation, social support, and hard work also play a major role in life success.
Motives
Basic motives: survival (hunger and thirst), social (sex and maternal expression), and curiosity (conscious investigation)
Other theories:
Instinct theories;
Drive theories that motivate humans to fulfill needs like hunger and thirst;
Incentive theories suggest that behavior is motivated by external rewards such as money, security, and recognition;
Arousal theories suggest people are motivated to maintain optimal arousal levels. Arousal activities such as exercise or watching horror films, relaxing activities such as meditation, yoga, or a hot bath.
Humanistic theories emphasize the role of self-concept and the need to achieve your full potential. One of the most famous psychologies Abraham Maslow suggested that the ultimate human motivator is the desire for self-actualization.
Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are all examples of eating disorder; however, the most prevalent eating disorder in our society is obesity.
What you contribute is what you get back. Acting disinterested toward people who approach you causes them to stop approaching you, leaving you in a self-created world of solitude. Being friendly and responsive to people will make them feel warm and encourages them to approach you.
When confronted with a situation, people often do things they don't like. Their behavior is affected then, not only by our beliefs and attitudes, but by social pressures as well.
Studies show that we may also act differently with attractive people than we do with people we find unattractive because of deep-rooted psychological and social factors.
Evolutionary bias: attractiveness associated with health, fertility, and good genes.
Social conditioning: beauty as a sign of success or value.
Self-esteem dynamics: people may feel nervous or insecure around attractive people, which change their behavior -- trying to impress, becoming more reserved, or even more competitive.
Reward system: research showing people get a small dopamine boost when interacting with attractive faces.
Expectations and Stereotypes: attractive people are often expected to be more social and charismatic, so others might mirror that or respond in ways that align with those expectations.
Compliance
Two type of compliance: conformity and obedience
Rebellion often develop when none of the choices presented to an individual are favorable.
Part of growing up is learning how to distinguish between what you believe, what others want you to believe, and how willing you are to understand another point of view.
Friendship and Romantic relationship
Once you start building friendships, it's only a matter of time before a serious, loving relationship can start to evolve. Romantic love is comprised of three key elements: caring, attachment, and intimacy. Intimacy is shared at a greater level when experiences are exchanged in more depth. Stronger feelings emerge and more is at stake.
The right blend of physical attractiveness, likeness, and intimacy usually is what makes her fall in love with one person.
Depression
When all sense of hope is lost and the desire to live a full, healthy, goal-oriented life has diminished, depression takes over every aspect of the person's being, including disrupting eating and sleeping habits, thought processes, and the ability to form and sustain positive relationships.
Types of depression:
Major depression: combination of symptoms that interfere with every aspect of a person's life.
Dysthymia: a less severe form of depression that is not disabling but still produces feelings of despair.
Bipolar disorder: also called manic-depressive illness, in which a person experiences an emotional series of extreme highs and lows that are often unpredictable in nature.
Coping with stress
Unhealthy and unproductive ways of coping: drugs, alcohols, overeating, obsessive shipping, gambling, developing an addiction to television, or expressing anger toward others.
Problem-Solving approach: find out the problem and develop a plan to solve the problem.
Emotional approach: avoid when knowing failing, but come back later to conquer it.
Positive psychology and subjective well-being: staying in tune with your needs and desires, know who you are, accept who you are, encourage yourself, help yourself and ask for help when it's needed, involve yourself.
How Can People Help Prevent Suicide
First, don't brush off or dismiss the person's suicidal talk by minimizing the situation or trying to paint a rosy picture that "everything is going to be all right". Instead, focus on actively listening to the person's feelings without expressing judgement. Be emotionally supportive, and encourage the person to seek help from a trained mental health professional.
October 7, 2025
it does well in teaching you what the title says. a lot of the dated thinking abt gender and sexuality made me want to read a more modern version of this, maybe even from a queer psychologist themselves. alas, it was insightful and easy to read. i’m glad i bought it.
January 19, 2018
An informative, if brief read.
December 6, 2021
Great introduction to psychology
August 16, 2022
This book is the perfect quick overview of psychology! I loved the way it was formatted, making it easy to read topics or skim over other topics. I would definitely recommend!
October 28, 2024
textbook-style introduction to the basic principles and theories of psychology, including topics like dreams, attachment, and personality disorders
likes:
• authoritative, straightforward voice
• structure of chapters + headings make sense
• reads like a uni textbook, though surface-level
dislikes:
• found several typos and other errors
• i realized ⅓ of the way through that this book was published in 2010, and it shows - not necessarily a dislike, but more of a note that some of the content is outdated.
likes:
• authoritative, straightforward voice
• structure of chapters + headings make sense
• reads like a uni textbook, though surface-level
dislikes:
• found several typos and other errors
• i realized ⅓ of the way through that this book was published in 2010, and it shows - not necessarily a dislike, but more of a note that some of the content is outdated.
February 5, 2025
This book was so helpful and insightful
February 24, 2017
I greatly enjoyed this read - it was mostly well-presented, all very informative (as well as much confirmation and corroboration of things I've read elsewhere), very easy and approachable to read.
My primary complaints are with editing. I have the 1st edition copy, and there were numerous instances of missing words or articles, several major spelling errors, and one text box that was duplicated in another location on the same page. Hopefully future editions have remedied this.
Other than those details, it was overall wonderful.
My primary complaints are with editing. I have the 1st edition copy, and there were numerous instances of missing words or articles, several major spelling errors, and one text box that was duplicated in another location on the same page. Hopefully future editions have remedied this.
Other than those details, it was overall wonderful.
February 6, 2017
This book definitely help me know an overview of psych., it was well presented and articulated. I actually rather liked reading this book for school, but psychology isn't my favorite. Independent study, watching most of the Crash Course psych videos, and this book helped prepare me to take and pass this CLEP.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews