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Very Short Introductions #006
Psychology: A Very Short Introduction - Library Edition
Psychology is part of everyone's experience: it influences the way we think about everything from education and intelligence, to relationships and emotions, advertising and criminality. People readily behave as amateur psychologists, offering explanations for what people think, feel, and do. But what exactly are psychologists trying to do? What scientific grounding do they have for their approach? This Very Short Introduction explores some of psychology's leading ideas and their practical relevance. In this new edition, Gillian Butler and Freda McManus explore a variety of new topics and ways of studying the brain. Until recently it was not possible to study the living human brain directly, so psychologists studied our behavior, and used their observations to derive hypotheses about what was going on inside. Now--through neuroscience--our knowledge of the workings of the brain has increased and improved technology provides us with a scientific basis on which to understand the structure and workings of the brain, allowing brain activity to be observed and measured. Exploring some of the most important advances and developments in psychology--from evolutionary psychology and issues surrounding adolescence and aggression to cognitive psychology--this is a stimulating introduction for anyone interested in understanding the human mind.
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First published July 23, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
March 30, 2017
"Psychology" is the second book I have read from the series "A Very Short Introduction" and I must admit that I am not disappointed. Before reading this book I had no idea about psychology, so I was (and still am) complete muggle when it comes to that field. The book, however, describes breifly many different parts of psychology, what is it after all, how can it be used in our everyday lives and moreover, how it is used when we do not even notice the workings of psychologists! The books leaves a reader with this urgent feeling to find out more about the topic as soon as possible, and for sure it is a good start to look for some interesting case studies and experiments. There have been several described, which are also quite popularized among other laypeople, just like me. The most important aspect for me was the simple and understandable language, which did not always happen in books written by experts and professors. I can say with a light heart that I was able to understand everything what the authors tried to convey in their work and I will try to take it a bit further by reading the recommended books to each chapter.
The book is basic and quite short as the title implies, which makes it available to all readers, for those who already know some things about psychology or those, who start their journey with this exciting topic.
The book is basic and quite short as the title implies, which makes it available to all readers, for those who already know some things about psychology or those, who start their journey with this exciting topic.
January 9, 2021
A short but well put together book providing providing nicely summarized overviews of different aspects of the discipline. A great place to start in my opinion.
April 22, 2024
This book was a nice refresher on the major topics in psychology, while lacking some of the depth and utility I had hoped for. I wanted a book that would concisely and persuasively teach me established psychological findings. Instead the authors spent much time (necessarily) delineating the convoluted approaches of different psychological schools of thought. The human mind is complex, certainly, and not every book can be perfect for every person. Also, this book is a decade old—I wonder what else has happened since then in psychology.
Topics: defining psychology, perception, learning and memory, reasoning and communicating, motivation and emotion, developmental psychology, individual differences, abnormal psychology, social psychology, utility of psychology.
Most important topics for further study:
1. Uncertainty/overconfidence/changing one’s mind. Facilitating proper uncertainty is really important if we hope that the best evidence will really change minds.
2. In the Robbers’ Cave experiment, boys at camp were divided into two groups and came to internalize prejudices against the other group, then were able to lose those prejudices because they worked together on a shared project. This is a great rationale for interfaith work, in which the goal is to overcome prejudices against people of another belief system by working together on a shared goal (such as feeding the homeless), clearing the way for honest, friendship-based discussions of values and philosophy. And importantly, “contact to reduce prejudice should be based on equality and encourage the pursuit of common goals rather than competition.”
3. What is the current state of knowledge in emotional intelligence? If there is one area I could improve, this might be it…
4. Personal identity and certainty about identity is important in making life choices. This seems really important—how is identity formed for an individual typically? In the studies cited here, how did the individuals who were certain about their identities describe this? In terms of uniqueness, traits, hobbies, a general feeling, or a simple affirmation?
Other noteworthy topics:
1. Sensory deprivation and understimulation. What types of stimulation are helpful/necessary for a productive and happy life?
2. The idea that punishment is ineffective at changing behavior because it is painful but uninformative, often leading to temporary and overly specific behavioral changes, and can even be accidentally rewarding. These are good reasons to spare the rod. Of course, my dad cried when he spanked me—I think those tears did more than the paddle did, but one wouldn’t have happened without the other…
3. In what ways is depression adaptive? I have heard that depressed people sometimes see things more clearly, but I certainly feel less creative and more cynical when I’m depressed. Not that I know what true, deep clinical depression feels like.
4. Just something to remember: goal-setting almost always improves performance.
5. They say we no longer use lie detector tests because they are unreliable—is this true? It is still in limited use, but diminishing. I’m surprised we haven’t come up with new tests!
6. Development: attachment is important during infancy, but people are surprisingly resilient to childhood trauma.
7. Erikson’s stages of development resound with me—how seriously are they taken today? They seem oversimplified too.
8. Says the idea that older people are more rigid is a mostly untrue stereotype—really? Hmm. Either way, believing that parents are rigid because of their age could be beneficial in spite of its truth, as it might reduce intergenerational conflict.
9. Dietary and vitamin supplements were shown to improve IQ in children. Which diets/vitamins, and would they help me or only malnourished kids? Regardless, improving nutrition could be an easy life improvement for me.
10. There is a significant correlation between birth order and IQ—how significant? Not very, says a quick search. In fact, second-borns may be more successful in the long run.
11. The fundamental attribution error - we tend to overestimate the importance of personality rather than circumstances in explaining another person’s behavior.
12. Abnormal behavior – if it “causes significant distress or prevents you from meeting important goals or developing meaningful relationships, then it is seen as dysfunctional and worthy of treatment.” The existential definition says that it results from conflicting demands, such as showing respect to someone humiliating you. I can see how this would be true.
13. Democratic vs. authoritarian management strategies – the former is shown to be more effective most of the time. How democratic is the most effective version? After a brief discussion with a friend I’m concluding that different strategies are good at different times—authoritarian during crisis, for example.
14. Cognitive labeling theory says that the way we process emotions is through labeling each with a concept—makes sense. And since these processes are intertwined, changing the label for a particular feeling can affect our experience of it. Hence the popular cognitive therapy. This seems successful and growing in acceptance, probably worthy of further reading. And it seems related to meditation—observing feelings without labeling them, or observing the labels we are quick to attach.
15. False memory syndrome freaks me out. I hope I can trust my memory.
16. Systematic desensitization allows people to overcome phobias by confronting them in a safe environment. Could be valuable…
17. Psychobabble—they use words like ‘validity’ and ‘reliability,’ among others, in entirely nonstandard ways. This certainly doesn’t help psychology communicate with other disciplines and the public.
18. Further reading from the bibliography: Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning; and Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ.
Topics: defining psychology, perception, learning and memory, reasoning and communicating, motivation and emotion, developmental psychology, individual differences, abnormal psychology, social psychology, utility of psychology.
Most important topics for further study:
1. Uncertainty/overconfidence/changing one’s mind. Facilitating proper uncertainty is really important if we hope that the best evidence will really change minds.
2. In the Robbers’ Cave experiment, boys at camp were divided into two groups and came to internalize prejudices against the other group, then were able to lose those prejudices because they worked together on a shared project. This is a great rationale for interfaith work, in which the goal is to overcome prejudices against people of another belief system by working together on a shared goal (such as feeding the homeless), clearing the way for honest, friendship-based discussions of values and philosophy. And importantly, “contact to reduce prejudice should be based on equality and encourage the pursuit of common goals rather than competition.”
3. What is the current state of knowledge in emotional intelligence? If there is one area I could improve, this might be it…
4. Personal identity and certainty about identity is important in making life choices. This seems really important—how is identity formed for an individual typically? In the studies cited here, how did the individuals who were certain about their identities describe this? In terms of uniqueness, traits, hobbies, a general feeling, or a simple affirmation?
Other noteworthy topics:
1. Sensory deprivation and understimulation. What types of stimulation are helpful/necessary for a productive and happy life?
2. The idea that punishment is ineffective at changing behavior because it is painful but uninformative, often leading to temporary and overly specific behavioral changes, and can even be accidentally rewarding. These are good reasons to spare the rod. Of course, my dad cried when he spanked me—I think those tears did more than the paddle did, but one wouldn’t have happened without the other…
3. In what ways is depression adaptive? I have heard that depressed people sometimes see things more clearly, but I certainly feel less creative and more cynical when I’m depressed. Not that I know what true, deep clinical depression feels like.
4. Just something to remember: goal-setting almost always improves performance.
5. They say we no longer use lie detector tests because they are unreliable—is this true? It is still in limited use, but diminishing. I’m surprised we haven’t come up with new tests!
6. Development: attachment is important during infancy, but people are surprisingly resilient to childhood trauma.
7. Erikson’s stages of development resound with me—how seriously are they taken today? They seem oversimplified too.
8. Says the idea that older people are more rigid is a mostly untrue stereotype—really? Hmm. Either way, believing that parents are rigid because of their age could be beneficial in spite of its truth, as it might reduce intergenerational conflict.
9. Dietary and vitamin supplements were shown to improve IQ in children. Which diets/vitamins, and would they help me or only malnourished kids? Regardless, improving nutrition could be an easy life improvement for me.
10. There is a significant correlation between birth order and IQ—how significant? Not very, says a quick search. In fact, second-borns may be more successful in the long run.
11. The fundamental attribution error - we tend to overestimate the importance of personality rather than circumstances in explaining another person’s behavior.
12. Abnormal behavior – if it “causes significant distress or prevents you from meeting important goals or developing meaningful relationships, then it is seen as dysfunctional and worthy of treatment.” The existential definition says that it results from conflicting demands, such as showing respect to someone humiliating you. I can see how this would be true.
13. Democratic vs. authoritarian management strategies – the former is shown to be more effective most of the time. How democratic is the most effective version? After a brief discussion with a friend I’m concluding that different strategies are good at different times—authoritarian during crisis, for example.
14. Cognitive labeling theory says that the way we process emotions is through labeling each with a concept—makes sense. And since these processes are intertwined, changing the label for a particular feeling can affect our experience of it. Hence the popular cognitive therapy. This seems successful and growing in acceptance, probably worthy of further reading. And it seems related to meditation—observing feelings without labeling them, or observing the labels we are quick to attach.
15. False memory syndrome freaks me out. I hope I can trust my memory.
16. Systematic desensitization allows people to overcome phobias by confronting them in a safe environment. Could be valuable…
17. Psychobabble—they use words like ‘validity’ and ‘reliability,’ among others, in entirely nonstandard ways. This certainly doesn’t help psychology communicate with other disciplines and the public.
18. Further reading from the bibliography: Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning; and Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ.
July 19, 2023
The book is clearly quite dated,and I feel like I absorbed less than the books that were a summary of a person's life
January 3, 2022
This Very Short Introduction was a well done brief introduction to psychology that would be good preparation for delving deeper into the field.
At the time of writing this review I have never taken a psychology course in school, so when browsing VSI's to read I thought getting a good overview of psychology would be interesting and constructive. I feel the book provided a lot of great information within a such a small volume. The chapters on perception and social psychology were among my favorites. The authors also cover major experiments in the history of psychology such as Milgram's experiment on obedience which I found incredibly helpful and interesting. Most complaints I see are due to the fact it did not cover this or that but for under 140 pages I felt it did it's job pretty well as whole courses could be taught on single chapters. Other topics discussed also include abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and emotion and motivation.
A great readable introduction to the field for anyone who wants a brief overview of psychology.
At the time of writing this review I have never taken a psychology course in school, so when browsing VSI's to read I thought getting a good overview of psychology would be interesting and constructive. I feel the book provided a lot of great information within a such a small volume. The chapters on perception and social psychology were among my favorites. The authors also cover major experiments in the history of psychology such as Milgram's experiment on obedience which I found incredibly helpful and interesting. Most complaints I see are due to the fact it did not cover this or that but for under 140 pages I felt it did it's job pretty well as whole courses could be taught on single chapters. Other topics discussed also include abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and emotion and motivation.
A great readable introduction to the field for anyone who wants a brief overview of psychology.
June 14, 2018
ความรู้ฉบับพกพาที่ต้องพกความรู้มาด้วยประมาณนึง
สำหรับเรามันก็ย่อยยากอยู่ดีอะค่ะโดยส่วนใหญ่ จะชอบส่วนที่เขายกกรณีตัวอย่างเกี่ยวกับพฤติกรรม การคล้อยตาม อิทธิพลของเชาว์ปัญญา บุคลิกภาพ การรับรู้ และอีกเยอะแยะมามากกว่า พอโยงกับประสบการณ์ของตัวเองก็สนุกดี เคยเรียนเรื่องนี้มาบ้างนิดหน่อย แต่ลืมเกือบหมดละ มาอ่านตอนนี้ก็ได้รื้อความรู้เก่ากันเลย
สำหรับเรามันก็ย่อยยากอยู่ดีอะค่ะโดยส่วนใหญ่ จะชอบส่วนที่เขายกกรณีตัวอย่างเกี่ยวกับพฤติกรรม การคล้อยตาม อิทธิพลของเชาว์ปัญญา บุคลิกภาพ การรับรู้ และอีกเยอะแยะมามากกว่า พอโยงกับประสบการณ์ของตัวเองก็สนุกดี เคยเรียนเรื่องนี้มาบ้างนิดหน่อย แต่ลืมเกือบหมดละ มาอ่านตอนนี้ก็ได้รื้อความรู้เก่ากันเลย
May 17, 2019
This book was a great overview of the history of psychology (defined as "the ways in which organisms use their mental abilities to operate in the world around them"), as well as a quick introduction to what psychologists have learned about perception, learning, memory, thinking, emotion, attachment theory, abnormal psychology, and social psychology. It was interesting to learn that psychology is a relatively new field of study; it became a point of fascination in the 1900's and later became a serious scientific field once technology made gathering data on the brain possible. Consequently, this is a rapidly expanding field that impacts almost every other field of study related to humanity, seen in the following quote:
"Psychological findings have been useful in pursuits as varied as the development of more effective methods of teaching children to read, designing control panels for machines that reduce the risk of accidents, and seeking to alleviate the suffering of people who are emotionally distressed."
This quote shows just how wide-spread the effects of psychology are. As a future English teacher, I appreciate the psychological research that has gone into teaching and classroom management, and by learning more about psychology I hope to better serve, teach, and communicate with my students.
I especially appreciated this book and its overview for two personal reasons: first, it helped me to better understand my father's field of psychometrics, and second, helped me confront some of the misconceptions I have about mental illness, my own included. Great read for someone who is new to the field of psychology!
"Psychological findings have been useful in pursuits as varied as the development of more effective methods of teaching children to read, designing control panels for machines that reduce the risk of accidents, and seeking to alleviate the suffering of people who are emotionally distressed."
This quote shows just how wide-spread the effects of psychology are. As a future English teacher, I appreciate the psychological research that has gone into teaching and classroom management, and by learning more about psychology I hope to better serve, teach, and communicate with my students.
I especially appreciated this book and its overview for two personal reasons: first, it helped me to better understand my father's field of psychometrics, and second, helped me confront some of the misconceptions I have about mental illness, my own included. Great read for someone who is new to the field of psychology!
April 23, 2020
A really introductory text on Psychology, which is such a vast field that it's impossible to cover in some 140 pages, this is pretty interesting but being from 1998 is not as up to date as it could be (this second edition is from 2014, and there could be some changes made).
One situation in which this lack of update immediately jumps at the reader is the way in which on a table of common mental illnesses it lists "transsexualism" as a mental illness in the same sentence as pedophilia and fetishism... that's jarring as hell. It's no longer recognised as an illness by any major clinical body, so it just feels like an artifact of an earlier time.
Other than that it gives a competent overview of the different types of psychology practices and way in which it can be applied, it's ok, nothing particularly interesting about it, it covers some of the most famous psychological experiments and that is probably the most fun you can find here.
One situation in which this lack of update immediately jumps at the reader is the way in which on a table of common mental illnesses it lists "transsexualism" as a mental illness in the same sentence as pedophilia and fetishism... that's jarring as hell. It's no longer recognised as an illness by any major clinical body, so it just feels like an artifact of an earlier time.
Other than that it gives a competent overview of the different types of psychology practices and way in which it can be applied, it's ok, nothing particularly interesting about it, it covers some of the most famous psychological experiments and that is probably the most fun you can find here.
February 6, 2021
Sadly I really struggled with this one. I was looking forward to reading a beginner-friendly introduction to this complex topic, but this little book is probably better for people who have already studied a bit of psychology. The chapters are very dense, sometimes presenting a different theory in each paragraph, and you constantly need to jump between the main text and the boxes that explain the research.
September 22, 2021
öncelikle ingilizcesini okumayı tercih etmeliydim. hem terimlerin aslını öğrenmek daha sağlam oluyor hem de çeviri bazı cümleleri anlaşılmayacak hale sokmuştu.
içerik olarak ise kitap 10 kısa bölümden oluşuyor. bunlar textbookların giriş bölümlerini anımsattı bana. birçok temel konsept az çok bilinen deneylerle birlikte anlatılmış. önemli anahtar kelimeleri öğrenmek ve sondaki önerilerden psikolojiye giriş kaynakları edinmek açısından faydalı. güzel bir seri.
içerik olarak ise kitap 10 kısa bölümden oluşuyor. bunlar textbookların giriş bölümlerini anımsattı bana. birçok temel konsept az çok bilinen deneylerle birlikte anlatılmış. önemli anahtar kelimeleri öğrenmek ve sondaki önerilerden psikolojiye giriş kaynakları edinmek açısından faydalı. güzel bir seri.
September 18, 2019
Very informative, but easy to read.
March 11, 2020
Lovely book. Very easy to follow and the examples are ample.
January 22, 2022
1 What is psychology? How do you study it?
7,5/10
I mean, what else can one expect? I’m reading this book to pan it. The series overall is quite terrible. Many of the “A Very Short Introduction” books are a huge waste of time and written by people who don’t know the topic well and frankly are terrible writers. Since I have read quite a few psychology textbooks I decided to read this one just to review it. I’m not reading it to learn anything, but rather to explain what works and doesn’t.
The first chapter is quite… fine. I mean, what can one expect from an intro? Zero research, zero logical thinking, zero proper intro is here. We just spend a full chapter on the definition of psychology. It’s stuff so obvious that pretty much everyone will know this already. On the other hand I do think this is a very good intro. It’s rare you get a proper and direct intro to a field in these books. An intro that an alien landing on Earth would understand and apply. I do wish they had shown examples of psychology research and thinking and then focused on evolutionary psychology as the center element of the science. They hint at it, but never use any scientific terms or findings. The chapter does feel like a waste, but it’s a fine intro for the right reader. It’s on a level that feels a bit too low unless you are a teenager or maybe a total social science outsider for some reason.
2 What gets into our minds? Perception
6/10
I could forgive the first chapter for “not being for me, but fine as an intro for beginners”. This on the other hand is a chapter too much in the same style. It’s about visual perception being subjective. It’s all fine science philosophy, it's just boring. Still a fine intro, but who is this for? So far the science is fine, but they only allude to it. So no outsider will actually understand how this all works as you don’t show how we know this stuff or if there is a debate on this or not. It’s a short intro indeed. But this is barely an intro. It’s a hazy summary of main ideas in the field only.
3 What stays in the mind? Learning and memory
7/10
Memory. Again, shallow overview with only explanations about how memory works. I like it. The level is quite low. But as an intro this is really good. This could easily be an intro chapter to memory in schools. Of course you don’t learn much here, but after this you can read the actual science. This is very good.
4 How do we use what is in the mind? Thinking, reasoning, and communicating
5,5/10
They say that Asians are good at math likely because language may make people better at math somehow. What? Didn’t even mention IQ differences.
It’s about biases. It touches a bit on evolutionary psychology and biases. But again it’s theoretical and philosophical. Not bad, just boring. But have to mark it down for the stupid language point also.
This is from the book:
5 Why do we do what we do? Motivation and emotion
5/10
Found it hard to recall and recognize the research referred to here. It’s either because I’m stupid or lazy or because they are sorta not keeping too close to modern research on emotions. It’s largely presented without referring to science and sources. Especially the audiobook is quite useless as you cannot know if what they claim is rooted in research or personal opinions. At least in the book you can read the sources they used in the back of the book. I do feel like the book is going too far into the nurture camp here. They for example claim that there may not be universal emotions. Of course what they mean by this is not clear. It’s such a blank slater statement that it becomes misleading instead of just critical. They rely on just looking critical while saying it and getting away with it, but these sort of statements are not informing readers. They are misinforming readers.
6 Is there a set pattern? Developmental psychology
4,5/10
A bit more pseudoscience. Again, why not just follow the basic science? Why add opinions like this? It also makes no scientific sense. There are some good points too. But it’s becoming a mix of science and just their own opinions. Which surely is not ideal for new readers.
Read this argument below. If you know something about psychology you’ll see right away how they are using cheap tricks to make a case for older people not declining in intelligence and memory. Now, this decline is very well-known and well-understood so they are actually arguing against the common understanding and should therefore have used bigger ammunition to get anywhere on this.
7 Can we categorize people? Individual differences
3/10
I was thinking I could point out errors without quoting the book, but it’s getting so bad that I have to be more clear to be believed. Let's look into how they are actually wrong. This below is not even a full paragraph I just quote the relevant parts.
They disprove genetic race IQ differences with a study that is not with random people, but rather WW2 soldiers in Germany. It’s a group of people that all likely took an IQ test to even get into the military and the lowest IQ people were not allowed in. So the study doesn’t really show us anything about a random sample of a country population. And calling it genetic inferiority/superiority is another weird thing. I get what they are getting at, but it’s not really terms you use in psychology as they are misleading. Then they repeat the claim about intelligence tests being biased pro White people. This is factually incorrect. We have known this to be false for over 50 years now.
And then this point below. Again another theory they pull out of thin air. Why is it here? Extra attention increases your IQ? Why are they saying this?
Another point:
This is how most of their arguments go. Science says, studies show, some have found, a study showed, research shows, shown to be wrong. It’s a style of argument that would legit not cut it in a freshman psychology exam. If you saw this in an exam you’d fail the student. Yet here it’s how basically all pro nurture arguments are made. They talk about personality and IQ and then right away go into: … but a good study showed that it’s not that heritable/important. Without explaining the study or explaining why they picked this one study showing that IQ is not important for job performance when most studies show the opposite. It’s lazy biased logic.
8 What happens when things go wrong? Abnormal psychology
4/10
Again very theoretical. So at least not total misinformation. A lot of the book is about personal advice not science. So there is a lot of stuff about how you should act morally and what researchers should conclude morally. Instead of going from the science out they try to take basic layman moral assumptions and then build the science around it. As you can guess this makes it quite unscientific. How can advice about how to treat and talk about mental illness be rooted in science? It’s just not something you will learn anything from unless you want to learn what the authors feel and assume about the world.
9 How do we influence each other? Social psychology
4/10
Again low-tier psychology. They mention iconic studies like the Milgram study and Asch’s experiment. It’s very basic stuff you could skip in such short books. The studies are very popular, but don’t explain much as they are biased and weak. You can judge an intro psychology book on how they summarize these iffy studies where the experimenter indirectly manipulated the results and then was allowed to interpret the results himself. In this book they use the old understanding of such studies where the professor who did the study and explained what it meant is assumed to be the all-knowing expert. There is not enough critical thinking like for example trying to see if the people who gave the shocks were just trying to help out and advance science. They fully, and lazily, believe Milgram was correct in his “acting like Nazi soldiers” interpretation. And they also omitted to clearly point out that most people are not conforming in such studies.
Then they also include pseudoscience studies like the blue eyes/brown eyes groups experiment and Robbers’ cave experiment. Robber’s cave is a fake study. They failed the study then redid it by controlling all variables to get the outcome they wanted. Should such study be included in a psychology book? Not unless you want me to call you stupid for including it. Below is what they have to say about the study. Totally uncritical and blindly assuming the author is correct.
The eye color experiment is just a very weak study. Who observed what? How was it measured? How great an influence did the study designer have in controlling the students? Could the effect be the teacher directly influencing the students to prove a point? Such studies are so iffy that it’s better to either ignore them or at least be very critical. The authors are extremely critical of the idea of intelligence and g factor yet totally fall for all these 80 year old experiments that have been panned for decades. How do you write a psychology book while remaining so clueless about basic discussions in psychology?
By the way. The stuff I quote here is at least experiments. I could have made them look way worse by quoting a random passage where they talk about nothing. Most of the book is about vague personal opinions and low-tier overviews. They used 6 sources in this chapter. And as you can see they failed at selecting proper studies.
10 What is psychology for?
4,5/10
I forgave the first few chapters for being basic talking points. But you really cannot have a book with this much vague overview of the field.
My final opinion on the book
Embarrassing. You may assume I focused on only the negatives to pan the book, but I really didn’t. This is just not a quality book. I tried to present negative issues in my review, but you actually couldn’t do the opposite. There is nothing to praise. They have some chapters that reveal a deeper understanding of WHAT psychology is. So the basic premises are presented here and you kinda understand what psychology is and isn’t. Many ignorant laymen do think psychologists can read minds or that there is no science in psychology at all. That’s basically all this book will teach you about. Quite fine, but still not good. They only present very few studies. It’s less than 25 studies it feels. The 2 first chapters have 5 references combined. And keep in mind many references are not single studies but overviews. So while total outsiders could learn a bit here anyone looking for research, science, and facts will be seriously disappointed. So if you have an IQ above 115 this is a total waste.
I have read maybe 10 “A Very Short Introduction” books and the average rating is under ⅗. Most I rated 2 stars out of 5. They are completely useless books. Not just bad intros, but just terrible pseudoscience or barely science. The one about African history didn���t have anything about African history in it. It was just one long argument about how White people are biased so we shouldn’t read their history about Africa. No alternative history was presented. Most of these books have similar structures where the research is ignored. This one especially tries to be a very shallow overview. And frankly when the chapters don’t say much at all and don’t use any sources I actually kinda accepted them as okay intros for children and teens. Once they go into research they reveal such huge ignorance about the field that it’s not acceptable.
Don’t read it. Skip it. Seriously, there are over 1000 intro psychology books out there. 99% are worthless. But a few are fine. Don’t settle.
7,5/10
I mean, what else can one expect? I’m reading this book to pan it. The series overall is quite terrible. Many of the “A Very Short Introduction” books are a huge waste of time and written by people who don’t know the topic well and frankly are terrible writers. Since I have read quite a few psychology textbooks I decided to read this one just to review it. I’m not reading it to learn anything, but rather to explain what works and doesn’t.
The first chapter is quite… fine. I mean, what can one expect from an intro? Zero research, zero logical thinking, zero proper intro is here. We just spend a full chapter on the definition of psychology. It’s stuff so obvious that pretty much everyone will know this already. On the other hand I do think this is a very good intro. It’s rare you get a proper and direct intro to a field in these books. An intro that an alien landing on Earth would understand and apply. I do wish they had shown examples of psychology research and thinking and then focused on evolutionary psychology as the center element of the science. They hint at it, but never use any scientific terms or findings. The chapter does feel like a waste, but it’s a fine intro for the right reader. It’s on a level that feels a bit too low unless you are a teenager or maybe a total social science outsider for some reason.
2 What gets into our minds? Perception
6/10
I could forgive the first chapter for “not being for me, but fine as an intro for beginners”. This on the other hand is a chapter too much in the same style. It’s about visual perception being subjective. It’s all fine science philosophy, it's just boring. Still a fine intro, but who is this for? So far the science is fine, but they only allude to it. So no outsider will actually understand how this all works as you don’t show how we know this stuff or if there is a debate on this or not. It’s a short intro indeed. But this is barely an intro. It’s a hazy summary of main ideas in the field only.
3 What stays in the mind? Learning and memory
7/10
Memory. Again, shallow overview with only explanations about how memory works. I like it. The level is quite low. But as an intro this is really good. This could easily be an intro chapter to memory in schools. Of course you don’t learn much here, but after this you can read the actual science. This is very good.
4 How do we use what is in the mind? Thinking, reasoning, and communicating
5,5/10
They say that Asians are good at math likely because language may make people better at math somehow. What? Didn’t even mention IQ differences.
It’s about biases. It touches a bit on evolutionary psychology and biases. But again it’s theoretical and philosophical. Not bad, just boring. But have to mark it down for the stupid language point also.
This is from the book:
Children speaking Asian languages do consistently better at mathematics than English-speaking children and their number words reflect a base-10 system (e.g. 12 is represented as ‘ten-two’). First year school children from three Asian and three Western countries were asked to stack blue blocks, representing 10 units, and white blocks representing 1 unit, into piles to show particular numbers. More Asian than Western children
made two correct constructions for each number. The Asian children used two blocks representing 10 units more than the Western children, and the Western children used the single-unit blocks more than the Asian children.
Conclusion: language differences may influence mathematical skills.
The evidence is strengthened by the finding that bilingual Asian- American children also score more highly on mathematical tests than do those who speak only English.
5 Why do we do what we do? Motivation and emotion
5/10
Found it hard to recall and recognize the research referred to here. It’s either because I’m stupid or lazy or because they are sorta not keeping too close to modern research on emotions. It’s largely presented without referring to science and sources. Especially the audiobook is quite useless as you cannot know if what they claim is rooted in research or personal opinions. At least in the book you can read the sources they used in the back of the book. I do feel like the book is going too far into the nurture camp here. They for example claim that there may not be universal emotions. Of course what they mean by this is not clear. It’s such a blank slater statement that it becomes misleading instead of just critical. They rely on just looking critical while saying it and getting away with it, but these sort of statements are not informing readers. They are misinforming readers.
6 Is there a set pattern? Developmental psychology
4,5/10
A bit more pseudoscience. Again, why not just follow the basic science? Why add opinions like this? It also makes no scientific sense. There are some good points too. But it’s becoming a mix of science and just their own opinions. Which surely is not ideal for new readers.
Read this argument below. If you know something about psychology you’ll see right away how they are using cheap tricks to make a case for older people not declining in intelligence and memory. Now, this decline is very well-known and well-understood so they are actually arguing against the common understanding and should therefore have used bigger ammunition to get anywhere on this.
When intelligence was measured repeatedly in the same people there was no evidence that it declined with age; rather, it increased slightly for those who continued to use their minds. Similarly, the supposed deterioration of memory with age does not stand up well to scientific investigation but suggests that the system responds to the demands you make of it. Comparisons of memory for everyday events show that older people perform slightly better than younger ones, possibly because they are more concerned about their memories and are more attentive and motivated during testing. The belief that memory declines with increasing age was described as a myth in 2012, as it appears to be partly due to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
7 Can we categorize people? Individual differences
3/10
I was thinking I could point out errors without quoting the book, but it’s getting so bad that I have to be more clear to be believed. Let's look into how they are actually wrong. This below is not even a full paragraph I just quote the relevant parts.
A particularly controversial finding is that black Americans scored significantly lower than white Americans on standard intelligence tests— originally the gap was 15 points but this had narrowed to half that by the late 1980s. Indeed, most ethnic groups score lower than white middle-class groups on IQ tests. This finding has been interpreted by some as ‘evidence’ of the intellectual superiority of some races over others, but other observations, such as the finding that German babies fathered by black and white American soldiers have similar IQs, suggest that the difference in IQ scores is unlikely to be due to genetic inferiority/superiority. Similar differences in IQ scores are also found in relation to a child’s parental income. It is much more likely that such differences between races and social classes reflect a deficit in standard IQ tests—they are biased in favour of the dominant (often white middle-class) culture.
They disprove genetic race IQ differences with a study that is not with random people, but rather WW2 soldiers in Germany. It’s a group of people that all likely took an IQ test to even get into the military and the lowest IQ people were not allowed in. So the study doesn’t really show us anything about a random sample of a country population. And calling it genetic inferiority/superiority is another weird thing. I get what they are getting at, but it’s not really terms you use in psychology as they are misleading. Then they repeat the claim about intelligence tests being biased pro White people. This is factually incorrect. We have known this to be false for over 50 years now.
And then this point below. Again another theory they pull out of thin air. Why is it here? Extra attention increases your IQ? Why are they saying this?
There is also evidence showing that the amount of parental attention a child receives affects its IQ—this may explain why first-born children have slightly higher IQs than their siblings, because the first child usually gets more attention.
Another point:
There has also been much interest in whether IQ predicts behaviour. While there is a relationship between IQ and aspects of intelligent behaviour such as job performance, it is not a strong relationship and within most occupations there is a wide range of IQs. In fact, some studies suggest that socio-economic background is a better predictor of future academic and occupational success than IQ.
This is how most of their arguments go. Science says, studies show, some have found, a study showed, research shows, shown to be wrong. It’s a style of argument that would legit not cut it in a freshman psychology exam. If you saw this in an exam you’d fail the student. Yet here it’s how basically all pro nurture arguments are made. They talk about personality and IQ and then right away go into: … but a good study showed that it’s not that heritable/important. Without explaining the study or explaining why they picked this one study showing that IQ is not important for job performance when most studies show the opposite. It’s lazy biased logic.
8 What happens when things go wrong? Abnormal psychology
4/10
Again very theoretical. So at least not total misinformation. A lot of the book is about personal advice not science. So there is a lot of stuff about how you should act morally and what researchers should conclude morally. Instead of going from the science out they try to take basic layman moral assumptions and then build the science around it. As you can guess this makes it quite unscientific. How can advice about how to treat and talk about mental illness be rooted in science? It’s just not something you will learn anything from unless you want to learn what the authors feel and assume about the world.
9 How do we influence each other? Social psychology
4/10
Again low-tier psychology. They mention iconic studies like the Milgram study and Asch’s experiment. It’s very basic stuff you could skip in such short books. The studies are very popular, but don’t explain much as they are biased and weak. You can judge an intro psychology book on how they summarize these iffy studies where the experimenter indirectly manipulated the results and then was allowed to interpret the results himself. In this book they use the old understanding of such studies where the professor who did the study and explained what it meant is assumed to be the all-knowing expert. There is not enough critical thinking like for example trying to see if the people who gave the shocks were just trying to help out and advance science. They fully, and lazily, believe Milgram was correct in his “acting like Nazi soldiers” interpretation. And they also omitted to clearly point out that most people are not conforming in such studies.
Then they also include pseudoscience studies like the blue eyes/brown eyes groups experiment and Robbers’ cave experiment. Robber’s cave is a fake study. They failed the study then redid it by controlling all variables to get the outcome they wanted. Should such study be included in a psychology book? Not unless you want me to call you stupid for including it. Below is what they have to say about the study. Totally uncritical and blindly assuming the author is correct.
The researchers concluded that contact alone is insufficient to eliminate prejudice—it needed to be accompanied by the presence of superordinate goals that promote united, cooperative action.
The eye color experiment is just a very weak study. Who observed what? How was it measured? How great an influence did the study designer have in controlling the students? Could the effect be the teacher directly influencing the students to prove a point? Such studies are so iffy that it’s better to either ignore them or at least be very critical. The authors are extremely critical of the idea of intelligence and g factor yet totally fall for all these 80 year old experiments that have been panned for decades. How do you write a psychology book while remaining so clueless about basic discussions in psychology?
By the way. The stuff I quote here is at least experiments. I could have made them look way worse by quoting a random passage where they talk about nothing. Most of the book is about vague personal opinions and low-tier overviews. They used 6 sources in this chapter. And as you can see they failed at selecting proper studies.
10 What is psychology for?
4,5/10
I forgave the first few chapters for being basic talking points. But you really cannot have a book with this much vague overview of the field.
My final opinion on the book
Embarrassing. You may assume I focused on only the negatives to pan the book, but I really didn’t. This is just not a quality book. I tried to present negative issues in my review, but you actually couldn’t do the opposite. There is nothing to praise. They have some chapters that reveal a deeper understanding of WHAT psychology is. So the basic premises are presented here and you kinda understand what psychology is and isn’t. Many ignorant laymen do think psychologists can read minds or that there is no science in psychology at all. That’s basically all this book will teach you about. Quite fine, but still not good. They only present very few studies. It’s less than 25 studies it feels. The 2 first chapters have 5 references combined. And keep in mind many references are not single studies but overviews. So while total outsiders could learn a bit here anyone looking for research, science, and facts will be seriously disappointed. So if you have an IQ above 115 this is a total waste.
I have read maybe 10 “A Very Short Introduction” books and the average rating is under ⅗. Most I rated 2 stars out of 5. They are completely useless books. Not just bad intros, but just terrible pseudoscience or barely science. The one about African history didn���t have anything about African history in it. It was just one long argument about how White people are biased so we shouldn’t read their history about Africa. No alternative history was presented. Most of these books have similar structures where the research is ignored. This one especially tries to be a very shallow overview. And frankly when the chapters don’t say much at all and don’t use any sources I actually kinda accepted them as okay intros for children and teens. Once they go into research they reveal such huge ignorance about the field that it’s not acceptable.
Don’t read it. Skip it. Seriously, there are over 1000 intro psychology books out there. 99% are worthless. But a few are fine. Don’t settle.
June 25, 2023
Functional and very broad. Will dive into more specific sub-genres. I do think this needs to be updated, because the book kept mentioning DSM-IV, which is now outdated.
November 17, 2024
Una magnífica gran introducción. Puede ser un poco pesado por la terminología, pero es útil si, como yo, estás empezando la carrera
April 7, 2019
Bạn hứng thú/tò mò với tâm lý học, nhưng không biết bắt đầu từ đâu? Đây hẳn là cuốn sách bắt đơn giản nhất để bạn bắt đầu đi vào hành trình tìm hiểu thế giới nội tâm phong phú và bí ẩn.
Mình là một người vô cùng hứng thú với việc tìm hiểu về tâm lý học từ lúc còn nhỏ, phần vì mình hay suy nghĩ nhiều và nhạy cảm với cảm xúc của bản thân dù mình là con trai. Cũng dễ hiểu nếu những cuốn sách đầu tiên mình mua cho bản thân là sách có vẻ như thuộc lĩnh vực tâm lý học, từ sách về ngôn ngữ cơ thể của Alan Pease, Đọc vị bất kì ai, Bạn có thể đàm phán bất cứ điều gì, vân vân và mây mây.
Tất nhiên là đó có vẻ là một sai lầm, vì mình đã chú trọng vào khía cạnh ứng dụng của tâm lý học khi chưa hiểu về nguồn gốc của tâm lý học. Một điều dễ đoán là mình tin sái cổ vào bất cứ thứ gì mình đọc dù chưa hế biết về các nghiên cứu liên quan để rút ra kết quả, cũng như ứng dụng sai vì hiểu sai vấn đề. Đã có khoảng thời gian mình từ bỏ việc tìm hiểu về tâm lý học bới nó phức tạp.
Nhưng rồi mình cũng bắt đầu trở lại với con đường tìm hiểu về tâm lý học, phần vì những thôi thúc học hỏi, phần cũng vì ngày càng có nhiều cơ hội cho mình với những cuốn sách nền móng, cung cấp kiến thức về tâm lý học chất lượng và chính xác hơn trước. Và mình tìm được bộ sách "Dẫn luận về...." của nhà xuất bản Oxford (tên tiếng anh của bộ này là "A very short introduction".
Vì là "very short instruction", kiến thức trong sách nhắm tới đối tượng là những người mới, và được viết bới các giáo sư với nhiều năm kinh nghiệm nghiên cứu về giảng dạy, vì thế đây có thể nói là một "báu vật" với những ai mới chập chững tìm hiểu về bất kì một lĩnh vực gì. Và quyển "Dẫn luận tâm lý học" này tạo động lực mình cho mình tìm hiểu thêm về Tâm lý học và bổ sung hiểu biết của mình về mối liên hệ giữa các nhánh trong tâm lý học và mối liên hệ với các ngành khác thuộc Khoa học nhận thức (xem hình về các lĩnh vực đóng góp vào Khoa học nhận thức: https://images.app.goo.gl/rhnF6yHJRNX... )
Tiến sĩ Gillian Butler và Freda McManus, tác giả cuốn sách nhỏ này, không chỉ là những nhà tâm lý trị liệu tài năng, họ còn rất xuất sắc về nghệ thuật kể chuyện, vì vậy bạn sẽ nhanh chóng bị cuốn vào mạch cuốn sách ngay lập tức, và hành trình sau đó sẽ vô cùng thú vị và hấp dẫn. Mục lục của sách sẽ là một guideline tốt để bạn theo dõi và tiếp tục trong việc học tập, nghiên cứu sau này: chương 1 là lời mở đầu về Tâm lý học, chương 2 đến chương 5 sẽ giúp cung cấp câu trả lời cho những câu hỏi căn bản nhất trong tâm lý học :
- Điều gì đi vào não?
- Điều gì ở lại trong não?
- Làm thế nào chúng ta sử dụng những thứ ở trong não?
- Tại sao chúng ta làm những gì đang làm?
Tiếp sau đó sẽ là các giới thiệu cơ bản về các nhánh trong Tâm lý học: Tâm lý học phát triển, nghiên cứu về khác biệt cá nhân, Tâm lý học bất thường, Tâm lý học xã hội.
Phần tài liệu tham khảo cũng là một nguồn tham khảo chính thống về các sách và công trình nghiên cứu đã được thực hiện.
Qua cuốn tiểu luận này mình đã biết được thêm một số sách phổ thông liên quan, giới thiệu luôn đến các bạn:
- Dẫn luận về Jung (Carl Jung là cha đẻ của Tâm lý học phân tích)
- Dẫn luận về Freud (Freud là thầy của Jung, tạo ra Phân tâm học)
- Tư duy nhanh và chậm (Daniel Kahneman, đặt nền móng cho Kinh tế học hành vi)
Tựu chung, series A very short introduction nói chung và cuốn sách này nói riêng vô cùng hữu ích trong việc cung cấp kiến thức nền tảng về một lĩnh vực mà mình muốn tìm hiểu
Mình là một người vô cùng hứng thú với việc tìm hiểu về tâm lý học từ lúc còn nhỏ, phần vì mình hay suy nghĩ nhiều và nhạy cảm với cảm xúc của bản thân dù mình là con trai. Cũng dễ hiểu nếu những cuốn sách đầu tiên mình mua cho bản thân là sách có vẻ như thuộc lĩnh vực tâm lý học, từ sách về ngôn ngữ cơ thể của Alan Pease, Đọc vị bất kì ai, Bạn có thể đàm phán bất cứ điều gì, vân vân và mây mây.
Tất nhiên là đó có vẻ là một sai lầm, vì mình đã chú trọng vào khía cạnh ứng dụng của tâm lý học khi chưa hiểu về nguồn gốc của tâm lý học. Một điều dễ đoán là mình tin sái cổ vào bất cứ thứ gì mình đọc dù chưa hế biết về các nghiên cứu liên quan để rút ra kết quả, cũng như ứng dụng sai vì hiểu sai vấn đề. Đã có khoảng thời gian mình từ bỏ việc tìm hiểu về tâm lý học bới nó phức tạp.
Nhưng rồi mình cũng bắt đầu trở lại với con đường tìm hiểu về tâm lý học, phần vì những thôi thúc học hỏi, phần cũng vì ngày càng có nhiều cơ hội cho mình với những cuốn sách nền móng, cung cấp kiến thức về tâm lý học chất lượng và chính xác hơn trước. Và mình tìm được bộ sách "Dẫn luận về...." của nhà xuất bản Oxford (tên tiếng anh của bộ này là "A very short introduction".
Vì là "very short instruction", kiến thức trong sách nhắm tới đối tượng là những người mới, và được viết bới các giáo sư với nhiều năm kinh nghiệm nghiên cứu về giảng dạy, vì thế đây có thể nói là một "báu vật" với những ai mới chập chững tìm hiểu về bất kì một lĩnh vực gì. Và quyển "Dẫn luận tâm lý học" này tạo động lực mình cho mình tìm hiểu thêm về Tâm lý học và bổ sung hiểu biết của mình về mối liên hệ giữa các nhánh trong tâm lý học và mối liên hệ với các ngành khác thuộc Khoa học nhận thức (xem hình về các lĩnh vực đóng góp vào Khoa học nhận thức: https://images.app.goo.gl/rhnF6yHJRNX... )
Tiến sĩ Gillian Butler và Freda McManus, tác giả cuốn sách nhỏ này, không chỉ là những nhà tâm lý trị liệu tài năng, họ còn rất xuất sắc về nghệ thuật kể chuyện, vì vậy bạn sẽ nhanh chóng bị cuốn vào mạch cuốn sách ngay lập tức, và hành trình sau đó sẽ vô cùng thú vị và hấp dẫn. Mục lục của sách sẽ là một guideline tốt để bạn theo dõi và tiếp tục trong việc học tập, nghiên cứu sau này: chương 1 là lời mở đầu về Tâm lý học, chương 2 đến chương 5 sẽ giúp cung cấp câu trả lời cho những câu hỏi căn bản nhất trong tâm lý học :
- Điều gì đi vào não?
- Điều gì ở lại trong não?
- Làm thế nào chúng ta sử dụng những thứ ở trong não?
- Tại sao chúng ta làm những gì đang làm?
Tiếp sau đó sẽ là các giới thiệu cơ bản về các nhánh trong Tâm lý học: Tâm lý học phát triển, nghiên cứu về khác biệt cá nhân, Tâm lý học bất thường, Tâm lý học xã hội.
Phần tài liệu tham khảo cũng là một nguồn tham khảo chính thống về các sách và công trình nghiên cứu đã được thực hiện.
Qua cuốn tiểu luận này mình đã biết được thêm một số sách phổ thông liên quan, giới thiệu luôn đến các bạn:
- Dẫn luận về Jung (Carl Jung là cha đẻ của Tâm lý học phân tích)
- Dẫn luận về Freud (Freud là thầy của Jung, tạo ra Phân tâm học)
- Tư duy nhanh và chậm (Daniel Kahneman, đặt nền móng cho Kinh tế học hành vi)
Tựu chung, series A very short introduction nói chung và cuốn sách này nói riêng vô cùng hữu ích trong việc cung cấp kiến thức nền tảng về một lĩnh vực mà mình muốn tìm hiểu
December 28, 2016
Concise and clear but also wide ranging. I'd personally have liked a bit more on the history of psychology, but realistically that's probably a subject for another book. Really good.
January 18, 2019
This introduction takes a very concise look at psychology; the usual ahistorical approach is thankfully not present here, and neither is the ideological homogeneity (lack of diversity of viewpoints) that characterized other historical accounts of this challenging science. There are many difficult moments in the history of psychology, which must be understood in their historical context, and are difficult to discuss with a layperson, but this book does a good job at objectively showing what just happened and why. For instance, the first great triumph of psychology was curing Neurosyphilis with malaria (as malaria causes high fever that is inimical to the syphilis bacteria), effectively giving the patient a parasitic disease to treat their psychiatric disorder; as difficult to process as this idea may be, it was the first instance of a psychological condition being treated in away that produced positive results. The application of lithium came next (the book distinguishes very well between psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis, and defines them in detail, giving info on the major schools of thought all the way to behaviorism, but not much on neuroscience, as the space allotted to the book wouldn't suffice); I was pleasantly surprised to see a chapter of Foucault's criticisms of the field; this book is thorough despite the constraints of a short introduction.
May 16, 2021
5/5
Such a great and perfect introduction to psychology.
I couldn't imagine it to be better written .
It is concise and simple , yet rich in content. It motivates you to read more about the subject and opens new perspectives for further readings .
The book coverd the different fields of psychology in 10 chapters and gave a brief summary of each aspect in a simple , understandable language .
The final chapter was a beautiful conclusion on which , the author emphasized the practical use of psychology and the future of this "recent" science .
It is true that at times , there are condensed informations which make some ideas a little bit blurred and unclear and need some more explanations , but overall it doesn't affect the understanding of the book . After all , the book is called a short introduction for begginers it is not supposed to dig deep in professional and difficult notions .
I recommend this book for everyone interested in this field .
Such a great and perfect introduction to psychology.
I couldn't imagine it to be better written .
It is concise and simple , yet rich in content. It motivates you to read more about the subject and opens new perspectives for further readings .
The book coverd the different fields of psychology in 10 chapters and gave a brief summary of each aspect in a simple , understandable language .
The final chapter was a beautiful conclusion on which , the author emphasized the practical use of psychology and the future of this "recent" science .
It is true that at times , there are condensed informations which make some ideas a little bit blurred and unclear and need some more explanations , but overall it doesn't affect the understanding of the book . After all , the book is called a short introduction for begginers it is not supposed to dig deep in professional and difficult notions .
I recommend this book for everyone interested in this field .
February 13, 2025
Gillian Butlers Psychology: A Very Short Introduction bietet eine kompakte und zugängliche Einführung in die Psychologie und ihre zentralen Theorien. Das Buch behandelt eine breite Palette von Themen – von Wahrnehmung und Gedächtnis über Emotionen bis hin zur Sozialpsychologie – und verbindet wissenschaftliche Erklärungen mit alltäglichen Beispielen. Besonders lobenswert ist Butlers klare Sprache, die auch komplexe Konzepte verständlich macht, sodass das Buch sowohl für Einsteiger als auch für interessierte Laien geeignet ist.
Kritisiert wird mitunter, dass die Kürze des Buches notwendigerweise zu Vereinfachungen führt und einige wichtige Themen nur oberflächlich behandelt werden. Zudem könnte die Auswahl der behandelten Konzepte für manche Leser zu allgemein gehalten sein. Dennoch erfüllt das Werk seinen Zweck als prägnante Einführung in die Psychologie und bietet einen soliden Überblick für alle, die sich einen ersten Einblick in das Fachgebiet verschaffen wollen.
Kritisiert wird mitunter, dass die Kürze des Buches notwendigerweise zu Vereinfachungen führt und einige wichtige Themen nur oberflächlich behandelt werden. Zudem könnte die Auswahl der behandelten Konzepte für manche Leser zu allgemein gehalten sein. Dennoch erfüllt das Werk seinen Zweck als prägnante Einführung in die Psychologie und bietet einen soliden Überblick für alle, die sich einen ersten Einblick in das Fachgebiet verschaffen wollen.
March 27, 2025
I cannot recommend it. Despite the fact that the edition I read was published in 2014, it does not have any mention of the replication crisis, and it relies almost exclusively in decades old studies, like unethical studies with monkeys, which in light of the mentioned crisis are highly suspect.
The book also mentions the now discredited theory that the limbic system (in charge of dealing with emotion among other things) of the human brain is surrounded by more 'complex' parts that arrived later in time, allowing the 'evolved' parts to control the 'primal' areas. Rather it seems all parts of the brain were present very early on and evolved differently over time. This is a small error, but it decreases my confidence in the rest of the facts presented.
The book also mentions the now discredited theory that the limbic system (in charge of dealing with emotion among other things) of the human brain is surrounded by more 'complex' parts that arrived later in time, allowing the 'evolved' parts to control the 'primal' areas. Rather it seems all parts of the brain were present very early on and evolved differently over time. This is a small error, but it decreases my confidence in the rest of the facts presented.
June 27, 2019
Một cuốn sách dẫn nhập tốt về tâm lý học ở 2 khía cạnh:
- Lối viết dễ hiểu, hấp dẫn
- Lượng vừa phải, không quá nặng nề cho những ai chưa từng tìm hiểu về tâm lý học nhưng cũng đủ để người đọc có được cái nhìn sơ lược nhưng cũng đa dạng về tâm lý học, cũng có những điểm khiến người đọc phá bỏ định kiến cá nhân, đặc biệt là về các bài test về nhân cách hiện nay.
Các vấn đề được mở ra cũng khiến mình tò mò muốn tìm hiểu sâu hơn về tâm lý học.
Điểm trừ nhỏ là bản dịch tiếng Việt có nhiều chỗ văn phong còn chưa thuần Việt, gây đôi chút trở ngại cho người đọc.
Tóm lại, một cuốn sách nhỏ, phù hợp cho những ai bắt đầu tìm hiểu về tâm lý học, đặc biệt những ai không có quá nhiều thời gian.
- Lối viết dễ hiểu, hấp dẫn
- Lượng vừa phải, không quá nặng nề cho những ai chưa từng tìm hiểu về tâm lý học nhưng cũng đủ để người đọc có được cái nhìn sơ lược nhưng cũng đa dạng về tâm lý học, cũng có những điểm khiến người đọc phá bỏ định kiến cá nhân, đặc biệt là về các bài test về nhân cách hiện nay.
Các vấn đề được mở ra cũng khiến mình tò mò muốn tìm hiểu sâu hơn về tâm lý học.
Điểm trừ nhỏ là bản dịch tiếng Việt có nhiều chỗ văn phong còn chưa thuần Việt, gây đôi chút trở ngại cho người đọc.
Tóm lại, một cuốn sách nhỏ, phù hợp cho những ai bắt đầu tìm hiểu về tâm lý học, đặc biệt những ai không có quá nhiều thời gian.
May 20, 2019
Unfortunately the book presents complex concepts which are unfamiliar to those who are entrirely ew to the subject. Thinking, I was heading towards an "introduction" to psychology, unfortunately I found myself reading a book which presented complex concepts which are far from being an introduction. Perhaps I would say, this is a good book for someone who is already familiar with the very basic concepts and would either like a refresher, or would like to explore new topics.
August 6, 2019
Lectura que se esfuerza por ser objetiva e imparcial en la exposición de los diferentes problemas que atañen a la psicología. Breve y concisa, trae a colación algunos resultados históricos o ejemplares a lo largo de cada tópico. Logra afianzar la multidisciplinariedad de la ciencia cognitiva como un objetivo máxime para la humanidad desde la academia, el laboratorio, y la sociedad. Buen libro de introducción.
December 10, 2020
A comprehensive and straightforward introduction, covering all the basic aspects of psychology with a balanced emphasis. I almost forgot that besides the pathology, there are so many fields such as perception, intelligence, personal trait, social influence, conformity, neuro-linguistics, etc. that are of high importance within this discipline. The pamphlet provides reader who has very basic knowledge of psychology an easy to understand overview.
March 30, 2021
Does exactly what it says in the title - a lovely brief introduction to psychology as a subject and covers all the main subtopics such as abnormal and social psychology. I loved the case studies, diagrams and tables; they really helped me understand the theories being put forward. Four stars because I found it quite wordy and difficult to read at points, but that's probably just personal preference.
November 26, 2024
Great book to begin your journey of discovering psychology. It had everything from mini diagrams that you can test hypotheses to really life case studies and anecdotes that can help you really understand complicated topics. I especially love the chapter about perception and how our views can be unconsciously controlled through social and environmental influences.
(This book has persuaded me to take psychology A-level !)
(This book has persuaded me to take psychology A-level !)
November 5, 2018
I expected this book would provide a more day-to-day view of psychology application. Something similar to Malcolm Gladwell's study cases that you can then extrapolate to your own life. However it is more focused on the technicalities of the science and the different disciplines it contains. Still loads learns from it.
September 19, 2021
If you have signed up to become a psychologist or are thinking about it reading this book will help you understand what is psychology as a science, what psychologists do. You'll find out about it's history, read about where it's moving towards in the future and be met with a plethora of new concepts and terms that I would advise diving in deep in your spare time.
August 25, 2025
ამდენი წლის მერე ჩავამთავრე იმიტომ რომ დაdnfება არ მიყვარს :დ ამ სერიას დავარქვი “ჰუმანიტარი აბიტურიენტების სერია” ფაკულტეტის არჩევამდე წასაკითხი წიგნებია, იმიტომ კიარა რომ არჩევანი გააკეთო, უბრალოდ 90% შანსია რომ რაღაც ეტაპზე გავლა მოგიწევს. ნუ ჩემთვის დიდად ინფორმაციული აღარ იყო, იმის ფონზე რომ დავამთავრე და ორი საგანი გავიარე ფსიქოლოგიის მაგრამ რეფრეშისთვისაც არაა ცუდი.
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