Psychology

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: As an Intro Psych instructor, I reviewed dozens of psychology texts. Gray's "Psychology" is clearly the best.

First, because it is written by a single author, it maintains a consistent style and viewpoint throughout--that is, the application of evolutionary biology and cognitive science to the study of the mind and behavior. Consequently, he does not shy away from putting forward strong arguments where they are needed. On this, see especially his superb discussion of the fall of behaviorism and the rise of cognitivism.

Second, the author has a powerful command of several lines of important research, and he uses this to "smarten up" the text to make it *more* understandable. As an example, see particularly his discussions of the heritability of intelligence.

Third, the text is beautifully organized.

The text does, however, suffer from two small weaknesses: the discussion of self-esteem owes too much to James, with James' errors especially, and the discussion of mental health and happiness needlessly bore little imprint from the chapters on cognition.

Still, Gray produced a superlative volume.

Rating:
Summary: Best Psychology Textbook
Review: As an Intro Psych instructor, I reviewed dozens of psychology texts. Gray's "Psychology" is clearly the best.

First, because it is written by a single author, it maintains a consistent style and viewpoint throughout--that is, the application of evolutionary biology and cognitive science to the study of the mind and behavior. Consequently, he does not shy away from putting forward strong arguments where they are needed. On this, see especially his superb discussion of the fall of behaviorism and the rise of cognitivism.

Second, the author has a powerful command of several lines of important research, and he uses this to "smarten up" the text to make it *more* understandable. As an example, see particularly his discussions of the heritability of intelligence.

Third, the text is beautifully organized.

The text does, however, suffer from two small weaknesses: the discussion of self-esteem owes too much to James, with James' errors especially, and the discussion of mental health and happiness needlessly bore little imprint from the chapters on cognition.

Still, Gray produced a superlative volume.

Rating:
Summary: great
Review: I thought this text was great--it provides information in a very clear and well-explained manner for the student who has never taken a psychology course before. Gray proves he has a sense of humor as well, injecting funny lines every now and then. It provides a lot of pertinent information in an interesting manner, and covers everything from theories on development and society to cognition and neuroscience. After finishing my intro psych class I even found myself wishing I could still use the text for my other classes (in fact I still refer to it every now and then).

Rating:
Summary: the best psych text
Review: The first day of class my professor felt free to note that the text for her class was boring, in the opinion of some of her students. After reading it myself, I had to disagree. The text is one of the better ones I've read. I took AP Psych in high school and the text used there was boring. This textbook, however, presents Psychology in an interesting light. The first chapter, on the founders of Psychology is written so that you can actually make sense of it. Most cases studies of the guys like Freud, Wundt and the like proved to be boring for me, but not in this text. The authors also go out of thier way to make sure that you understand what you are reading through the questions that appear in the margins of the text. The book also features comics and interesting pictures relating to the subject matter. This book is not your typical "college text." I also recommend the study guide. It has self tests that you can use to study for the final.

Rating:
Summary: the best psych text
Review: The first day of class my professor felt free to note that the text for her class was boring, in the opinion of some of her students. After reading it myself, I had to disagree. The text is one of the better ones I've read. I took AP Psych in high school and the text used there was boring. This textbook, however, presents Psychology in an interesting light. The first chapter, on the founders of Psychology is written so that you can actually make sense of it. Most cases studies of the guys like Freud, Wundt and the like proved to be boring for me, but not in this text. The authors also go out of thier way to make sure that you understand what you are reading through the questions that appear in the margins of the text. The book also features comics and interesting pictures relating to the subject matter. This book is not your typical "college text." I also recommend the study guide. It has self tests that you can use to study for the final.