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Rating: 
Summary: a good alternative
Review: Introductory Psychology is the most difficult psychology course there is. It's incoherent. In one semester (sometimes two) a student is asked to absorb ... all of psychology. Each chapter in a typical Intro Psych text represents a course in itself. And... it's incoherent. There's no *simple* way to divide psychology into manageable units. You can categorize it by topic -- some psychologists study mental disorders, some study sensation and perception, some study conditioning, and so on -- or you can divide it by theoretical allegiance -- some psychologists are behaviorists, some adhere to a biological approach, some to a psychodynamic approach, and so on. Whichever way you categorize, you have messy boundaries. Worse, the interaction between topic and theoretical approach is blurry -- not a nice two-by-two table you could build. Sometimes the topic IS the theoretical approach. Sometimes not. Tavris and Wade have contributed one of the few -- in fact the only one I've seen -- textbooks to categorize material by theoretical perspective, not by topic of inquiry. They've done a good job of it. The advantage to organizing this way is better flow between sections of the book. Tavris and Wade's writing also flows nicely -- the book is fairly readable, as these things go, and feels a little less technical than traditional books (though it really isn't). This is a plus for many students. If the organization by theoretical perspective makes sense to you, this is your book. It will appeal to students who already are thinking this way, and it will be a good introduction to higher levels of abstraction for students who are stuck in concrete. There's no perfect intro psych text yet. This one is a good choice.
Rating:
Summary: a good alternative
Review: Introductory Psychology is the most difficult psychology course there is. It's incoherent. In one semester (sometimes two) a student is asked to absorb ... all of psychology. Each chapter in a typical Intro Psych text represents a course in itself. And... it's incoherent. There's no *simple* way to divide psychology into manageable units. You can categorize it by topic -- some psychologists study mental disorders, some study sensation and perception, some study conditioning, and so on -- or you can divide it by theoretical allegiance -- some psychologists are behaviorists, some adhere to a biological approach, some to a psychodynamic approach, and so on. Whichever way you categorize, you have messy boundaries. Worse, the interaction between topic and theoretical approach is blurry -- not a nice two-by-two table you could build. Sometimes the topic IS the theoretical approach. Sometimes not. Tavris and Wade have contributed one of the few -- in fact the only one I've seen -- textbooks to categorize material by theoretical perspective, not by topic of inquiry. They've done a good job of it. The advantage to organizing this way is better flow between sections of the book. Tavris and Wade's writing also flows nicely -- the book is fairly readable, as these things go, and feels a little less technical than traditional books (though it really isn't). This is a plus for many students. If the organization by theoretical perspective makes sense to you, this is your book. It will appeal to students who already are thinking this way, and it will be a good introduction to higher levels of abstraction for students who are stuck in concrete. There's no perfect intro psych text yet. This one is a good choice.
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