Introduction to Psychology, Cloth Edition (with InfoTrac)

Rating:
Summary: Plotnik's 5th Ed. Introduction to Psychology
Review: I am giving this book 4 stars based on my students' responses to it. Although I was not too impressed with it when I reviewed part of the prepublication material, my students have loved it. They find it easy to read, and its ending of topics on facing pages always gives them a logical place to stop reading. I felt that the choice of Kristi Yamaguchi as illustrative of a self-actualized individual was a bit much, since she is (was) only about 20 at the time. She's got a long way to go in other areas of her life to be really considered self-actualized!! My students had little memory of Kurt Cobain, either- I felt these choices would cause the book to quickly become dated. I must, however, reiterate that my students enjoyed it, and read chapters they weren't assigned just because they liked the style. If it gets my students to read, I guess I need to put aside my prejudices and I am going with it for another semester. The accompanying study guide leaves much to be desired with regard to answers- I really hate answer sheets that aimply say "1-A, 2-B" without explaining why the other selections were incorrect.

Rating:
Summary: Intro. to Psychology
Review: The 5th edition, 1998 book is great. It begins with an autistic woman and test anxiety and relates how the field of psychology has helped improve both. This book has Test Reviews for its readers and if you finsh with a chapter and you hunger for more this book gives you the links to look up on the internet. As an Introduction to psychology this book does its job.

Rating:
Summary: Not too good
Review: The reason I give this book one star is because I have compared it to other intro to Psychology books and this was the least informative book I read.