Published: December 2017
Page Count: 656
ISBN (Digital): 978-1-4533-8724-5

Introduction to Psychology

Version 3.0
By Charles Stangor

Included Supplements

Homework

Manual

Slides

Tests

Key Features

Real-world examples.
Chapter features designed to link the principles from the chapter to real-world applications.
Each chapter has a Research Focus that reminds students of the importance of empirical research.
Quizzes embedded in the book to reinforce students’ understanding of the material as they work through the chapters.
Customizable.

This textbook is suitable for the following courses: Introduction to Psychology, Principles of Psychology, Survey of Psychology, or other basic psychology course

Introduction to Psychology is a concise and conceptual introduction to the fascinating subject of psychology. Featuring a central theme of action—predicting our own actions and those around us--this book grabs students’ attention and does not let go. A strong underlying secondary theme of empiricism unifies the narrative under the umbrella of psychology as a science. Its standard, fifteen-chapter organization makes this textbook an ideal choice for a typical semester- or quarter-long course.

New in This Version

Each chapter opens by showcasing an interesting real-world example of people who are dealing with psychological questions and who use psychology to help them answer those questions.
One or two features designed to link the principles from the chapter to real-world applications in business, environment, health, law, education, and other relevant domains appear in each chapter.
New artwork to feature contemporary images.
A set of quiz questions is found at the end of every main chapter section. Students can use these to test their learning.
Contemporary themes such as Nature versus Nurture and Similarity versus Difference help to open up discussions of cross-cultural differences and gender differences.

1.1 Psychology as a Science

1.2 The Evolution of Psychology: History, Approaches, and Questions

1.3 Chapter Summary

Chapter 2: Psychological Science

2.1 Psychologists Use the Scientific Method to Guide Their Research

2.2 Psychologists Use Descriptive, Correlational, and Experimental Research Designs to Understand Behavior

2.3 You Can Be an Informed Consumer of Psychological Research

2.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 3: Brains, Bodies, and Behavior

3.1 The Neuron Is the Building Block of the Nervous System

3.2 Our Brains Control Our Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior

3.3 Psychologists Study the Brain Using Many Different Methods

3.4 Putting It All Together: The Nervous System and the Endocrine System

3.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 4: Sensing and Perceiving

4.1 We Experience Our World Through Sensation

4.2 Seeing

4.3 Hearing

4.4 Tasting, Smelling, and Touching

4.5 Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Perception

4.6 Chapter Summary

Chapter 5: Consciousness, Body Rhythms, and Mental States

5.1 Sleeping and Dreaming Revitalize Us for Action

5.2 Altering Consciousness With Psychoactive Drugs

5.3 Altering Consciousness Without Drugs

5.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 6: Growing and Developing Across the Lifespan

6.1 Conception and Prenatal Development

6.2 Infancy and Childhood: Exploring and Learning

6.3 Adolescence: Developing Independence and Identity

6.4 Early and Middle Adulthood: Building Effective Lives

6.5 Late Adulthood: Aging, Retiring, and Bereavement

6.6 Chapter Summary

Chapter 7: Learning

7.1 Learning by Association: Classical Conditioning

7.2 Changing Behavior Through Reinforcement and Punishment: Operant Conditioning

7.3 Learning by Insight and Observation

7.4 Using the Principles of Learning to Understand Everyday Behavior

7.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 8: Remembering and Judging

8.1 Memories as Types and Stages

8.2 How We Remember: Cues to Improving Memory

8.3 Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Memory and Cognition

8.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 9: Intelligence and Language

9.1 Defining and Measuring Intelligence

9.2 The Social, Cultural, and Political Aspects of Intelligence

9.3 Communicating With Others: The Development and Use of Language

9.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 10: Emotions and Motivation: Happiness, Stress, Health, Eating, and Sex

10.1 The Experience of Emotion

10.2 Stress: The Unseen Killer

10.3 Positive Emotions: The Power of Happiness

10.4 Two Fundamental Human Motivations: Eating and Mating

10.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 11: Psychology in Our Social Lives

11.1 Social Cognition: Making Sense of Ourselves and Others

11.2 Interacting with Others: Helping, Hurting, and Conforming

11.3 Working With Others: The Costs and Benefits of Social Groups

11.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 12: Personality

12.1 Personality and Behavior: Approaches and Measurement

12.2 The Origins of Personality

12.3 Is Personality More Nature or More Nurture? Behavioral and Molecular Genetics

12.4 Chapter Summary

Chapter 13: Defining Psychological Disorders

13.1 Psychological Disorder: What Makes a Behavior “Abnormal”?

13.2 Anxiety and Dissociative Disorders: Fearing the World Around Us

13.3 Depressive Disorders: Emotions as Illness

13.4 Schizophrenia: The Edge of Reality and Consciousness

13.5 Personality Disorders

13.6 Physical, Sexual, Eating, and Sleeping Disorders

13.7 Chapter Summary

Chapter 14: Treating Psychological Disorders

14.1 Reducing Disorder by Confronting It: Psychotherapy

14.2 Reducing Disorder Biologically: Drug and Brain Therapy

14.3 Reducing Disorder by Changing the Social Situation

14.4 Evaluating Treatment and Prevention: What Works?

14.5 Chapter Summary

Chapter 15: Answers to Quiz Questions

15.1 Chapter 1

15.2 Chapter 2

15.3 Chapter 3

15.4 Chapter 4

15.5 Chapter 5

15.6 Chapter 6

15.7 Chapter 7

15.8 Chapter 8

15.9 Chapter 9

15.10 Chapter 10

15.11 Chapter 11

15.12 Chapter 12

15.13 Chapter 13

15.14 Chapter 14

FlatWorld Homework

FlatWorld Homework includes multi-format questions written specifically for your FlatWorld book, which you can access through our stand-alone interface or integrate with your learning management system.

Instructor’s Manual

The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

PowerPoint Lecture Notes

A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

Test Generator - powered by Cognero

FlatWorld has partnered with Cognero, a leading online assessment system, that allows you to create printable tests from FlatWorld provided content.

Test Bank Files for Import to Learning Management Systems

For your convenience, we've packaged our test items for easy import into Learning Management Systems like Blackboard, Brightspace/D2L, Canvas, Moodle, or Respondus.

Test Item File

Need assistance in supplementing your quizzes and tests? Our test-item files (in Word format) contain many multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions.

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Charles Stangor

University of Maryland, College Park

Charles Stangor is former Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland. He has also taught at the University of Tübingen in Germany. He received his B.A. from Beloit College and his Ph.D. from New York University. Dr. Stangor is the recipient of research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and from the National Science Foundation. He has published seven books and over fifty research articles and book chapters, and has served as an associate editor of the European Journal of Social Psychology. Dr. Stangor's research interests concern the development of stereotypes and prejudice, and their influences on individuals who are potential victims of discrimination. He is a charter fellow of the American Psychological Society and currently serves as a member of the executive committee of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Dr. Stangor regularly teaches Social Psychology (Psyc 221), Research Methods (Psyc 420) and, at the graduate level, Group Processes (Psyc 742). Dr. Stangor has also won a distinguished teaching award from the University of Maryland.