Invitation to Psychology, 5th Edition

This text highlights the importance of critical thinking and the inclusion of culture and gender in the science of psychology. 

 

Wade/Tavris, Invitation to Psychology, 5/e uses lively writing and stimulating examples to invite students to actively explore the field of psychology and the fundamentals of critical and scientific thinking. Invitation to Psychology presents the science of psychology according to six areas of the student's experience: Your Self, Your Body, Your Mind, Your Environment, Your Mental Health, and Your Life. This unique organization engages students from the very beginning and gives them a framework for thinking about human behavior. Hallmark features of this best-selling introductory text include active learning features, an emphasis on critical thinking, a balance of classic and contemporary research, and thorough integration of culture and gender.

BREIF Table of Contents

 

1.   What Is Psychology?

 

Part One – Your Self

2.   Theories of Personality

3.   Development Over the Life Span

 

Part Two – Your Body

4.   Neurons, Hormones, and the Brain

5.   Body Rhythms and Mental States

6.   Sensation and Perception

 

Part Three – Your Mind

7.   Thinking and Intelligence

8.   Memory

 

Part Four – Your Environment

9.   Learning and Conditioning

10. Behavior in Social and Cultural Context

 

Part Five – Your Mental Health

11. Psychological Disorders

12. Approaches to Treatment and Therapy

 

Part Six – Your Life

13. Emotion, Stress, and Health

14. The Major Motives of Life: Food, Love, Sex, and Work

 

Appendix: Statistical Methods 

 

Organization: The 14 chapters in this book cover the major topics in introductory psychology but are organized differently from the 16-chapter version (Psychology, 10e). The goal of this book is to engage students quickly and provide a logical scaffolding for the diverse topics in psychology. The first chapter, which introduces students to the field and to the fundamentals of critical and scientific thinking, is followed by six sections, each consisting of two chapters (in one case, three). The title of each section invites the reader to consider how the discipline of psychology can illuminate aspects of his or her own life and provides the reader with a personal frame of reference for assimilating the information:

     Part One: Your Self examines major theories of personality (Chapter 2) and development (Chapter 3). These are high-interest topics for students and will draw them into the course right away. Moreover, starting off with these chapters avoids redundancy in coverage of the major schools of psychology—biological, learning, cognitive, sociocultural, and psychodynamic. Instead of introducing these perspectives in the first chapter and then having to explain them again in a much later personality chapter, they are covered once, in this section.

    Part Two: Your Body explores the many ways in which the brain, neurons, and hormones affect psychological functioning (Chapter 4), body rhythms and states of consciousness (Chapter 5), and the neurological and psychological underpinnings of sensation and perception (Chapter 6).

    Part Three: Your Mind discusses the impressive ways in which human beings think and reason—and why, unfortunately, they so often fail to think and reason well (Chapter 7) and, along with other paradoxes of memory, why human recall is not as accurate as a machine’s (Chapter 8).

    Part Four: Your Environment covers basic principles of learning (Chapter 9) and the impact of social and cultural contexts on behavior (Chapter 10). Combining learning and social psychology in the same part is a break from convention, but demonstrates that these two fields share an emphasis on external influences on behavior.

    Part Five: Your Mental Health reviews the major mental and emotional disorders (Chapter 11) and evaluates the therapies designed to treat them (Chapter 12).

    Part Six: Your Life shows how mind, body, and environment influence emotions, stress, and health (Chapter 13) and the fundamental motives that drive people: the biological, social, and cultural factors involved in eating and weight; attachment and love; passion and sex; and work and achievement (Chapter 14).