Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour Fourth edition
Nigel Holt, Andrew Bremner, Ed Sutherland, Michael Vliek, Michael Passer, Ronald Smith
ISBN: 9780077189624
The fourth edition of this market-leading text provides students with an exciting and engaging introduction to psychology. Its scientific approach brings together international research, practical application and the ‘Levels of analysis’ framework to encourage critical thinking about psychology and its impact on our daily lives.
In order to meet the evolving needs of first year psychology students, this new edition has been fully revised to reflect recent developments in the field and its renowned pedagogy has been strengthened to bring the theories to life, ensuring the text’s scientific approach remains accessible. New sections include prosociality and social media and the coverage of topical issues such as the replication crisis and critical perspectives of positive psychology have been added to help facilitate debates in class.
What's new
Expert author team
The new edition was created by a highly-respected international author team that represent the spectrum of psychology; from cognitive neuroscience to health. On top of this, the fourth edition has been reviewed by over 30 practicing lecturers from each specialism. This means you can be confident that you are providing students a holistic understanding of the differing approaches to psychology.
Focus on employability
There is an ever-increasing demand on institutions to demonstrate how the subject students learn today will prepare them for their future careers after graduation.
Psychology at Work interviews are a brand-new feature that provides insights from psychology graduates that have achieved success in their chosen fields. Professions include a Speech and Language Therapist in the UK and an Authority for Consumers and Markets in the Netherlands.
Make research accessible
The scientific approach to psychology can be daunting to first-time psychology students and many may not have come across research journals before. This means they may struggle to comprehend essential reading materials and start losing motivation. From the ‘Level of Analysis’ framework that helps students synthesize research, to our innovative ‘Power of Process’ tool that gently guides students through how to read and understand journal articles, our pedagogical features and accompanying digital tools address and support these issues in an effective way.
1 The science of psychology
2 Studying behaviour scientifically
3 Evolution, genes, environment and behaviour
4 The brain and behaviour
5 Sensation and perception
6 Consciousness
7 Learning: the role of experience
8 Memory
9 Language and thinking
10 Intelligence
11 Motivation and emotion
12 Lifespan development I: physical and cognitive development
13 Lifespan development II: social and emotional development
14 Personality
15 Social thinking and behaviour
16 Health psychology: adjusting to life
17 Psychological disorders
18 Treatment of psychological disorders
For this fourth edition, as with the others, we have listened carefully to lecturers and teachers in Europe and South Africa, and have shaped the new edition accordingly.
We have introduced new topics and recent research, as well as making changes to the book’s features and layout.
A few of the changes for this new edition include:
The principles of genetic manipulation and control have been extended and updated (Chapter 3)
Updated coverage of neuroscience methods (Chapter 4)
Increased coverage of the development of theories of motivation, and increased material on positive theories of motivation (Chapter 11)
The subject of prosociality is now included (Chapter 13)
Mass panic has been included as a social phenomenon (Chapter 14)
More insights into implicit attitudes and bias in determining behaviour are made, and the material has been developed in light of the replication crisis (Chapter 15)
Research and approaches have been updated and augmented throughout:
- Current topic boxes have been updated to ensure they are topical and representative of the current field of psychology
- Research close-up boxes have been revised to ensure a continued representation of both classic and contemporary research in a detailed and accessible manner
- Recommended reading, both classic and contemporary, has been newly added to each chapter, to provide a springboard for further study.
Click here to view a sample chapter
About the authors
Nigel J. Holt, DPhil
Nigel is Head of the Department of Psychology at Aberystwyth University in Wales. His first degree from the University of Reading was followed by a DPhil from the University of York, where he investigated the perceptual lateralization of audio-visual stimuli. His current post followed a postdoctorate in speech perception, and a lectureship in England.
Nigel has examined at a senior level and is an external university examiner at various universities throughout the world. In between writing and editing more than 30 other books, he also researches into speech perception, and how sound and other areas of cognition interact with potentially dangerous activities such as cycling and motorcycling.
Andy Bremner, DPhil
Andy completed his first degree in experimental psychology and his DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Professor Peter Bryant. Following two postdoctoral appointments, he spent 13 years in the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, latterly as Head of Department.
In 2018, Andy moved to the University of Birmingham, where he is a Reader in Psychology. Andy conducts research in the Birmingham BabyLab into a variety of questions surrounding perceptual and cognitive development and developmental cognitive neuroscience. He has been awarded substantial grant funding and prizes for his research and is co-editor of Infant and Child Development with Robin Banerjee.
Michael Passer, PhD
Michael coordinates the introductory psychology programme at the University of Washington.
Ronald E. Smith, PhD
Ronald is Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Psychology Training at the University of Washington, where he also has served as Area Head of the Social Psychology and Personality area.
Ed Sutherland, PhD
Ed completed his first degree at the University of Bangor and his PhD at the University of Wolverhampton under the supervision of Professor Ken Manktelow. He then held a research post at the University of Reading and his first lectureship at the University of Derby. He became a lecturer in cognitive psychology at the University of Leeds, where he is now Director of Learning and Teaching. His current research interests are on the role of emotion in reasoning and the psychology of design.
Michael L. W. Vliek, PhD
Michael finished his Master’s followed by his PhD at the University of Amsterdam, where he subsequently worked as a senior lecturer until 2017. He is currently an affiliate of the University of Amsterdam and lectures at the University of Tübingen. He is also the co-author of several psychology textbooks and consultant on behaviour change for several government institutions in the Netherlands.
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Students can struggle to apply scientific data and form hypotheses. Psych Interactives help bring these processes to life for students by placing them in a real-world scenario a psychologist may encounter.
The interactives take students step-by-step through observing data, formulating and testing a hypothesis, through to communicating their findings and applying their understanding of psychology to the world.
Moving students toward higher-order critical thinking skills, Power of Process offers a hands-on tool for reviewing and analysing journal articles. Students gain access to a library of resource materials, which they are guiding through using a scaffolded framework to develop essential academic skills, such as understanding, analysing and synthesizing.
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