Discovering Psychology

About this book

Drawing on a wide range of studies and some classic pieces of psychological research, this book provides and accessible and engaging introduction to the study of psychology.The book is divided into three parts, each addressing a set of related questions;Part 1Why do people do harm to others? Can the roots of violence and aggression be found in an individual's personality? Or is the situation in which an individual finds themselves more important? Is violence learnt? What is the role of the media in this process?Part 2How do others influence who we are and what we do? What makes people change their behaviour? What is the role of reinforcement in shaping human behaviour? And what can studying rats and pigeons tell us about it? What is the basis of a child's attachment to its caregivers? How does human attachment differ from attachment in non-human animals? How important id friendship, especially in childhood?Part 3How do we investigate psychological processes that we cannot directly observe, like attention, memory or language? Which parts of the brain control language? Can we successfully attend to two tasks at the same time? How accurate is our memory for events, and why does this matter? Can memories be implanted?Discovering Psychology will give you a better understanding of the diverse nature of psychology as an academic discipline and of the different ways in which psychologists go about investigating new ideas about the human mind and behaviour.

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