Experience Psychology / Edition 2

by Laura King

Overview

Do you want your students to just take psychology or to experience psychology?

Experience Psychology is a complete learning system that empowers students to personally, critically, and actively experience the impact of psychology in everyday life. Experience Psychology is about, well, experience—our own behaviors; our relationships at home and in our communities, in school and at work; and our interactions in different learning environments. Grounded in meaningful real-world contexts, Experience Psychology’s contemporary examples, personalized author notes, and applied exercises speak directly to students, allowing them to engage with psychology and to learn verbally, visually, and experientially—by reading, seeing, and doing. With the Experience Psychology learning system, students do not just “take” psychology but actively experience it.

Experience a Personalized Approach How many students think they know everything about introductory psychology but struggle on the first exam? LearnSmart, McGraw-Hill’s adaptive learning system, pinpoints students’ metacognitive abilities and limitations, identifying what they know—and more importantly, what they don’t know. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy and a highly sophisticated “smart” algorithm, LearnSmart creates a personalized, customized study plan that’s unique to each individual student’s demonstrated needs. With virtually no administrative overhead, instructors using LearnSmart are reporting an increase in student performance by a letter-grade or more. Throughout Experience Psychology, students find a wealth of personal pedagogical “asides” directly from Laura King to guide their understanding and stimulate their interest as they read. Some of these helpful notes highlight crucial terms and concepts; others prompt students to think critically about the complexities of the issues; other notes encourage students to apply what they have learned to their prior reading or to a new situation. These mini-conversations between author and students help develop analytical skills for students to carry and apply well beyond their course.

Experience an Emphasis on Critical Thinking Experience Psychology stimulates critical reflection and analysis. Challenge Your Thinking sidebar features involve students in debates relevant to findings from contemporary psychological research. Thought-provoking questions encourage examination of the evidence on both sides of a debate or issue. Also oriented toward critical thought are the text’s Intersection selections. Showcasing studies in different areas of psychological research that are being conducted on the same topic, the Intersections shed light on the links between, and the reciprocal influences of, this exciting work, and they raise provocative questions for student reflection and class discussion.

Experience an Emphasis on Active Engagement
With the new Experience It! feature, students can use their mobile devices to practice and master key concepts wherever and whenever they choose. By snapping easily located QR codes, students gain access to videos, Concept Clips, and related news articles, for a highly portable, rich, and immersive experience that powerfully reinforces the chapter reading. Through Do It!, a series of brief, reoccurring sidebar activities linked to the text reading, students get an opportunity to test their assumptions and learn through hands-on exploration and discovery. Reinforcing that the science of psychology requires active participation, Do It! selections include, for example, an exercise on conducting an informal survey to observe and classify behaviors in a public setting, as well as an activity guiding students on how to research a “happiness gene.” Such exercises provide students with a vibrant and involving experience that gets them thinking as psychologists do. Experience Psychology helps students to perform to their maximum potential in and out of the classroom, fully engaging them in the content and experiences that comprise the world’s most popular undergraduate major.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780078035340
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Education
Publication date:	10/04/2012
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	656
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Laura King did her undergraduate work at Kenyon College, where, an English

major, she declared a second major, in psychology, during the second semester of her junior year. She

completed her A.B. in English with high honors and distinction and in psychology with distinction

in 1986. Laura then did graduate work at Michigan State University and the University of California,

Davis, receiving her Ph.D. in personality psychology in 1991.

Laura began her career at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, moving to the University of

Missouri, Columbia, in 2001, where she is now a professor. In addition to seminars in the development

of character, social psychology, and personality psychology, she has taught undergraduate lecture

courses in introductory psychology, introduction to personality psychology, and social psychology. At

SMU, she received six different teaching awards, including the “M” award for “sustained excellence”

in 1999. At the University of Missouri, she received the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Research

and Creative Activity in 2004.

Her research, which has been funded by the National Institutes for Mental Health, has focused

on a variety of topics relevant to the question of what it is that makes for a good life. She has studied

goals, life stories, happiness, well-being, and meaning in life. In general, her work reflects an enduring

interest in studying what is good and healthy in people. In 2001, her research accomplishments were

recognized by a Templeton Prize in positive psychology. Laura’s research (often incollaboration

with undergraduate and graduate students) has been published in the Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Cognition and Emotion, the Journal

of Personality, and other publications . A new paper on the place of regrets in maturity is forthcoming

in the American Psychologist.

Currently editor-in-chief of the Journal of Research in Personality, Laura has also served as

associate editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and the Journal of Personality and

Social Psychology, as well as on numerous grant panels. She has edited or co-edited special sections

of the Journal of Personality and the American Psychologist. In “real life,” Laura is an accomplished

cook and enjoys listening to music (mostly jazz vocalists and singer-songwriters), gardening, and

chasing Sam, her 3-year-old son.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 - The Science of Psychology

Defining Psychology and Exploring its Roots

Contemporary Approaches to Psychology
Psychology's Scientific Method

Types of Psychological Research

Research Samples and Settings

Conducting Ethical Research

Learning About Psychology Means Learning About You

CHAPTER 2 - The Brain and Behavior

The Nervous System

Neurons

Structures of the Brain and Their Functions

The Endocrine System

Brain Damage, Plasticity, and Repair

Genetics and Behavior

CHAPTER 3 - Sensation and Perception

How We Sense and Perceive the World

The Visual System

The Auditory System

Other Senses

CHAPTER 4 - States of Consciousness

The Nature of Consciousness

Sleep and Dreams

Psychoactive Drugs

Hypnosis

Meditation

CHAPTER 5 - Learning

Types of Learning

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Observational Learning

Cognitive Factors in Learning

Biological, Cultural, and Psychological Factors in Learning

CHAPTER 6 - Memory

The Nature of Memory

Memory Encoding

Memory Storage

Memory Retrieval

Forgetting

Tips from the Science of Memory, for Studying and for Life

CHAPTER 7 - Thinking, Intelligence, and Language

The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology

Thinking

Intelligence

Language

CHAPTER 8 - Human Development

Exploring Human Development

Child Development

Adolescence

Emerging Adulthood, Adult Development, and Aging

CHAPTER 9 -Motivation

Theories of Motivation

Hunger and Sex

Beyond Hunger and Sex: Approaches to Motivation in Everyday Life

Emotion

Motivation and Emotion: The Pursuit of Happiness

CHAPTER 10 - Personality

Psychodynamic Perspectives

Humanistic Perspectives

Trait Perspectives

Personological and Life Story Perspectives

Social Cognitive Perspectives

Biological Perspectives

Personality Assessment

CHAPTER 11 - Social Psychology

Social Cognition

Social Behavior

Social Influence

Intergroup Relations

Close Relationships

CHAPTER 12 - Psychological Disorders

Defining and Explaining Abnormal Behavior

Anxiety Disorders

Mood Disorders

Eating Disorders

Dissociative Disorders

Schizophrenia

Personality Disorders

Combating Stigma

CHAPTER 13 - Therapies

Biological Therapies

Psychotherapy

Sociocultural Approaches and Issues in Treatment

The Effectiveness of Psycho therapy

CHAPTER 14 - Health Psychology

Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine

Making Positive Life Changes

Resources for Effective Life Change

Toward a Healthier Mind (and Body): Controlling Stress

Toward a Healthier Body (and Mind): Behaving as If Your Life Depends upon It

Psychology and Your Good Life