A Companion to Introductory Psychology is a rich collection of thought-provoking chapters, which enhance student interest and promote group discussions, training entry-level students in critical thinking skills and engaging them with course material.
Organized into five key sections—Biological, Cognition, Developmental, Social and Personality, and Mental and Physical Health—each features contemporary chapters accompanied by insightful discussion questions, further resources, and activities to encourage reflection by the reader and to promote group debate in a classroom context. These prompt readers to reflect deeply, to evaluate long-held beliefs and/or personal biases, and to assess controversial topics by analyzing them through a psychological lens.
Mapped to the American Psychological Association Pillar model, this book will benefit a wide variety of audiences ranging from high school to college undergraduates. Primarily useful for courses in introductory psychology, this book is also practical for courses in behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, health psychology, and abnormal and clinical psychology.
A Companion to Introductory Psychology is a rich collection of thought-provoking essays, which enhance student interest and promote group discussions, training entry-level students in critical thinking skills and engaging them with course material.
1. Understanding the Replication Crisis in Psychology Section 1:
Biological Essays
2. Return to the Right Hemisphere
3. The Real Story of
Phineas Gage
4. Moving Machines with the Mind
5. Do Plants Control Humans?
6.
Fear Is Not a Factor: What Nightmare Research Tells Us Section 2: Cognition
Essays
7. The World We Miss
8. Feeling What Other People Feel
9. Fascinating
Case Studies in Memory Research
10. Intelligence: Measuring Mental Ability
11. The Psychology of Human Expertise Section 3: Developmental Essays
12. The
Brains Long-term Construction Project
13. Are We Too Safe in Our Thinking?
14. Rerouting: Language Plasticity in the Human Brain Section 4: Social and
Personality Essays
15. All Evil Begins with 15 Volts
16. The Best Time to Be
Alive?
17. Too Many Options
18. Psychological Paths into Conspiratorial
Thinking Section 5: Mental and Physical Health Essays
19. Happy Pills: Do
Antidepressants Work?
20. The Place as the Cure: History of Mental Asylums
21. Sports Psychology: History and Modern Contributions Conclusion Appendix
A: Applied Psychology Topic Appendix B: Historical Psychology Figure Appendix
C: Five Hidden Figures of Psychology
Frank M. Ferraro III earned a Ph.D. in psychology (behavioral neuroscience) from Kansas State University, USA, and is now Adjunct Professor teaching psychology at Midland University, USA. He has published scientific articles in the areas of alcohol/drug addiction and the benefits of wilderness experiences on human creativity. Much of his career has been spent at liberal arts teaching institutions, where he has taught introductory psychology, research methods, psychopharmacology, behavioral neuroscience, and upper-level research capstones. He is an award-winning teacher, having been honored by both Nebraska Wesleyan University and Midland University for excellence in teaching. This companion book is an accumulation of engaging chapters he has written for his undergraduate psychology students. They are published here now, in the hopes that they enhance classroom discussions. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
