Makes Psychology That Incy Bit Easier To Digest (Psychology - Richard Gross)

Member Name: GramiWay

Product:	Psychology - Richard Gross
Date:	01/05/09 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great accademic resource, set out clearly, very informative

Disadvantages: Doesn't go into a lot of detail on the odd topic

I started an Access course last September dealing in Psychology and Sociology and was reccommend this book written by the renowned Psychologist Richard Gross. As I'd never studied Psychology before I needed all the help I could get and this book is just a brilliant insight into everything you'll need to know for A Level Psychology and is also a good resource to have if you're going on to degree level or even persuing a career in Social Work or anything health related.
The book comes in at a whopping 1024 pages depending upon which edition you purchase and can usually be found for about 27.00 in most places though of course you can find it in most accademic libraries. And the book is just that - accademic. I wouldn't reccomend purchasing it if you're just into a little bit of light reading as its far too heavy and information packed to support your bedtime reading needs. But if you're a student then it is a great guide to help you get your head around the often complex theories and such of the world of Psychology.

The sections covered in this book are:

1) The nature and scope of pychology.
2) The biological basis of behaviour and experience.
3) Cognitive psychology.
4) Social psychology.
5) Developmental psychology.
6) Individual differences.
7) a shorter section on Issues and debates.
Index and such at the back

However these are then broken down into about 50 or so chapters which delve into a lot more specific topics ranging from comformity and obedience to stress and various aspects of abnormal Psychology and Psychopathology.
Each chapter has a basic introduction, overview and a summary at the end. There are also various questions scattered throughout which encourage you not to just read but to apply the information you're [supposedly] absorbing.
The language can be a little complex in places and you may need to read individual sections a lot of times before they even begin to make any sense but the majority of the book is easy to get through, laid out neatly and uses a mixture of words and pictures that make the learning experience a lot less daunting. Gross clearly understands the need for students to find information but also not to be boggled by the vast amount of words on a written page and the book is attractive in the fact that its colourful and also manages to get across all the relevant information without sounding too long winded. Literally everything you'll need for your exams and such is covered somewhere in this book with the more popular areas like Milgram's obedience study and mental disorders receiving more page room.

Sometimes its extremely difficult to pinpoint just one area and that's where the index comes in handy. Not only is there an index that deals with commonly used words in the subject but you can also search by Psychologist or researcher in a separate index which can make it easier to find information relating to a specific experiment or such.

The arguments and experiments covered are weighed out logically with the book offering both positive and negative criticisms of the various ideas explored. The only negative issue I had was its lack of information on the Criminal aspects of Psychology as this is one of the units I was studying but I suppose in turn that would be more suited to a book on say Criminology. There was some background information on the topic but I felt that the book skipped over a lot of what we did in class whereas other modules were covered in almost microscopic detail.

For a newcomer to Psychology this book is definately a bible. It might not appeal to you if you're already advanced in the subject but its still a fairly decent value for money and with Psychology definately considered one of the more difficult subjects certainly at A Level you may find yourself needing every friend you can lay your hands on. Even Mr Gross.

Summary: Like the holy grail only full of human behaviour