50 Psychology Ideas You Really Need to Know

This book contains introductions to 50 topics in psychology that touch our everyday lives. It could be an apt gift from a college psychology major to the parents or anyone else who wonders what psychology is all about. Copies of selected chapters might be used by an instructor to prompt group discussion or individual research. This book could also find its place in a psychologist's waiting room or on a coffee table as a conversation starter.Each chapter is self-contained and delivers a two- to four-page capsule treatment of its topic. Most chapters contain definitions of key concepts, relevant historical quotes, and timelines across the bottom of the first two pages. Boxes set off from the text effectively summarize key information. Example boxes include dimensions of emotional intelligence (p. 57), diagnostic criteria for identifying substance abuse problems (p. 14), and different types of psychopathology (p. 25) and delusion (p. 48).Several chapters are particularly informative for such brief introductions. The IQ and You chapter (p. 68) outlines the strengths and weaknesses of intelligence testing and fairly overviews research about differences in subgroup performance on these measures. Detecting Lies (p. 88) not only cautions about reliability of lie detector tests, but summarizes more promising findings on "emotional leakage" as signs of deception. The Judgment and Problem-Solving chapter (p. 116) presents useful findings about the reasoning biases that afflict us in personal and business situations. Finally, the Mastering Complexity chapter (p. 180) covers complex learning, development of expertise, and the psychology of language--a good complement to the two chapters on simple behaviorist learning that precede it.The book has a good topic index and an adequate two-page glossary, but utterly lacks references to supporting literature. This is a mistake for a book designed to provoke interest in psychology. Readers should be aimed at further reading when they are at their thirstiest for more knowledge. This minor flaw will hopefully be remedied in the next edition.

Although some of these ideas are sort of re-hashed from popular psychology, there is some significant research, and the material is fairly well written. I found that I couldn't attach myself to the book for very long, because not many of the ideas were very original. Some of the ideas border on the commonsense ('sexual preference', 'personality research' or similar), rather than the psychological. I was very surprised that I was disappointed with this work. It's not like I'm depressed or that strong psychology ideas are hard to find.There were 50 ideas, however, which is the minimal standard of perfection for this type of work.I am the author of The Dimensional Psychologist's Toolkit, published in 2014.

The binding and graphics of the book were excellent but the text was trivial and uninteresting.

Psychology is either the queen of sciences that leads to happiness and success, or deluded manipulator of common sense. (author) Primarily, it studies human emotions and behaviour; but almost each chapter offers an interdisciplinary on-look on the problem. Emotions are inevitable part of the decision making in economy and influence the performance in sports; behaviour of some artists is seen unconventional and yet they are as influential as the politicians who act out behaviour to achieve their goals. Nevertheless, happiness depends on the choice of the individual to be happy. The interdisciplinary point of view brings about objectivity, moreover, the experiments and quotes connect the content with real life. You will find out lot of interesting facts about yourself, hopefully it will confirm that you are sane. (don’t be afraid, anyone can manifest psychotic features under stress or deprivation of freedom). Moreover, the book will help you to understand other people, improve your relationships and boost up the work performance. Which is the best strategy to avoid criticism? What kind of men are the most attractive for women? Does the lie detector work and how to cheat it? Studying psychology, related disciplines, just looking for answers to some of the rhetoric and practical questions of life; well, I can’t think of better choice.

This book is a nice little introduction to those interested in psychology. I would say some of the topics are better than others in terms of detail and understanding provided. By A-Level psychology I had encountered all the topics mentioned and by degree level it was redundant. Don't expect a great deal of information but worth a look if you are interested in psychology or thinking of doing a qualification in psychology. I think it could be improved further by more references to specific studies and literature for those really interested.

I love these 50 ideas books. I have almost the full set and they are interesting and informative in and easy to understand format! A brilliant way to have a little understanding about some important things!

Really helped me get my head around psychology at a fundamental level. Great book.

All good

Brand new, no damages seen. good delivery timing, and neatly packaged.Book is fascinating to read!!! If you want to find out more about various topics in psychology, then this is the book, it covers a wide range of questions back up with studies e.g What are emotions for? to Aphasia