Psychology: The Adaptive Mind - Hardcover

Nairne, James S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0534357660 ISBN 13: 9780534357665

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 1999

Synopsis

James Nairne's highly respected and accessible new edition offers all the content, pedagogy, and visual appeal that professors and students have come to expect from a successful introductory psychology text-and more. Nairne's Second Edition offers a cohesive look at how psychology works in our everyday lives. This practical, motivating text presents all the topics you cover in your introductory course, but connects them in a way that adds meaning and consistency to your students' study of the discipline. And how does is do this? By introducing students to the adaptive mind-a theme based on the realization that our thoughts and actions stem from out need to adapt to our surroundings. This unique framework stresses practical applications and helps students understand how we use psychology to deal with everyday challenges. Nairne builds all topics around an adaptive, problem-solving framework. He emphasizes the way that particular behaviors, though processes, and emotions help people solve problems-from memorizing a telephone number, to ducking under cover as a building begins to shake, to producing a quick physical response in the face of traffic hazards. This organizational framework also promotes a common theme of understanding across the chapters. This innovative approach may differ from the presentation you have come to expect from others texts. But beneath the innovation, you'll find ample coverage of all the traditional topics around which you build your course.

About this title

About the Author:

James S. Nairne is the winner of the 2001 Charles P. Murphy award, a lifetime teaching award at Purdue University, which at the time had not been awarded to a psychologist for over 30 years. This award reflects Nairne's record of success as a committed teacher and researcher, including the receipt of Purdue's highest teaching award as well as numerous teaching awards from the psychology department and the School of Liberal Arts. Professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University in Indiana, Nairne received his undergraduate degree at UC-Berkeley and his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University. He delivered the 2000 G. Stanley Hall address at the APA. He's an active researcher in cognitive psychology, specializing in human memory, and has published dozens of articles in professional journals. He is associate editor for Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, a past associate editor of the Journal of Human Memory and Language, and has served on numerous editorial boards.

Review:

[Nairne] presents a very fresh and exciting perspective! It should help students see the relevance of the topics they study to the solution of real-life problems. The writing style is exceptionally clear and motivating.

There is a very nice flow to the narrative--ideas are logically connected to one another. There are references made to the material presented earlier in the chapter as well as in other chapters. This is terrific because it is just too easy for the introductory course to seem like a collection of unrelated topics. The amount of research that is described is just right--not too much and not too little. It is also used effectively to illustrate the points being made; it is not thrown in just to be scholarly.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0534357660
• ISBN 13: 9780534357665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 748