Understanding Human Sexuality, Third Edition

This title is available in a new edition

The Third Canadian Edition of Understanding Human Sexuality retains its focus on three key strengths: solid grounding in research, fully integrated Canadian content, and commitment to currency. A unique multidisciplinary approach, which brings psychological, sociological, and biological perspectives to the text’s comprehensive coverage, makes this a versatile volume—appropriate not only for its key target of upper-level psychology courses but also for programs such as nursing, social work, and family studies. Canadian contributor E. Sandra Byers, a well-known and respected clinical psychologist, has produced a rigorous revision addressing all aspects of the text: content, features, and visuals. Supported by a supplements package that includes exciting new offerings, this new edition remains an authoritative and distinctive Canadian text in the field of human sexuality.

Janet Shibley Hyde, the Helen Thompson Woolley Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, received her education at Oberlin College and the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught a course in Human Sexuality since 1974, first at Bowling Green State University, then at Denison University, and now at the University of Wisconsin. Her research interests are in gender differences and gender development in childhood and adolescence. Author of the textbook Half the Human Experience: The Psychology of Women, she is a past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has received many other honours, including an award for excellence in teaching at Bowling Green State University, the Chancellor’s Award for teaching at the University of Wisconsin, and the Kinsey Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality for her contributions to sex research. In 2000–01 she served as one of the three scientific editors for U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher’s report, "Promoting Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior." She is married to John DeLamater.

John D. DeLamater, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, received his education at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of Michigan. He created the Human Sexuality course at the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and has since taught it regularly. His current research and writing are focused on the effects of life-course transitions on sexuality. He has published papers on the effects of having a child, of dual-career couples, and of divorce, and is studying the effects of menopause and later-life transitions on sexual attitudes and behaviour. He is the co-author of the textbook Social Psychology. He is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the 2002 recipient of the Kinsey Award from the Society for Career Contributions to Sex Research. He has received awards for excellence in teaching from the Department of Sociology and Interfraternity Council-Panhellenic Association, and is a Fellow and past Chair of the Teaching Academy at the University of Wisconsin. He regularly teaches a seminar for graduate students on teaching undergraduate courses. He is married to Janet Hyde.

E. Sandra Byers is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of New Brunswick. She was honoured by UNB with a University Research Scholar Award in 2008. Dr. Byers grew up in Montreal and received her university education at the University of Rochester and West Virginia University. She created the human sexuality course at the University of New Brunswick in 1979 and has taught it annually since then. She is the author or co-author of more than 95 journal articles and book chapters, and has supervised the thesis research of 41 students. Much (but not all) of her research has been in the areas of sexual satisfaction, sexual communication, sexual violence, and attitudes toward sexual health education. She also has a private practice in clinical psychology specializing in the treatment of sexual problems and concerns, and regularly teaches a graduate seminar on sex therapy. She is a past president of the Canadian Sex Research Forum, a fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, a member of the Advisory Board of the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, an editorial board member of two sexuality journals, and the founding director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research. Dr. Byers has given more than 140 invited addresses and workshops, and has been interviewed about sexual issues by numerous radio and television stations, magazines, and newspapers. As a sexuality educator, researcher, and therapist in Canada, Dr. Byers is uniquely placed to provide a Canadian perspective on human sexuality. She has been married to Dr. Larry Heinlein, who is also a psychologist, for 35 years, and has two daughters, Krista and Alyssa. To learn more about Dr. Byers and her research, you can visit her website at www.unbf.ca/arts/psychology/faculty/s-byers.html.