[~*DarkAngel*~]

I was wondering what sort of books are a good start to psychology? I dont intend to study it, but it is something that interests me, learning how the mind works etc.

I've picked up a few books to read, but was hoping for some recommendations from people who study psychology or are equally as interested in the area.

~Dark~
This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my LT26i

[hamijack]

There's a series called Palgrave Insights in Psychology that I've found are a pretty good read and have books covering a wide range of topics in Psychology.

[earthisearthis]

Psychology is an incredibly broad field - criminal psychology, psychopathology (a la schizophrenia), cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, biological psychology, social psychology, and then psychological research into areas such as sleep, perception, eating behaviour, aggression, learning, relationships and gender - and that's just the a level spec. Are there any particular area/s that interest you or just everything in general?

I'd say either grab a used textbook from ebay for cheap and have flick through to look at whichever topics grab your interest. The content will be very exam-focused and split up into how to get marks rather than a nicer-to-read prosaic style, but at least this means the language will be easy to understand. I did this when I was interested in philosophy; borrowed a friend's textbook and had a flick through. It was interesting but would have much rathered an actual readable book iykwim.

Alternatively, have a look around on amazon for books (or go to a wow actual bookshop or library!) like 'an introduction to psychology'. Make sure to distinguish between academic introductions (ie for uni students, which might be more enjoyable) and general-public introductions (which will probably be much more straightforward but lacking depth). Shrug. Read some reviews, it really depends on how you'd like to approach this. I just think that having an actual book _about_ psychology might be more interesting to sit and _read_ rather than having a textbook _teach_ it to you.

Or, if you are more literary and want to read important publications in the field of psychology rather than actually learn any detail around the area, then just search for a list of famous psychologists and look for any books published by them or about their work - see: freud, jung, ainsworth, bandura, pavlov, zimbardo, milgram etc


edit: now iiirc, there was a lovely series on the bbc a few months ago introducing some of the most infamous experiments and theorists in a deep but understandable way. can't for the life of me remember the name though, but tv shows might be something to look into aha

[~*DarkAngel*~]

I've already been to my uni library and got a few books, Introductory Psychology: History, Themes and Perspectives - figured that might be a start.

I also got: Two shot accounts of psycho-analysis - Sigmund Freud
and:
Fundamentals of Cognition

I'm interested in the general area, but maybe more so in the sort of disorders, like Schizophrenia and such. Just generaly how the mind works, how we think, memorize, recall, association, emotion etc.

I'll glance through these, see what piques my curiousty and maybe get some more books. Any more suggestions would be great.

I'll post back with things I'm interested in, see if some one can advise any books in any of the suggested areas etc

~Dark~

[Matty Smoothie]

If you don't have this yet, get it.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: The Nature and Scope of Psychology
What is this thing called psychology?
Theoretical approaches to psychology
Psychology as a science
Part 2: The Biological Basis of Behaviour and Experience
The nervous system
Sensory processes
Parapsychology
States of consciousness and bodily rhythms
Substance dependence and abuse
Motivation
Emotion
Learning and conditioning
Application: health psychology
Part 3: Cognitive Psychology
Attention and performance
Pattern recognition
Perception: processes and theories
The development of perceptual abilities
Memory and forgetting
Language, thought and culture
Language acquisition
Problem-solving, decision-making and artificial intelligence
Application: cognition and the law
Part 4: Social Psychology
Social perception
Attribution
Attitudes and attitude change
Prejudice and discrimination
Conformity and group influence
Obedience
Interpersonal relationships
Aggression and antisocial behaviour
Altruism and prosocial behaviour
Application: the social psychology of sport
Part 5: Developmental Psychology
Early experience and social development
Development of the self-concept
Cognitive development
Moral development
Gender development
Adolescence
Adulthood
Old age
Application: exceptional development
Part 6: Individual Differences
Intelligence
Personality
Psychological abnormality: definitions and classification
Psychopathology
Treatments and therapies
Application: criminological psychology
Part 7: Issues and Debates
Bias in psychological theory and research
Ethical issues in psychology
Free will and determinism, and reductionism
Nature and nurture

[dark-blue]

Before I started my AS course this year, my sister gave e sampler version of this book:

http://www.introducingbooks.com/book/view/psychology

... which i found very useful, as even though it wasn't the complete version, it taught me some key theories and studies I need to know for my exams e.g. Freud and Pavlov.

Also, it is very user friendly, and not too dense, ideal for a beginner making their first venture into the world of Psychology.