The Student Room Group

Books to read for wider psychology reading, and for university preparation

Hi. I was getting a bit tired of giving psychology book recommendations, so i thought I should start this thread to collate book recomendations.

I'll first note that most psychology degrees start from zero assumed knowledge, and that you don't need to do any prepatory reading for psychology. This is also because you'll often get people from other subjects (biology, history etc.) doing psychology modules so they don't assume any background knowledge.

However, if you are applying for psychology at university, reading psychology books actually demonstrates an interest in the subject, even if you do A Level psychology. In addition, if you're applying to oxbridge or for another course that interviews, being well read will be advantageous.

I thought i would make a few headers and let people recommend books below. Either way i've started it off with a few suggestions.

Also, I think its also important to include other things which aren't books, such as research articles (which aren't too difficult for sixth formers) and videos of lectures. You can get a lot of the books below used for £2-3 so its definitely worth checking some out, even if you don't like the book in the end.

Introductions to psychology

Lectures
Introduction to Psychology, Paul Bloom, Yale University (20 lectures)
Introduction to Psychology, Jeremy Wolfe, MIT (23 lectures)
Human Behavioral Biology, Robert Sapolsky, Stanford University, 25 lectures.

Books
Frith, C. (2007) Making up the Mind. [BPS book award winner]
Benson et a. (2012) The psychology book. [BPS book award winner]
Winston, R (2003) The Human Mind: And How to Make the Most of IT.
Stanovich, KE (2013) How To Think Straight About Psychology.
Hock, RR (2012) Forty Studies That Changed Psychology
Lilienlfeld, SO (2009) 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions About Human Behavior

Textbooks
N.B. A textbook isn't really going to be the most interesting read!

Schacter, D (2011) Psychology: European Edition
Gross, R (2015) Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour

Books in specific areas of psychology
Behaviorism
Staddon, J (2014) The New Behaviorism
Skinner, BF (1974) About Behaviorism.
Rescorla, R.A. (1988) Pavlovian Conditioning: It's not what you think it is. PDF ATTACHED

Human Evolutionary Perspective
*Dunbar (2014) Human Evolution: A Pelican Introduction.
*Any Frans de Waal Book. He's a renowned primatologist also interested in human behavior. Our Inner Ape (2006) Chimpanzee Politics (1998) & TED TALK http://goo.gl/4FVyYR
Laland & Brown (2011) Sense & Nonsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on human behaviour. [quite techinical at times, and not aimed for a level students, but too good to leave out]
Davies, N.B. (2012) An introduction to Behavioural Ecology.

Abnormal Psychology
Books
Bentall, RP (2004) Madness Explained: Psychosis and Human Nature. (BPS book award winner)
Ward, J (2008) The frog that croaked blue [on synaesthesia]
Rose, S (2006) Explaining, Mending and Manipulating the brain.
Snowden, R (2012) Basic Vision: An Introduction to Visual Perception (2nd Edition). [A Textbook, but hugely readable, and not too complex for sixth formers to read]
Briathwaite, V (2010) Do Fish Feel Pain?
Raine, A (2014) The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime

Other
Oxford University, New Psychology of Depression [ItunesU]
*BBC Radio 4 Podcast. All In the Mind.
UCTV. Mental Health & Psychiatry Talks.

Social psychology
Books
Aronson (2011) The Social Animal.
Kahneman (2012) Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Any Gigerenzer book http://goo.gl/c5rHIW http://goo.gl/jtRxfW http://goo.gl/v3YYoJ
Bond (2015) The Power of Others: Peer Pressure, Groupthink, and How the People Around Us Shape Everything We Do
Shalrot (2012) The Optimism Bias: Why we're wired to look on the bright side

Lectures

Introduction to Social Psychology (Lecture Series), UC Berkeley.
Introduction to Social Psychology (Lecture Serries, Freed-Hardeman University.

Podcasts
Arming the Donkeys (Podcast). On Behavioural Economics (mostly) presented by Dan Ariely. http://goo.gl/fx2nPd
Freakonomics Podcast.

Cognitive & developmental psychology
Books
Posner, MI (2012) Attention in a Social World. https://goo.gl/D1Chpu
Flynn, JR (2012) Are We Getting Smarter? http://goo.gl/1SnQGa
Stanovich (2010) What Intelligence Tests Miss. http://goo.gl/4ggoSS
Gazzaniga, M (2008) Cognitive Neuroscience [textbook] http://goo.gl/LkVCHa
Fernyhough (2009) The Baby in The Mirror. http://goo.gl/yEjh8h
Gopnik (2009) The Philosophical Baby http://goo.gl/mvXEyI
Daheane, S (2011) The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics http://goo.gl/d6ua0E
Slater (2012) Developmental Psychology: Revisiting the Classic Studies https://goo.gl/Iu7uzV


Other
U of Oxford, Children's Language and Literacy Impairments. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/itunes-u/childrens-language-literacy/id549522027?mt=10


Neuroscience and Neuropsychology
Greenfield, S. (2016) A Day in the Life of the Brain: The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn Till Dusk
Frith, C. (2007) Making up the Mind: How the brain creates our mental world.
Buzsaki, G (2011) Rhythms of the Brain

Other Psychology
Hammond, C (2012) Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception. (BPS book award winner). http://goo.gl/CPeizt
Wynn, T & Coolidge, F.L. (2012) How To Think Like a Neandertal. http://goo.gl/Aj9JgJ
Fine, C. (2011) Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Difference. http://goo.gl/H1hWV1
Hines, M. (2004) Brain Gender. http://goo.gl/QySIbQ
Marzluff, J & Angell, T (2013) Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans. http://goo.gl/yt1j9l
Halpern (2016) Inside the Nudge Unit: How small changes can make a big difference

TV
Inside the Animal mind http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03thwhf

Other Non-Psychology Stuff
These may not talk about psychology specifically, but will be useful for thinking about psychological topics anyway

Chalmers, AF (1999) What is this thing called science? http://goo.gl/Rz1Cmf
Goldacre, B (2009) Bad Science http://goo.gl/UJxkkB
Stringer, C. (2012) The Origin of Our Species. http://goo.gl/Zpuryi

Radio 4 Podcast. More or Less. [Explains the statistics used in the news- and often uncovers how they are misused or just very wrong. Lots of statistics in psychology, and a lot of misuse of statistics in psychology, so its very applicable. Sometimes they also cover psychology research too.]

Research Articles
Knowing the layout of a research articles may be useful preparation for university. Especially if you may be interviewed.

Shamay-Tsoory, SG et al. (2009) Two Systems for empathy: a double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions. Brain, 132, 617-627. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.490.5274 [Download pdf on link]

Slater, M. et al. (2006) A Virtual Reprise of the Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments. PLoS One. http://goo.gl/pa004

Tracy, JL & Matsumoto, D (2008) The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays. PNAS http://www.pnas.org/content/105/33/11655.full.pdf
(edited 7 years ago)
There's also this thread which will have other ideas (and more than just books)

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1353596

:smile:
Original post by *Interrobang*
There's also this thread which will have other ideas (and more than just books)

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1353596

:smile:


Ahh i knew another thread existed, couldn't fine it though. It might be useful to pin that one to the front of the forum. I also included a fair few youtube things
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by iammichealjackson
Ahh i knew another thread existed, couldn't fine it though. It might be useful to pin that one to the front of the forum. I also included a fair few youtube things


I only know where it is cos I linked to it in the writing a psychology PS article :tongue:
Reply 4
Major helpful. Thanks MJ.
Reply 5
I am looking for a general and psychology book :smile: It would be used during summer to prepare yourself for the psychology degree and it could be also used during your time at university. Does anyone has any suggestions? :smile: Thank you!
Original post by erika171
I am looking for a general and psychology book :smile: It would be used during summer to prepare yourself for the psychology degree and it could be also used during your time at university. Does anyone has any suggestions? :smile: Thank you!


Are you looking for a textbook? There aren't many good textbooks that cover all of psychology (the Gross is an exception), you normally have separate ones for each specialization (e.g. developmental, cognitive, social). Either way, university level psychology relies less on textbooks but actually reading the studies which you can get for free at uni via pdfs.
Original post by erika171
I am looking for a general and psychology book :smile: It would be used during summer to prepare yourself for the psychology degree and it could be also used during your time at university. Does anyone has any suggestions? :smile: Thank you!


Our first year textbook was quite good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-European-Edition-Daniel-Schacter/dp/0230579833

I only read the chapters compulsory for my course as I was being a bit work-phobic.
Original post by laffytaffy
Our first year textbook was quite good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-European-Edition-Daniel-Schacter/dp/0230579833

I only read the chapters compulsory for my course as I was being a bit work-phobic.


Original post by douglas merritte
This is a bloody amazing little book, expensive though

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0205918395/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438633464&sr=1-2

Forty Studies That Changed Psychology

ill add them to the list
I think Oxford Dictionary of Psychology by Andrew M. Colman deserves to be mentioned too. It is valuable first point of help when one is trying to make sense of academic papers.
Reply 10
What textbooks did you guys use for A Levels please?
Original post by Glee
What textbooks did you guys use for A Levels please?


the a level specification textbook? normally there's little choice in these...
Original post by iammichealjackson
the a level specification textbook? normally there's little choice in these...


what uni is better essex or portsmouth?
Original post by scrawlx101
what uni is better essex or portsmouth?


Don't have a clue i'd check the league tables
Original post by scrawlx101
what uni is better essex or portsmouth?


In terms of the university ranking and student satisfaction rankings, Essex ranks higher than Portsmouth. You can google UK university league tables to find out more about this :smile: If you wanted to get a better feel for which university is best for you I would suggest attending the Open or Visit days for the Universities because they really help you get a better understanding of what the universities are like, and you can see which one you feel suits your needs best :smile:
Reply 15
I am a current student at the University of Essex, I am in my third year and have loved my experience there! The campus is very friendly and there are always events and activities going on so you can never be bored. Also everything is on your doorstep, such as bars, restaurants, a club, shops, post office, hairdressers and banks all on campus. I would recommend Essex Uni as I have had a great time studying there! If you have any other questions feel free to ask :smile: ^Sam
Reply 16
Which textbooks did you guys use for A Level Psychology please?
500 Free Psychology Textbooks, eBooks

Quick Reply

Latest