Joni E. Johnston - Psychology

No one likes a know-it-all. Most of us realize theres no such thinghow could there be? The world is far too complicated for someone to understand everything there is to know. So when you come across a know-it-all, you smile to yourself as they ramble on because you know better.

You understand that the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, and youre okay with that. You have no desire to know everything, just the next thing. You know what you dont know, youre confident enough to admit it, and youre motivated to do something about it.

At Idiots Guides, we, too, know what we dont know, and we make it our business to find out. We find really smart people who are experts in their fields and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work, asking lots of questions and thinking long and hard about how best to pass along their knowledge to you in the easiest, most-accessible way possible.

After all, thats our promiseto make whatever you want to learn As Easy as It Gets. That means giving you a well-organized design that seamlessly and effortlessly guides you from page to page, topic to topic. It means controlling the pace youre asked to absorb new informationnot too much at once but just what you need to know right now. It means giving you a clear progression from easy to more difficult. It means giving you more instructional steps wherever necessary to really explain the details. And it means giving you fewer words and more illustrations wherever its better to show rather than tell.

So here you are, at the start of something new. The next chapter in your quest. It can be an intimidating place to be, but youve been here before and so have we. Clear your mind and turn the page. By the end of this book, you wont be a know-it-all, but your world will be a little less complicated than it was before. And well be sure your journey is as easy as it gets.

Mike Sanders
Publisher, Idiots Guides

ALPHA BOOKS

Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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IDIOTS GUIDES and Design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-61564-513-8
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2013957748

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Note: This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. It is intended to provide helpful and informative material on the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering professional services in the book. If the reader requires personal assistance or advice, a competent professional should be consulted.

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Publisher:Mike Sanders

Executive Managing Editor:Billy Fields

Senior Acquisitions Editor:Brook Farling

Development Editor:John Etchison

Senior Production Editor:Janette Lynn

Cover Designer:Laura Merriman

Book Designer:William Thomas

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Layout:Brian Massey, Ayanna Lacey

Proofreader:Laura Caddell

Illustrator:Bill Wiist

Introduction

If youre into immediate gratification, then psychology is for you. What other subject can you instantly apply to every aspect of your life? And its practical. Learn about human nature and you cant help but understand and improve your own.

The purpose of this book is to give you a quick and comprehensive overview of psychology. Although Ive tried to stay off my soapbox, Id be less than honest if I didnt tell you that my own psychology may at times color this book. Obviously, a book of this length cant cover everything, and youll notice I spend more time talking about psychological disorders than psychological theory. It is my hope that you now hold in your hands a good place to start your psychological journey into the human psyche. Heres how it looks:

, Putting It in Perspective, sets the stage for our human drama. In these chapters, well meet the major players in psychology and visit the various schools they started. Well then shift to various theories of evolutionhow psychology as a science evolved, how human behavior evolved, and how individual behavior evolves.

In , Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, well explore how we make sense of the world, starting with our ability to touch, taste, hear, see, and smell. Well investigate how information from the world around us becomes grist for our psychic mills, and how we raise our consciousness and all the ways we alter it. We then turn to the fascinating subjects of learning and memoryhow we profit from experiences and the peculiar ways we remember them, and how we organize things in our minds.