About the Book
Presenting key psychology concepts within the context of personal narratives and essays (over 60), this reader challenges students to explore the intrinsic relationships between introductory psychological principles and real-world experiences.
Table of Contents:
1. Psychological Bases of Behavior Carnal Acts: Living with Multiple Sclerosis, Nancy Mairs. Psychological Concepts: multiple sclerosis, myelin, axon, cell body, dendrite, synapse. A gifted writer duels with the progression of multiple sclerosis, a slowly debilitating disease that has conquered neither her spirit nor her talent. Show Me the Way to Go Home, Larry Rose. Psychological Concepts: Alzheimer's disease, hippocampus, limbic system. An electrical engineer diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease records the early stages and subsequent effects of the disease. Parkinson's: A Patient's View, Sidney Dorros. Psychological Concept: Parkinson's disease. A man in the prime of life describes how he learned to accommodate Parkinson's disease. I Refused to Be Sick...and It Almost Killed Me, Katherine H. Lipsitz. Psychological Concepts: epilepsy, grand mal seizure, neuron. A college student writes about the onset of epilepsy, the spasms and seizures she suffered, and her attempts to deny that she had the illness. Stroke Survivors, William H. Bergquist, Rod McLean, and Barbara A. Kobylinski. Psychological Concepts: stroke (cerebrovascular accident), lobes (parietal, frontal, occipital, temporal). A young man recalls what happened in the first hours after he suffered a stroke. 2. Sensation and Perception Moving Violations, John Hockenberry. Psychological Concepts: touch, pain sensation and perception, paraplegia. A news reporter who suffered a spinal cord injury writes about how his inability to perceive pain resulted in severe burns to his legs when he took a ceramic dish off the stove and placed it on his lap. Deafness: An Autobiography, David Wright. Psychological Concepts: hearing, physical characteristics of sound. A poet who is deaf says that there is no such thing as absolute deafness and describes the sounds he "hears." To See and Not See, Oliver Sacks. Psychological Concepts: top-down processing, trichromatic theory of color vision, opponent process theory of color vision. After nearly forty years of blindness, a man in his fifties regains partial eyesight; although he is especially taken by color vision and shapes of objects, he has problems with depth perception, shadows, and seeing objects whole. A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman. Psychological Concepts: olfaction, aromatic memory, pheromones. A gifted poet examines how smells may affect our moods and influence social behavior and mate selection. 3. Consciousness Asleep in the Fast Lane, Lydia Dotto. Psychological Concepts: sleep deprivation, functions of sleep, REM sleep. A participant in a research experiment discovers how sleep deprivation affects her awareness and notes the implications for people with demanding jobs. Always Running: Gang Days in L.A., Luis J. Rodriguez. Psychological Concepts: psychoactive drugs, drug dependence, hallucinations. A former gang member remembers the disorientation and injuries he experienced when he took drugs and sniffed chemicals. The Courage to Change, Dennis Wholey. Psychological Concepts: alcohol abuse, expectations of drug effects. A star pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who began drinking in his early teens describes how alcohol made him feel, how he became an alcoholic, and how denial of his illness delayed his recovery. Practical Clinical Hypnosis, Robert G. Meyer. Psychological Concepts: hypnosis, hypnotherapy, pain control. A hypnotherapist recounts how a young woman who lost her leg in an accident and suffered phantom leg syndrome finds relief for her pain through hypnosis. 4. Learning Everything Had a Name, Helen Keller. Psychological Concepts: association, repetition. A remarkable woman who was blind and deaf from the age of eighteen months recalls how she learned language from a loving teacher. Positive Reinforcement in Animal Training, David N. Sattler and Chuck Tompkins. Psychological Concepts: operant conditioning, reinforcement, shaping, reinforcers, successive approximation. An expert animal trainer explains how killer whales learn to perform when trainers use positive reinforcement. Voices from the Future: Our Children Tell Us About Violence in America, Susan Goodwillie (Editor). Psychological Concepts: observational (social) learning, role models, violence. A young man targets inadequate role models, childhood abuse, and neighborhood violence for making it difficult for him to learn in school and to earn a high school diploma. Ganas: Using Teamwork and Goal-Setting in the Classroom, Jaime Escalante and Jack Dirmann. Psychological Concepts: goals, cooperative learning. A talented and enthusiastic math teacher describes how goals, teamwork, and practice contribute to the success of students who otherwise might lose interest in learning. 5. Memory Witness for the Defense: A Mole and a Stutter--Tyrone Briggs, Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham. Psychological Concepts: eyewitness memory, memory contamination. A psychologist and expert in eyewitness testimony works with a defense attorney and shows how memory contamination may work to convict an innocent man. Witness for the Defense: The All-American Boy--Ted Bundy, Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham. Psychological Concepts: stages of memory (acquisition, retention, retrieval), eyewitness memory, experience and memory. While working with the defense on the case of Ted Bundy, who was eventually executed for being a serial killer, a psychologist wrestles with the impact of stress and suggestibility on memory. The Lost Twenty-Four Hours, Tony Dajer. Psychological Concepts: amnesia (retrograde, anterograde), hippocampus. In the thirty minutes it took her husband to go shopping one morning, a woman experiences transient global amnesia and becomes confused; when her husband returns home, she doesn't know what day it is, whether she has eaten lunch, or why the groceries are on the table. The Mind of a Mnemonist, A. R. Luria. Psychological Concepts: exceptional memory, mental imagery, mnemonist. A distinguished psychologist presents the famous case of S., who could repeat days, weeks, or years later lists of numbers of words of any length. 6. Thought and Language "Put Down That Paper and Talk to Me!": Rapport-Talk and Report-Talk, Deborah Tannen. Psychological Concepts: communication, gender socialization. A well-known linguist argues that men and women have different conversational styles that may cause misunderstandings. Conversational Ballgames, Nancy Masterson Sakamoto. Psychological Concepts: cross-cultural communication, miscommunication. An American woman married to a Japanese man discovers cross-cultural communication differences when she visits with her husband's friends and family. A Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez. Psychological Concepts: bilingualism: cognitive and social effects. A young boy whose first language is Spanish discovers that becoming bilingual separates him from his parents as he learns English. White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts, Daniel M. Wegner. Psychological Concepts: mental image, elements of thought, distraction. As soon as someone says, "Don't think of a white bear," how can we get rid of that bear? asks a psychologist, who suggests that mental images and distractions may help us control unwanted thoughts. Fear, Michele Mitchell. Psychological Concepts: decision making, thinking strategies. An Olympic medalist who became world champion on the ten-meter platform dive analyzes her fears of diving from great heights and decides to overcome them. 7. Human Development Madeleine Begins to Talk, Brian Hall. Psychological Concepts: sensorimotor period, language development, imagination. A devoted father is intrigued with the cognitive abilities and physical development of his young daughter. Shame, Dick Gregory. Psychological Concepts: cognitive development, emotional development, environmental influences. A writer and civil rights activist recalls how poverty, shame, and prejudice affected his emotional and cognitive development. Shaping Up Absurd, Nora Ephron. Psychological Concepts: physical development, body image, conformity. In a humorous vein, a noted writer and director recounts the humiliation she felt when she was slow to develop physically and then became concerned that she did not meet certain standards of attractiveness. The Squeezed Generation, H. Michael Zal. Psychological Concepts: midlife transition, Erikson's generativity versus stagnation stage, midlife crisis, social clock. A woman points to the pressures on those in middle age who try to realize some of their own lifelong dreams while supporting their growing children and helping their aging parents. The View from Eighty, Malcolm Cowley. Psychological Concept: late adulthood. A well-known writer describes his experiences of old age, noting both the pleasures and the challenges of being over eighty years old. 8. Mental Abilities Talented Teenagers, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Kevin Rathunde, and Samuel Whalen. Psychological Concepts: giftedness, environmental influences on intelligence. A gifted teenager sometimes finds himself in conflict between meeting his parents' expectations for him and his own desire not to be seen as "weird" by his classmates. Our Son Mark, S. I. Hayakawa. Psychological Concepts: Down syndrome, mental retardation. A noted semanticist writes about his family's experiences of living with their son Mark, who has Down syndrome. I Don't Get Lost Very Often, Richard Vigil. Psychological Concepts: Down syndrome, mental retardation. A young man who has mental retardation tells about the pain of being institutionalized, the benefits of living in a group home, and the hopes he has for his future. The Spatial Child, John Philo Dixon. Psychological Concepts: special abilities, verbal and quantitative ability. The research director for the American Shakespeare Theater describes the negative effects of being told as a child that he had inadequate reading skills and of not discovering for several years his talents in mathematics. Assessment of Children, Jerome M. Sattler. Psychological Concepts: intelligence, intelligence tests, assessment procedures. A psychologist presents a case involving the use of intelligence tests and discusses how tests should be used in conjunction with other assessment practices. 9. Motivation and Emotion Still Me, Christopher Reeve. Psychological Concepts: sources of motivation, emotion. Actor Christopher Reeve, who suffered a spinal injury when thrown from his horse, discusses what motivates him to continue working, to be a father and husband, and to raise funds for research in spinal cord injuries. Dying to Be Bigger, D. H. Psychological Concepts: hormones, testosterone. A high school student, determined to be a football star, decides to take steroids and experiences severe physical and psychological changes. New Hope for Binge Eaters, Harrison G. Pope, Jr. and James I. Hudson. Psychological Concepts: eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa. A college student develops bulimia nervosa, an illness she finds difficult to cure. Flow, Daniel Goleman. Psychological Concepts: flow, creativity. A noted writer maintains that we are likely to do well at a task when we are fully absorbed in it and have entered a state of "flow." 10. Personality Asian in America, Kesaya E. Noda. Psychological Concepts: self-concept, positive regard. Confused by conflicting cultural and gender issues brought about by her Japanese-American heritage, a young woman struggles to define herself. Racism Doesn't Grow Up, Joyce Lee. Psychological Concepts: reciprocal influences, self-efficacy, self-esteem. A woman who came to the United States from Hong Kong when she was a little girl remembers how she was affected by the necessary adjustments this move required of her. A Reputation Deserved, Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad. Psychological Concepts: Eysenck's personality dimensions, five-factor model, honesty, integrity. A tennis champion discusses the importance of certain personality traits and explains why he values reputation above all. Handed My Own Life, Annie Dillard. Psychological Concepts: phenomenological approach, growth orientation. A noted writer describes how she learned as a young child that her passion and independence would shape her personality. 11. Psychological Disorders and Treatment The Accident That Didn't Happen, Judith L. Rapoport. Psychological Concept: obsessive-compulsive disorder. Suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr. S. tells of the anxiety and embarrassment that comes from often doubting his actions and having to constantly recheck them. I Have Dissociative Identity Disorder, Quiet Storm. Psychological Concept: dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder). Speaking of herself in first-person plural, a woman who was a victim of child abuse reflects on the anguish of dissociative identity disorder. The Beast: A Reckoning with Depression, Tracy Thompson. Psychological Concept: depression. A journalist describes the tormenting effects of depression and discusses how the illness takes over her life and the relief that antidepressants such as Prozac may offer. I Feel Cheated by Having This Illness, Allan Davis. Psychological Concept: schizophrenia. A man tells of his battle with schizophrenia and of the treatment that is helping him. Feeling Good, David D. Burns. Psychological Concept: applying cognitive therapy techniques to work-related stress. A cognitive therapist shows how he works with clients and shares a technique he finds helpful for working with problems. Group Therapy with Persons with Schizophrenia, Lauren Slater. Psychological Concept: group therapy. Working in an institution with persons diagnosed with schizophrenia, a psychologist learns that she is able to help her patients when she acknowledges their perception of reality. 12. Health, Stress, and Coping Days of Grace, Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad. Psychological Concepts: coping, social support, AIDS. A tennis champion points to the social support and coping mechanisms that sustained him when he discovered that he had received a blood transfusion tainted with HIV. From Vietnam to Hell, Shirley Dicks. Psychological Concepts: posttraumatic stress disorder, general adaptation syndrome model. A Vietnam veteran speaks of suffering from depression, emotional paralysis, headaches, isolation, and nightmares because of posttraumatic stress disorder. Opening Up, James W. Pennebaker. Psychological Concepts: social support, coping, traumatic experiences, immune system. A psychologist discovers that writing about stress may activate the immune system and thus improve health. Positive Illusions, Shelley E. Taylor. Psychological Concepts: coping (emotional, cognitive, behavioral, cognitive restructuring. Looking for answers to why some people are able to prevail over unbearable burdens, a psychologist finds that optimism and positive illusions play important roles. Treating Chronic Pain, Aleene Friedman. Psychological Concepts: biofeedback, stress management. A biofeedback therapist illustrates how biofeedback therapy and stress management reduce chronic headaches that plague a young computer programmer. 13. Social Thought and Social Behavior C. P. Ellis, Studs Turkel. Psychological Concepts: attitudes, attitude change, cognitive dissonance, prejudice. A former Ku Klux Klan member explains how, after years of bitterness and hatred, his attitudes changed and he began to cooperate with, understand, and accept African Americans. Influence, Robert J. Cialdini. Psychological Concepts: persuasion, compliance, scarcity principle, psychological reactance. A social psychologist explains why people are so often vulnerable to persuasive techniques and can be easy targets for salespersons and others who wish to influence them. Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples. Psychological Concepts: stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, impression formation. An editor for the New York Times recalls the prejudice and stereotypes he experienced as he walked the city streets and people ran from him, locked their car doors, and assumed that he is guilty of crimes on the streets. Why Competition? Alfie Kohn. Psychological Concepts: competition, cooperation, interpersonal relations. Alfie Kohn argues that "competition by its very nature is always unhealthy." The Revolt on K2, Galen Rowell. Psychological Concepts: group dynamics, leadership, fundamental attribution error. From the journals of the team members who set out to climb K2, a noted mountaineer, writer, and photographer records the conflicts that can occur within a group and among its leaders. Random Acts of Kindness, Editors. Psychological Concepts: helping behavior, altruism. Several people share stories of surprise when they experience the kindness of strangers.
