Understand Psychology

by Nicky Hayes

Psychology is about understanding people – ordinary people as well as people who are extraordinary or special in some way. Psychologists study how the mind works, and why we do the things that we do. That doesn’t mean, though, that studying psychology gives you an instant knowledge of how people think. People work on so many levels and everyone is so different from everyone else that nobody could possibly know everything about even one other person. But we can know a few general things which are helpful in understanding people. More importantly, we can find out about how aspects of our psychology develop, what they are influenced by, how we make sense of our worlds and how we go about gathering knowledge. Knowing the processes which influence the workings of our minds can give us a great deal of insight when we are trying to understand how one person has developed.

We have social and personal needs to satisfy. Our cognition is affected by memory, perception and thinking. Social learning, through children’s play and adults’ work, influences our development. Professional psychologists work in many ways to enhance educational achievement and physical health, as well as helping people with problems in living. Crowding, invasion of personal space, pollution and noise can cause stress; human error and poor planning can cause disasters, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder and economic loss. Psychology’s breadth and depth provides us with a systematic, research-based understanding of many different areas of life.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Self Help, Reference, Mental Health, Ebooks

391 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Alyson Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that answered some of the questions that were on my mind.
Very useful insight into the basics, no great depth but this is what this book is for.

[Zemgenoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

we live in a society

[Michał Hawełka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents the field of psychology in a very simple, yet interesting way. It helps to understand psychological processes that rule our life since birth. I really liked the part about addiction and about learning. I will definitely look into psychology more after reading this. So all in all - Understand Psychology is a good starting point for your journey with psychology. I will leave it on my Kindle so I can get back to it in the future ;)

Why not 5 stars then? Some parts of the book are a bit dragged out and in too much detail. I wouldn't expect that in an introductory level book, because it can confuse the reader a bit.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crash course introduction into Psychology and all that’s touched by it — from historical development, to famous experiments, theories, schools of thought, types of psychology and renowned theorists.
In 17 chapters, the author covers the different parts and stages of our lives touched by psychology.

It’s quite a heavy book and I had to literally stop after every chapter to digest and let my brain rest — but a great read for anyone interested in psychology and the human mind.

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good broad overview of the subject, with examples that helps the reader relate it to almost all aspects of everyday life. A good way to gain insight into yourself and the people around you.

Lacks detail, but that's forgivable because the subject is so wide-ranging.

Wish that he didn't plug his companion book quite so often, though.

[Tohko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good simple introduction to psychology and covers it in much breadth but was expecting some more information on the main thinkers in the field and the development of psychological theory. Easy, digestible read nevertheless with some nice insights. Particularly found the chapters on social motivation, childhood and social identification interesting.

[Ivan Elianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, it seem so boring, but after some period of time, it just like "What? The topic has finished? I need to know more!".

This book explain briefly about psychology in many aspect, with common English words so that even non-native English speaker could understand it easily. From this book, I realize how big is psychology, it just like there's another world.

[VC Gan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always wanted to pick Psychology as a major and this book explores many different areas of applied psychology. I find this book fairly informative and easy to read. Definitely highly recommended for anyone who has interests in learning psychology.

[Linda Margata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything written was based on scientific research which gives reliable information about how people's mind work.

[Julian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this an easy and interesting read. It reminded me of a school textbook (in a good way). It took a lot of complicated and broad topics and broke them down in a way that was easy to understand even with little to no prior knowledge about psychology. I particularly appreciated the "key idea" blurbs throughout, and the "focus points" summarizing what was discussed at the end of each chapter.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and insightful introduction to the topic of psychology. Nice if you don’t know a lot about it and want to gain more insight. If not, then it might be a bid boring. (skipped some chapters and sub-topics)

[Sina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative but maybe a touch "too simply" written, kept things largely on the surface.

[Scott MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light touch explanations around a very deep topic.

[Alicia A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introductory book of daily life psychology

[Victor Bolbot · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introductory book to pschycology.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and informative!

[Manahil · Rating 5 out of 5]

a laconic aspect of psychology is covered through and through a very interesting read

[Mansour Mangambit · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great intro to psychology!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and helpful guide on human thoughts and behavior.

[Krista]

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[Mohamed Almatrooshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introductory book about understanding psychology.

[Lucesita J · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a summary about many different psychology tests, insigths and reflections. Despide being just a summary, there are so many interesting insights that my mind was blown up several times. This books invites me to investigate more about this branch of knowledge.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fascinating intruduction into different psychology related topics which speaks about interesting experiments, summarises research, explains the mechanisms of the way things work and gives answers to a lot of "whys" and "hows" that not many people know. I've been reading books on psychology since I was 15, and this is one of those I would highly recommend to anyone who's interested.

[Tiago F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.

If you want an overview of the field of psychology, look no further. Very easy to read, well organized with useful bullet-points at the end of each chapter. Each chapter doesn't go very in-depth, but it's a necessary evil from what the book is trying to accomplish since the field is so broad.

[mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 ★

i finished this a while ago, can't believe i forgot to update it here.. well, this was a really nice read and i'm really glad i read it. lately i've been thinking about studying psychology and i'm grateful i found this book, it was just what i needed to get started and read a bit of the basis

[Caragh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I needed! I am doing psychology for the first time in university and I was a wee bit clueless! This book explained things in a way that was easy to understand. I am so glad I found it!

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting introduction to an interesting subject.

I was considering studying psychology at uni. This was one of the many books I picked to do my research and I found it very interesting. Worth a read if you are new to psychology.

[Noorin Hasan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very basic with limited examples.

[Steve Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great introduction to Psychology - one of the few that reads well from cover to cover.