The Rough Guide to Psychology: An Introduction to Human Behaviour and the Mind

by Christian Jarrett

The Rough Guide to Psychology looks at the question psychologists have been asking for over a hundred why are we the way we are? It starts with you, your mind and brain, broadening out to look at your friends and other relationships, then finally on to crowds, mobs and religion. It explores the latest research relevant to crime, schooling, sports, politics, shopping and health, and what happens when the mind goes wrong, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and more unusual conditions. The Rough Guide to Psychology includes fascinating information on real-life psychology, testing your memory, intelligence, personality and much more, with advice on everything from chat-up lines to developing your creativity. The Rough Guide to Psychology is your ultimate guide to this fascinating subject.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Science, Reference

376 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2011

About the author

A cognitive neuroscientist by training, Christian Jarrett has been popularizing psychology and neuroscience for over two decades. His award-winning writing on the mind, brain, and behavior has appeared in publications across the world, including the BBC, New York magazine, VICE, Aeon, The Guardian, GQ, WIRED, and many more. Today he is Editor of Psyche, a digital magazine that illuminates the human condition. Dr. Jarrett has written several critically acclaimed books including The Rough Guide to Psychology and Great Myths of the Brain. He was also a consultant editor and lead author for the best-selling 30-Second Psychology. He lives in the countryside near Brighton, England with his wife and twins (a boy and a girl) and their miniature schnauzer.

Reviews

[S. Musavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently a subject like psychology is too complicated to be described in a book. Christian Jarrett's book is not an easy one to read. He has tried to introduce a big picture of the field as comprehensive as possible.

Definitely this is the right book to start psychology with. After reading the book you will know enough specialized areas of psychology and so you can go for more information.

This book is neither a cook book of psychology tricks nor a text book. This book is for serious reader who wants to start his journey in the field; she or he will find enough references for every topic if there is a craving for much more content.

[Ashlyn Cordas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very average book, helps you learn the basics of psychology. Some stuff was new to me as an undergraduate in Psychology. However, note some of the terminology could be outdated as published in 2011.

[Bud]

A very entertaining book. I now know more about how broad and complex psychology is.
Reading this book has given me many topics to look up, and may lead to reading other books (probably 4) in related topics, and I now have several anecdotes to pass on.
Many myths have been explained and exposed, such as women needing to say more words per day than men (False) and expensive wine being more satisfying (True, its all in your mind).
There are tips to improve your memory, creativity and observational skills. No guarantees, but these are things the reader can evaluate. It's worth a try. This is not a self-help book, these tips just happen to be in here as examples where others have found success.
To me, it seems better to know the basics about behavior and the mind. It is a great book, everyone should read it.

[Racha Doughman]

-Ethnic psychology: not enough to study human mind. It must dig deeper into cultural history, evolution, and language

-gestalt psychology: holistic contents of consciousness (recognizing that mental experience is often distinct from the sum of its parts)

-cognitive psychology: mental activities that go into our brain (cognitive psychology is the dominant approach in experimental psychology)
Memory and perception work

-cognitive archeology
-rose tinted spectacles
-bias blindspot ( our tendancy to think that people are more prone to self-bias that we ourselves are)
-affective forecasting (grumpy aunt visit example)

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, interesting introduction to Psychology for someone like me who didn’t know where to start. It flies very quickly though a lot of topics, so I felt lost at times, but it’s a good place to start and now I feel like I could dip back in to certain sections and find further reading if I wanted to.

[Shaun Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to psychology, easy to understand as a beginner on the subject.Many topics discussed are easily relatable to everyday living.

Maybe not so useful for experts obviously.

[Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great scope 👍 nice read.

[Frank Woutersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief overview and explanation of the most important topics within the field of psychology, with some tips and psychological tricks.

[Kylie Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must own this book! I have had it on loan from my library for 3 months now (to their annoyance) and I'm still not finished. I constantly need to reread things so that the enormity of the information gets stuck in my brain, which I find ironic, considering I'm reading about memory function and the sort.

The reason I need to read everything twice is because the book is written so well, one mind blowing piece of information flows peacefully so well into another mind blowing fact.
I have learnt so much from this little book and I feel like I need to read it again (sorry library) - perhaps I just need to go out and buy my own copy.
It's so interesting and I feel like anyone would take something away from this book.

[Freda Mans-Labianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Rough Guide series.
This one is close to the top of the ones I have read too. I just really get a kick about books that help to understand our brains, and why we tick the way we do. This little gem of a book touches on all facets of psychology, and really helps you understand more about yourself and others too.
I will admit, since reading this book, I am trying to eliminate swearing from my life completely. I try to curb my teenage son from using it, and the hubster as well.
I think a lot of people will find this book interesting, since we all can relate to it in one way or another.
Definitely one I think you should pick up and check out.


4.5/5

[Ahmed Magdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Rough Guide to Psychology" was an excellent introduction to Psychology for me. It talks about our minds, how they work and how we feel. It also talks about the history of Psychology and mentions some experiments with almost every piece of information.
But the bad point for me was that I expected it to talk longer in some important and interesting subjects, but he talked very superficially about them, while he prolonged the speech through many boring issues, so you feel that the book could have been smaller and more interesting..
But anyway it let me know many new things and I loved it..

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent introduction to psychology for me. It covered a broad spectrum of information both chronologically & thematically. I also enjoyed the resources at the end but, as others have said, the book lacks direct citations to the cases discussed.

[Kurt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A whirlwind tour of many branches of psychology along with a little history. Surprisingly deep for as broad as the subject is.

[Alistair Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, was my first read to psychology and i am dazzled by the amount that i have learned and discovered.

[Wiseman513 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.2/5

[Thehighpriestessreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book does what the title says. A good overview of psychology, and very useful if you're struggling to get your head around the biological side of psychology.

[Peym]

Reading 2010 in 2020!

[Shirdi Shankar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Informative, but slow.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, I feel really like I want to read more now, it has totally given me a taste