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psychology text books

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
:wave:

one of my modules this semester at uni is about the psychology of education and how the mind processes information. I'm feeling quite negative about the module, having read the summary and week-by-week lecture schedule I have no idea what it's about and the readings have so far gone over my head. I wanted to change modules but it's not possible, so I need to get a grasp of psychology asap! I've never studied it before and biology was my weakest science at school.

Just wondering if anyone could recommend a basic psychology textbook? I think if I can understand the basics then I'll be in a better position in terms of understanding the module.

Thanks :) x
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hiya :wave:

    I have a massive interest in the whole of psychology and I read this (purely for the fun of it!):

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understand-Psychology-Yourself-Nicky-Hayes/dp/1444100904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359633772&sr=8-1

    I don't know how relevant that would be to the educational aspects though?

    In terms of education, I found this:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Education-Martyn-Long/dp/0415239060/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359633839&sr=1-2

    and this:

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychology-Education-Martyn-Long/dp/0415486904/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359633839&sr=1-1

    Both have good reviews - the second one was recommended by a uni student who needed it for an assignment too!

    Might be worth checking to see if you can get either as an e-book through your uni's library - saves a lot of money!

    Good luck with the essay *hug*
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ahh brilliant thank you :D The first one looks good because I need to get my head around psychology before throwing education into the mix.

    I'm just going to have to keep going over readings until I understand them. I guess I've taken it for granted before that I'd understand stuff because I always have done before.
  • AuroraAurora Posts: 11,722 An Original Mixlorian
    If you are looking for Basic Psychology stuff, for example, around AS Year, cognitive approch and differnet methodology, I reccomend this one, it's the one out College sold to us to, and it's a really good one!

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Companions-Psychology-Companion-WJEC/dp/1850084408/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359638629&sr=1-1


    EDIT - This ones similar, not as indepth as the other one, but it's similar and both really good :)
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Companions-Revision-Guide-Psychology/dp/0199136173/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359638629&sr=1-3
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks Angel :)
    I've bought an Revision Guide AS and A2 Level book so fingers crossed that's going to help and will be some night time reading for me
  • AuroraAurora Posts: 11,722 An Original Mixlorian
    Revision guide doesn't go as in-depth, but it's still a really good one! - Do let me know what you think about them :) I'm guessing by the AS, you are meaning the one I sent you a link to?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep :) I made a lot of notes last night and have a beter understanding.

    I need to find a book which has information on artificial intelligence, if anyone has any ideas?!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really like the Very Short Introduction series. It's just like reading the intro to a textbook, but they really break it down.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    piccolo wrote: »
    I really like the Very Short Introduction series. It's just like reading the intro to a textbook, but they really break it down.

    Oh never thought of them! I've used the Political Philosophy one and it was really good. Annoyingly the university library doesn't have any basic books. Should have worked that one out for myself; psychology students won't be needing books explaining the basics.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ella! wrote: »
    Oh never thought of them! I've used the Political Philosophy one and it was really good. Annoyingly the university library doesn't have any basic books. Should have worked that one out for myself; psychology students won't be needing books explaining the basics.

    AbeBooks to the rescue ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    WHY have I only just found out about that website? Genuinely could have saved so much money on textbooks! Thank you :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bumping my own thread (sorry)

    Any ideas on books about the relation between world recognition and object recognition? Hate psychology more than anything. :grump:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    this is for children yeah?

    try a specific developmental psych book with a section on cognitive development.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yes, with a link to psycholinguistics and the cognitive abilities of children when they're learning to talk. I thought that I'd found a good book, then it started going on about how toddlers and chinchillas are mentally the same and I got confused.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I remember a book by smith, cowie & blades being quite good for overviews of topics, although i can't remember exactly what it covered. look for anything approved for undergraduate level as most A level courses don't really cover this stuff, but avoid anything by an individual theorist (eg piaget) as they will be presenting their view rather than an overview of the options, although from what I can remember (I haven't done developmental psych for a few years) you probably need to look at Piaget, vygotsky, Chomsky etc.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    this?- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Childrens-Development-Peter-Smith/dp/1405176016

    Chomsky and Piaget have come up quite a bit already and my lecturer said pretty much the same as you, their books only outline their own theories and beliefs. Montessori has also been mentioned, but that focuses more on educational psychology, as opposed to developmental psychology.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Failed my psychology assignment by two bloody percent. Bye bye nice track record of high marks.

    Pass me the wine.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ella! wrote: »
    Failed my psychology assignment by two bloody percent. Bye bye nice track record of high marks.

    That's not much. Can you ask for it to be remarked? What about resits (in light of mitigating circumstances, depending on uni policy, you may be able to resit without penalty)?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    :(

    will you have to do it again?

    everyone gets crap marks, it's really disappointing but as long as you are doing ok overall it doesn't really matter. I've had some rubbish marks this year on things I've worked really hard on, and it's my final year so it's really not the time to be messing up. but in the end I've done my best and that's all I can do. I've had to accept that I can't be really good at every topic, regardless of how hard I try. you've been doing brilliantly and one slip-up won't make much difference overall.
    *hug*
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    omg hi wrote: »
    everyone gets crap marks, it's really disappointing but as long as you are doing ok overall it doesn't really matter.

    Also true :) Most courses will allow you to fail a certain number of units and still pass overall. Depending on how it is all weighted in the end, it might not have much of an impact on your final marks.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thank you :) I guess I'm just annoyed because I submitted assignments when I was in hospital and passed well. I've got firsts and 2:1s in everything so far, disappointed in myself. I emailed my tutor and she sent me a really patronising reply about my health and "how it is to be expected." No, it isn't to be expected, if that was the case I wouldn't be at uni. She's a bit of a bell, she's got it into her head that I'm a foreign student because of my surname and that I am therefore stupid and behind everyone else. Again, no. Urgh. I'm back next week so I'm going to find out if I need to resit.
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