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Reviews the book, Psychology: The adaptive mind by James S. Nairne, Martin S. Smith, and D. Stephen Lindsay (2001). This book contains references to Canadian researchers past and present and to Canadian websites, pictures of Canadian researchers, references to Canadian incidents (the Swissair flight crash off the coast of Nova Scotia opens the text), citations to the Canadian Psychological Association as well as to Canadian funding agencies (e.g., SSHRC, NSERC), and mentions of Canadian institutions. The reviewer was impressed by the fact that the authors accomplish their Canadian task without compromising any of the classic topics and studies in the field. The authors' writing style is accessible and easy to follow. The 16 chapters are well organized and thorough. The examples are relevant and of interest to undergraduate students. This text, while not addressing the issue directly, does note that women have been overlooked in historical treatments of psychology and makes a point of including the influence of women pioneers in psychology. A second concerns the overreliance on undergraduate students as research participants representing the adult population. The reviewer find this text to rank among the best when considering Introductory Psychology textbooks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
