Review of APA dictionary of psychology.

Reviews the book, APA dictionary of psychology by Gary R. VandenBos (see record 2006-11044-000). This book is an impressive comprehensive reference book that includes germane entries of overlapping and interrelated disciplines. This dictionary is a useful resource not only for professionals who work in the field of psychology, but also for the professionals who work in related and/or overlapping disciplines (e.g., social workers, psychiatrists, practitioners, lawyers). The long list of editors and contributors shows that the making of this book was a major joint effort. The hard-covered book has 1,023 pages and more than 25,000 entries that are accompanied by thousands of cross-references. The dictionary provides a brief history of the book's development and a brief guide to its layout and format. The book has high-quality paper, a double-column layout, large boldface headwords, and small boldface subentries, all of which make it easy to read. In addition, each entry is generously indented under the headword making the pages appear less crowded when compared to other dictionaries. The size of the book is very reasonable, which will be appealing to the reader. Overall, this high-quality dictionary is a very useful resource for professionals and students in the field of psychology, as well as for professionals in related disciplines. Regardless of whether the reader is a professional or novice, he or she will no doubt appreciate this comprehensive "user friendly" dictionary. The wait for a psychology reference book was worth it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychology: Theoretical-historical perspectives, second edition.

Reviews the book, Psychology: Theoretical-historical perspectives, second edition by Robert W. Rieber and Kurt D. Salzinger (see record 1998-06434-000). Like its predecessor, this second edition is a useful volume with a broad scope and any psychologist perusing even a portion of its 500 plus pages will likely come away convinced that there is more to history than a tedious collection of names and dates. As a pedagogical supplement and general introduction to the history of psychology field, this book succeeds admirably. However, in publishing a second edition, Rieber and Salzinger set themselves a more ambitious agenda. One of the goals of the book was to acknowledge the growth and vibrancy of recent scholarship in the history of psychology and to "present some synthesis within the confines of one book." Using these commendable goals as a metric, the book is somewhat disappointing. The book is too much like the first edition in both its choice of questions and authors. This sort of repetition is not a problem in and of itself; however the history of psychology has changed dramatically since the publication of the first edition 18 years ago. There is relatively little in the second edition to indicate that there have been any significant historiographic developments within the history of psychology field since the 1970s. By ignoring these changes, the book left me unable to answer a fundamental question that all second editions must face: Why is a new edition needed? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The national flavour versus pan-culturism: A review of Social psychology: The Canadian context.

Reviews the book, Social Psychology: The Canadian Context edited by J. W. Berry and G. J. S. Wilde (1972). The title of this book is likely to evoke a positive or a negative response from the reader depending on how he feels about the need for more Canadian content. Berry and Wilde are not out to prove that Canadian psychologists are as good as any in the world. The editorial effort was directed towards "studies of social behaviour of Canadians, rather than studies done in Canada by Canadians". The first section on "The Canadian People" provides an overview by contributions from other academic disciplines. The second section on "Canadian Dualism", which comprises nearly half of the book, is about the French-Canadians versus the English-Canadians. The third section on the "Canadian Natives" concentrates on the ethnic pluralism of the Eskimos and Indians. The fourth section on "Canadian Pluralism" presents findings on a larger number of different groups. Finally, the Appendix presents five tables containing background and demographic data likely to be useful for undergraduate research on Canadian people. Suggested readings for this purpose are also included in the introduction to each section. This book is most likely to be appropriate for courses emphasizing ethnic group relationships or cultural social psychology. In conclusion, this is a handy sourcebook on the kinds of research and the techniques useful for studying ethnic groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of modern psychology: Third edition.

Reviews the book, A history of modern psychology: Third edition by C. James Goodwin (see record 2008-14615-000). This text is an excellent introduction to the history of Western psychology, in terms of both tracing the discipline’s lineage through milestone events and in demonstrating how historians approach the subject. As the primary goal of the book is to attract the interest of students who perhaps are only taking a course in the history of psychology because it is required of them, the major strength of this text is its readability. The author’s ability to render complicated material comprehensible for introductory level students and laymen, as well as the affable tone used throughout the work makes it suitable for any reader interested in the foundations of the discipline. Its success is in the framework it provides, which graduate or even undergraduate level instructors can flesh out with supplementary readings and in-class discussion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Dynamic and abnormal psychology.

According to a statement in the author's preface, this book was designed primarily as a textbook for courses in abnormal psychology. It is the reviewer's impression, however, that it is unlikely to win a wide acceptance. His reasons for this judgment include 1) the book has grown from Professor Taylor's own course in the subject and his course seems rather unique, 2) the several chapters do not seem to hang together in a compellingly coherent way, and 3) many of the subjects introduced receive so scanty a discussion as to be unintelligible to the naive reader and simply uninformative to the moderately sophisticated reader. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A History of Western Psychology.

Reviews the book, A History of Western Psychology by David Murray (No Year Specified). According to Marshall, this book is intended as a text for a full-year course on history, systems, and twentieth century developments in psychology. The 400-page book covers psychological ideas "from Plato through NATO," and it does so briskly. Two chapters are devoted to ancient and medieval ideas, two to subsequent events until the nineteenth century, and four to nineteenth century developments; Gestalt, behaviourism, and psychoanalysis are given separate chapters; and two terminal chapters are devoted, respectively, to new directions until 1940 and eclectic psychological developments up to 1980. There are two salient features which distinguish the book in addition to its attention to both ancient and contemporary psychology. The first is that, throughout, it relies strongly on an interpretation and presentation of primary sources rather than on a gathering of already published compendia. Another example is Murray's treatment of Spencer, Lewes, Carpenter, Lubbock, and Romanes. Murray's work and frequent quotations from original sources leave the reader with the lively sense of being in touch with the original authors' intents and styles. A shortcoming which stems from this same insistence on original interpretation of primary sources is that the reader sometimes does not benefit from the work of other recent and more detailed scholarly interpretations. The second salient feature of the textbook is that it is unabashedly internalistic. It refers only superficially to the contextual features of the intellectual and sociopolitical cultures which, variously, fostered or retarded psychology, first when it existed only as a bundle of ideas, then later when it emerged as a disciplinary institution. There are no references to historical methodology, and this illustrates the fact that Murray's book is just not methodologically self-conscious at all. Without apology, Murray is interested in showing the succession of psychological ideas, with little concern for explaining how they happened that way. However, Marshall notes that this book also provides some excellent learning and memory aids for students untutored in history and, perhaps, uninterested in history for its own sake. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological climate changes for women in academic psychology: Forecasts, sources, and implications.

Reflecting on the past, and observing the present, what kinds of psychological changes might be in the forecast for women in psychology, for women affected by our discipline, and for the discipline itself? Using metaphors borrowed from meteorology and climatology, a psychological almanac is constructed for feminist psychology in Canada, warming trends are examined on both the academic and applied fronts, and weather advisories are issued. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canadian psychology comes of age.

What has happened to psychology in Canadian universities in the past few years is indeed startling. It has been caught up in a wave of popularity, or public trust, which has produced disproportionately large increases in enrolments in psychology everywhere. Psychology departments now typically carry the largest or one of the largest undergraduate teaching loads, and most have also developed graduate programs. Since 1960, the number of Canadian graduate departments of psychology has more than doubled. By 1966 and 1967 psychology was, of all the traditional academic disciplines, the third largest producer of Canadian PhD's. The rapid increase in the number of faculty required to teach so many students has made it possible for departments to develop along a number of lines. The developments in the universities are only one small part of the story of Canadian psychology in the 1960's, but they are particularly significant because of the promise they hold for the discipline in the years ahead. During the present decade improvements in the state of psychology in this nation have been in every respect spectacular. Canadian psychology has come of age. The evidence is all around us. The question now before us is, will this discipline move forward with confidence into maturity? Will it accept full responsibility for itself? Will it control its own destiny? I believe that it can and that it will. The future holds out much promise if we shape it to our advantage. Opportunities to determine our fate are being presented to us now if we will only seize them. The Canadian Psychological Association is the organization which can provide the fulcrum for the efforts that are required. Hence, we must make it the strong representative organization it should be. There are many problems to overcome if we are to do this, but nothing is impossible if we keep our real goals in sight. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Introduction à la psychologie cognitive (2e édition).

Reviews the book, Introduction à la psychologie cognitive (2e édition) by Alain Lieury (2010). The goal of this book is to provide an overview of scientific psychology for the layperson who is considering studying this subject at university. In the first part of the work, the author reviews the history of scientific psychology and its various specialties, identifying the main areas of psychology, namely psychopathology, cognitive and experimental psychology, the neurosciences, social psychology and developmental psychology. In the second part, he explores four major themes of scientific psychology, that is, auditory and visual perception; memory; intelligence; and motivation and personality. This book paints a picture of scientific psychology with a writing style that is direct, concise and well suited to its target audience. It presents information in accessible, but not hackneyed, language. Theories are illustrated with interesting and reliable examples of research. Overall the work achieves its goal, though readers may be left puzzled by its title, since the author does not clearly define what he means by "cognitive psychology," giving it a broader meaning than it would normally have in Canada. Too succinct for some and too general for others, this is nevertheless an original work dealing with a broad topic, of which there are few in French. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Revue de La Psychologie Organisationnelle au Quebec.

Reviews the book, La psychologie organisationnelle au Quebec by Gilbert Tarrab et al (1983). This book has 25 chapters written by more than thirty authors. Despite its weaknesses, it comprises sufficient qualities representing an important stage of the development of organisational psychology in Quebec, Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychology of human possibility and constraint.

Reviews the book, The psychology of human possibility and constraint by J. Martin and J. Sugarman (see record 1999-02336-000). This wide-ranging, compact, dense, yet very readable little book presents many of the key elements of a badly needed, more credible philosophy of social science for academic and professional psychologists. The book gives no specific examples of theories or research findings that might illustrate what is meant by a better kind of "knowledge" or "theory" in psychology, so the reader is left somewhat high and dry concerning this question. Perhaps it is simply the case that these questions about what might be the best kind of social and psychological inquiry and what sense to make of the plethora of theories and findings to date, are difficult, murky, and on the frontier of a hermeneutic reenvisioning of psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The psychology of health and health care: A Canadian perspective.

Reviews the book, The psychology of health and health care: A Canadian perspective by Gary Poole, Deborah Hunt Matheson, and David N. Cox (2001). This book is a timely introductory text that aims to situate the rapidly expanding field of health psychology within the geographic, socio-demographic, and empirical landscape of Canada. This textbook would be appropriate for beginning and intermediate undergraduate students across a range of disciplines, including psychology, public health, and nursing. As such, it has a number of features to commend it. It is written in a clear and concise style, with explanatory tracks guiding the reader step by step through each new concept. In keeping with health psychology's applied focus, web sites for important resources are provided and sample case studies are integrated with key concepts throughout each chapter. Finally, the up-to-date coverage of Canadian health statistics and research publications is a delight for those of us who have been struggling to find texts that reflect the unique ways in which we view, structure, fund, administer, and research health psychology and health care in this country. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition.

Reviews the book, A history of psychology: Original sources and contemporary research, 3rd edition by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. (see record 2008-08540-000). This book joins recent scholarship in the history of psychology with an assortment of classic articles and texts in the field. Published primarily as a reader or companion text, it offers a collection of 44 articles, 20 of which are primary source material; the remainder are more recent secondary sources from well-established authors in the area. In this third edition, Benjamin has made some editorial changes from previous versions of this popular text. For example, the number of chapters has been reduced from 16 to 11 in order to make it a more suitable companion to a traditional textbook on the history of psychology. While there are some wonderful articles here, the reviewer notes a general lack of critical perspective in both Benjamin’s narratives and his choice of secondary sources which prevents him from giving this review the glow that one would normally associate with such esteemed authors and scholarship. His main concerns are that, first, the epistemic and ontological perspectives offered are largely those of professional psychologists rather than those of historians, reflecting a field where researchers already struggle with the notions of interpretation and context, all set within a self-imposed framework of empirical science and objectivity. Second, as a result of this, the future of the history of psychology course is in peril because of its own popularity as a capstone course, where it seems to serve, by and large, the ceremonial and disciplinary function of codifying psychology’s scientific identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A History of Western Psychology.

Reviews the book, A History of Western Psychology by David J. Murray (1982). In two respects this is a highly traditional book. First of all, the parts of the subject that are singled out for serious consideration are the most venerable core areas of experimental psychology--above all, sensation, and to a slightly lesser extent, memory and other aspects of cognition. Social psychology gets less than 1% of the total space and such areas as developmental, applied and personality psychology are hardly glanced at. There is however a whole chapter on psychoanalysis. A second traditional feature of the book is expressed in its commitment to the view that the history of psychology is to be treated purely as intellectual history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Human developmental neuropsychology.

Reviews the book, Human developmental neuropsychology by Otfried Spreen, David Tupper, Anthony Risser, Holly Tuokko, and Dorothy Edgell (1984). The authors accepted a formidable challenge when they undertook this volume. The goals were first to review developmental psychology, pediatric neurology, and developmental neurobiology and, second, to integrate the information from these fields, attempting to make it understandable for the nonspecialist. They succeeded at the first and failed at the second. As a survey and catalogue of information, the book is truly impressive. It summarizes some 1600 references from very diverse fields and includes many goldmines of little-known material for the specialist. The volume is worth the price for this alone and I expect to use it often as a reference source. Finally, the book will serve as a good companion to Gaddes' book, Learning Disabilities and Brain Function. What is most important about this combination is that both books are from the psychology department at the University of Victoria and serve to underscore the fact that this department is developing into an important center for neuropsychological study in Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

L'emancipation de la psychologie Canadienne.

What has happened to psychology in Canadian universities in the past few years is indeed startling. It has been caught up in a wave of popularity, or public trust, which has produced disproportionately large increases in enrolments in psychology everywhere. Psychology departments now typically carry the largest or one of the largest undergraduate teaching loads, and most have also developed graduate programs. Since 1960, the number of Canadian graduate departments of psychology has more than doubled. By 1966 and 1967 psychology was, of all the traditional academic disciplines, the third largest producer of Canadian PhD's. The rapid increase in the number of faculty required to teach so many students has made it possible for departments to develop along a number of lines. The developments in the universities are only one small part of the story of Canadian psychology in the 1960's, but they are particularly significant because of the promise they hold for the discipline in the years ahead. During the present decade improvements in the state of psychology in this nation have been in every respect spectacular. Canadian psychology has come of age. The evidence is all around us. The question now before us is, will this discipline move forward with confidence into maturity? Will it accept full responsibility for itself? Will it control its own destiny? I believe that it can and that it will. The future holds out much promise if we shape it to our advantage. Opportunities to determine our fate are being presented to us now if we will only seize them. The Canadian Psychological Association is the organization which can provide the fulcrum for the efforts that are required. Hence, we must make it the strong representative organization it should be. There are many problems to overcome if we are to do this, but nothing is impossible if we keep our real goals in sight. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who's afraid of John B. Watson? Comments on: Behavior: An introduction to comparative psychology.

Reviews the book, Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology by John B. Watson (Introduction by R. J. Herrnstein) (see record 1967-08039-000). This book, a reprint of the 1914 volume which was Watson's first book, disinters again from its mouldy wrappings the often harrassed spectre of John B. Watson's place in the history of North American psychology. Was he, as Gustav Bergmann (1956) has suggested, second only to Freud as "the most important figure in the history of psychological thought during the first half of the century?" Or was A. A. Roback (1937, 1964) closer to the truth in dismissing Watsonian Behaviorism as a "rah-rah technique" which "made a big noise" which was "not substantiated by deeds?" Or was Watson, as other writers have suggested, simply a footnote to Functionalism? Herrnstein, in his introduction, discusses Watson as the heir of Darwin, Sechenov, and Pavlov, and as the progenitor of Tolman, Hull, and Skinner. The fact of the matter is that Watson's contributions to psychology, however they may be assessed, were not in the field of animal behavior but in the field of methodology. Thorndike's Law of Effect continued to overshadow Watson's frequency principle in learning, Pavlov did more with the reflex in terms of both research and theory, and Lashley began a tradition of revolutionary explorations of the animal nervous system. It is not without good reason that Boring (1950) discusses Watson in a section on Behaviorism '(with the ism)" rather than in sections on Animal Psychology where Romanes, Loeb, Morgan, and Yerkes are included. Indeed, it is to the "history and systems" books one must turn to find consistent reference to Behavior. It would appear that if Behavior is, in fact, a classic, it is a classic in the field of psychological theory and methodology, not in the field of animal behavior or comparative psychology. Perhaps it was this point which Herrnstein was making when he began the first sentence of his introduction with the words, "To find out what behaviorism was, consult this book," rather than with the words, "To find out what comparative psychology was, consult this book." Nevertheless, whether your interest is behaviorism, comparative psychology, or the history and growth of psychological thinking in North America, this book is worth consulting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A critical psychology: Interpretation of the personal world.

Reviews the book, A critical psychology: Interpretation of the personal world by Edmund V. Sullivan (1984). In this book, the author gives an indication of what an alternative psychology might look like. In doing this he draws on the ideas of a number of European philosophers and social scientists whose work has been generally ignored by North American psychologists. What distinguishes Sullivan's critical psychology from other alternatives to the mainstream is his insistence that the conditions for human action be traced not simply to the intentional activity of individuals but to the social structures of domination in which individual intentions are embedded. These are the structures of ethnicity, gender, and class. What Sullivan criticizes is that "psychologists take structural relationships of power such as capital over labour, men over women, and change them into intrapsychic phenomena." This book is an important contribution to the growing literature on alternatives to mainstream psychology. It is distinguished by its intellectual sophistication and by its marshalling of perspectives that run counter to local cultural traditions. At the very least it is a volume that ought to provoke an expansion of all too narrow disciplinary horizons. Incidentally, the very concept of intellectual "horizon" is one that the author analyses in a particularly constructive way, showing its relevance in the context of psychological research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Reconsidering psychology: Perspectives from Continental philosophy.

Reviews the book, Reconsidering psychology: Perspectives from Continental philosophy edited by James E. Faulconer and Richard N. Williams (1990). Reconsidering Psychology: Perspectives from Continental Philosophy, which raises some new issues, takes a look at some old issues from fresh perspectives, and examines avenues of Continental philosophy and psychology that have not yet received adequate attention. This is a remarkable text that not only takes the reader on a journey through new and exciting intellectual domains of post-Cartesian psychology, but invites the reader to share in some rather compelling visions of psychology's place in history from the ten brilliant minds responsible for the individual chapters of the text. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)