Review of Personnel and human resources management in Canada and Canadian readings in personnel and human resource management.

Reviews the books, Personnel and human resources management in Canada by Shimon L. Dolan and Randall S. Schuler (1987) and Canadian readings in personnel and human resource management by Shimon L. Dolan and Randall S. Schuler (1987). In the preface to the text, the authors state that the book, "is designed to meet growing needs of personnel and human resources management (PHRM) students, professionals and academics who want to keep up to date with the principles and contemporary challenges in the management of human resources in Canada. It is a vital resource for anyone working or intending to work in personnel in Canadian organizations whether private or public, large or small, traditional or dynamic." Fortunately, the authors have, in essence, focused on an undergraduate audience. The text is a comprehensive and reasonably up-to-date summary of the field in Canada. The readings book is a useful, but not necessary, supplement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives, third edition.

Reviews the book, Adult development and aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives, third edition by Susan Krauss Whitbourne (2007). The objective of this book is to educate undergraduate students on the aging process and how to age successfully. Each chapter is couched in the biopsychosocial perspective and as such presents an integrated view of the biological, psychological, and sociocultural changes that occur with aging. With this revised third edition, the author had the explicit goal of “engaging students in the learning process.” The revised sections, new research, links to Internet sites, and conversational style in this new edition reflect this goal. From a Canadian perspective, this new edition includes a great deal of current Canadian research in aging, and in general includes more world statistics than the previous edition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Aging in Canada: Social perspectives (2nd ed.).

Reviews the book, Aging in Canada: Social perspectives (2nd ed.) by Victor W. Marshall (1987). Victor Marshall's second edition of Aging in Canada: Social perspectives is a worthy successor to the first edition (1980). The new edition includes 30 chapters on topics in Canadian social gerontology. Of the 38 different authors 24 are new. All chapters were written specifically for this volume. The chapters are longer and more substantial than in the earlier volume; at 613 pages this volume is twice as long as the earlier one but has only four more chapters. Both the inclusion of an index and the placement of references at the end of each chapter are welcome improvements. The chapters are grouped under the following headings: Thinking Systematically About Aging; The Diverse Meanings of Age and Aging; Aging Workers and the Labour Force; Aging, Leisure, and Retirement; Family Structure and Social Relationships; Health and Well-Being in Relation to Age; Health Care; and Political, Economic, and Social Implications of Population Aging. The book is directed at and suitable for those interested in social science, health science, or public policy issues at a wide range of levels from second-year undergraduate to graduate to professionals working in applied or academic contexts. Despite omissions and a few weak chapters the book is informative, thoughtful, and often provocative. It affirms that there is, indeed, a Canadian social gerontology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Educational psychology: Reflection for action (Canadian edition).

Reviews the book, Educational psychology: Reflection for action (Canadian edition) (2008). Targeted toward aspiring teachers, this book provides an overview of the content knowledge germane to school-age education in Canada and attempts to foster the types of procedural skills and dispositions necessary to gather and evaluate evidence about one’s own classroom practises and about the diverse array of Canadian students in those classrooms. The book is well written, in language that is clear and accessible to preservice teachers at the undergraduate level. For a more advanced audience, the book also provides an excellent model of how to integrate goals of content, procedural, and disposition acquisition. To these ends, each chapter includes pedagogical features that help readers activate and connect their prior knowledge, skills, and attitudes with those of more expert teachers operating in real classrooms (e.g., samples of classroom life to ground understanding in experience, models of expert analyses following knowledge acquisition, well-timed invitations to engage in reflection during learning). Particular attention is paid to the ecologically valid activity of reasoning about what students know on the basis of what they say and do. In addition to lists of key concepts, end-of-chapter exercises, and a glossary, a number of supplements and additional resources for instructors and students also are mentioned. A parallel e-version of the text, complete with interactive features, is available online at no extra cost. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Organizational behavior: The psychology of effective management (2nd ed.).

Reviews the book, Organizational Behavior: The Psychology of Effective Management (2nd ed.) by David J. Lawless (1979). This book is a revision of an earlier one published in 1972 by Prentice-Hall entitled Effective Management: Social Psychological Approach. The author has the laudatory objective of trying to bridge the gap between the burgeoning array of behavioral science research findings and theories and the practice of managers. On the positive side, the book is written in a simple readable manner; however, this book fails to achieve the stated purpose of making managers aware and interested in applying behavioral science concepts and theories. Although controversy exists within the field of organizational behavior on the value of closing the research-practitioner gap, I share Lawless's conviction that working towards this is crucial. We obviously disagree on what material is vital to disseminate and the manner in which we are most likely to be successful in closing the gap. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Continuity & change in marriage & the family.

Reviews the book, Continuity & change in marriage & the family edited by Jean E. Veevers (1991). Dr. Veevers perceived a need for "competent empirical works specifically applicable to the task of describing and understanding Canadian family life." She has filled that need with Continuity & Change in Marriage & the Family, a collection of readings. The book is intended for students in sociology of marriage and family classes as a supplement to textbooks with a theoretical emphasis. Continuity & Change in Marriage & the Family offers the insights of Canadian (and other) scholars about, as Dr. Veevers states, "issues that are directly relevant to the study of marriage and the family in Canada." Because the articles illuminate the condition of families in all post-modern societies, the book has relevance outside Canada. The message of the book is that change, both social and familial, and the acceptance of a variety of family arrangements, has resulted in families that are created by those who live in them. Thus, students should know how to be creative in building and maintaining their personal relationships. It provides students with ideas to consider as they develop as family members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Edward C. Webster (1909-1989).

Presents an obituary for Edward C. Webster, recipient of the 1982 Distinguished Award for Contributions to Canadian Psychology as a Profession and Professor Emeritus of McGill University. Webster died on February 15, 1989. His career was dedicated to the application of psychological principles to real life problems, not just in practice but in research, in administration, and in service to his profession and community. Although committed to the development of applied psychology generally, Ed's major impact on theory and research was in industrial psychology, particularly in personnel selection. Like many other practitioners, he made extensive use of the interview as an information gathering technique, upon which recommendations to hire were based. Another major contribution he made to Canadian professional psychology was undoubtedly the role he played in the Couchiching Conference on the training of applied psychologists, which culminated in the book he wrote in 1967, The Couchiching Report: Training in Professional Psychology in Canada. Ed Webster will be long remembered for his commitment to and promotion of applied psychology at McGill and in Canada, for his contributions to the literature in personnel selection, and for his support of the work of students and colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A World of Difference: Gender Roles in Perspective.

Reviews the book, A World of Difference: Gender Roles in Perspective by Esther R. Greenglass (1982). In A World of Difference, Esther Greenglass has given us an excellent social-psychological perspective on sex, gender, and sex-role differences. Greenglass clearly analyses current research on these topics with the perspective of the culture in which gender-based behaviour occurs. Equally important, however, is the discussion of the social and cultural context of the research itself. Aside from this important and useful discussion of the research in its social context, there is a very thorough review of contemporary issues relating to gender roles. This is a very readable book for students. The collection of pictures and cartoons depicting contemporary male and female roles illustrates the issues while showing their humorous side. Throughout the book, there are examples of Canadian data and Canadian research which will make the book particularly appealing to those who find that U.S. texts are too chauvinistic about the American experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Strategic management of technostress in an information society.

Reviews the book, Strategic Management of technostress in an information society edited by Amarjit S. Sethi, Denis H. J. Caro, and Randall S. Schuler (1987). According to the editors, the contents of this book would not only provide managers with a "set of useful and practical strategies for managing technostress by organizations and their members" (p.xi), but would also serve as a reference for other stress coping (sic) scholars and practitioners, as well as a textbook for students in university management and executive development programs. A second attraction of this book was that its editors had played an unusually active role in writing it, thereby presumably avoiding the uneveness and lack of integration that plagues edited books. The reviewer does not have hands-on experience in developing organizational strategies for handling technological innovation and consequently am not as confident in criticizing the chapters devoted to this topic. But in reading these chapters the reviewer began to question whether their authors had any more experience than than the reviewer did. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Exploring research, seventh edition.

Reviews the book, Exploring research, seventh edition by Neil J. Salkind (2009). This is the seventh edition of an introductory text on research methods. It is intended for “upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students in their first research methods course in the social, behavioural, and health sciences fields” (p. xvii). The intention of the book is to introduce the important topics in research methods in a “nonintimidating and informative way” (p. xvii). Changes in this edition include a new chapter on ethics, with more material on ethical issues when doing online research, the use of children as participants, and updated general ethical guidelines; updated and new coverage of software for dealing with both qualitative data and for bibliographies; updated information on the use of the Internet for research and for conducting research and literature reviews online; as well as changes to the questions and exercises at the end of the chapters and to the Web site that accompanies the book. The Web site also contains an appendix with an introduction to SPSS 16 (which was not available at the time of this review). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Abnormal psychology.

Reviews the book, Abnormal psychology by Thomas F. Oltmanns, Robert E. Emery, and Steven Taylor (2001). Oltmanns, Emery, and Taylor have kept their current text within the mainstream. In the first edition of the text (Oltmanns & Emery, 1995), they followed an integrative systems approach, similar to that adopted by Sarason and Sarason in 1989, in which evidence on biological, psychological, and social influences was combined in the discussion of the aetiology of the different disorders. Their major claims to uniqueness in the Canadian edition reside in the retention of their integrative systems approach; the integration of scientific methodology into every chapter; and an emphasis on multicultural issues in which, as the name of the text indicates, Canadian research and issues predominate. With this text, Oltmanns, Emery, and Taylor have answered the plea for Canadian content and, within the contemporary style of text, have done it well. Personally, however, I continue to lament the passing of the era of the psychopathology text, when abnormal psychology actually referred to an aspect of psychology, rather than psychiatry, and the presentation of material lacked the hegemony of a particular--that is, North American--cultural perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Readings in social psychology: Classic and Canadian contributions.

Reviews the book, Readings in social psychology: Classic and Canadian contributions edited by Brian Earn and Shelagh Towson (1986). Earn and Towson argue that students should know that social psychology is an active discipline with significant contributions from their own nation, that there are areas of research of particular relevance to the Canadian context, and that they should be able to gain from incidental learning about their own society. The format of the book is rather conventional. Readings are grouped into content areas: social motives (aggression and altruism), social influence, attitudes, social interactions (attraction and loneliness), attribution and cognition, ethnic relations, prejudice, and applications (TV influence, social support, law). It includes contributions by many of the most prominent social psychologists in Canada, and several "classic" papers by U.S. social psychologists. As one who has long regretted the fact that we are compelled to teach social psychology with only foreign materials, the reviewer welcomes the publication of this book. The reviewer hopes that in the second edition the editors take more seriously the purpose of a book of readings, and set out to communicate to undergraduate students what social psychological research is all about. The reviewer also hopes that the publisher is able to produce a volume that looks more professional and is easier to read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social Psychology: An Applied Approach.

Reviews the book, Social Psychology: An Applied Approach by Ronald J. Fisher (1982). In what is probably the first of a new generation of social psychology textbooks, Ronald Fisher has attempted a very ambitious intergration of basic, theoretical and applied social psychology. My overall feeling about the book is very positive, since there is much to recommend in it. Some of the chapters, such as those dealing with social issues and social change, program development and evaluation, and organizational development, are outstanding. They are scholarly, well written and contain information that traditional social psychologists should be aware of but rarely teach. Indeed, these chapters are so comprehensive, that they could serve as good introductions to these topics for graduate students. In addition, while not being a truly "Canadian" textbook, there are considerably more Canadian examples and anecdotes contained in this book than can be found in any of the other current textbooks. My hope as an instructor of an advanced undergraduate course in applied social psychology is that if there is a second edition of this text that the author might amend it by broadening the coverage of current topics in applied social psychology while retaining those chapters that are unique to the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis.

Reviews the book, Learning and behavior: A contemporary synthesis by Mark E. Bouton (see record 2006-21409-000). The reviewer praises the author for creating a student-friendly textbook for an undergraduate course in animal learning that is both comprehensive and current. Bouton presents the major theoretical issues and findings in their historical context. Chapter topics include: (1) adaptation; (2) Pavlovian conditioning; (3) operant conditioning; (4) choice behavior; (5) theories of reinforcement; (6) motivation; (7) cognition; (8) spatial learning; (9) learned helplessness; and (10) superstitious behavior. Bouton comes full circle in the final section, "A cognitive analysis of instrumental action," by describing experimental evidence for the existence of various types of associations (i.e., S-S*, R-S*) that were introduced in the first chapter. The reviewer believes students and instructors alike will enjoy this very readable book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Language, cognition and deafness.

Reviews the book, Language, cognition and deafness by Michael Rodda and Carl Grove (see record 1987-97707-000). In this book, Rodda and Grove clearly subscribe to the view that along with speech and hearing, deaf persons should be allowed to use their "natural" language, Sign Language, American Sign Language (ASL), or in Canada, Canadian Sign Language (CSL). What makes this book unusual and important is that the authors have taken great pains to document their position through reference to hard experimental evidence, much of which has been done by psychologists. It is hard to imagine that anyone reading this book would not be definitively persuaded by their arguments, which are based on recent developments in psychology, psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, as well as many other allied fields. Rodda and Grove clearly want to see Sign Language (ASL) accepted as part of the educational, psychological and cultural world of deaf adults, without demeaning the importance of speech and hearing in the communication process. This highly readable and informative book will undoubtedly help move the field in that direction, and I highly recommend it to the specialist and non-specialist alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition.

Reviews the book, Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition by Mick Power and Tim Dalgleish (see record 2007-10431-000). In this book, the authors provide a detailed analysis of emotion with an explicit focus on differences and similarities between "disordered" emotion and normative emotional experience. What sets this text apart from other books on cognition and emotion is its attempt to describe the philosophical and historical underpinnings of work on emotion. Another unique feature of this text is that the authors go beyond just describing the various theories of emotion by comparing and contrasting the arguments advanced by the theories and highlighting the strengths and limitations of each theory. This book is divided into two parts: Part 1 is a review of the major theories of emotion, and Part 2 consists of reviews of research on five basic emotions, as well as illustrations of how the SPAARS framework can be used to explain normative and nonnormative variants of these emotions. Power and Dalgleish suggest that readers can choose either to read the book in its entirety or to focus on the sections that are of interest. Overall, this second edition of Cognition and Emotion is a readable and engaging book. This book is not a primer; as noted earlier, some parts of it are conceptually heavy. For this reason, the most appropriate audience for this book is advanced graduate students who already have some background in research on basic emotion or psychopathology and who are looking to enhance their knowledge base. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social Psychology (2nd Edition).

Reviews the book, Social Psychology (2nd edition) by William W. Lambert and Wallace E. Lambert, edited by Richard Lazarus (1973). This second edition is a major updating and enlargement of the original (1964) edition, containing about 50% more pages and a good deal of new material. In essence, then, it is a new book and it deserves to be read as such. As with all volumes in this Foundations of Modern Psychology Series, the Lambert & Lambert text is intended for the introductory student. In six short chapters, the authors cover the major basic areas of enquiry--socialisation, social perception, attitudes, interaction, the individual in the group, and socio-cultural perspectives. At the risk of appearing unduly concerned with a Canadian point of view, it is of interest to note that this text is the first to pay attention to ideas and findings about social behaviour in this country. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Compensation: Effective reward management.

Reviews the book, Compensation: Effective reward management by Rabindra N. Kanungo and Manual Mendonca (see record 1992-98108-000). Managing people in an organization requires an understanding of how to motivate employees through well-designed reward or compensation systems. This text's objective is to achieve this understanding in a coherent manner, while properly integrating motivational theories and management practices. The book is organized around a model of effective reward management derived from expectancy theory (Vroom, 1964; Lawler, 1971). This model is used to examine the nature of organizational rewards from a motivational perspective and to develop a diagnostic procedure for evaluating reward effectiveness. Most importantly, the text incorporates unique Canadian issues, legislation, and practices related to compensation management not simply as a after-thought but as a integral part of the presentation. The reservations that the reviewer has about the text do not relate to the quality of what is presented, but rather about the intended audience. In seeking to reach three different markets, the text runs the risk of not satisfying the needs of any particular one. Despite these reservations, the reviewer would still highly recommend this text, as it makes a valuable contribution to Canadian industrial/organizational psychology. It will be a valuable resource for experienced practitioners and an excellent reference work for graduate students in industrial psychology and human resource management programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)