Biological Psychology
- Suzanne Higgs - Birmingham University, UK
- Alison Cooper - Birmingham University, UK
- Jonathan Lee - Birmingham University, UK
The challenge of teaching bio-psychology is first getting students up to speed with the basic brain functions and terminology, before this can be applied to psychology, and then finally helping them develop critical thinking about the subject. This book uniquely addresses all three of these issues and provides a resource that supports students at each of these different levels of understanding.
Key features include:
• New video animations for the biology chapters and high-quality illustrations throughout, helping students grasp the basic neuroanatomy and microbiology.
• 'Check your understanding' questions in the book and MCQs online help students test their understanding and prepare for assessments.
• Chapters cover the need-to-know topics for psychology students with 'Insight' and 'Focus on Methods' boxes, highlighting these topics' relevance to the real-world.
• Spotlights build on the chapters, delving deeper into contemporary debates, issues and controversies around topical areas such as post-traumatic stress disorder, obesity and pain.
Supplements
Instructor resources
Animations Teaching Guide
PowerPoint slides
Test Bank
PowerPoint of 'Focus on Methods' boxes
Student resources
Animations
MCQS
Chapter by chapter flashcards
Curated list of external videos
Useful weblinks
This textbook should be of particular interest to undergraduate students as by reading it they will grasp the fundamentals of brain anatomy and brain functions and then further progress onto areas such as the effects of drug-taking, learning and memory, movement, eating and sleeping behaviours, psychological disorders and more. The book encourages and emphasises the importance of critical thinking and linking research areas, something that will allow students to access the top band of marks.
We liked the coverage of other texts a bit better.
Very accessibly written, and with some especially interesting and modern "spotlight" chapters, covering controversies and current issues. The book itself is also very colourful and engaging, which is especially important for material that many undergraduate psychology students tend to feel some anxiety around.
Detailed information relating to the subject matter covered in classes. This is one book I generally reach for, clear and concise information.
Topics can be found easy and knowledge gained form reading this.
This is an in-depth yet extremely accessible text which will enable students to build confidence in their understanding of a topic which many find challenging in Psychology.
Very detailed, comprehensive and rigorous!
Well set out, easy to follow in sequential order of topics.
Relevant to those who wish to focus on a particular aspect as well being helpful as a source for research project
This book brings together neurobiology and psychology in a comprehensive and accessible way. I have not come across a text which addresses biological psychology (usually it is either neuroscience or psychology), so this is a very welcome text. Clear colour diagrams, boxes with specific topics, demarkation of specialist terms, exercises, further reading and online resources all help students to get to grips with the material. Two pages at the start explain how to make the most of the book. The text is easy to read and the book stays open when put on a table.
Generally concepts are explained well, but there seems to be a variation between explaining them for level 5 students and assuming a high level of prior understanding. Some topics are introduced without enough detail. For example, page 34 discusses G protein-coupled receptors and metabotropic receptors without enough detail for students to gain understanding. In the index, G-protein is incorrectly allocated to page 35 and metabotropic is not in the index at all, making it difficult for students to find more information. Information about the DMN is important, but it may not be best placed on page 72. Of course these are just examples. On the whole the book does a very good job of introducing a broad and complex field of study.
This is an excellent and interesting book that goes into an excellent level of detail for students who are learning about the biological perspective in psychology.
