In this revitalized, redesigned, and thoroughly updated Eighth Edition of his best-selling text, Dennis Coon once again presents psychology in a way readers will find fascinating, relevant, and above all, accessible. Professors and readers alike have found Coon's text not only interesting and easy to read, but exceptionally easy to learn from. Built into every chapter are a number of features that help readers grasp major concepts, develop a broad understanding of psychology's diversity, and see for themselves how psychology relates to the practical problems of everyday life. Professors and readers appreciate the way that Dennis Coon speaks to his them. His delight in the subject matter of psychology and in his own readers' curiosity, insights, imagination, and interest is apparent on every page. While Coon reports the latest research, the latest controversies, and the key scientific content important to the course, he does so with a sense of humor and an awareness of readers' learning needs that set his book apart from any other in the field. In a course where professors are frequently confronted by readers who haven't actually read their textbooks, Coon's text offers a solution. Coon effectively presents an approach that involves readers and gets them "hooked" on psychology and eager to read on. Because readers become actively involved with the material, they develop a basic understanding of psychology that they take with them into their future courses and careers. Dennis Coon was the first textbook author to make effective use of cognitive principles to teach psychology by building each chapter around the SQ3R study-reading formula: survey, question, read, recite, and review. Because SQ3R has been a part of the underlying structure of the text from its inception, this proven method works better in Coon's text than in any of the many texts that have emerged over the years that have incorporated the SQ3R structure as and "add-on."

No higher compliment need be paid than to say - as one reviewer recently did - that this is the text by which all others for the course are measured. Since the first edition of this book appeared, professors have praised Weiten's scholarship as exemplary and the accessibility of his prose as unparalleled. This is the text that redefined the way Introductory Psychology is taught by using integrative themes to develop the connections among different areas of psychological research. And now, with this Fourth Edition, Weiten again raises the bar a notch higher for competitors. Not only has he continued to refine and improve his fine text, but Weiten has developed an exciting multimedia CD-ROM for the course, giving instructors a new, engaging way to teach and students an interactive way to learn. Now, Weiten not only explains the interdependent links between research and applications, but he gives students a fascinating way to explore psychological concepts through experiments and activities included on the "PsycTrek" CD-ROM. Using integrative themes to emphasize connections among different areas of research in psychology, Weiten challenges students to grapple with the big issues and tough questions while mastering the basic concepts of psychology. Throughout the Fourth Edition, Weiten emphasizes the unity in psychology's intellectual heritage (the themes), as well as psychology's immense diversity (the variations). Long after your students have completed their final examinations, they will retain a genuine understanding of the basic ideas about psychology and behavior.