Product Description

This work offers students full summaries of 35 major research reports covering cognitive, social, developmental, abnormal and comparative psychology, biopsychology, culture, identity and individual differences. This third edition contains four new key studies. The structure of each chapter has been changed so that the study is introduced before the detailed summary is presented; it is put into a theoretical, practical and/or historical context, and details of aims, hypotheses, method, design and procedure are provided. The "Evaluation" section (previously called "Commentary") is sub-divided into four main sections with the intention of making the reader's task easier.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267786 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 744 pages

From the Author
As the Introduction points out, the major reason for writing the book was to do what it is impossible to do in a general textbook. The place for a detailed discussion of the major theories is the general textbook, not here. Key Studies and general texts are meant to complement each other. It was not written as a 'stand-alone' text.
At the same time, each key study is preceded by a Background and context section. This is meant to help the reader place the study in its appropriate theoretical context, and the Evaluation of each study includes consideration of relevant theoretical issues.

About the Author
Richard Gross is an experienced teacher of Psychology and author of many bestselling texts, including Psychology: The Science of Mind & Behaviour, now in its fourth edition.

Customer Reviews

Copious detail but lack of theoretical elucidation
We are currently using this book as our text for our Psychology AS-level class. the descriptions of the case studies are comprehensive and provide an excellent amount of detailed information. The introduction and evaluation sections are also useful. The only drawback is that although there are frequent allusions to the various major theories such as those of Piaget Social learning theory, Pavlov's operan conditioning theory etc. , there is no disntict explanation of those theories, making it challenging to understand completely. Nevertheless, it is a good book to get a grasp on the case studies, and could be usedin combination with Flannagan and Esyenck's Psychology for AS/A level.

Brilliantly detailed but maybe not for a teenager...
I'm currently studying AS level psychology with the exam board OCR. This enourmous text book by Richard Gross is an ideal companion for the course I am currently studying... if you can be bothered. This book is fantastic and full of detail. I know this having read excerpts dished out by my psychology tutor. We were told to buy the text book for reference and 'light reading' at home. This, however, is anything but light reading! I'm not saying this book isn't good or useful because it is, really, it is. However, the amount of detail needed for AS psychology is only a small amount in comparison and I have found that my Gross text book has been sat on my shelf unread for a year now. I spent almost £20 on this text book for my studies yet it was very unneccesary.
My advice to any students in my situation out there: Don't buy the book... there are other means of discovering the information you need such as FREE websites like www.holah.co.uk which covers every study in Gross' book for free, granted they are in less detail, but there is enough to get you the top grades on the course! Trust me, I've been through it!
Nevertheless, if you must get this book then i suggest you buy it second hand, I'm sure there are alot of AS psychology students out there with an unread Gross book on their hands who are willing to sell for cheap. I'm one of them!

This is a worth while book if you are truly interested in the 'Key Studies in Psychology'. However, if you are simply a student in search of a good grade, use a website - it won't cost you £20.