Product Description

Highly engaging and lively in presentation, this thought provoking text introduces students to the major theories, methods, research findings and debates in Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12416 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 661 pages

Steve Fisher, Strathclyde University
"An outstanding work that in my opinion succeeds in being both a
first class textbook... and a fascinating read."

Val Tuck, Newcastle University
"It is by far the most comprehensive, accessible and thought
provoking text that I have read on the subject."

From the Back Cover

"This is an excellent introduction to Personality, Intelligence and Individual Differences and will be invaluable for students undertaking a BPS accredited Psychology Degree course. It is by far the most comprehensive, accessible and thought provoking text that I have  read on the subject."

Val Tuck NewcastleUniversity

"An outstanding work that in my opinion succeeds in being both a first class textbook for courses in Individual Differences and a fascinating read."

Steve Fisher, Strathclyde University

Highly engaging and lively in presentation, this thought-provoking text introduces students to the major theories, methods, research findings and debates in Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. The book offers a comprehensive, yet rigourous coverage, and actively encourages students to develop skills in critical analysis.

Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence is packed with examples and richly-illustrated with photos and includes a range of pedagogical features designed to stimulate interest and support learning. 

These include

• Each chapter opens with learning outcomes, a list of key themes and a real world example to engage students and help them manage their study.
• Stop and Think boxes encourage students to reflect on what they have just read.
• Profile boxes ensure students are informed of key figures and thinkers.
• Critical Thinking boxes encourage students to question theories and arguments and develop skills in critical thinking.
• Discussion questions, essay questions and an annotated guide to further reading encourage students to consolidate and develop their understanding to a higher level.
• ‘Connecting up’ draws attention to links between different areas of psychology and topics covered in the book.

The book also includes separate chapters on Academic Argument, Statistical Analysis, Psychometric Testing and ethics to provide a framework for the academic and technical terms that are used commonly in the field.

A website accompanying the book features weblinks, dissertation suggestions and a range of questions to allow you to consolidate and further your understanding. This can be found at www.pearsoned.co.uk/maltby. 

Dr John Maltby is a lecturer in psychology at the University of Leicester. He has over 100 publications in the literature of Personality, Individual Differences and Social Psychology. Specific areas of interest include Social Attitudes, Positive Psychology, Personality and Psychometric testing.

Dr Liz Day is a lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University. She has over 30 publications in the area of Individual Differences and Positive Psychology. She has also trained as a Clinical Hypnotherapist.

Professor Ann Macaskill has lectured on Personality and Individual Differences for many years. She is also trained in Counselling and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

Customer Reviews

Really easy to read and lots of information
Got this today. Really easy to read and lots of information. Covers two areas in psychology, personality and intelligence which I get taught for two different units in our first and second year on our psychology degree. Good outlines and criticisms of all the major personality theories, so good essay material ;). Intelligence theory and research is always little hard going, this text makes intelligence seem quite straightforward and has again has lots of material that I can use for my essays. Don't plan to use the third part of the book except to read it, but has lots of interesting areas, such as optimism and relationships theory, that I enjoy reading about.

An excellent resource
This book was recommended reading on my course. It was suggested along with a number of other personality books, but is far the better book. The number of topics covered by this book outnumber the other texts, and the level of detail is much greater. I agree with the other reviewer that this text gives the students loads of essay material.

The book covers all the major personality theories, and provides a good critique of each one. The book also covers all the intelligence areas needed. Finally the book covers some more 'current' areas such as optimism, embarassment, social relationships. The book covers in depth all the other areas of the BPS accreditation exam and therefore should be useful on many psychology degrees.

Most of all I found the text incredibly easy to read. The authors cover exciting areas of psychology, but also some of the more difficult areas. For example, there are biological explanations of some behaviors, but the authors don't bamboozle you with technical terms, but rather breakdown the area for you so it is easily understandable. Infact some of the terms I find so hard to understand in biological psychology modules are much better explained here.

There are also hidden depths to this book. There is an online website that has example essay questions, multiple choice questions and further reading. There are additional chapters at the back on argument and a kind of 'bluffers guide' to statistics, which again are better explained than many statistics books.

I do recommend this book. It helped me enormously with my work across a number of modules on my psychology degree not just my personality and individual differences modules.

PERSONALITY, INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND INTELIGENCE
Excellent selection of topics to cover the area with very clear explanations and consistent reviewing throughout. Thorough summaries and explanations of terms, with added recommendation's for thinking and further reading Good examples from everyday life,literature and film. A very good source book for learning about personality on a higher level. I would particularly recommend it to postgrads' and teachers.