I read this textbook as part of General Psychology, PY 102, at Montgomery College.

Don't bring your critical thinking skills to this textbook, and if you are not a rich white male and you have to read this book for class (like the vast majority of my class at MC), prepare to be offended, often. The book was unselfconsciously shilling for ruling class values at every turn. I suspect this is a problem wider than this textbook within psychology, but this textbook was particularly offensive in its assumptions.

The third chapter on Stress and Health Psychology was particularly unnerving. Take this line, from a section on Karoshi, or death from overwork: "Unfortunately, in our global economy, pressures to reduce costs and to increase productivity will undoubtedly continue." There is a horrific passive voice, combined with a shoulder-shrugging "Welp, there's nothing we can do to avoid job stress that will literally kill thousands of people. This death march has to continue."

Later in the chapter, the book discusses "hardiness, a resilient type of optimism that comes from [commitment, control, and challenge]." The book asks us "Have you ever wondered how some people survive in the face of great tragedy and stress?" If you want to study this, I can't think of any better case study to make than any number of oppressed people (women, black people, immigrants, poor people) who survive great obstacles to their goals. But no, the book discusses high-level company executives, the segment of the population with what I imagine is the least amount of hardiness of any. They are the hardy ones, while what they put us through (from unemployment to furlough days) is inevitable. If that wasn't enough, they language they use to describe workplace accidents puts the blame squarely on those with the least ability to control their workplace, the workers. Truckers falling asleep at the wheel is not shown as a natural consequence of the "pressures to reduce costs and increase productivity" that come from these hardy top-level executives, and therefore the blame is put on the truckers themselves.

Chapter 6 is about learning, conditioning and cognition. For some reason, the chapter opened discussing Muhammed Yunus, whose loansharking of poor women is breathlessly praised: "Where does such goodness come from?" Yunus' gift to humanity is the Pay Day Loan scam perpetraited in ghettos all over the US, except in this case it is in Bangladesh. “Grameen Bank charges up to 30 percent in interest rate on loans and up to an additional 10 percent in ‘forced savings’ to the poorest sections of society. Their collection methods are draconian and collection officers who fail to collect payment have the uncollected amounts deducted from their pay. There are many documented cases which constitute abuse and the criminal offence of ‘molestation’ under Bangladesh law.” (source: http://tinyurl.com/43km4df )

Then the chapter continues to try to explain white supremacy not as a tool of oppressors, but as simple classical conditioning, explaining away hate crimes like James Byrd by saying that children are taught to fear the "other," and not pointing out that this othering is socially constructed in such a way in order to divide working class power against itself.

In that same chapter, we get a plea to "imagine yourself as a midlevel manager for a big company." Why? I was puzzled, but the answer revealed itself further down the page: so they can throw more invective of working people at you: "Have you noticed how some workers get out of difficult assignments and gain special favors because they're constantly complaining or begging? A manager often responds by saying, 'No.' But sometimes when the employee persists, gets loud, or throws an adult temper tantrum, his or her employer gives in." Sounds like the management-centered opinion of a union. Why are you throwing an adult temper tantrum that your workplace is dangerous and you can't see your children because we furloughed your hours?

These and other quotations were basis for me to avoid the book. Even though the subject interested me, the delivery was part of a system that oppresses me, and so I was resistant to reading it, rather than seeking it for deeper knowledge. I read it, but I read it only to get through the class.

I generally rate textbooks based both on their readability and their usability (mostly design). The second star this book recieved is due to this book's usability. Definitions of key terms were pulled out into the margins, and there was a great visual summary at the end of each chapter. There was only one standout design gaffe that comes immediately to mind from this book. On Page 441, continuing on a theme of gradient boxes, Personality Assessment is placed in a gradient box that goes all the way from white to black, rendering the bottom line of black text illegible. Given the relatively great design and readability of the rest of the text, how did that moronic mistake get past the layout editors? ( )

I read this book for my Psychology course and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was easy to read, the examples were always interesting, and the vocabulary words helpful. The book was well-put together and never dull. I was surprised at how entertaining the text was an eventually ended up reading more than was even needed to be done for the course. Great textbook. ( )

As far as textbooks go, this one was excellent. It was informative without falling into the trap of being overly technical. Accessible and at times entertaining, I would recommend this textbook to any classroom setting. ( )

I didn't really see any huge improvements over the last edition aside from a few more relevant cultural nods. Weird.
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