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>> One of the things I'm really proud about the book is that I wrote it not
for my colleagues, and not for another audience.
The sole audience was students.
I've tried very hard to incorporate features that allow students to be successful.
As a professor, I had a responsibility to make students understand the field of psychology,
and to write a book that would speak to students no matter what level,
no matter what experience level they had,
and teach them to be good students, and that lead to this book.
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The motto behind this book is 'Students first'.
The features inherent in every chapter that allow students to be successful,
the structure of the book is modular.
Every chapter is divided into three or four, five modules.
Modules really allow students to study in an optimal way.
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One of the things that's really important for students to understand
when they take a psychology course is that psychology is a science.
So, in order to understand the field, you have to understand how to do research.
You have to understand what a hypothesis is, you have to understand how to collect data,
you have to understand how to analyze data, and interpret that data.
So, one of the things I try to do in the book is to ensure that students have a good sense
of how research works, and how to interpret that research, and it all ties back
into critical thinking because if students can understand the scientific process and research,
they're able to really master the field of psychology.
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One of the things that surprises students is the amount of biology that's in psychology,
and in fact, the biological basis of behavior has become an increasingly important part
of the field overall.
I've tried to approach it in several ways.
First of all, there's a dedicated chapter to the biological basis of behavior and neuroscience,
and then I also have a feature in every chapter that talks about neuroscience in your life,
and tries to take what could be a very dry subject and bring it to life
so that students understand that, in fact, this really has an impact on their own lives.
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One of the things I think is critical is providing an authentic context for the material.
In other words, providing relevancy to student's lives, and I've tried very hard to make sure
that there are specific features that relate to how students can use psychology
in their own lives and how they will be able to use it.
If the material is relevant to them, if it speaks to their own lives,
if it speaks to skills that will help them be better people in the future,
that will help them understand others better, there's a much greater chance they're going
to understand the material, they're going to like the material, enjoy it,
and it will have meaning to them.
One of the features is called applying psychology in the 21st century, and for example,
one of them talks about whether or not our attention spans have changed,
and there are some data that suggest that in fact, they have.
They're shorter.
At the end of that feature is a series of questions asking students to evaluate that data,
to evaluate that claim, to make sense of it, to see if they,
in fact, understand it on a deep level.
So, it really engages student's critical thinking.
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Concept analysis is incorporated in the book in several different ways.
One of the most important is when I present a study or present some information,
very often there are questions that follow it that explicitly asks students to think about it,
not just in terms of regurgitating the information,
but showing that they understand it on a very deep level.
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In writing the book, I made absolutely sure that the components
of each chapter were aligned with the AP test.
So for instance, it includes AP learning targets, it includes AP essential questions,
and it includes AP skills, so that the key elements that are on the test are included
in the book in a very explicit way.
I'm really excited about this book being used by High School students.
I remember my own High School experience, and the thought that I can help influence students,
and help them make choices about their future and even more importantly convey information
to them that will allow them to understand other people better, that's totally exciting to me.
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