How Psychology Works: The Facts Visually Explained (DK How Stuff Works)

Another great book as a primer for kids and those interested in a general overview. Unfortunately, the binding is poor, and will lose pages as soon as you truly use the book. I emailed the publisher since all the books in this series have the same problem (Food, Body, etc.) and I was only informed to return the book, when I was hopeful they would better the quality like the older DK books I have. Just something to take into account if you have a young one that uses books roughly.

The concepts are explained in simple terms that anybody new to psychology would understand. There are pictures and drawings that help the reader grasp the material as well. I picked this up for my psychology class and I don't regret it. I plan on using it even when I am done with the class this semester.

DK is well known for its encyclopedic volumes on subjects as diverse as Lego Minifigs and t he present example, “How Psychology Works”.

First, the book presents a overview of what psychology is. Only 35 pages long, it presents a remarkably thorough discussion of how the science developed, its major branches and the basics of how the brain, emotions and memory work. It is an overview and not a detailed exposition, but for someone new to the subject, it provides a good introduction to the subject.

The next section provides details of 44 common psychological disorders, most given a two-page spread with lots of infographic style illustrations, charts and graphs. There is also a short section summarizing 10 less common psychological disorders, such as Koro: “A delusional disorder in which a person has an irrational fear that their genitals are retracting or disappearing”. I’d never heard of that one.

Thirty-four pages spell out in broad, but helpful, terms 27 kinds of healing therapies. These aren’t in-depth t7reatments, but provide a good overview.

The last section treats “Psychology In The Real World”, a general discussion of how psychology is used and abused in the real world.

I think this is an excellent no-nonsense guide to psychology in general and will be helpful to children and adults seeking a slightly deeper understanding of psychology.

Jerry

This book provides an excellent introduction to psychology. Concepts are explained clearly, information is presented in a logical order. As with all DK books, this one relies heavily on colorful graphics to keep the reader engaged. There is a huge amount of information given here although none of the topics are covered more than superficially. The information given is enough to guide the reader in a proper direction for further research.

This fun and colorful whirlwind tour psychology will genuinely give the reader insight into their own minds and the minds of others. It might even save the reader a few bucks on therapy, which gets expensive fast.

One nit. There is a section on social psychology which covers politics, and the only real dis-functionality it describes is "nationalism." Fair enough. But that is it. I wish the authors had found a way to cover utopianism in general, like commune ism, fundamental ism, and other extreme isms in general, and didn't confine itself to describing psychological issues from right-wing extremism while ignoring the consequences of left-wing extremism (like how a hundred million people were murdered in communist countries over the past century.)

But otherwise, fun book.

This book provides an overview of psychology. As with most DK books, this one is full of helpful diagrams along with the text. The book started by providing a timeline for the history of psychology and describing how the brain, memory, and emotions work. It then gave brief descriptions for 48 psychological disorders and 29 therapies used to heal these disorders. It finished by describing how psychology is used in the real world, like in education, sports, the workplace, forensics, politics, and so forth. I found the book informative and interesting.

This book covers a very broad range of topics, with the majority related to psychological conditions (e.g. depression) and approaches to therapy for treatment of conditions. The "look" of the book is currently presented well here on Amazon with graphics and limited text. There is not a lot of detail on most topics, so for me, this is best a reference book to get some basic information on a topic or to use as a browsing book to get an overview of a set of topics. If you want more depth, you'll need another source but this book is a start.

The book is quite reasonably priced and seems to cover lots of topics.

Recommended for browsing or introduction to topics.