Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology

Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology offers a thematic approach to the central topics, theories and areas of contemporary psychological research. This book focuses on the issues that comprise a series of fundamental questions that should be asked about any and all areas of research and covers key contemporary debates.

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Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology presents an integrated view of Psychology by identifying underlying themes (such as the scientific nature of Psychology, cultural and gender differences), issues (ethical, methodological and conceptual), and debates (such as heredity vs. environment, free will vs. determinism, normality vs. abnormality) which permeate the discipline as a whole.

The text adopts a critical approach to ‘mainstream Psychology’, attempting to identify and challenge some of the underlying assumptions that are traditionally made about ‘human nature’ and how it can be investigated in ways based on the scientific study of the natural world. What makes Psychology unique is the view of Psychologists as part of their own subject-matter: trying to study other people cannot be done by copying the methods of the physicist or chemist. Psychology draws on and brings together a number of different theories and methodologies from a wide range of other disciplines, including philosophy, biology, anthropology and sociology. Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology also includes chapters on Parapsychology, Positive Psychology and Religion and Spirituality, which are rarely found together in a single text. Not only are these not mainstream, but they highlight some of the themes, issues and debates discussed in earlier chapters. The topics in this fifth edition of this book are inflected by a new concern with decolonizing the curriculum, and discussions of cultural and gender-based issues are integrated into all aspects of the text to offer a new and critical perspective on issues such as political and scientific colonialism. Additionally, the text features ‘Question Time’ breaks that relate to methodological, theoretical and other issues; these are all aimed at helping the reader assimilate the material. Some of the issues raised could form the basis of seminar papers/discussions.

Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology is ideal reading for all students and is relevant to undergraduate courses in psychology.