Key Concepts in Psychology

Citation

Brown, M. (2007), "Key Concepts in Psychology", Library Review, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp. 268-270. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530710736172

Students beginning psychology, or undertaking organizational behaviour study as part of a vocational qualification, may struggle to understand the more conceptual aspects of the subject, let alone the statistics which alarm the non‐scientists. The author of Key Concepts in Psychology includes a “List of phobias” in the text but interestingly not a fear of statistics: statistophobia, perhaps?

However, help is at hand with this book. Because of its dictionary style, where terms from philosophy, sociology and biology are presented purely in alphabetical order, I did not approach it with tremendous initial enthusiasm. But such was the clarity of structure and writing, as well as the diversity and depth of the material, that I would recommend it to university libraries as a resource for students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level who are seeking to revise key aspects of psychology. It would also be a useful aide–memoire for Human Resource specialists seeking to understand organizational behaviour beyond the confines of their subject.

As a psychology lecturer and practitioner who is a practising psychotherapist, the author is able to understand the needs of the non‐expert, and recommends excellent references, including a number of useful websites, to assist students seeking to construct effective arguments in essay writing. As well as the list of common phobias, a useful set of revision lists is provided which sums up the topic entries, and a detailed index. There are useful real‐life illustrations of theories and concepts, and, for those seeking a career in the field, details of where to obtain information about different possibilities, from educational psychology to parapsychology.

All the important thinkers are here, although perhaps one criticism is that they are allowed in a number of cases to get away without significant challenge – an idea, for example, of some of the scholarly objections to a controversial topic like Freudian psychoanalysis would have been helpful. Also, there is a tendency to segue unto some philosophical concepts like existentialism which are fascinating in themselves but possibly slightly peripheral to the main topic area. However, the sociologists would probably welcome their inclusion.

The topics concerning research in psychology were particularly helpful: for students confused about case‐study approach, the entry here was extremely well explained and managed to encompass a number of relevant research topics which are also cross referenced. Similarly there should be no more confusion for students who are trying to discuss the differences between qualitative and quantitative approaches, as they are set out succinctly here. There are also a number of clearly explained entries describing statistical tests for significance, and key statistical concepts are collected, together with key psychology theories, approaches and concepts in the useful topic revision section.

A number of the texts aimed at the new or non‐specialist psychology student include brief glossaries of terms (Arnold et al., 2005, or Rollinson, 2005, for example, are typical in this regard), but these tend to be brief memory joggers for the main text and not necessarily particularly engrossing to read. The Palgrave Key Concepts series has generally managed to combine succinctness with interesting material, and this book is no exception.