Mind and behaviour. A more fascinating area of study is hard to imagine, yet as students your lead authors didn’t recognise this when we entered university. In fact, the study of psychology wasn’t on either of our radar screens. Michael planned to major in physics, Ron in journalism. Then something unexpected occurred. Each of us took an introductory psychology course and suddenly our life paths changed. Because of lecturers who brought psychology to life, we were hooked, and that initial enthusiasm has never left us.

Now, through Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour, we have the pleasure and privilege of sharing our enthusiasm with you and a new generation of students. Our goal is to spark a passion for psychology in today’s students. We believe that the study of psychology has something to offer everyone, whether it is the development of a new lens for viewing everyday life, an appreciation for the myriad ways psychological research has changed and illuminated human understanding, or an enthusiastic engagement with new concepts and theories. We want students to experience, as we did, the intellectual excitement and relevance of studying the mind and behavior.

FOLLOWING WHERE THE SCIENCE LEADS . . . TO CRITICAL EXAMINATION

As psychologists and lecturers of introductory psychology, a challenge we face is engaging students such as yourself in the critical examination of the course topics. However, in order to support critical examination, we must fi rst help you understand the content. We must decide how to address psychology’s enormous breadth and diverse approaches within an academic time frame that always seems too short.

Moreover, as we move from topic to topic, and from chapter to chapter, we don’t want to leave you feeling that psychology is merely a massive collection of disjointed facts. And, to those of you who may be expecting simple answers to important personal and intellectual questions (or who may already believe you know the answers thanks to what you’ve learned from the internet or other media) we must convey the message that because behaviour is complex, answers to such questions often are not black and white.

To meet these challenges, we start with the science. By following where the science leads, you can learn the core concepts and are ushered through the process of critical examination.

At the center of this approach is the recognition that psychologists study behaviour from multiple vantage points that emphasise biological, psychological, and environmental and social determinants. This approach will show you that despite the myriad topics psychologists study and the diverse approaches they use, there is an underlying commonality to how any topic can be examined.

To further show you ‘where the science leads’, and how to follow the trail, Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior will help you develop some basic tools of critical examination through a wealth of features both in this text and online in Connect