Preface

This is the third edition of my book Psychology. One reason for this revision is the obvious fact that like any other discipline, psychology advances and develops. Until a few decades ago, many psychologists tended to be somewhat defensive about the status of the field and were probably a bit too loud in proclaiming that “Psychology is a science!” Today there is no need for such defensive proclamations, for by now that assertion has become a simple statement of fact. In the decades that have passed psychology has assuredly become a “real” and vigorously progressive science.
As a field advances, so must the books that try to describe it. These advances, together with suggestions by students and colleagues who have used the text, prompted a number of changes that I describe below. ...