Essential Psychology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Psychology: Its Role and Scope

   Pages 1-16

3. Heredity, Environment and Intelligence

   Pages 17-33

4. Childhood

   Pages 34-50

5. Adolescence

   Pages 51-71

6. Adulthood and Old Age

   Pages 72-84

7. Learning Theories

   Pages 85-103

8. Motivation

   Pages 104-120

9. Personality theories

   Pages 121-137

10. Child-rearing Practices

    Pages 138-147

11. Maternal Deprivation

    Pages 148-161

12. The Self-concept

    Pages 162-188

13. Social Perception

    Pages 189-198

14. Social Influence

    Pages 199-210

15. Role

    Pages 211-222

16. Verbal and Non-verbal Communication

    Pages 223-235

17. Persuasion by Communication

    Pages 236-254

18. Admission to Hospital

    Pages 255-272

19. Patient Behaviour

    Pages 273-287

20. Behaviour Modification

    Pages 288-301

While this book is concerned with psychology let no reader believe that after studying it he or she will be a budding psychologist. Only those elements of psychology which are central to the adequate functioning of the professional in the health and allied caring services are covered. Many popular topics, such as intelligence, memory, concept formation, will not be found within the covers of this book. The objective of this book is to enable those professionals who have responsibility for the well-being, health and care of others to develop insight into and to become more empathetic to the needs, motivations, feelings and behaviour of their charges. An ancillary objective is that the readers too might come to understand a little more about their own behaviour, particularly in relation to their work situation. Patients in hospital, children in residential care, the elderly in the old folks' home are all perceiving and thinking organisms, not merely interesting medical cases, a classical set of symptoms, a collection of statistics or a bulging case file. Every person, whether professional or client, is affected by the way others respond to them, by the feelings each has for the other, by the non-verbal signals of eye contact, smile, and voice tone, etc.

• Motivation
• communication
• learning
• psychology
• statistics

• Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

  Robert B. Burns

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