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Psychology in Everyday Life
Seventh Edition ©2026 David G. Myers; C. Nathan DeWall; June Gruber Formats: Achieve, Read & Practice, E-book, Print
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Authors
-
David G. Myers
David Myers received his B.A. in chemistry from Whitworth University, and his psychology Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He has spent his career at Hope College, Michigan, where he has taught dozens of introductory psychology sections. Hope College students have invited him to be their commencement speaker and voted him “outstanding professor.” His research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, an Honored Scientist award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences, an Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Social-Personality Psychology, a Presidential Citation from APA Division 2, election as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, and three honorary doctorates.
With support from National Science Foundation grants, Myers’ scientific articles have appeared in three dozen scientific periodicals, including Science, American Scientist, Psychological Science, and American Psychologist. In addition to his scholarly and textbook writing, he digests psychological science for the general public. His writings have appeared in four dozen magazines, from Today’s Education to Scientific American. He also has authored six general audience books, including, in 2022, How Do We Know Ourselves? Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind. And he blogs about psychology and life at TalkPsych.com.
David Myers has chaired his city’s Human Relations Commission, helped found a thriving assistance center for low-income families, and spoken to hundreds of college, community, and professional groups worldwide. Drawing on his experience of hearing loss, which now includes a cochlear implant, he also has written articles and a book (A Quiet World) about hearing loss, and he is advocating a transformation in U.S. assistive listening technology (see HearingLoop.org). For his leadership, he has received awards from the American Academy of Audiology, the hearing industry, and the Hearing Loss Association of America.
David and Carol Myers met and married while undergraduates, and have raised sons Peter and Andrew, and a daughter, Laura. They have one grandchild, Allie.
-
C. Nathan DeWall
Nathan DeWall is professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. He received his
bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in social science from the
University of Chicago, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social psychology from Florida
State University. DeWall received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. The Association for Psychological Science identified DeWall as a “Rising Star” early in his career for “making significant contributions to the field of psychological science.” He has been included in the top 1 percent of all cited scientists in psychology and psychiatry on the Institute for Scientific Information list, according to the Web of Science. He is currently serving on the National Science Foundation Social Psychology Program panel.
psychology of religion, and intellectual humility. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, he has published 225 scientific articles and chapters. DeWall’s research awards include the SAGE Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Research on Aggression, and the Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. His research has been covered by numerous media and entertainment outlets, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, National Public Radio, The Guardian, the BBC, and a Netflix documentary. He has lectured nationally and internationally, including in Hong Kong, China, the Netherlands, England, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Australia, and France.DeWall conducts research on close relationships, self-control, aggression, the
and Ellis. He also enjoys taking care of the family dog, Stubbs. As an ultramarathon runner, he completed numerous races, including the Badwater 135 in 2017 (dubbed “the World’s toughest foot race”). In his spare time now, he enjoys hiking, attending live concerts, setting up and maintaining aquariums, watching sports, and playing guitar and singing.Nathan is happily married to Alice DeWall and is the proud father of Beverly “Bevy”
-
June Gruber
June Gruber is an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she directs the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Laboratory and studies the links between positive emotions and mental health, including the “dark side” of happiness. Gruber was previously an assistant professor of psychology at Yale University. She received her B.A. in psychology and her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Gruber has published over 140 articles and chapters, co-authored Psychology, Fourteenth Edition (with David Myers and Nathan DeWall), and edited two psychology books — The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology and Positive Emotion: Integrating the Light Sides and Dark Sides (with Judith Moskowitz). Her research has received several honors, including the Association for Psychological Science’s Rising Star Award, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, the Society for Research in Psychopathology’s Early Career Award, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and Yale University’s Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Junior Faculty. Gruber has served as an Associate Editor and Interim Editor-in-Chief for Perspectives on Psychological Science and is currently an Associate Editor at Emotion.
Gruber’s passion for teaching psychology and training future generations of scholarsextends beyond the classroom. She has created freely available interview series and courses for the general public, including a Coursera #TalkMentalIllness course, an Experts in Emotion Interview Series at Yale University, and an online course in Human Emotion. Gruber has cowritten a column for young scientists in ScienceCareers.org (from the journal Science) and is currently writing for Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science (along with Myers and DeWall). Her teaching efforts have received several awards, including the President’s Teaching Scholars Award, the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching and Pedagogy Award, the UROP Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, and the Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction at the University of Colorado Boulder. Gruber is deeply invested in supporting and elevating the careers of underrepresented women in the sciences, and leads workshops, publishes papers, and gives talks to raise awareness about gender disparities in the field and to chart a proactive path forward.
Ansel and Silvan, and her husband, Raul, whom she met as an undergraduate psychology major. She also enjoys taking hikes with her dogs Buddy and Eddy, making art projects with her children, traveling, and basking in the nostalgia of 1980s music.Gruber enjoys spending quiet days in the Colorado mountains with her two sons,
Table of Contents
Instructor Preface
Student Preface: Skills for Student Success—How to Apply Psychology to Live Your Best Life
CHAPTER 1
Psychology’s Roots, Critical Thinking, and Self-Improvement Tools
Psychology Is a Science
Critical Thinking and the Scientific Attitude
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Scientific Attitude
Psychological Science’s Birth and Development
Today’s Psychology
The Need for Psychological Science
The Limits of Common Sense
Psychological Science in a Post-Truth World
How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions?
The Scientific Method
Description
Correlation
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Correlation and Causation
Experimentation
Choosing a Research Design
Predicting Everyday Behavior
Psychology’s Research Ethics
Studying and Protecting Animals
Studying and Protecting Humans
Values in Psychology
Use Psychology to Become a Stronger Person—and a Better Student
CHAPTER 2
The Biology of Behavior and Consciousness
The Power of Neuroplasticity
Neural Communication
A Neuron’s Structure
How Neurons Communicate
How Neurotransmitters Influence Us
The Nervous System
The Peripheral Nervous System
The Central Nervous System
The Endocrine System
The Brain
Tools of Discovery—Having Our Head Examined
Brain Regions and Structures
The Limbic System
The Cerebral Cortex
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Do We Use Only 10 Percent of Our Brain?
Damage Response and Brain Hemispheres
Brain States and Consciousness
Selective Attention
Sleep and Dreams
CHAPTER 3
Developing Through the Life Span
Developmental Psychology’s Major Issues
Nature and Nurture
Continuity and Stages
Stability and Change
Prenatal Development and the Newborn
Conception
Prenatal Development
The Competent Newborn
Twin and Adoption Studies
Infancy and Childhood
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Parenting Styles—Too Hard, Too Soft, Too Uncaring, and Just Right?
Adolescence
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
Emerging Adulthood
Adulthood
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
CHAPTER 4
Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Gender Development
Similarities and Differences
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Gender Bias in the Workplace
The Nature of Gender
The Nurture of Gender
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Sexual Aggression
Human Sexuality
The Physiology of Sex
The Psychology of Sex
Sexual Orientation
Cultural Attitudes and Prevalence
Why Do We Differ?
An Evolutionary Explanation of Human Sexuality
Male-Female Differences in Sexuality
Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
Critiquing the Evolutionary Perspective
Sex and Human Relationships
Reflections on the Nature and Nurture of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
CHAPTER 5
Sensation and Perception
Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception
From Outer Energy to Inner Brain Activity
Thresholds
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Subliminal Stimulation and Subliminal Persuasion
Sensory Adaptation
Perceptual Set
Context, Motivation, and Emotion
Vision
Light Energy and Eye Structures
Information Processing in the Eye and Brain
Perceptual Organization
Perceptual Interpretation
Hearing
Sound Waves: From the Environment Into the Brain
Decoding Sound Waves
How Do We Locate Sounds?
Skin, Chemical, and Body Senses
Touch
Chemical Senses: Taste and Smell
Body Position and Movement
Sensory Interaction
Perception Without Sensation?
CHAPTER 6
Learning
How Do We Learn?
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Legacy
Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s Experiments
Skinner’s Legacy
Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning
Biology, Cognition, and Learning
Biological Limits on Conditioning
Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
Learning by Observation
Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain
Observational Learning in Everyday Life
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Effects of Viewing Media Violence
CHAPTER 7
Memory
Studying Memory
An Information-Processing Model
Building Memories: Encoding
Our Two-Track Memory System
Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories
Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories
Memory Storage
Retaining Information in the Brain
Synaptic Changes
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Measuring Retention
Retrieval Cues
Forgetting
Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Memory Construction Errors
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Source Amnesia
Recognizing False Memories
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Can Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse Be Repressed and Then Recovered?
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Improving Memory
CHAPTER 8
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Thinking
Concepts
Solving Problems
Making Good (and Bad) Decisions and Judgments
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Fear Factor
Thinking Creatively
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
Language
Language Acquisition and Development
The Brain and Language
Thinking Without Language
Do Other Species Have Language?
Intelligence
What Is Intelligence?
Assessing Intelligence
The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence
Intelligence Across the Life Span
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
CHAPTER 9
Motivation and Emotion
Motivational Concepts
Drives and Incentives
Arousal Theory
A Hierarchy of Needs
Hunger
The Physiology of Hunger
The Psychology of Hunger
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Challenges of Obesity and Weight Control
The Need to Belong
The Benefits of Belonging
The Pain of Being Shut Out
Connecting and Social Networking
Achievement Motivation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Goal Setting
Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition
James-Lange Theory: Arousal Comes Before Emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and Emotion Happen at the Same Time
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Arousal + Label = Emotion
Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus: Emotion and the Two-Track Brain
Embodied Emotion
The Basic Emotions
Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System
The Physiology of Emotions
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Lie Detection
Expressed and Experienced Emotion
Detecting Emotion in Others
Culture and Emotion
The Effects of Facial Expressions
CHAPTER 10
Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing
Stress: Some Basic Concepts
Stressors—Things That Push Our Buttons
Stress Reactions—From Alarm to Exhaustion
Stress Effects and Health
Stress and Heart Disease
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Stress and Health
Coping With Stress
Coping Strategies
Personal Control
Optimism and Pessimism
Emotion Regulation
Social Support
Finding Meaning
Managing Stress Effects
Aerobic Exercise
Relaxation and Meditation
Faith Communities and Health
Happiness and Well-Being
When Are We Happiest?
What Makes Us Happy?
Evidence-Based Suggestions for a Happy Life
Questioning Some Myths About Happiness
CHAPTER 11
Social Psychology
What Is Social Psychology’s Focus?
Social Thinking
The Fundamental Attribution Error
Attitudes and Actions
Persuasion
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: How to Be Persuasive
Social Influence
Cultural Influences
Conformity and Obedience
Group Influence
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Internet as Social Amplifier
Social Relations
Prejudice
Aggression
Attraction
Altruism
From Conflict to Peace
CHAPTER 12
Personality
What Is Personality?
Psychodynamic Theories
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective: Exploring the Unconscious
The Neo-Freudian and Later Psychodynamic Theorists
Assessing Unconscious Processes
Evaluating Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective and Modern Views of the Unconscious
Humanistic Theories
Abraham Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person
Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective
Assessing the Self
Evaluating Humanistic Theories
Trait Theories
Exploring Traits
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Stigma of Introversion
Assessing Traits
The Big Five Factors
Evaluating Trait Theories
Social-Cognitive Theories
Reciprocal Influences
Assessing Behavior in Situations
Evaluating Social-Cognitive Theories
Exploring the Self
The Benefits and Costs of Self-Esteem
Self-Serving Bias
Culture and the Self
CHAPTER 13
Psychological Disorders
What Is a Psychological Disorder?
Defining Psychological Disorders
Understanding Psychological Disorders
Classifying Disorders—and Labeling People
Anxiety-Related Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Understanding Anxiety-Related Disorders
Substance Use Disorders
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Tolerance and Addiction
Types of Psychoactive Drugs
Understanding Substance Use Disorders
Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders
Depressive Disorders
Bipolar Disorders
Understanding Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders
Schizophrenia
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Onset and Development of Schizophrenia
Understanding Schizophrenia
Dissociative, Personality, and Eating Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Personality Disorders
Eating Disorders
Risk of Harm to Self and Others
Understanding Suicide
Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
Does Disorder Equal Danger?
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Intellectual Disability
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: ADHD—Normal High Energy or Disordered Behavior?
CHAPTER 14
Therapy
Treating Psychological Disorders
The Psychological Therapies
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapies
Humanistic Therapies
Behavior Therapies
Cognitive Therapies
Group, Couple, and Family Therapies
Evaluating Psychotherapies
Is Psychotherapy Effective?
Which Psychotherapies Work Best?
How Do Psychotherapies Help People?
Human Diversity and Psychotherapy
Seeking Psychotherapy
Ethical Principles in Psychotherapy
The Biomedical Therapies
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
Drug Therapies
Brain Stimulation
Psychosurgery
Preventing Psychological Disorders and Building Resilience
Preventive Mental Health
Building Resilience
APPENDIXES
A Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life
B Psychology at Work
C The Story of Psychology: A Timeline
D Career Fields in Psychology
E Complete Chapter Reviews
F Answers to the Retrieve & Remember and Chapter Test Questions
Glossary
Glosario
References
Name Index
Subject Index
Product Updates
- New in Achieve: A student-facing guide on “How to Increase Your Sense of Belonging—and Why It Matters.”
- Fresh Video Content: Mental health videos and instructor slide sets now available, plus dozens of assignable wellness videos.
- Revamped Lecture Slides: Now with more discussion prompts to help build student connection and belonging.
- Self-Assessments & Activities: Covering resilience, sleep, mindset, emotional balance, awe, and more.
- Everyday Life Focus: Questions and tools throughout the text help students apply psychology to improve relationships, manage stress, and reach personal goals.
- Inclusive & Accessible: Designed for all students—no assumptions about gender, culture, income, ability, or background.
- MCAT-Aligned: Perfect for nursing and premed students, with test bank and instructor resources mapped to MCAT topics.
From critical thinking to clinical insights, students are empowered to use psychology to thrive—both in class and in life.
Authors
-
David G. Myers
David Myers received his B.A. in chemistry from Whitworth University, and his psychology Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. He has spent his career at Hope College, Michigan, where he has taught dozens of introductory psychology sections. Hope College students have invited him to be their commencement speaker and voted him “outstanding professor.” His research and writings have been recognized by the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize, an Honored Scientist award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences, an Award for Distinguished Service on Behalf of Social-Personality Psychology, a Presidential Citation from APA Division 2, election as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow, and three honorary doctorates.
With support from National Science Foundation grants, Myers’ scientific articles have appeared in three dozen scientific periodicals, including Science, American Scientist, Psychological Science, and American Psychologist. In addition to his scholarly and textbook writing, he digests psychological science for the general public. His writings have appeared in four dozen magazines, from Today’s Education to Scientific American. He also has authored six general audience books, including, in 2022, How Do We Know Ourselves? Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind. And he blogs about psychology and life at TalkPsych.com.
David Myers has chaired his city’s Human Relations Commission, helped found a thriving assistance center for low-income families, and spoken to hundreds of college, community, and professional groups worldwide. Drawing on his experience of hearing loss, which now includes a cochlear implant, he also has written articles and a book (A Quiet World) about hearing loss, and he is advocating a transformation in U.S. assistive listening technology (see HearingLoop.org). For his leadership, he has received awards from the American Academy of Audiology, the hearing industry, and the Hearing Loss Association of America.
David and Carol Myers met and married while undergraduates, and have raised sons Peter and Andrew, and a daughter, Laura. They have one grandchild, Allie.
-
C. Nathan DeWall
Nathan DeWall is professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky. He received his
bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College, a master’s degree in social science from the
University of Chicago, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in social psychology from Florida
State University. DeWall received the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. The Association for Psychological Science identified DeWall as a “Rising Star” early in his career for “making significant contributions to the field of psychological science.” He has been included in the top 1 percent of all cited scientists in psychology and psychiatry on the Institute for Scientific Information list, according to the Web of Science. He is currently serving on the National Science Foundation Social Psychology Program panel.
psychology of religion, and intellectual humility. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the John Templeton Foundation, he has published 225 scientific articles and chapters. DeWall’s research awards include the SAGE Young Scholars Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology, the Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Research on Aggression, and the Early Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. His research has been covered by numerous media and entertainment outlets, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Harvard Business Review, USA Today, National Public Radio, The Guardian, the BBC, and a Netflix documentary. He has lectured nationally and internationally, including in Hong Kong, China, the Netherlands, England, Greece, Hungary, Sweden, Australia, and France.DeWall conducts research on close relationships, self-control, aggression, the
and Ellis. He also enjoys taking care of the family dog, Stubbs. As an ultramarathon runner, he completed numerous races, including the Badwater 135 in 2017 (dubbed “the World’s toughest foot race”). In his spare time now, he enjoys hiking, attending live concerts, setting up and maintaining aquariums, watching sports, and playing guitar and singing.Nathan is happily married to Alice DeWall and is the proud father of Beverly “Bevy”
-
June Gruber
June Gruber is an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she directs the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Laboratory and studies the links between positive emotions and mental health, including the “dark side” of happiness. Gruber was previously an assistant professor of psychology at Yale University. She received her B.A. in psychology and her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Gruber has published over 140 articles and chapters, co-authored Psychology, Fourteenth Edition (with David Myers and Nathan DeWall), and edited two psychology books — The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology and Positive Emotion: Integrating the Light Sides and Dark Sides (with Judith Moskowitz). Her research has received several honors, including the Association for Psychological Science’s Rising Star Award, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, the Society for Research in Psychopathology’s Early Career Award, the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, and Yale University’s Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Junior Faculty. Gruber has served as an Associate Editor and Interim Editor-in-Chief for Perspectives on Psychological Science and is currently an Associate Editor at Emotion.
Gruber’s passion for teaching psychology and training future generations of scholarsextends beyond the classroom. She has created freely available interview series and courses for the general public, including a Coursera #TalkMentalIllness course, an Experts in Emotion Interview Series at Yale University, and an online course in Human Emotion. Gruber has cowritten a column for young scientists in ScienceCareers.org (from the journal Science) and is currently writing for Teaching Current Directions in Psychological Science (along with Myers and DeWall). Her teaching efforts have received several awards, including the President’s Teaching Scholars Award, the Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Teaching and Pedagogy Award, the UROP Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, and the Cogswell Award for Inspirational Instruction at the University of Colorado Boulder. Gruber is deeply invested in supporting and elevating the careers of underrepresented women in the sciences, and leads workshops, publishes papers, and gives talks to raise awareness about gender disparities in the field and to chart a proactive path forward.
Ansel and Silvan, and her husband, Raul, whom she met as an undergraduate psychology major. She also enjoys taking hikes with her dogs Buddy and Eddy, making art projects with her children, traveling, and basking in the nostalgia of 1980s music.Gruber enjoys spending quiet days in the Colorado mountains with her two sons,
Table of Contents
Instructor Preface
Student Preface: Skills for Student Success—How to Apply Psychology to Live Your Best Life
CHAPTER 1
Psychology’s Roots, Critical Thinking, and Self-Improvement Tools
Psychology Is a Science
Critical Thinking and the Scientific Attitude
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Scientific Attitude
Psychological Science’s Birth and Development
Today’s Psychology
The Need for Psychological Science
The Limits of Common Sense
Psychological Science in a Post-Truth World
How Do Psychologists Ask and Answer Questions?
The Scientific Method
Description
Correlation
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Correlation and Causation
Experimentation
Choosing a Research Design
Predicting Everyday Behavior
Psychology’s Research Ethics
Studying and Protecting Animals
Studying and Protecting Humans
Values in Psychology
Use Psychology to Become a Stronger Person—and a Better Student
CHAPTER 2
The Biology of Behavior and Consciousness
The Power of Neuroplasticity
Neural Communication
A Neuron’s Structure
How Neurons Communicate
How Neurotransmitters Influence Us
The Nervous System
The Peripheral Nervous System
The Central Nervous System
The Endocrine System
The Brain
Tools of Discovery—Having Our Head Examined
Brain Regions and Structures
The Limbic System
The Cerebral Cortex
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Do We Use Only 10 Percent of Our Brain?
Damage Response and Brain Hemispheres
Brain States and Consciousness
Selective Attention
Sleep and Dreams
CHAPTER 3
Developing Through the Life Span
Developmental Psychology’s Major Issues
Nature and Nurture
Continuity and Stages
Stability and Change
Prenatal Development and the Newborn
Conception
Prenatal Development
The Competent Newborn
Twin and Adoption Studies
Infancy and Childhood
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Parenting Styles—Too Hard, Too Soft, Too Uncaring, and Just Right?
Adolescence
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
Emerging Adulthood
Adulthood
Physical Development
Cognitive Development
Social Development
CHAPTER 4
Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
Gender Development
Similarities and Differences
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Gender Bias in the Workplace
The Nature of Gender
The Nurture of Gender
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Sexual Aggression
Human Sexuality
The Physiology of Sex
The Psychology of Sex
Sexual Orientation
Cultural Attitudes and Prevalence
Why Do We Differ?
An Evolutionary Explanation of Human Sexuality
Male-Female Differences in Sexuality
Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
Critiquing the Evolutionary Perspective
Sex and Human Relationships
Reflections on the Nature and Nurture of Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
CHAPTER 5
Sensation and Perception
Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception
From Outer Energy to Inner Brain Activity
Thresholds
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Subliminal Stimulation and Subliminal Persuasion
Sensory Adaptation
Perceptual Set
Context, Motivation, and Emotion
Vision
Light Energy and Eye Structures
Information Processing in the Eye and Brain
Perceptual Organization
Perceptual Interpretation
Hearing
Sound Waves: From the Environment Into the Brain
Decoding Sound Waves
How Do We Locate Sounds?
Skin, Chemical, and Body Senses
Touch
Chemical Senses: Taste and Smell
Body Position and Movement
Sensory Interaction
Perception Without Sensation?
CHAPTER 6
Learning
How Do We Learn?
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Legacy
Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s Experiments
Skinner’s Legacy
Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning
Biology, Cognition, and Learning
Biological Limits on Conditioning
Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
Learning by Observation
Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain
Observational Learning in Everyday Life
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Effects of Viewing Media Violence
CHAPTER 7
Memory
Studying Memory
An Information-Processing Model
Building Memories: Encoding
Our Two-Track Memory System
Automatic Processing and Implicit Memories
Effortful Processing and Explicit Memories
Memory Storage
Retaining Information in the Brain
Synaptic Changes
Retrieval: Getting Information Out
Measuring Retention
Retrieval Cues
Forgetting
Forgetting and the Two-Track Mind
Encoding Failure
Storage Decay
Retrieval Failure
Memory Construction Errors
Misinformation and Imagination Effects
Source Amnesia
Recognizing False Memories
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Can Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse Be Repressed and Then Recovered?
Children’s Eyewitness Recall
Improving Memory
CHAPTER 8
Thinking, Language, and Intelligence
Thinking
Concepts
Solving Problems
Making Good (and Bad) Decisions and Judgments
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Fear Factor
Thinking Creatively
Do Other Species Share Our Cognitive Skills?
Language
Language Acquisition and Development
The Brain and Language
Thinking Without Language
Do Other Species Have Language?
Intelligence
What Is Intelligence?
Assessing Intelligence
The Nature and Nurture of Intelligence
Intelligence Across the Life Span
Group Differences in Intelligence Test Scores
CHAPTER 9
Motivation and Emotion
Motivational Concepts
Drives and Incentives
Arousal Theory
A Hierarchy of Needs
Hunger
The Physiology of Hunger
The Psychology of Hunger
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Challenges of Obesity and Weight Control
The Need to Belong
The Benefits of Belonging
The Pain of Being Shut Out
Connecting and Social Networking
Achievement Motivation
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Goal Setting
Emotion: Arousal, Behavior, and Cognition
James-Lange Theory: Arousal Comes Before Emotion
Cannon-Bard Theory: Arousal and Emotion Happen at the Same Time
Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Arousal + Label = Emotion
Zajonc, LeDoux, and Lazarus: Emotion and the Two-Track Brain
Embodied Emotion
The Basic Emotions
Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System
The Physiology of Emotions
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Lie Detection
Expressed and Experienced Emotion
Detecting Emotion in Others
Culture and Emotion
The Effects of Facial Expressions
CHAPTER 10
Stress, Health, and Human Flourishing
Stress: Some Basic Concepts
Stressors—Things That Push Our Buttons
Stress Reactions—From Alarm to Exhaustion
Stress Effects and Health
Stress and Heart Disease
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Stress and Health
Coping With Stress
Coping Strategies
Personal Control
Optimism and Pessimism
Emotion Regulation
Social Support
Finding Meaning
Managing Stress Effects
Aerobic Exercise
Relaxation and Meditation
Faith Communities and Health
Happiness and Well-Being
When Are We Happiest?
What Makes Us Happy?
Evidence-Based Suggestions for a Happy Life
Questioning Some Myths About Happiness
CHAPTER 11
Social Psychology
What Is Social Psychology’s Focus?
Social Thinking
The Fundamental Attribution Error
Attitudes and Actions
Persuasion
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: How to Be Persuasive
Social Influence
Cultural Influences
Conformity and Obedience
Group Influence
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Internet as Social Amplifier
Social Relations
Prejudice
Aggression
Attraction
Altruism
From Conflict to Peace
CHAPTER 12
Personality
What Is Personality?
Psychodynamic Theories
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective: Exploring the Unconscious
The Neo-Freudian and Later Psychodynamic Theorists
Assessing Unconscious Processes
Evaluating Freud’s Psychoanalytic Perspective and Modern Views of the Unconscious
Humanistic Theories
Abraham Maslow’s Self-Actualizing Person
Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Perspective
Assessing the Self
Evaluating Humanistic Theories
Trait Theories
Exploring Traits
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: The Stigma of Introversion
Assessing Traits
The Big Five Factors
Evaluating Trait Theories
Social-Cognitive Theories
Reciprocal Influences
Assessing Behavior in Situations
Evaluating Social-Cognitive Theories
Exploring the Self
The Benefits and Costs of Self-Esteem
Self-Serving Bias
Culture and the Self
CHAPTER 13
Psychological Disorders
What Is a Psychological Disorder?
Defining Psychological Disorders
Understanding Psychological Disorders
Classifying Disorders—and Labeling People
Anxiety-Related Disorders
Anxiety Disorders
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
Understanding Anxiety-Related Disorders
Substance Use Disorders
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Tolerance and Addiction
Types of Psychoactive Drugs
Understanding Substance Use Disorders
Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders
Depressive Disorders
Bipolar Disorders
Understanding Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders
Schizophrenia
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
Onset and Development of Schizophrenia
Understanding Schizophrenia
Dissociative, Personality, and Eating Disorders
Dissociative Disorders
Personality Disorders
Eating Disorders
Risk of Harm to Self and Others
Understanding Suicide
Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
Does Disorder Equal Danger?
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Intellectual Disability
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: ADHD—Normal High Energy or Disordered Behavior?
CHAPTER 14
Therapy
Treating Psychological Disorders
The Psychological Therapies
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapies
Humanistic Therapies
Behavior Therapies
Cognitive Therapies
Group, Couple, and Family Therapies
Evaluating Psychotherapies
Is Psychotherapy Effective?
Which Psychotherapies Work Best?
How Do Psychotherapies Help People?
Human Diversity and Psychotherapy
Seeking Psychotherapy
Ethical Principles in Psychotherapy
The Biomedical Therapies
THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT: Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
Drug Therapies
Brain Stimulation
Psychosurgery
Preventing Psychological Disorders and Building Resilience
Preventive Mental Health
Building Resilience
APPENDIXES
A Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life
B Psychology at Work
C The Story of Psychology: A Timeline
D Career Fields in Psychology
E Complete Chapter Reviews
F Answers to the Retrieve & Remember and Chapter Test Questions
Glossary
Glosario
References
Name Index
Subject Index
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David G. Myers; C. Nathan DeWall; June Gruber | Seventh Edition | ©2026 | ISBN:9781319606695
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If you’re a verified instructor, you can request a free sample of our courseware, e-book, or print textbook to consider for use in your courses. Only registered and verified instructors can receive free print and digital samples, and they should not be sold to bookstores or book resellers. If you don't yet have an existing account with Macmillan Learning, it can take up to two business days to verify your status as an instructor. You can request a free sample from the right side of this product page by clicking on the "Request Instructor Sample" button or by contacting your rep. Learn more.
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Sometimes also referred to as a spiral-bound or binder-ready textbook, loose-leaf textbooks are available to purchase. This three-hole punched, unbound version of the book costs less than a hardcover or paperback book.
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Achieve (full course) includes our complete e-book, as well as online quizzing tools, multimedia assets, and iClicker active classroom manager.
Most Achieve Essentials courses do not include our e-books and adaptive quizzing.
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Achieve (full course) includes our complete e-book, as well as online quizzing tools, multimedia assets, and iClicker active classroom manager.
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Psychology in Everyday Life
Best-selling authors David Myers', Nathan DeWall’s, and June Gruber’s briefest introduction to psychology speaks to all students regardless of their background or level of preparedness. The authors provide the most up-to-date coverage of the field while focusing on the most engaging and relevant content for students. The May 2025 “Insights Report” from The Chronicle of Higher Education discussed how colleges are redefining student success to include “sense of belonging.” Our Seventh Edition integrates content in the text and Achieve that focuses on this goal of increasing students’ sense of belonging and wellness.
Psychology in Everyday Life is a brief (less than 500 pages) but complete—and affordable—resource for students at all levels. Myers, DeWall, and Gruber have created over 80(!) resources in Achieve (including How Would You Know? research activities; Assess Your Strengths self-assessment activities; How to Increase Your Sense of Belonging, and Why It Matters activity; and the Lecture Slides) so there is a tight connection between the text and Achieve.
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