Publisher Description

Dr. James W. Kalat's BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY is widely used for good reason: an extremely high level of scholarship, a clear writing style with amusing anecdotes, and precise examples. Kalat's goals are to make biological psychology accessible and to convey the excitement of the search for biological explanations of behavior, and he delivers. Updated with new topics, examples, and recent research findings, the new edition continues this book's tradition of quality.

Author Biography

James W. Kalat is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at North Carolina State University, where he taught courses in introduction to psychology and biological psychology from 1977 through 2012. He received an AB degree summa cum laude from Duke University and a PhD in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the author of INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (10th Edition) and co-author with Michelle Shiota of EMOTION (2nd Edition). In addition to textbooks, he has written journal articles on taste-aversion learning, the teaching of psychology, and other topics. He was twice the program chair for the annual convention of the American Psychological Society, now named the Association for Psychological Science.

Table of Contents

Introduction.
1. Nerve Cells and Nerve Impulses.
2. Synapses.
3. Anatomy and Research Methods.
4. Genetics, Evolution, Development, and Plasticity.
5. Vision.
6. Other Sensory Systems.
7. Movement.
8. Wakefulness and Sleep.
9. Internal Regulation.
10. Reproductive Behaviors.
11. Emotional Behaviors.
12. The Biology of Learning and Memory.
13. Cognitive Functions.
14. Psychological Disorders.
Appendix A: Brief, Basic Chemistry.
Appendix B: Society for Neuroscience Policies on the Use of Animals and Human Subjects in Research.

Review

"Very accessible to students. Well organized within each chapter and the modular structure allows instructors flexibility to customize their course. It is well written and has ample illustrations and real world application of concepts." "Very well written and easy to follow. Students find it very reader-friendly. It is up to the students' writing levels. The author includes key terms when necessary; [the book] suffices to cover biological psychology."

Review Quote

"Very well written and easy to follow. Students find it very reader-friendly. It is up to the students' writing levels. The author includes key terms when necessary; [the book] suffices to cover biological psychology."

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