In this revitalized, redesigned, and thoroughly updated Eighth Edition of his best-selling text, Dennis Coon once again presents psychology in a way readers will find fascinating, relevant, and above all, accessible. Professors and readers alike have found Coon's text not only interesting and easy to read, but exceptionally easy to learn from. Built into every chapter are a number of features that help readers grasp major concepts, develop a broad understanding of psychology's diversity, and see for themselves how psychology relates to the practical problems of everyday life.

Professors and readers appreciate the way that Dennis Coon speaks to his them. His delight in the subject matter of psychology and in his own readers' curiosity, insights, imagination, and interest is apparent on every page. While Coon reports the latest research, the latest controversies, and the key scientific content important to the course, he does so with a sense of humor and an awareness of readers' learning needs that set his book apart from any other in the field. In a course where professors are frequently confronted by readers who haven't actually read their textbooks, Coon's text offers a solution. Coon effectively presents an approach that involves readers and gets them "hooked" on psychology and eager to read on. Because readers become actively involved with the material, they develop a basic understanding of psychology that they take with them into their future courses and careers.

Dennis Coon was the first textbook author to make effective use of cognitive principles to teach psychology by building each chapter around the SQ3R study-reading formula: survey, question, read, recite, and review. Because SQ3R has been a part of the underlying structure of the text from its inception, this proven method works better in Coon's text than in any of the many texts that have emerged over the years that have incorporated the SQ3R structure as and "add-on."