Dictionary of Theories, Laws, and Concepts in Psychology

by Jon Roeckelein

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Author: Jon Roeckelein

Publisher: Greenwood

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0313304602
ISBN 13: 978-0313304606

Fully cross-referenced and source-referenced, this dictionary contains over 1200 entries consisting of terms concerning laws, theories, hypotheses, doctrines, principles, and effects in early and contemporary psychological literature. Each entry consists of the definition/description of the term with commentary, followed by a number of cross-referenced, related terms, and by chronologically-ordered source references to indicate the evolution of the term. An appendix provides supplementary material on many laws and theories not included in the dictionary itself and will be helpful to students and scholars concerned with specialty areas in psychology.

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Fully cross-referenced and source-referenced, this dictionary contains more than 1,200 entries for terms concerning laws, theories, hypotheses, doctrines, principles, and effects in the early and contemporary psychological literature. Birth order theory, gate-control theory, and Freud's theory of personality are examples of entries concerning theories. Examples of entries concerning hypotheses include elicited observing rate hypothesis, facial feedback hypothesis, total time hypothesis/law, and Whorf-Sapir hypothesis/theory. Readers interested in laws and principles will find all-or-none law/principle, Mendel's laws/principles, and Zeising's principle. Effects, such as the Stroop effect, and doctrines, such as the doctrine of unconscious inference, are also included.

Each entry consists of the definition/description of the term with commentary, followed by a number of cross-referenced, related terms and by chronologically ordered lists of sources to indicate the evolution of the term. The first appendix, "Frequency of Usage of Concepts as Sampled in Psychology Textbooks, 1885^-1996," provides supplementary material on many laws and theories not included in the dictionary itself and will be helpful to students and scholars concerned with specialty areas in psychology. There are more than 800 laws and theories in this appendix; the total time period is broken down into five separate subperiods. A second appendix lists the 136 textbooks surveyed for the collection of laws and theories listed in appendix A. A selected bibliography and index conclude the work.

Roeckelein, a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology at Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona, is to be commended for his appreciation of semantic and theoretical distinctions. Although the mid-1990s have seen the publication of several dictionaries and encyclopedias in psychology, some of which are revisions of important titles, none of these titles represents serious competition for this scholarly dictionary. The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology [RBB D 15 96], although full of useful information for anyone who is interested in psychology, is more appropriate to high-school students and general readers seeking an understanding of the concepts of academic psychology as employed by experts in the field. Billed as a dictionary for psychologists, Stuart Sutherland's second edition of The International Dictionary of Psychology [RBB Ap 1 96] attempts to include all technical terms from psychiatry, neurology, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, ethology, sociobiology, genetics, linguistics, artificial intelligence, sociology, anthropology, statistics, philosophy, and other disciplines. Benjamin B. Wolman's concise, current Encyclopedia of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Psychoanalysis [RBB Je 1 97] and Raymond J. Corsini's reliable four-volume Encyclopedia of Psychology [RBB S 15 94] also pose no competition because they differ in both scope and purpose. Written with the broadest possible audience in mind, and containing some 17,000 terms, the second edition of Arthur S. Reber's Penguin Dictionary of Psychology (1995) is considerably less focused and more wide-ranging than Roeckelein's work, and also more weighty and cumbersome.

This dictionary should be a valuable addition to college and university library collections, particularly those that support programs in psychology and related fields. Large public libraries may want to take a look-see to determine its potential usefulness in their settings.

Review

"In a reference world populated by several multi-volume psychology encyclopedias, Roeckelein's dictionary enriches the field. Through its specialized focus and the clarity of its contents, Roeckelein's dictionary complements existing psychology dictionaries and encyclopedias."-GaleGroup.com

"A useful contribution to the field and a nice addition for academic collections with a focus in psychology."-Choice

"This dictionary should be a valuable addition to college and university library collections."-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

?A useful contribution to the field and a nice addition for academic collections with a focus in psychology.?-Choice

?This dictionary should be a valuable addition to college and university library collections.?-Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

?In a reference world populated by several multi-volume psychology encyclopedias, Roeckelein's dictionary enriches the field. Through its specialized focus and the clarity of its contents, Roeckelein's dictionary complements existing psychology dictionaries and encyclopedias.?-GaleGroup.com

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Dictionary of Theories, Laws, and Concepts in Psychology