08/27/08

TWO MORE BOOKS ARE DUNN; BOTH EMPHASIZE CRITICAL THINKING IN PSYCHOLOGY

TEXT EXPLAINS METHODS FOR CONDUCTING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH

"Research Methods for Social Psychology was developed to help students learn to conduct empirical research in psychology," says Dana S. Dunn, professor of psychology. "The goal is to get students to think like experimental social psychologists—to use or develop explanatory theories—and to manipulate and measure variables in order to explain the origin or purpose of some aspect of social life."

This book contains up-to-date scholarship and emphasizes active learning through pedagogical activities and exercises designed to help students design and execute their psychological research. Students will learn to perform research projects on human social behavior from start to finish, from selecting a research topic to collecting and analyzing data, to writing up the results using the American Psychological Association’s required format (i.e., APA style). Along the way, they will learn about the particular ethical issues social psychologists face, the logic of experimental design, alternative research approaches, sorting accuracy from error in research, and how to present their findings orally, among other issues.

BOOK OUTLINES BEST PRACTICES FOR TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING IN PSYCHOLOGY

"Hotter off the press" is the book, Teaching Critical Thinking in Psychology: A Handbook of Best Practices (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008), which was co-edited by Dunn, Jane S. Halonen, dean of arts and sciences at the University of West Florida, and Randolph Smith, professor of psychology at Lamar University.

The book features current scholarship on effectively teaching critical thinking skills in psychology. Such skills include pattern recognition, problem solving using practical, creative, and scientific methods, as well as psychological reasoning and adopting different perspectives.

Fifty-six psychologists and teachers from a variety of different colleges, universities, and high schools contributed to the 28 chapter book. To emphasize the importance of creativity in critical thinking, the cover image of the book is a striking watercolor painting titled “The Tree of Personal Effort,” which was done by Scottish Architect Charles Rennie Makintosh in 1896. 

A prolific writer and editor, Dunn is the author of Statistics and Data Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2001) and A Short Guide to Writing about Psychology (2008), as well as several other works including Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21st Century, 9th edition (with Wayne Weiten, Margaret A. Lloyd, and Elizabeth Hammer; 2009), and the second edition of The Practical Researcher: A Student Guide to Conducting Psychological Research (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Dana Dunn is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a charter member of the American Psychological Society (APS).