Teach Yourself Psychology for the Curious (Teach Yourself Educational) [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

I recently bought this and companion audiobooks Teach Yourself Religion for the Curious (Teach Yourself Educational) and Teach Yourself Philosophy for the Curious (Teach Yourself Educational) of the three this I was disappointed by the audio disc presentation on psychology but the companion inlay booklet is excellent.

I would suggest reading the inlay before listening to the audio component as it is a discussion of the topics presented in the booklet, more so than a presentation of the same content. The discussion is contained on two discs, as with the others in the series but appears shorter and is divided into less headings and subheadings in the track listing.

The track listing for the audio discs is:-
Disk 1 - Introduction to Psychology; How do we make sense of the world?; Psychological aspects of self; The unconscious mind; Learning: the difference between expert and novice.
Disk 2 - Stress; Social identification; Emotional intelligence; Positive Psychology.

This is in contrast to the brilliant topical overview contained in the booklet:
Introduction;
Why bother with psychology? - Psychology and common sense; The need for a scientific approach; The influence of behaviourism; The emergence of modern psychology
Sense, stories and social learning - The malleability of memory; Confabulation; Narratives and scripts
Who am I - Self-esteem; The problem of normality
The Unconscious Mind - The psychoanalytical approach; How the unconscious mind works; defence mechanisms; what the unconscious isn't
Learning, expertise and creativity - Levels of learning; Predispositions in learning; Practice and creativity; Experts and novices
Coping with stress - The fight or flight reaction; Long-term stress; Physical coping; Psychological coping
Community and Conflict - Sociability and adaptability; Social identification; Social motivation
Emotional intelligence - Facets of emotional intelligence; Measuring the EQ
Positive Psychology - Positive emotions; Positive thinking; Learned Optimism; Happiness
Further Reading

The exchanges on this Audio disc seemed pretty conversational to me, with uneven contributions from the participants and often leaving me with more questions than answers. For instance the relationship between Zen and psychology is mentioned but as an aside when discussing the concept of self. Some concepts, such as the unconscious I felt were considered too briefly or even dismissively. That was disappointing as I had hoped a contribution describing how research had thankfully moved away from being unable to discuss thinking unless as "covert behaviour" had meant more expansive treatment of ideas or concepts besides observable behaviour.

It is an interesting audio presentation but not the best in the series and is only introductory or a curio, as it is titled, for those studying psychology, for a general interest listener or someone considering studying psychology it could be useful. I would recommend it to anyone interested in psychology or anyone who listens to podcasts on the topic or related topics. The content syncs with iTunes if you plan to transfer it to an iPod you wont have any difficult having to type track listings.