New McGraw-Hill Higher Education Text Answers the Question - 'How Do I Successfully Apply Psychology to my Own Life?'

NEW YORK, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- For years, introductory psychology courses in colleges across the nation focused on the reasons "why things (and people) go wrong." Dr. Laura King has set out to change that approach with her new text, The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View (McGraw-Hill Higher Education), which emphasizes that psychology is not just about the extraordinary, rare, and abnormal. Dr. King's text prepares college students to approach this dynamic science by emphasizing what makes and maintains a healthy psyche and helping students to apply this knowledge to their own lives.

The Science of Psychology presents the field of psychology as an integrated whole, instead of disconnected subfields, and personalizes the content for students by using health and wellness as a unifying theme at the end of each chapter. Dr. King approaches human behavior with the curious, open and enthusiastic eyes and mind of a scientist, focusing on "why things go right" as well as how and why they might go wrong. Throughout the book the topics of health and wellness answer the question, "Why does this matter to me and my psychological well-being and health?"

"This newest addition to McGraw-Hill Higher Education's content library provides cutting-edge psychology thought and research in a personal, student- friendly manner," said Steve Debow, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Humanities, Social Sciences and Languages Group. "Dr. King's dynamic perspective allows students to see how recent research can give us new answers to age-old psychological questions, and how these evolving answers reflect the changing world in which we live."

But Laura King was not the only person that contributed to the making of this cutting edge book. Students were involved from the beginning. Through a series of research studies, focus groups and class testing, students contributed to the pedagogical structure of the book as well as the study tools that accompany it. "At the end of the day, our customers are the students," said James Headley, executive marketing manager. "We have to make sure they are front and center when crafting any learning package."

The book also includes "Critical Controversy" features, which provide real-life examples of scientific research that has caused psychological conclusions to change based on new data. The book's acetate transparencies of the brain and the sense organs are inserted at key points in the text and provide students with a clear understanding of the neuropsychological processes and structures that are commonly difficult for many introductory psychology students to grasp.

Dr. Laura King is a personality psychologist. She earned her bachelor's degree from Kenyon College in both English and psychology, and continued her psychology education at Michigan State University and the University of California-Davis. She earned her doctorate in personality psychology from UC- Davis in 1991. Dr. King taught at Southern Methodist University for about a decade, and then moved on to the University of Missouri, where she is now a professor in the Department of Psychological Science.

Additional information on the text and the Dr. King can be found at http://www.mhhe.com/kingpreview.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets worldwide. It is a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies , has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 40 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com/.

Contacts: Tom Stanton McGraw-Hill Education (212) 904-3214 tom_stanton@mcgraw-hill.com