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If you’re wondering why we’re bringing you a new edition of Psychology: Core Concepts . . .

1 In the new seventh edition, we feature new cutting-edge research on the neuroscience of social interaction, cul- tural influences on perception, daydreaming, taste, and meditation, as well as updates on bullying, the slower rise of IQ scores (the Flynn effect) in developed coun- tries, the myth of multitasking, and much more. We also introduce readers to a groundbreaking modification of Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, newly framed by evolutionary psychologists.

2 Our lead author Philip Zimbardo has recently published a detailed description and analysis of his famous Stanford Prison Experiment in The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. We are pleased to include in Psychology: Core Concepts some of the insights he presented in Lucifer—particularly the notion of the effect of impersonal social systems, as well as social situations, on human behavior. Ours is the only introductory text in which you will find a discussion of how these social systems, such as organizations and bureaucracies, create a context that can profoundly influence the behavior of groups and individuals.

3 Dr. Zimbardo has also done important new work on the differences among people in their time perspective, re- ferring to a focus on the past, the present, or the future. This text is the only introduction to psychology to dis- cuss the powerful influence of time perspective on our decisions and actions.

4 In this edition, Read on MyPsychLab icons appear in the margins indicating that additional readings are

available for students to explore. For example, one of the Read features in Chapter 3 (Sensation and Percep- tion) deals with the classic study of backward masking. In Chapter 12 (Disorders and Therapy), you can read more about an African perspective on mental disorder.

5 One of our goals in this new edition is, again, to help you learn to “think like psychologists.” To do so, we have placed new emphasis on two kinds of psychological think- ing: (1) problem solving and (2) critical thinking. Every chapter begins with a Problem and ends with a critical analysis of an important psychological question, such as gender differences or repressed memory.