Abnormal Psychology Paperback – International Edition, January 1, 2012 Author: Visit Amazon's Ronald J. Comer Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1464102864 | Format: PDF, EPUB
Abnormal Psychology – International Edition, January 1, 2012
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- Paperback: 736 pages
- Publisher: Macmillan; 8th edition edition (2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1464102864
- ISBN-13: 978-1464102868
- Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.1 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
I'd heard good things about Comer's textbook and ordered it for my Abnormal Psychology class. It's been a disappointment to me and to my students.
(1) Despite decades of well conducted research on attachment theory, Comer relegates discussion of psychodynamic theory to Freudian theory--essentially holding up a straw man (perhaps so he can disparage the approach?). It's like holding up the Wright Brothers in teaching a course on aerodynamics and ignoring all the progress since their time. I've had to add readings and discussion of attachment theory throughout, and have told students to skip over much of Comer's discussion of Freud. Not inaccurate, just not especially relevant today.
(2) Comer cherry picks the research findings. Sure, there's good evidence for the efficacy of CBT interventions, but there have also been at least 3 metanalyses showing a lack of differential treatment effectiveness among the major approaches. Where's that discussion, to balance out the presentation? And again, why present drive theory approaches to treatment as representative of psychodynamic thinking? Students are ill served by that sort of biased approach.
(3) Comer has an annoying habit of presenting very detailed findings from various biochemical studies on the disorders he presents, then saying something like, "More recent studies contract the other research, and we really don't know the truth at this point." If that's so, then for undergraduates, it may not be worth going into such great detail about biochemical and brain-related findings that lack consistent support in the literature.
(4) Finally, it's okay to moralize, but not to disguise moralizing as an unbiased presentation of science. This happens on various occasions, such as the "Psych Watch" box on Ecstasy.
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