ABSTRACT
S tudents who take a general psychology course often ask: How does this all fit together? Why in the world does one course range over neural biochemistry, cognitive development, group decision making, and sex differences in aggression? More broadly, how do all the scattered tidbits of wisdom in their psychology courses fit with what they are learning in their anthropology, biology, and economics courses? Psychology textbooks have not traditionally provided an overall framework that would answer these questions. Instead, typical texts have proceeded from one set of empirical findings to another. “We're done talking about neurons and hormones, now let's jump over to talk about babies and their mothers, and then let's skip to Pavlov's dogs.”
