Psychologie

Abstract

Choosing a textbook for an introductory course to psychology is no easy task. There are many introductions to psychology on the market, and since Bain (Bain, 1851; 1859) their structure is more or less the same. Especially if the most popular one of the moment is not automatically the right choice for you, an attack of ‘decidophobia’ is imminent. In my case, I did not want to blindly accept the ‘consensus’ that Dutch-speaking academic students should only read English texts. In my opinion ‘advanced’ students should do so, simply because most psychological knowledge is only available in English. For starters, however, an introductory course to psychology should provide a positive picture of psychology, so they will stay and really engage in a Bachelor’s programme in psychology. With that as a major concern, for a Dutch speaking audience an introductory textbook to psychology should at least meet the standard of an average textbook. And if there is a Dutch textbook that qualifies, the choice becomes much easier. In my opinion this is certainly the case for Brysbaert and Dumoulin’s book.