Designed to complement and support the topics explored in introductory psychology courses, Politics, Religion, and Other Dinner Table Discussions: An Introduction to Psychology provides students with thought-provoking, engaging readings that inspire critical thinking and introspection. This collection encourages students to build upon their current knowledge, challenge their existing beliefs, and determine how new discoveries in the discipline of psychology can help them better understand themselves and the world around them. 

Each chapter of the anthology is structured to complement the equivalent area of study in an introductory psychology textbook. Over the course of 14 chapters, students explore readings about lifespan development, personality, learning, language, intelligence, social psychology, neuroscience, stress and health, motivation and emotions, sensation and perception, therapy, and more. They’ll learn about the relationship between psychology and religion, why individuals are motivated to conform, the difference between sex and gender, the psychology of addiction, and whether Republican and Democratic brains differ. 

Politics, Religion, and Other Dinner Table Discussions is an ideal supplementary text for undergraduate courses in psychology.

Justin Huft earned his M.A. in marriage and family therapy from Chapman University and his B.A. in psychology and social behavior, and social ecology, from the University of California, Irvine. He has worked with children, individuals, couples, and families in community clinics, elementary schools, and acute psychiatric residential programs. Huft is an adjunct lecturer in the psychology department at Saddleback College, and in the psychology and sociology departments at California State University Fullerton. He specializes in feminist-experiential therapy and actively conducts research in feminist therapy, bibliotherapy, gender and sexuality, and post-modern therapeutic models.